The overwhelming response from Isle of Wight parents on social media to the recent Care Quality Commission and Ofsted report – which stated that “support for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) has improved” – has been that from their own experience, they don’t recognise the improvement.
Many told OnTheWight they don’t know a single family with a positive thing to say about the Isle of Wight’s SEND support.
SEND stories #5
OnTheWight began a series of SEND stories from families on the Isle of Wight, highlighting the disparity between what the IWC, Ofsted and CQC say and the experience of families needing SEND support.
This week we share the story of Jonathon and his son, Henry.
Henry’s story
Eight-year-old Henry has a diagnosis of an autism spectrum condition with demand avoidant tendencies. He also has complex auditory, visual and proprioceptive sensory processing issues.
Unlike some of the children in our other SEND Stories, Henry does have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
A hard-fought battle with a significant wait
As part of this he has regular input from a Speech and Language Therapist, an Occupational Therapist, an Educational Psychologist, a Play Therapist, a Psychiatrist, a Paediatrician.
The list is long, says his Dad, Jonathon, who went on to add,
“Henry also has a one-to-one for the entire thirty-two hour school week.
“None of the provision came easily, each came with either hard-fought battle and a significant wait or a sizeable bill for private assessments and input.”
Jonathon: “I have come to expect exclusions”
You might be forgiven for thinking that with all that support, life would be easy for Henry and his family. Sadly this is not so.
Jonathon explains.
“Notwithstanding all of this professional input and support, Henry is not accessing education and he has had numerous fixed-term exclusions between Year 1 and Year 4.
“I have come to expect exclusions on around a half-termly basis, it is no longer a surprise when the call comes in.”
Kind and caring staff
At the mainstream school Henry attends the staff are “kind and caring”. The management is understanding and willing to try any suggestions to support Henry.
However, Jonathon says they do not have the specialist skills of an SEN school.
“Whilst being kind and willing is a good start, it is not enough in of itself.”
“Little to no effective support” from IWC SEN team
Jonathon says his experience over the last few years of securing support for Henry is that, “there is little to no effective support from the SEN team within Isle of Wight Council”.
He explains that whatever suggestions are made by them are rarely followed and when this is the case, excuses follow.
He says,
“This is not exclusive to the pre-plan stage either, as it seems to be that even with an EHCP in place you have to battle to get provision commissioned and implemented.
“The very positive report of CQC/OFSTED came as a surprise to me, it is certainly not a reflection of Henry’s experience of accessing services. I suspect I am not the only parent surprised by its outcome.”
Jonathon: “It feels as though you’re running through treacle”
As any parent of a child that has SEN will agree, one of the hardest things is accessing effective support for them. Jonathon says he doesn’t think anyone quite foresees at the outset the difficulty the process for applying for an EHCP holds in store for them. He says,
“It consumes your life and disturbs yours sleep for what feels like forever.
“It feels as though you’re running through treacle, every step forward is harder than the last.
“It has been emotionally exhausting for Henry’s mother and I, and it should not be this difficult.”
Clouds of emotional tension block out Henry’s sunshine
However, it’s not just the parents or care-givers who are impacted. As Jonathon explains,
“The difficulties Henry has in school are taking an emotional toll on him, he brings this home and often will release the emotional tension built up through the school day on us both and on his two brothers.
“It seems more and more that the clouds created by this are blocking out Henry’s sunshine.”
What can change?
We asked Jonathon if he was able to change one thing about the SEND support on the Island what would it be. He replied
“There needs to be more provision on the Island for children who don’t meet the criteria for the specialist provision available.
“Henry, and others like him, are falling though the gaps and suffering for a lack of both suitable and available provision.
“There is a significant need for a school which takes children with Social Emotional Mental Health conditions. If one thing could change for the betterment of Island children with SEN, I believe it would be the availability of provision such as this.”
Share your story
If you would like OnTheWight to share your experience of SEND services on the Isle of Wight, get in touch.
Your SEND Story will be dealt with sensitively and we can anonymise the report if you wish.
