Dear Tony Manwaring,

The Time To Get Equal campaign talks about ending discrimination against disabled people. Will you be announcing a planned closure of all Scope’s special schools and residential institutions? YES/ NO

Scope is committed to mainstream provision and the inclusion of all disabled people. As a consequence it has already begun a programme which has reduced the number of disabled people and children in its institutional provision, and is looking at how to accelerate this process.

In terms of our special schools, I have in fact written to pupils, parents and staff several months ago, to outline the principles of our strategy for re-provision – with a clear commitment, from myself and the Chair of Scope, that we will undertake this programme in a phased way, in full consultation with these and other stakeholders.

But there is a real challenge, which needs to be overcome by Scope working with others. We have started to talk with a range of stakeholders about moving from segregated provision to a new model, where we would work alongside and with the mainstream to support and help meet the educational/development needs of disabled children and young people. We call this the ‘mainstream plus’ model. It recognises that there are competencies and skills that Scope has, that are needed, that the mainstream typically does not have. If it succeeds, we will not run separate schools on the old/current model. And the horrors of the statementing and assessment process will be consigned to the dustbin of history.

However, current funders – and it’s still early days – seem to find it hard to make this kind of step change. We have to overcome inertia. This requires a new strategic vision, and the leadership and energy and resources, to bring it about. All of which means that Scope has to work with allies – and influence Government and other decision-makers.

Over the last ten years or so, the number of service users in residential care has reduced substantially to around 500 – this reduction is almost wholly explained by people now living independently in the community.

We are not going to abandon those disabled people who use Scope services, and want to continue to do so. We will work with them, and in consultation with other stakeholders, in Scope and beyond, to develop that support and provision, based on principles of independence and choice.

In particular, many Scope service users have very high support needs; have lived in institutional care for decades; far from what was once home; and have no or limited social networks in the broader community. We want to work with the independent living movement and others to ensure that any programme of change can be effectively managed.

Brill !! Now that is thinking outside the box :)

Dear Questions2scope

I was just wondering how you would propose teaching severely handicapped children if you were to insist on the closure of all special schools (I'm assuming that you wouldn't just stop at closing Scope schools).

My boy has no communication, no mobility and is blind. There is no way he could function in a normal classroom and follow the national curriculum. As evidenced by other posts in the forum the current system of one to one support can fail students so can not be relied upon to enable the most severely handicapped to participate and learn.

Since he doesn't appear to fit in with your ideals for full inclusion, should we keep him at home, out of sight and out of mind? This is what your proposals are likely to lead to, I don't want him to become the schools' laughing stock, at least in a special school they are attempting to teach him skills to enable him to function in society, even if he doesn't get 3 As at A level.

Dom

P.S.
Did you get your chips Jim?

Hi dom :) Had my chips - last for a while as they've increased the prices!

I went to a special school as a junior - whilst it may have not been the best option for me I most certainly saw others much less able than myself who, as you say would have been unable to cope in a mainstream school - and that was back in the 50's & 60's (For those who may be interested Lancasterian, Didsbury, Manchester '57-64 ish :) With todays much more mainstream (in yer face) education (& my teenagers are well behaved :) system they would have even less chance - Schools seem to have attempted integration with statementing and other systems but, because the systems have been unwieldy and responsibility never seems to rest in one place they have been successful only when demands have been easily met. Eventually we might realise that learning occurs in many environments and for some of us so called mainstream education doesn't suit. I am currently teaching in a learning centre and some of my students are well "disenfranchised" and would not consider entering a normal college environment as exists today...

Nuff said :)

Hi Jim

As it happens Philip is only two so we have only just started to look at Special school nurseries with a view to him starting next year. Whilst he may well increase in his abilities, and we and his therapists are doing everything to encourage him, his prospects at the moment don't seem to be that great when considering mainstream education provision. I really would be interested to here what questions2scope's alternative is.

Dom

And me - My view is we still need special schools but they should be adjacent too and partners with a local mainstream school with a degree of overlap integration as is suitable - my education was soured because I left Special school following the 11+ and moved into mainstream to discover I was well behind everyone else - I had also been convinced by a parent that I was "thick" so It's not surprising I did not enjoy my education from 11 onwards.

Today of course I am older and I hope wiser :) My advice is keep up the encouragement and make learning an enjoyable experience so that whatever Philip does builds his own knowledge and his self on a supportive loving base.

If we have confidence in ourselves as we grow up then we learn to expand on our capabilities - If we are continuously told we cannot do this or that it has a cumulative negative effect - as the song says - accentuate the positive :)

I think that you are probably correct about how best to approach educating children with additional needs Its great to be able to talk to people who have been through the system. We are only just starting our journey and are feeling our way along, trying to make the best choices for us as a family. At the end of the day, all we want for all our children is for them to be happy and achieve whatever they can, to the best of their abilities. What Philip achieves is likely to be very different from his brothers, but we will celebrate each little thing. He wakes up each morning with a great big smile on his face and full of giggles - I wish the same could be said of me!!

me too :)

I think it's a bit easier today as people are more aware but there's still the problems of ever decreasing funds and of course increased demand because people want more / expectations rise etc. and what scared me most when my children went through school was that they only get the one opportunity to learn for free in a safe environment and parents, teachers and the rest of society should make that the best rather than keep trying different strategies on each generation of kids.

Like all such models (ie education, transport) we need to learn from the best models instead of repeating past errors - why aren't all railways like the Swiss :)

Hi
A key point in this debate is the quality of the provision and the matter of choice,but I do think special schools should disappear and be replaced by small units within and fully intergrated in to mainstream schools.Dom I would keep an open mind on the matter of Philips education and look very carefully at what is actually provided in a special school.It was reccommended for my son and it lookrd good when we looked round but when he actually started and I spent several mornings helping him to settle in which the staff did not approve off.What I saw while sitting in the clsroom was not education it wasn't even good care.So we opted for mainstream and it has been excellant,my son has had oppotunities to make real friends and to learn,he gets more physio,OT and SLT than he did at the special school.But for this to happen you need to have a very good understanding of the statementing process and be prepared to get some indepentant reports and push the LEA all the way to Tribunal.
As you already know my son also has no speech and no mobilty although heis sight is OK.

Hi Paul

How does your son follow the lessons? I ask as my neighbour's little girl started primary school last January, and almost immediately started coming home with words that she had to be able to read and later on reading or maths homework. Does he manage to communicate everything through eye pointing or have they modified what/how they are teaching him? At the moment I feel that whilst he may be able to cope in a mainstream classroom initially, the gap between Philip and his peers is likely to increase dramatically.

So far we have only visited one special school and have plans to visit a second in the near future. This second school mainly caters for children with mobility problems so I'm guessing that the teaching itself will be closer to mainstream. I am thinking of asking his VI teacher for more information on inclusive education locally, and prehaps we will aim for 50% special school and 50% mainstream, that way at least he will meet his able-bodied peer group. This is such a difficult choice, so we want to make sure we get it right for him. He has so many problems I really do wonder about his ability to cope in a busy mainstream classroom.

If we did decide to go for mainstream have you any further advice you can offer?

Thanks for all your help
Dom

Hi Dom
They do adapt the curriculm for my son a bit but they have found that having a multi-sensory approach to teaching is very helpful for the whole class.The gap between him and his peers is increasing mostly because he can't work as fast as the other children and is still not able to do fulltime school.He is in year 2.They do a lot of planning so that they have the resouces to ensure he can answer using eye pointing.He only brings his reading book home and we have limited oppotunitys to read it with him as he is too tired after school.I feel that my son has benifited enormously from mixing with children who do speak and can learn alot from watching his peers.
Advice for choosing mainstream - work really hard on getting a very specific statement as it then should ensure the resouces to met the childs needs.For example ''the VI teacher will visit the school for two hrs a week to assisst the classteacher and LSA to plan and adapt the curriculm.In addition she will visit for a futher two hours a week to work directly with P and his LSA.She will also provide x number of hours of training to the whole school every year.
It is easier to start in mainstream pre school and reception because the learning is still very play based for all children.
Many schools already have experience of children with special needs ,so see if they already have experience of mobility or VI children.
If I think of any other points I will add them later.
Just thought of something else in mainstream my son gets 1;1 help for the entire day.In special school the ratio was 1adult to 4 children.Also cos its written in to the statement he gets more physio,OT, and SLT than he did in special school.

Hi Paul

Your son sounds incredibly like ours and we are encouraged to hear how his mainstream placement is going. We are looking at local mainstream schools and always wondering whether we are doing the right thing. Having read your posting we are going to go ahead with alot more confidence that it can be successful. Our son is currently in a mainstream private nursery and is very well catered for. We hope to find a mainstream primary that will continue with this. He is very happy and enjoys mixing with his able bodies peers and he is very popular with them. I was also interested in how your son copes with a full day in school and I suspect that next year we will have a very tired little boy every evening!!

Liesa

Liesa
We have found fatigue a problem since he started school but have never really had any pressure from school to increase his hours as they can see how tired he gets.When Ofstead were due they did ask his consulant to write them a letter saying it was important for him not to get exhausted on medical grounds.We all feel it is better for him to have quality time at school rather than be too tired to learn.He started in reception mornings only,then we added a few lunchtimes ,then two afternoons.He continued with just two full days in year 1 and we added a further afternoon this year but this is proving tough.When he was doing less time at school they let me know what they were doing in the afternoon and I would do something play related at home.