Support for Intellectual Disability

[IDMama]

Hi, my son (8) has just been diagnosed with Intellectual Disability. He has a very low IQ. What support is available for him? Thanks

[Grumpybear01]

Hi I carnt help you with support. But I am in the same situation with my 7yo and I am struggling to find any help or support for him also.

[BenjiB]

Hi

Does he have an EHCP at school? If not that’s the first step to get him support. If the school will not help you can apply yourself. Have a look at IPSEA. They are a good resource and have lots of letter formats you can use,

[IDMama in reply to BenjiB]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes he does have an EHCP but is currently in a mainstream school where he doesn’t have his own 1:1 which he needs. I have argued for this for a long time and the school & ehcp co-ordinator would not put it in his plan only vague terms, an adult is made available to him etc etc Thanks for suggesting IPSEA, really useful!

[BenjiB in reply to IDMama]

If his EHCP isn’t meeting his needs it should be changed. Contact IPSEA or look on their website for advice. When is his review? You can call an emergency review if there isn’t one soon and ask for him to be reassessed by an EP. It’s nothing to do with the school what is in his EHCP, it’s the local authority.

All of his needs/outcomes should be listed in section B and all the provision to meet those needs should be in section F. Section F is legally binding.

If all of his needs aren’t listed or being met you can appeal through the tribunal. This had to be done in a certain time frame following the issue of a draft after review. LA’s are very good at delaying this process so you run out of time to appeal. Keep on top of this. My son is now 22. He finishes college in July. Whilst I’m sad to see him leaving education I won’t miss the years and years of battling to get his educational needs met. It’s cost me my sanity and our life savings!

Outside of education, unless he has a specific health need there is little to no support offered.

[IDMama in reply to BenjiB]

Thanks very much for this. He has an annual review coming up so I am going to highlight all that is wrong. The IPSEA website is great, to have the legal precedents there in print to support our individual case. It’s so frustrating when you feel you are constantly being fobbed off, or made to feel as if you don’t know what you’re talking about! Our experience of the LA is that it is massively disorganised with such a high turn over of staff that the people you deal with have absolutely no investment in their work, and it is the built-in norm to do things at a snail’s pace. Meanwhile, people with needs are missing out on the support they need! I’m sorry it’s been so hard for you, and it is just absolutely criminal that there is no support when a person leaves education. I am not looking forward to that.