Severe learning disabilities

[Beckisid]

Who decides whether your child has severe or moderate learning disabilities?

Do I ask the GP for this diagnosis?

[AnotherDad]

Hello In or experience it was a specialist paediatrician at the hospital, who was referred from a general paediatrician, who was referred from the GP. Don't think a GP can make that diagnosis AFAIK. One thing -, "Moderate" is a relative medical term which is a bit weird because Moderate Learning disability is really pretty severe. I think most of the lay population if they met someone with Moderate Learning Disability would consider them severely disabled in terms of what they're able to do. Wonder why it matters to you anyway? In our experience, whether the technical definition is "Moderate" or "Severe" doesn't seem to have much effect on EHCPs, what school you get into etc etc because they assess what the person can do and base it on that, effectively they've re-run the diagnosis in terms of what someone is able to do. Hope this is helpful

[Beckisid in reply to AnotherDad]

Unfortunately we only have 1 SEN school in the area and the EHCP has to state severe learning needs for my son to be accepted. He is failing to thrive in mainstream but the local SEN has rejected him. Now he has no school placement for September.

The local council are trying to push him into a resource inclusion centre for SEMH when his needs are ASD and Communicaton and Language delays. The unit would put him in a mixed class of children from aged 5-11, he is only 5 years old and I don’t think that is a suitable placement. The age gap is too vast.

Thankyou for your advice we have an appointment to see his paediatrician shortly.

[Peon in reply to Beckisid]

My son has Downs Syndrome and was classed as having moderate learning difficulties. We recently moved house so into a different LA. He was previously at a Special School. The new LA said he didn’t meet the criteria for a Special School (all children must have severe LDs to gain a place at Special Schools in this LA otherwise they go to main stream secondary schools that have Specialist units to provide provision) and like you, there is only one special school in the areas. The nearest mainstream was over 45 mins away, was huge (1400 pupils which he would have found overwhelming). We visited the school, the unit was great but most of the children were academically reasonably able. We really felt he wouldn’t thrive or enjoy this environment. Also as he wasn’t at a special school no transport would be provided! I could not have got him to school and managed to get my other children too school and get to work! We fought hard for him to be assessed by the LA Educational psychologist and then we also paid for an independent assessment by a Educational psychologist. Thankfully both confirmed he was a suitable candidate for the Local special school despite the classification of his learning difficulties by the previous LA. We only found out 2 days before the start of the new term in September that he would be given a place at the Special School. We started the battle in January! All very stressful but thankfully he is thriving now. The school SENCO can request an assessment, especially if you feel your son is not thriving at his current setting. Good luck, it’s a tough fight and I’m sure sometimes they just want you to give up as they drag it out for sooo long!

[Beckisid in reply to Peon]

Thankyou, it’s been a very long ongoing process. I requested special education 2 years ago and only this year was it agreed. But due to lack of schools in the area he’s been offered a specialist resource centre rather than our preferred school due to not having a statement of SLD.My biggest concern is the centre is for children mainly with SEMH needs. His EHCP has no mention of these needs and is ASD and communication and language delays.

So happy that you won the fight for your child!

The LA have said the unit will bridge the gap until we have the diagnosis to send him to the local Sen school, which obviously isn’t ideal because it’s another transition for him inbetween when they could just agree to the school.

[AnotherDad in reply to Beckisid]

Hiya, a few thoughts, is there anything else you can do to tweak mainstream to make it work for a little while while you fight this battle, e:g get better (or any) 1-1 support in mainstream in the interim? Also, while SEMH may be wholly inappropriate for your son, I wouldn't necessarily worry too much in itself about age gap in classes. Our son's special school does that and presumably its common because people develop at such different rates. Your son would probably prefer a gentle easy-going 11-yr-old as a classmate, than a fellow 5-yr-old that kicked off all the time, right? (OTOH if its an 11-yr-old that kicks off, I can see why that could be worrying). The quality of the school, the abilities of staff, the ratio of staff to students, and the nature of the students makes a bigger difference IMHO than precise age. All the best with fighting for the SEN school that you want. Hopefully, if you achieve the right blend of politeness and appreciation with stubbornness and uncompromising-ness, as we did, you'll get there in the end.

[Beckisid in reply to AnotherDad]

Thankyou. He currently has a 1:1 but it struggling with structure of school and the demands and the amount of children in the class. The unit would be ideal if it was based more around his ASD and communication and language needs.

Hopefully the LA will come back with a more appropriate provision.

[BenjiB]

My son was diagnosed with autism when he was 3. The SLD (severe learning disability) has just kind of appeared on school paperwork over the years.

[Beckisid in reply to BenjiB]

Thankyou it’s something I’m going to have to push for to get him the right school.