A Speech you must read

[Cat]

Lord Adonis made the following speech at All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism

 

18 April 2007 , House of Commons

 

It is long but PLEASE try to read it I would personally like to know if two thirds of autistic children really do have SEN statements. If this was not so serious it would be funny because I think he actually believes what he is saying.

 

Cat

 

It is also worth reading the posts made on the autsim and the law blog spot

 

 

http://autismlaw.blogspot.com/

 

 

Let me thank Professor Knapp, not only for this insightful presentation but for his recent talk to the Autism Research Coordination Group, hosted by my department. As many of you know, the Group brings together government departments and organisations such as the Wellcome Trust, Research Autism and Autism Speaks to monitor a range of current research. These include the Pre-School Autism Communication Trial that the Department for Education and Skills is backing alongside Department of Health and the Medical Research Council. The Coordination Group clearly has an important role in improving the evidence base for policy development, and in raising awareness across government.

 

I also want to acknowledge at the outset that behind the estimated economic costs of autism are individual families facing the challenge of raising vulnerable children and caring for them into adulthood. As the minister with responsibility for special educational needs provision (or SEN for short), I often receive correspondence from parents describing the struggles they face. MPs here have no doubt heard similar accounts, and the Government must do everything it can to help not just autistic children, but their parents and siblings as well.

 

Substantial sums are already being invested to support children with SEN ? and the consensus about the value of early intervention is reflected in the SEN Code of Practice and the Good Practice Guidance on Autistic Spectrum Disorders. While the figures are not disaggregated for autism, English local authority spending on children with SEN in 2006/07 was �4.5 billion, up from �2.8 billion in 2001/02. Since 2003/04, there has been a 43 per cent increase in SEN funding within mainstream schools, and a 23 per cent increase for special school budgets ? far above the growth rate in overall education spending. Furthermore, two thirds of autistic children have SEN statements, meaning they have access to resources over and above what is normally available for pupils, should they require them.

 

Indeed, one of the Government?s abiding aims is to realise an education system in which the needs of all children are met, and their talents unlocked. The idea of personalised learning and bespoke care is as applicable to autistic children as any others. Every child has aptitudes and activities they love. Personalisation, therefore, is necessary in all educational contexts.

 

For some autistic children, a special school will be the most effective setting. Last summer, Ed Balls and I visited the TreeHouse special school in Muswell Hill, where we saw autistic children receiving outstanding one-to-one care. For other children, learning within a mainstream environment is best, and there are now more specialised units attached to mainstream schools. Where appropriate, the inclusion of disabled pupils yields wider benefits beyond the wellbeing of the individual child, for such integration generates an understanding and tolerance among classmates, while developing teachers? skills in working with a broader range of children. With the right leadership, mainstream schools profit in such circumstances. A colleague, who is also the father of an autistic child, told me recently about a trip to Beal High School in Ilford. There he saw significant numbers of pupils from across the autistic spectrum immersed in GCSE maths and PE classes, and a whole school workforce delivering classroom teaching for a diverse pupil intake.

 

The main point here is that the setting must be right for the individual child: in a mainstream school, an associated unit, a general special school, a dedicated autism centre, or sometimes a mixture of settings depending on the aptitudes and motivations of pupils in particular subjects.

 

The same commitment to personalisation that underpins the Every Child Matters agenda. Every Child Matters has the potential to transform provision for all children and families, by developing partnerships between the education, social care, health and voluntary sectors. Public services are now judged on how they ensure the health and safety of children, their achievement in school, their economic well-being and their ability to make a positive social contribution. Backed by a massive spending increase on children's social services ? 32 per cent in real terms since 1997 ? this agenda has helped to improve outcomes for disabled children. Sure Start children?s centres, extended schools, and strategic leadership from directors of children?s services are all focused on offering joined-up provision, advice for parents and access to specialised support.

 

This investment is helping families to give their children the best possible start in life. The Family Fund, backed by DfES, provides direct grants to around 46,000 families of severely disabled children every year. The Government finances Contact a Family's helpline, which provides detailed advice to over 20,000 parents annually. The Early Support Programme has helped numerous families across the country, and will cover all local authorities by the end of 2008. And we are also increasing resources to offer short breaks ? often a lifeline for exhausted parents ? through annual rises in the Carers Grant.

 

However, there is clearly more that needs to be done. Good practice is not uniform, and, in the case of autism, the National Autistic Society?s ?Make School Make Sense? campaign highlighted that we need to encourage the development of a wider range of provision, improve teachers' awareness of autism, and prevent autistic children from being bullied and unfairly or unreasonably excluded from school.

 

In general, not enough parents or disabled children feel sufficiently empowered in determining elements of their own care. A lack of early support sometimes exacerbates domestic crises, where families then require more complex interventions. Above all, parents and young people have stressed to us the need for more support ? including guidance from key workers, better inclusion in mainstream services, and more preparation for the transition to adulthood.

 

That?s why there is currently a joint review of services for disabled children by DfES and the Treasury. This Children and Young People Review will inform the allocation of funds under the Comprehensive Spending Review. It contains a strand dedicated to improving outcomes for disabled children and their families, and policy colleagues are examining how best to involve them in decision-making.

 

We are considering the creation of parents? forums and key workers, and champions for disabled children, to improve accountability and actively shape local provision to meets the needs of parents. The Review is exploring ways to improve the availability of short breaks for families with disabled children. We are also looking at the most effective means of including disabled children in universal provision such as childcare, so they can benefit from contact with their peers from an early age.

 

The Review team has emphasised retaining local flexibility while delivering uniformly high standards of support. However, to reduce variations in the quality of services ? and to reinforce the high priority now attached to disabled children ? DfES, together with the Treasury and Department for Communities and Local Government, is examining how the performance management framework can best encourage a focus on their needs both locally and nationally.

 

We hope the Review will generate a renewed focus on delivering the best care for disabled children, yet we should recognise that significant reform has already taken place on which we will continue to build. To give one example, we?re already working with the Training and Development Agency to enhance coverage of disability and SEN within initial teacher training and induction, and providing opportunities for more placements in special schools. Alongside the TDA, we are also strengthening the position of SEN coordinators in schools by developing nationally accredited training. And later this year, we are introducing a major initiative, the Inclusion Development Programme, to reinforce the skills of existing staff.

 

With regards to autism, six of the nine regional partnerships that address special needs priorities have recently allocated over �400,000 for innovative autism projects. Equally, my Department's Children, Young People and Families Grant Programme has funded both the National Autistic Society to expand its parent support scheme and the TreeHouse Trust's work with parent groups who are campaigning for better autism services.

 

To conclude, I'd like to pay tribute to the many organisations involved in championing autistic children. They recognise, as does this Government, that a society should be judged on the way it serves and protects those with the greatest needs. More than that, we share the firm belief that autistic children are children first and foremost, and they deserve the support and investment that every child deserves to reach their full potential in life. As the American writer James Agee once wrote: ?In every child who is born under no matter what circumstances and of no matter what parents, the potentiality of the human race is born again, and in him, too, once more, and each of us, our terrific responsibility toward human life.?

 

Thank you.

Edited April 23, 2007 by Cat

[Guest Lya of the Nox]

rude words flying in my house

we dont have a statment

maybe a poll would be in order and then off forum we can act on it

( off forums so as not to casue any issues?)

[Cat]

I don't think an on forum poll would cause any problems it's quite simply a question of if your child has a dx of ASD do they have a statement yes/no

 

But I am not very good at polls - although I could think of a handy place to stick this one

 

Cat

[Flora]

call me cynical.... sound words.... but excuse me for asking... What planet is he talking about?

 

Flora

[Diamondmask]

Same words, different minister. Nothing ever changes really. OK they have put more money in, but really is it getting to ground level where its needed? Course it isnt. We'll be in the exact same position in 10 years, well probably worse really as most of us will by that time be *accessing* adult services, or should I say trying to. Another generation of ASD kids will be in schools with their parents getting shafted.

 

Cynical moi?

 

Sarah