Funding comparision between special and mainstream/cognitive b is that applied in schools

[sawjd]

Hello

 

It seems i am having to do a lot of research in preparing the case for our k and one of the things i need to know is the difference between funding for children with needs in mainstream and special schools.

 

LEA maintened special school (does cost of OT extra come under NHS and i think Coginitive Behaviour is not something NHS do for children)

 

Independent school (approx i have already)

 

How do i go finding out about it. (something my IPSEA volunteer should be doing)

 

Also does any know if they can have cognitive behaviour therapy in school as the private OT and ED Psy is

saying that k needs this and a sensory diet.

 

Any help or advice or expirence in the above i would be very very grateful for. I have tried to do my best to look/google into this but had little or no joy as info is quite vague. Thanks

 

with regards

 

sarni,

[Sally44]

Mainstream school is for mainstream kids. Some SEN kids maybe placed there and may receive extra therapies etc within school, but that is for children that can still cope within mainstream.

 

As far as I know Clinical Psychology and CAHMS and OT's do not have any input into mainstream schools. Usually "Education" and "Health" professionals never meet to discuss the needs of the child or joint plan and deliver a cohesive programme of education and therapy. Do you know of any child that is receiving that? But do not push for it because it is better for you to have evidence that it has never happened. If you push for it and the LA or school arranges a meeting that the Clinical Psychologist and/or CAHMS attend then they have evidence that they have all met in school and tried to meet to discuss your child. If that hasn't happened, leave it at that. Then you have that evidence that it has never happened.

 

What you can do is to write to individual heath departments and ask them. For example I asked the Clinical Psychology department what 1:1 therapy they could provide for my son either in hospital or in school. Would they deliver a CBT programme either in hospital or in school. Did they go into schools to see and assess children. Did they have any regular joint planning meetings in any of our LA schools for any of the mainstream or special school children. The answer was no to all those questions. What they said they were was an "acute" service, which means they may see a child/parents for a number of weeks, give advice on approaches or strategies to the family and/or school, and then dismiss the child from their service. That do not have any "on-going" input at all. They don't meet with education professionals.

 

That was one of our main arguments for our parental choice of school. They had OTs and SALTs employed on site. They also bought in their own EP who visited the school every week. This EP worked directly 1:1 with the children and put together a programme that ALL the therapy team and teaching staff would be aware of and use and the same EP would regularly monitor the outcome of those approaches. He also did 1:1 sessions with the children.

 

It is hard to get CBT via the NHS for children with an ASD because there is some evidence that it does not work [or work as well] due to their rigid thought processes, poor imagination and poor inference. But that does not mean that it should not be tried, or that aspects of CBT should not be used to see if they are effective.

 

You could ask the NHS Clinical Psychology department if they do deliver a CBT programme to children with an ASD. CAHMS are under psychiatry and only prescribe medication for mental health needs. They always refer back to ClinPsych for any kind of 'therapy'.

 

I wrote to our community OT who was supposed to be delivering a programme of OT in his school. This never happened [which was non-compliance of the Statement] I asked her if the NHS funded 1:1 OT Sensory Integration Therapy or 1:1 therapy for children with dyspraxia. She wrote back saying that the NHS does not fund Sensory Integration Therapy or provide any 1:1 therapy for children with Dyspraxia. That is UK wide.

 

IF a child in a mainstream school were to stay in a mainstream school, but they had OT needs that were proven via professional reports and recommendations, then the LA would be responsible to buy in that OT input. They would have to buy it in via a private OT service. And at the AR that therapy would probably be reduced because it is a "bolt-on" service within mainstream which would mean the LA would be continually trying to reduce that input to save themselves money. At an independent special school, where that therapy is delivered as standard, it is never withdrawn or reduced because it is automatically provided.

 

Our LA did provide funding to my sons former mainstream primary school for 3 hours a week OT input. They provided this funding 3 weeks before the actual tribunal. I wrote and asked for the OT's name and qualifications. They never responded. But at the tribunal they admitted that this OT did not have the qualfications to deliver a sensory integration therapy programme, and the 3 hours a week was not just for my son, it was for the whole school, and the funding was just for one year at a time. So the Panel saw straight through that, and their decision was that this OT provision could not meet my son's needs.

 

"funding" is not the issue. If the need is in the Statement, and the provision is quantified and specified in the Statement, then the LA is responsible to fund that whether it is via extra funding within mainstream, or whether it is paying the fees of an independent school that automatically provides it.

 

But it is very difficult for a mainstream school to demonstrate continuity, flexibility, and joint planning if the professionals 'pop' into school once a week or once a fortnight. My reports said that my son needed access to those professionals off curricular and that there had to be flexibility in the therapy. So if my son was too anxious to have his OT programme session on the Monday afternoon, the OT could deliver it at another time during the week. An OT coming into a mainstream school just for that Monday afternoon cannot return later that week. She would return again the following Monday. That would mean my son missed his session. His anxiety could increase leading to him refusing school again.

 

So you are looking at a combination of things that make mainstream impractical - such as needing the therapy team on site - needing them to be qualified to deliver specific therapy the NHS does not provide - needing them to be flexible and able to deliver the programme across the week and also provide additiional therapy if needed - for small class sizes that a mainstream can never provide [ie. no more than 8 pupils per class] - a similar peer group for self esteem and similar levels of social and emotional maturity and to allow the therapy team to put together "group" therapy sessions - for Psychology input to be provided in school - for the school to teach life skills and daily living skills - for the school to have expertise of working with children with the combination and severity of needs that your child has.

 

Also if the therapy team is employed on site, they can work with the teaching staff to joint plan and also co-teach and deliver the therapy via the lessons instead of withdrawing the child all the time. So if the NC lesson for literacy is about the Egyptians, the SALT can come into the classroom and deliver a SALT session on that literacy subject.