I have been asked by Scope, the UK based charity for children with disabilities and their families, to review their website section, which is called - ‘Scope’s Learning Together toolkit’, and which provides information on the integration of children with disabilities into mainstream settings, and then give my personal feedback about it.
I firstly will say I think it is very easy to read. The layout is simple, but effective.
The paragraphs are concise, but content rich.
As I have two children with (different) disabilities, I am pleased to see that my youngest son W, who has Nystagmus ( the involuntary eye rotation and vision impairment), is also included within the education section, and how parents and school staff can make the school environment a safe, happy, and effective learning place for a child with vision impairment or loss.
Autism is featured more and more nowadays, (from when I first heard the word back in 2004), and Scope have created a very reader friendly information section on this. As autism is being diagnosed more and more, mainstream schools do have to develop their attitude, support, and provisions, as there are children with autism that can attend a mainstream setting, but will still need that bit more help and understanding.
My cousin has just started working as a primary school teacher, after gaining a First Class Honours BA in Primary Education, and she has two children in her class that have been noted as having extra needs, but there is no teaching assistant to help her. So she has a class of 30 children, and has to provide extra support and help to these children, and also teach the other 28 alongside. The Head of the school decided to remove all teaching assistants as a cost cutting exercise. So every child that attends a school with the same provision in place, will suffer. Money over a child's well being and education has reared it's head again, and will not benefit anyone apart from the Head and her budget book.
Scope gives practical advice for parents and education providers about this complex issue, and it could benefit families that are in a quandary about education provisions.
As Scope is for all children with any disability, they have to be quite broad in their information and advice.
If Scope talk about a specific document or form, they provide a link within that paragraph. This means if you want to continue reading through the website, but don't want to forget or lose where this information is, you can click it, it opens in a new page, and you can then go to it as and when you want, whilst moving on through their website.
I am asked to give any suggestions I may have.
The main one I adhere to, which applies to all children, whether disabled or abled, and beginning a new experience of education settings, is to listen to your child. Observe them. See how they respond. Take your time with decision making over education. Allow them time to adjust.
Let them have a good transition time frame. Don't rush it. You must feel confident in the care provided. Your child will show you if they are happy or not.
It is fantastic to read about what to do, how to go about it, but a parent really is the best advocate for their child, as they know and understand them wholly.
The information available on Scope’s Learning Together toolkit will empower parents and carers, who may feel in the dark about the education provisions, or parents that want that bit of back up that bolsters their opinion on what they want their child to gain from school.
So perhaps a little bit about trusting yourself and your feelings, when it comes to your child with a disability, would be valuable.
If you want to have a look for yourself, this is the link I have discussed - Scope's Education and Learning Together Toolkit
I would have benefitted immensely from the Scope website and their Education and Learning together toolkit 10 years ago. The help and advice was patchy and very sparse back then. I empowered myself by searching for information, having publications sent from the US for me to read, and by believing in my ability to recognise what was right for my Boy.
What Scope have provided is fabulous. It is almost a 'one stop shop' for help and advice.
I hope their address is given out more readily to parents beginning on the road of a special needs child, as it could be just the thing for them to have to hand, and to see the future more clearly.
