A recent article published in Current Biology has suggested it is possible to identify differences in infants' brainwaves from as early as six months old.
This is good news for families, as identifying disorders such as autism at an earlier stage and providing the appropriate care and support needed, can have potentially life changing results for a child.
What is too often the case is that a diagnosis is made too late, meaning children are increasingly not being provided with the education provision they need. It is disgraceful that an estimated 50% of children with a statement of special educational needs are still being educated in mainstream school.
As well as having to deal with the emotional heartache of needing to fight for the rights of their child, many parents are left feeling helpless and frustrated at having to battle against such a complex system.
Indeed, we recently assisted a family from London who have been battling for 8 years to get the correct provision for their 14-year-old son, who has Asperser’s Syndrome and high functioning autism.
His parents sought our advice after a lengthy battle with their local authority, who was refusing to issue an amended Statement of Special Educational Needs, meaning their son would have to remain in mainstream schooling.
Despite a huge amount of evidence, the local authority continually refused to acknowledge his needs and the family then brought a Judicial Review in the High Court and an appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.
With our help the family were finally able to get a Statement of Special Educational Needs for their son.
Although an eventual success story, the family’s battle to get their son’s needs recognised has been very hard. He was forced into a mainstream school where he faced years of trauma, segregation, bullying and discrimination. He was self harming and bullied to the point of suicide. It is down to the sheer determination of his family that there has finally been a positive conclusion, as they simply refused to give up.
It is complex and difficult for parents, but they must, if they are at all unhappy about a local authority decision, seek independent advice to find out what their options really are.
Leena Hurloll, Moore Blatch - Education Law Specialist
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