Children with special needs are “falling through the gaps” in lockdown because they are not classed as “vulnerable enough” to continue going to school, families have told Sky News.

During England’s third national lockdown, children of key workers and those who are considered “vulnerable” can still go to school despite them being closed.

But generally, pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) do not meet the criteria, leaving families to deal with their complex conditions on their own with no support.

Jemma Pearce, 34, is a single parent of two children with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and another daughter with no special needs.

She has been furloughed from her job in Hertfordshire and isn’t allowed to have them in school because they don’t qualify for the government’s education, health and care plan (EHCP), which would class them as “vulnerable”.

“My 16-year-old son has had his whole world turned upside down,” she said.

“He loves school, he thrives off it, my daughter does as well. But now he just sits there crying and screaming – it’s horrible to watch.”

Having only been to school for six weeks since March last year, Jemma’s son often refuses to learn from home and has become violent.

“I had to have the police come around last week to deal with him, that’s never happened before,” she adds.

“With autism, routine is really key, you can’t just stick an iPad in front of them, it’s not good enough.

“He gets quite angry, so I don’t push him when he doesn’t want to do it.”

Like many others, Jemma has spent thousands of pounds getting her children diagnosed privately because NHS waiting lists are up to three years’ long. And yet she still hasn’t got an EHCP.

Pupils with a range of disorders including anxiety-based ones, ADHD, ASD, and pathological demand avoidance (PDA) can find it impossible to get an EHCP because – with support – they are happy in mainstream schools, special needs consultant Dr Mark Brown told Sky News.

“You need to have huge issues to get anywhere near the EHCP,” he said.

“For those who don’t qualify, it’s because they’re seen as coping – they’re not challenging enough.”

Children and teenagers with autism also do something called “social masking”, he adds.

“Some will behave within a school setting because there are lots of rules and a timetable.

“They also want to behave in front of their friends, because they don’t feel comfortable letting things out at school, but when they get home, all hell breaks loose.”

Fiona, 38, not her real name, has a six-year-old son with autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorders and social communication issues.

She and her husband have spent two-and-a-half years and more than £5,000 on getting him diagnosed in Surrey.

He has been “very bright and verbal” from a young age, but without the boundaries of school and regular occupational therapy, he is unable to learn from home.

“He doesn’t show any signs of autism at school because he has this thing called masking,” she said.

“He realises it isn’t his safe space, so he conceals it all at school.

“How he presents varies according to the setting he’s in, so he doesn’t come anywhere near the threshold for an EHCP.

“Because he’s high-functioning and academically able, we were already falling through the gaps before. Now I feel like I’m firefighting and I don’t want to reach crisis point.”

Catherine, 43, from Buckinghamshire, has a five-year-old son with ASD and PDA and a 10-year-old daughter with no special needs.

Despite his complex diagnoses, she was told his school had “no legal obligation” to have him and he was “too difficult to support” for more than one day a week.

Ten months on, he has just been given 15 hours in school, but says remote learning is still impossible.

Subscribe to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

“He’s got pathological demand avoidance, so if suddenly home becomes the place where he learns, he won’t do it, you can’t fool him.

“I have a window of five or 10 minutes where he might do it, but that’s it.

“And if he starts being triggered and it isn’t spotted, he can become violent.”

Dr Brown explains that with sensory processing problems, SEND children are largely unable to cope with Zoom calls because they can’t do more than one thing at a time.

“For those who have had to do school work at home, it has been horrendous,” he said.

But the situation isn’t just impacting the mental health of the children, it’s their families as well.

Catherine’s daughter is registered as a young carer because of how much she looks after her brother.

“The greatest impact has been on her,” her mother says.

“He refuses to be on his own, so if I need the toilet, she has to be with him. But if he becomes violent, I have to jump out and rescue her.”

Dr Brown says that the longer SEND children are unable to go to school, the less likely they will be to ever go back.

“Autistic children who haven’t been to school for months are going to turn around when they open and say: ‘Well, why do I have to go now?'”

This will have long-lasting effects on their educational, personal and psychological development, he says.

“The problem is that we’re only at the tip of the iceberg, we haven’t seen the full effects of lockdown on these children.

“Meanwhile, it’s causing family breakdowns. The first lockdown was bad enough, but now I’ve heard of divorces or one parent leaving because they can’t take it anymore.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “For the pupils with SEND who cannot attend, schools should ensure those pupils are able to successfully access remote education and should work collaboratively with families, putting in place reasonable adjustments as necessary.”

Source: Read Full Article