Page 10 - SEN113 SEN Magazine July-August 2021-V3

10 Children and young people with SEND disproportionately affected by pandemic Long-standing problems in the system of care for children and young people with special educational needs and/ or disabilities (SEND) have been made even worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report from Ofsted has found. The report reveals the findings of joint visits to local areas by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC). It highlights the effects of disruption caused by the pandemic on the health, learning and development of children with SEND. It describes the negative experiences of children and families, including missed and narrowed education, the absence of essential services such as physiotherapy or speech and language support, and long waiting times for assessment and treatment. By the time of Ofsted’s final visits, inspectors found that families were exhausted, even despairing, particularly when they were still unable to access essential services for their children. The report recognises that children and families’ experiences are in part determined by the quality of their relationships with practitioners and the strength of partnership working in a local area, as well as the extent to which a local area has implemented the government’s 2014 SEND reforms. The report makes several recommendations for improvement in the SEND system, including: • more accessible universal services for children and their families, delivered by practitioners with a strong understanding of how to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND • more accurate identification when children need targeted or specialist support and higher aspirations for children and young people with SEND • a greater sense of joint responsibility between partners in a local area, clearer accountability for different organisations within local systems, and greater coordination of universal, target and specialist local services so children get the right support at the right time. Commenting on the findings, Ofsted Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman said: “Many local area leaders and practitioners have gone above and beyond to support children and young people with SEND and their families during this challenging time. However, our report shows that children and young people were not always getting the education and care they needed, even before the pandemic. “As the damaging effects of the pandemic on children and young people with SEND become clear, so too does the need to ensure that we are all playing our role in supporting them. We will work closely with the Care Quality Commission to develop a new framework to support improvement in the way ■ Keeping active education, health and care services work together to get the best possible outcomes for children.” Richard Kramer, Chief Executive of the national disability charity Sense, said: “Today’s report shows yet again how children with SEND and their families are some of the hardest hit by the pandemic. Disruption to their education, care and support has had a huge impact on their development, as well as their mental wellbeing. Many have regressed in basic learning and life skills as they’ve struggled to access remote education, with some not yet returning to school. This is coupled with other vital support, such as speech and language therapy, being suspended since the start of the pandemic. “We urgently need the SEND review to be brought forward to address long-standing problems with the system and ensure children with SEND receive the right education, care and support to meet their needs and fulfil their potential. We also need a dedicated recovery plan for disabled children, along with appropriate funding and resources, to support them to catch up on lost learning due to the pandemic. As the report says, reform is now more urgent than ever.” News deadline for next issue: 14/8/2021. Email editor@senmagazine.co.uk SEN113 senmagazine.co.uk SEN news