Parents are speaking out over a lack of support for children with autism who have additional difficulties.
Forced to sell her home: Alicia McColl with Kian
They say that schools and councils are hiding behind a single diagnosis of autism, ignoring the pupils’ additional issues. These extra difficulties, they say, require extra therapy.
Difficult to gain a diagnosis
The parents claim the authorities concern themselves only with cost-cutting. As a result, they say it is difficult to gain a diagnosis for additional conditions such as OCD.
Official figures show 25.9 per cent of pupils with a statement of special needs or an education, health and care (EHC) plan have autism as their primary need.
Parents tell of a more complex picture
Two parents who believe the official figure masks a complex picture are Alicia McColl and Catherine Mackinlay, both from Surrey.
McColl said she needed to sell her home and has spent more than £38,000 to meet costs linked to 13-year-old son Kian. The money went on Kian’s diagnoses and several tribunals.
Kian has autism and ADHD. He also has disorders in receptive and expressive language, auditory and sensory processing and social and communication skills. In addition, he has dyspraxia and hypermobility syndrome.
McColl said: “They won’t send your child to a speech and language therapist and an OT because it costs them money.”
Struggles over education
Along with husband Jeremy, Mackinlay says she has spent £19,000 since April on struggles linked to eight-year-old daughter Georgia’s education.
Georgia has autism, OCD, pathological demand avoidance, sensory processing disorder, speech and language difficulties and dyspraxia. As a result she has not been in full-time education for three years.
Spent £19,000 on struggles linked with education: Catherine Mackinlay with Georgia
Mackinlay, a psychology graduate who has worked on postgraduate research on carer well-being, said councils have a clear agenda “to downgrade need all the time to save costs”.
‘Start of an understanding’
Malcolm Reeve, executive director of SEND and inclusion at multi-academy group Academies Enterprise Trust, said autism should be regarded as the “start of an understanding” before further investigations are made.
Councillor Richard Watts, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people’s board, defended councils. He said they were doing everything they could within available resources to ensure children are “getting the help that they need”.
Published: 18 January 2017
