Like all parents, you want your child to be happy.
But if you are the parent of a child with learning challenges, you may have found this desire frustrated by the problems within a mainstream environment: classes of 25 or 30 students; teachers without special needs training or experience; supply teachers who do not know your child; achievements measured in targets and national norms; a lack of individualised help from fully qualified professionals; the scarcity of a provision that denies your child the therapeutic assistance to which he or she is entitled.
And perhaps most of all, a “one size fits all” approach to learning and SEN.
You will know the cost of such difficulties for your child: Unhappiness. Frustration. Poor Attendance.
You will also be concerned by your child’s lack of confidence, poor self-image and, especially, increasing anxiety.
These concerns may prompt some vital, fundamental questions: What kind of school do you want for your child? What would be its chief characteristics? What of class sizes? The qualification of teachers? The pastoral sense? Will the school be able to help my child develop all that is best within him or her? Will my child be able to reach his/her potential? And will the school really care?
In essence, what kind of environment do you want so that your child may be happy and, indeed, happy in learning?
