Many parents who have children with special needs seriously consider home educating their child. It throws us lots of issues - especially if they are statemented. Today. home education expert, Fiona Nicholson, who has given evidence to government committees on the subject of elective home education, talks to Special Needs Jungle about these issues and how to go about teaching your SEN child at home.
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Some parents decide when their children are very young that school is unlikely to meet their needs. But most children who are home educated did go to school for a while first. When it comes to the crunch, many parents feel they have no choice but to home educate because of problems in school, especially when children are bullied. Children with special needs are often singled out because they are different.
The school day can be very long for a child with special needs and children always come home tired or angry. Many parents say it's less tiring to home educate because they can go with the flow more. It may mean that parents have to give up their job in order to home educate, so I do get asked a lot of questions about the benefit system.Children with special needs have an equal right to be educated at home. A significant number of autistic children are home educated and the National Autistic Society has information on its website about home education.
One parent told researchers: "the number of HE families in the UK is growing rapidly, as many are literally forced to it by bullying in the schools that the school system can’t/won’t protect their children from, and/or by the failure of the schools to decently address special needs. We are one such family, and know many others. We are not choosing home education as an alternative lifestyle choice, but have been left with no other acceptable option." Another parent commented "regrettably, we would never have considered home ed until forced into it because of bullying. We now wish that we had always home educated her."
Home education isn't a decision which is taken lightly. Parents are anxious about how children will make friends and they do worry about whether they are keeping children wrapped in cotton wool or protecting them from the real world.
In fact there are many social opportunities for home educating families. The internet is widely used by parents to link with others in their area and nationwide. There is also a thriving internet community specifically for home educating parents with special needs children. Parents who are just thinking about whether they could possibly manage to home educate and what it actually involves can join and ask questions from parents who have already made the transition.
If the child is a registered pupil at a mainstream school, the parent wishing to home educate should send a written request to the school for the child's name to be taken off the school roll. You don't have to ask for permission. It's the same process whether the child has a statement of special needs or not. The statement will need to be modified to take off the school's name and to say that the parents have made their own arrangements.
If the child is a registered pupil at a special school, the parent does require consent from the local authority before the child's name can be removed from the school roll. Some local authorities will ask for further information about how home education will accommodate the child's special needs.
Even when children have a statement of special needs, the local authority doesn't have to help or provide services once the child is out of school. On the other hand, the statement isn't enforceable on the parents, as long as they are making provision for the child's special needs. This gives families more responsibility but more freedom as well.
In England the Department for Education has said that the local authority can claim back money spent on SEN support and the latest Government rules say this can be agreed on a case-by-case basis with the family. The total amount that the Council can claim is the same as schools receive for each pupil. However, it's totally up to the local authority and not many have taken it on board yet. You need to be mentally prepared for the possibility that you'll get nothing once your child is out of school.
Once parents are home educating they obviously have less opportunity to go out to work and earn a living. Carer's Allowance is payable to people who are caring for a child or adult receiving Disability Living Allowance at medium or higher rate. Home educating parents - including lone parents - are entitled to claim Jobseeker's Allowance if they are prepared to agree to the qualifying terms and conditions. Home educating parents can also claim Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit for self-employment which can include working from home.
Links:
You can find FAQ here http://www.he-special.org.uk/content/homeedfaq.php
My website has a lot of information about home education law and SEN and also about state benefits http://edyourself.org/
Founder, Co-Director at Special Needs Jungle
Founder of Special Needs Jungle. (She/Her) Parent of two young adults with autism. New grandma. Tania, who is autistic, is a leading SEND advisor, working with the Special Education Consortium, Ofsted, and Whole School SEND. She is also an Advisory Board member of the Royal Holloway, University of London Centre of Gene and Cell Therapy and an Editorial Board member of Springer Nature Gene Therapy journal.
Tania is an experienced broadcast and print journalist & author. She also runs a PR, web & social media consultancy, SocialOro Media.
Tania is a rare disease & chronic pain patient advocate with Ehlers Danlos syndrome.
Tania is an experienced broadcast and print journalist & author. She also runs a PR, web & social media consultancy, SocialOro Media.
Tania is a rare disease & chronic pain patient advocate with Ehlers Danlos syndrome.
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I wonder if it is possible for a child to attend school on a reduced timetable but to also be homeschooled on a part-time basis?