When Anthony was three years old he was entitled to 15 hours of free childcare each week. Fantastic. When David turned three years old, he should have been given the same amount. But that's not what he got. He got seven. David only got seven hours because he has autism. Looking back, I can't believe I let it happen.
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I could not agree more. We faced this too until my son got a specialist nursery place.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a really serious problem here at least. You don't know about it unless you've been there and by the time its sorted out, your child has been missing out when arguably they are some of the kids and families that need it the most.
DeleteI hadn't realised this happened, but I am totally with you, it's grossly unfair as every child should have the same right to early education and support. Thanks for sharing with #WotW
ReplyDeleteNow that's something they don't mention. It doesn't seem fair. Fingers crossed that other measures happen that help, although that might be too late for his time at pre-school. #wotw
ReplyDeleteSadly yet another way in which our society lets us down. #WotW
ReplyDeleteThat sounds terribly unfair and discriminatory. Really, that should not be able to happen. I understand our frustration and I hope you manage to successfully fight for more support.
ReplyDelete#WoTW
It should definitely be available to all. Sadly even without any sort of special educational needs a lot of families will not benefit from the 30 hours as many Nurseries will not be able to afford to offer it. Either that, or the Nurseries will start charging separately for meals and snacks in order to supplement the limited funding.
ReplyDeleteI often similar thoughts about my daughter's early days. If we had known then what we know now, what would we do differently. I think though the sad fact is that at that point parents aren't equipped to deal with the system and authorities know it. One day there will be change. There has to be. Thank you so much for sharing such an important post with us at #PostsFromTheHeart.
ReplyDeleteoh no - it really should be available to all. im really hoping it will be available for my little one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking to #ablogginggoodtime
Wow I had no idea they could do that! We haven't made use of any of the childcare system yet but it seems like they make it pretty hard to get what you're entitled to any way! It's so hard to fight the system when you're struggling. Lovely post xx #postfromtheheart
ReplyDeleteOh gosh! I didn't know this was happening!
ReplyDeleteWe were so lucky that EJ had full 1:1 support for her full 15 hours at nursery a couple of years ago.
This is just awful!
Thank you so much for linking up to my accessibility stories, access to education is vital! #AccessLinky
Thanks for highlighting an issue for so many families with special needs children.#postsfromtheheart
ReplyDeleteWe struggled, but eventually we now do get 15 hours of one to one for E. it took nearly a year and he almost had to leave nursery though. It is absolutely shocking that this level of discrimination exists in our society, and yet it passes with barely anyone noticing! #postsfromtheheart #spectrumsunday
ReplyDeletewe grew so frustrated with the education authority with our youngest child, we withdrew him and sent him to private school, we suspected he was dyslexic at around the age of 5 and by the time he was 6-7 he was diagnosed with Attachment disorder, the psychiatrists recommendation was boarding school where he could have consistency and all the support he needed with his learning and other issues linked to his behaviour, he thrived in boarding school and we took him out ages 11 for 2 years when we moved to South Africa, he declined fairly quickly so he went back to the UK and finishes his schooling this year, aged 18. He is a different child/adult now. Having worked in education and support in the UK, I knew that if we could afford private school it would be the best thing for him and us as a family.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to also thank you for your comment on my blog post, we had many friends with disabled children around the same age as our daughter and they were very critical of our choice to find a care home, they now say in hindsight that they should've done the same thing at an earlier age, because they are facing terrible troubles trying to house a now adult child. Either way isn't easy, but just sometimes you know what is best and when the time is right. We've been critised for both our decisions for the 2 of our children with additional needs and the only guilt we feel with the youngest is that we couldn't afford to give the middle 3 children the same opportunities with their education, but it did mean as a family we could focus our time on all them much easier. Sorry for waffling, am off now. :-)
I feel like society really lets down people who are not neuro-typical and it makes me angry. #PostsFromTheHeart
ReplyDeleteOh My Days, I had no idea about this! Joseph was diagnosed after we stopped using the free hours but I know that was difficult anyway to use at the time, it was so inflexible. Why is everything made so much harder for us parents of children with autism? #SpectrumSunday
ReplyDeleteThe right support makes such a difference, for everyone. The child, the family, other children in the setting and the teachers. It is heartbreaking to read when a child is not able to access an educational setting because of a lack of support. #spectrumSunday
ReplyDeleteIf my son didn't get his support at school, he wouldn't be in mainstream. End of. Sorry to hear of your struggles. X
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