A mum who has two boys with learning and emotional issues says more needs to be done to help children in West Lothian with additional support needs.
Georgina Cassar Brewster has backed a campaign that is demanding reform to the ASN education system and was part of a group of angry parents who protested in Livingston last month, saying their children had been failed.
They descended on the Civic Centre in Livingston with placards and banners as part of the ASN Reform Scotland campaign, which has also seen a petition launched and signed by over 18,000 people.
Campaigners say more specialist schools and support teachers are needed and in many cases mainstream schooling is not in the best interest of an ASN child.
They also say mainstream teachers aren’t trained properly in dealing with youngsters who have complex needs and there are insufficient spaces and unacceptable waiting times for special education school spaces.
Georgina knows all too well the immense hurdles that face parents seeking help for their children as she has boys who have struggled in mainstream education. She’s mum to Ruaridh (7), Brogan (13) and Michael (18) and says she is speaking out so that no other family has to endure what her family has.
Michael has ASD and ADHD, Brogan also has these conditions plus many more complex issues – although has now been finally placed in a “wonderful specialist school” – and Ruaridh has speech and sound communication difficulties.
Georgina said son Michael is out of work as he can’t cope with being in the community and has low mood depression and anxiety.
And despite raising concerns with health professionals, Ruaridh wasn’t referred to speech and language services until he was three years old.
He is receiving speech therapy, but specialists say the muscles in his face aren’t working so struggles to speak and make friends.
Georgina said all three of her boys have been let down by the education system and she feels “exhausted” having to fight all the time to get them a proper education. She continued: “The support needs to be better for them to keep the kids in mainstream and the whole way they make a decision about the ASN placements needs to change.
“The way they write the refusal letters needs re-looked at the whole presumption of mainstream and the GIRFEC (Getting it Right for Every Child) model needs massive changes as they aren’t getting it right for every child.”
A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: “We aim to deliver high quality education and support to all West Lothian children who attend our schools.
“Where additional support needs (ASN) are identified, we will ensure that appropriate individual planning is undertaken within all our settings including mainstream schools Primary and Secondary, Enhanced resource bases or within our six dedicated ASN schools.
“We have invested heavily in specialist ASN facilities, including brand new schools for both Cedarbank and Beatlie in Livingston and an extension for Pinewood and Ogilvie School Campus in recent years.
“Anyone who would like to discuss support for their child and any barrier to learning they may be facing, should speak to their key contact within their current school in the first instance, to engage in opportunities for enhanced planning and review.”
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