Just a piece of paper - EHCPs

We are surrounded by narratives. Little stories that dominate our thinking and the way we see the world. They feed our unconscious bias around SEND.

As a parent of a child with SEND, there are two narratives that plague our lives. They are polar opposites. Both are equally damaging and both are attempts to simplify a complex situation. 

The ‘Tiny Tim’ narrative is one that provokes pity and sympathy. It often stems from a good place, but it relegates all understanding and humanity. The disability becomes the focus and not the person. The child with SEND becomes infantilised as a result of viewpoint. The issues become simplified. The focus ends up being purely about feelings and ensuring the child is happy. As long as Tiny Tim is happy, God bless him. The damage that is done in society and education is long-lasting as a result of this. Issues are brushed under the carpet. Hidden because the child is smiling and happy. SEND children become experts at smiling and being happy. Smiling is seen as progress in the ‘Tiny Tim’ narrative. The emotions dominate everything and as a result academic progress takes a backseat.  

Being a father of a child with Cerebral Palsy, you end up dealing with some bizarre things. Is she getting better? Hasn’t her walking improved? Of course, this is said from a good place but it highlights how we, subtly, simplify disability. These comments indicate that you can be cured of Cerebral Palsy. That we are living to be one day ‘Cerebral Palsy free’. When CP walked (well, wobbled) into our lives, it was here to stay. Life is about living and understanding the condition. Each day we understand it better. CP doesn’t change. We just get better with it. The ‘Tiny Tim’ narrative feeds this idea of healing and curing SEND. We tend to obsess on fixing, healing and curing disability. 

The other narrative is the other end of the spectrum of empathy: The ‘Sammy Scrounger’ narrative. This narrative is the stark opposite to the ‘Tiny Tim’ narrative. The idea that the person isn’t really disabled. That it is all an act. An act to get money from the system. A narrative we have to deal with regularly. Every time we park in a disabled bay we get looks. Even when we’ve plonked the blue badge ceremoniously on the dashboard. It is not until we have assembled the wheelchair that the cold looks stop. Yet, that judgement is there. A narrative that has affected the way people act and behave. The assumption that disabled people are attempting to hoodwink others is constantly at the back of people’s minds. 

The ‘Sammy Scrounger’ narrative has doubt at the centre. It teaches us to doubt, question and withhold support. Is it really SEND? Isn’t it really laziness? Isn’t it really bad parenting? 

Like we are some God, we question whether a child deserves our support or not. Is the child deserving of our support? The idea that this child is ‘stealing’ support from the rest of the class becomes a domineering idea and the teacher positions themselves like some social justice bailiff to enforce justice. They are standing up to this social injustice. Why should this child have extra when they are ‘cheating’ the system? 

These two narratives blight my life and the rest of society when it comes to disability and SEND. Instead of seeking to understand, we have pigeonholed young people into these two categories. Those that are deserving and those that are not deserving. And, sadly, that has been evident in education recently. The EHCP has been the target. A document, if done correctly, is the narrative that teachers should know and not the one that they have inferred or the one that society wants them to have in their heads. 

I speak as a parent and a teacher, with a child with a current, and functioning, EHCP, that is a massive part of the jigsaw in understanding that child. Time and experience helps to build the jigsaw, but in a school when time is precious this is the next best thing. A document that lets you know what the child and parents need you to know about this child so you can make their experience of education better. 

SEND is complex. Vastly complex. In my experience of teaching a range of needs, I have rarely seen a child fit into a category easily in terms of SEND. The need is only part of the person and the relationship between the child and the need makes things complex. As a parent, we deal with CP,  but how my daughter deals with CP is unique to her. A blanket A4 sheet on CP won’t tell you how to handle her CP. And it is her CP. It is all about her relationship with the condition. Not about your views on the condition. Not about your training. Not about your experience. But it is about her and her relationship with the condition. 

There is a confidence in teachers that they know everything about a need because they have taught a student with that need before. Somehow that teaching experience has given a teacher expert knowledge in everything around the need or experience of that child. I have had fifteen years of experience with CP and I couldn’t tell you how to support another child with their CP. That’s because the disability is a part of them. I need to understand not just CP, but how that CP works with that person. The disability is only one piece in the jigsaw. 

Furthermore, our perception is another part of the problem. We base many of our judgements on our own experience. We used to take our daughter to a local swimming pool to swim. Only later did we learn that the coldness of the pool causes discomfort to CP children. The coldness makes the muscles contract and cause pain. I didn’t perceive it as a problem, because it wasn’t a problem for me. My perception was the problem. That is a common thread for us with CP. Our perception is constantly changing as we learn. Neurodiversity, for me, is another issue in this issue around perception. The majority of teachers are neurotypical and therefore have no idea what it is like from a neurodiverse perspective. They don’t have lived experience of the issue. 

It isn’t just a simple piece of paper. It is the start of understanding a child. A piece of the jigsaw. A piece that unpicks our bias. That unpicks our perception. That unpicks our ability to oversimplify issues. 

If you have a problem with EHCPs, then I suggest you have a look at the systems around SEND in schools first. The training. The diagnosis. The support. One little bit of paper is an easy target, but by dismissing it you are dismissing the voice of the child. 

Thanks for reading, 

Xris

I don’t have…

I don’t have 

a minute.  

I don’t have

a  minute 

to check

that the background is black and the text is white,

that the subtitles are switched on, 

that the instructions are given in small chunks,  

that the microphone is switched on, 

that my chair is moved into the classroom,

that my worksheets are enlarged.   

It is just

a piece of paper. 

It is just

a piece of paper

so that I can read,

so that I can understand, 

so that I can keep up, 

so that I can hear, 

so that I don’t feel pain, 

so that I can work and learn. 

It is 

just

a piece of paper. 

It is

just 

a minute, 

but 

it is a piece of 

me.    

My voice.