Children, Young People and Families
An Example of Inclusive Practice
Below is a letter from a parent to the Educational Psychology Service
explaining how pleased they were with the support their son was receiving:
Hello Mary
My son is 18 years old and has Asperger’s Syndrome. When he was 15 and
due to leave his specialist out-of-city boarding provision I looked for a suitable
transition package back into Sheffield City, to see if he could resume his
education or supported work in his home town. As my son is not classified as
having either a Learning Disability or a Mental Health problem, no obvious
route was available to him. We couldn't even secure a social worker to help
and advise him and us. Eventually we applied for funding from Sheffield
Education Authority so he could continue at his school into 6th form, staying in
full-time education allowing us to further explore what was available to him.
During that time I was in contact with our GP, Social Services, and various
support groups and services but nothing seemed to offer my son the very
particular sort of individual support he was going to need as he made the
transition from boarding school to home. In desperation, in January 2012 I
contacted my local Liberal Democrat Counsellor who referred me to you, and
you brought together specialists from Education, Social Services, Healthcare,
Special Needs support and Employment to find a suitable transition package
for my son. Very quickly MacIntyre Education Trust's ‘No Limits’ programme
was identified as a possibility. They offered a taylor-made support package
with one-to-one workers to help my son make the transition from boarding
school to life in Sheffield - this included introductions to work and education
facilities, as well as basic life skills and any situations that were identified as
barriers to his inclusion.
It is six months now since he first started working with MacIntyre and the
progress he has made has been extraordinary. He buys and prepares his
own food, has applied for a provisional driving license, eats out in public
places, has visited potential voluntary work placements, completed application
forms and looked at a variety of educational projects. He has tried golf and
bowling, and has started to experience social events like comedy shows in
busy environments, which he has never done before. He genuinely enjoys
the companionship of the carefully chosen support workers, and has built up
enough trust in them to continue to explore his work and educational options
despite many of the situations being really challenging for him.
After our meeting today I told him that we are hoping to apply for funding for
further support with MacIntyre and he punched the air - a very enthusiastic
and genuine response from our normally reserved son.
Despite some extremely difficult situations in education over the years the
support we have had from the Psychological Service has been truly
outstanding. His Educational Psychologist Kerrie Underwood has supported
our son from Nursery Education until now, going to extraordinary lengths to
help us find ways of navigating situations that often seemed hopeless. Her
understanding of his very complex needs (and our needs as a family) has
gone beyond anything we could have hoped for, over many years. I doubt our
son would have made any of this progress without her constant help. Your
quick actions last year turned around a new potential crisis, that I couldn't see
our way out of, and the support we have had from the Education Department
generally has been truly life-saving for this young person, who simply wants to
access training or work in his own city.
Thank you Kerrie and Mary - your creative and innovative approach to this
personalised model of education has helped his future to look considerably
brighter today than we would have thought possible.
With best wishes …