Dear Mr.
Hedges,
PETITION
P-05-722 Protect Special Educational Needs
Thank you for
your letter of 21 December 2016.
As regards
the correspondence from Ms Nicola Butterfield (enclosed with your
letter), I find it difficult to comment on the points raised
because her letter cross refers to correspondence from the Minister
which I have not seen. In addition, from Ms
Butterfield’s letter, it appears that most/all of the issues
are directed towards the Welsh Government; but if she has specific
issues that she wishes to raise with the Council, I can put her in
touch with the relevant officers.
However, what
I can say is that all schools in Neath Port Talbot follow the
procedures detailed in the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of
Practice for Wales and we adopt a graduated response in terms of
meeting these requirements, including Autistic Spectrum Disorder
(ASD). This response starts with school level interventions,
including Individual Education Plans (IEPs), for those pupils who
have been identified as needing them and where a concern is
specifically raised regarding ASD the Council has an agreed ten
step pathway (guidance enclosed) involving both education and
health professionals. Ultimately this could result in a
statement of special educational needs following the completion of
a statutory assessment and depending on the circumstances of the
individual child, it may result in a continued placement in
mainstream education or in one of our Learning Support Centres for
ASD.
