BLACK BRITISH children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are being failed by the education system, according to leading campaigners and parents.
SEND can affect a child or young person’s ability to learn and impact behaviour, ability to socialise and can influence a child’s reading and writing ability, understanding and concentration levels, depending on their diagnosis.
In the United Kingdom, a landmark study by Oxford University, found that Black Caribbean pupils, including those with mixed heritage, are twice as likely to be identified as having special needs compared to their white peers.
A lack of understanding of cultural differences, racism from teachers and ineffective classroom management are among possible factors cited in the report as possible reasons for the over-representation.
A Department for Education (DfE) report published in June 2022, into SEND of pupils in Britain found Black Caribbean pupils have the second highest percentage (5.4%) of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan, with only pupils of an Irish Traveller background having a higher rate.
However, many black parents say despite having these legal plans they are still facing challenges getting the right support for their children – which is having repercussions on their education and development.
Natasha Lynch, is a mother-of-four from Shepherd’s Bush, west London, whose children are aged 20, 14, five and two. Her five-year-old son, Natai, was diagnosed with autism two and half years ago.
She initially thought with the relatively early diagnosis things would be straightforward, but she says she has been left with more questions, as she has not been told where exactly her son is on the autism spectrum.
Ms Lynch’s son is non-verbal and uses some signals to communicate with her.
She told The Voice: “He has a certain level of understanding, but he’s very repetitive. If I clean the room he has to have toys scattered on the floor.
“Anything you tidy up he has to come and mess it back up.”
Ms Lynch, an entrepreneur with a successful events business, said she had to “fight tooth and nail” to get an EHC plan for her son – which was only granted three months ago.
She said: “I had problems getting him into a school, and when I finally got him into school they would only take him for two hours because they said they couldn’t deal with him.”
She then moved him to another school and said things were looking up, and he started his first day, but she was called and told “it’s a bit much.”
“He’s in full-time now and they have bought in a one-to-one to work with him, she’s amazing. She’s a young black girl, whose only 19. She’s with him all the time, so I feel confident,” she added.
The mother-of-four says she has seen a “huge improvement” in her son since he started school and was given the extra one-to-one support.
Although he has a school place, she said she is still struggling especially during school holidays, as her two-year-old daughter has been given a nursery place but Natai stays at home.
“There’s no support for Natai in the holidays, there’s no day centres I can take him to, no activities,” she explained. The places for children like Natai seem to always be fully booked already.
“It’s hard because I can’t do activities with my older kids because there are certain places that I can’t take him, he won’t go on public transport, it’s difficult to balance it,” she said.
She added: “He tries to climb out of the window, he doesn’t have any sense of danger, he will run out into the road.
Ms Lynch previously worked with children with special needs, and believes this helped her to spot what she describes as a “delay in her son’s development” – which prompted her to go back to her doctors and request further tests.
When Natai was one, she returned to work and he was being cared for by a childminder but Ms Lynch knew “he just wasn’t developing right.”
She said: “I noticed he wasn’t saying any words and had long beautiful hair that he had ripped it all out with his hands.
“He was biting his hands and was just doing things that I had never noticed with my other two kids and I just knew this is not right.”
Ms Lynch said she was trapped in a “vicious cycle” before eventually finding a suitable school for her son.
“They were saying he couldn’t have a EHCP plan unless he was in a school setting, but no school would take him, so I couldn’t get the plan and funding for him.”
Under immense pressure, she said she wrote to local MPs, her doctor and social services for assistance.
She maintains that schools had spaces but just didn’t have the capacity to deal with her son’s needs.
Ms Lynch believes there is a lack of funding to cope with the growing demand for children with SEND and says the government need to do more.
Black children with SEND are increasingly likely to be permanently excluded from school for behaviour which is a result of their condition rather than malicious intent.
Meanwhile some black parents are not requesting assessments because they don’t want their black child labelled, which puts them at additional risk of exclusion due to the lack of diagnosis and extra support.
Another black mother, who spoke to The Voice anonymously, revealed that her son, Simon, (not his real name) was permanently excluded from primary school at the age of six because of behavioural issues but was later diagnosed with ADHD and autism.
Esther Thompson, (not her real name) from London, believes racism, discrimination and a lack of teacher training in SEND is driving schools to wrongly label black children as badly behaved rather than support parents to find out what the real issue is.
Simon has attended four primary schools – three mainstream and one specialist school – but is currently being home schooled.
Ms Thompson said the problems quickly started while her son was in reception class and they were often labelled as behavioural, such as being “easily distracted.”
Eventually, the communication broke down and Ms Thompson decided to take Simon out of the school.
At Simon’s second school he experienced bullying, which was never addressed by the school. His school day was reduced to a few hours before he was permanently excluded, despite being assessed for a EHC plan.
Ms Thompson says the lack of patience given to her son and his needs was because he is a little black boy.
Ms Thompson told The Voice, a teacher told her Simon could go into a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) to be assessed.
She said: “As a black parent, my issue is with the statistics of children who do go to PRUs where do they end up? What are the outcomes for these children? The attainment, the GCSEs? The outcome is terrible.
“It’s a straight route into a Young Offenders Unit, the children don’t tend to get qualifications if they go to a PRU.
“I was told it would only be for an assessment period. Why would I send him to a place where they lock children into classrooms?”
She filed complaints and was considering judicial review but I couldn’t afford it.
As a last option, Ms Thompson decided to try a school for children with Social and Mental Health needs as well as ADHD and autism.
Ms Thompson said the school was a “traumatising” experience for her son.
“When there are children with lots of trauma they shouldn’t be in the same setting, with children that only have a neurodivergent condition.
“They are put into an environment where children are throwing things, kicking and fighting and they might not have that problem and my son didn’t have that problem and then they want to copy.”
Ms Thompson cited a dramatic “change in her son’s behaviour” as the reason why she took him out of the school straight away. “I took him out for his own safety and wellbeing,” she added.
“He is very intelligent, I don’t see my child as having a disability, I feel he thinks differently to us, his mind is very powerful. He sees the details that other children don’t,” she said.
She also revealed social services referrals were made against her based on what her son had said.
She describes the racism and discrimination faced by her and her son as “very subtle” but extremely hurtful and dangerous.
Looking to the future, Ms Thompson said: “I would not consider a mainstream school again because the teachers do not have the time, there tends to be a lot of children who need extra provisions and I think a class of 30 wouldn’t work.”
RIPPLE EFFECT
“The resources are just not there, it’s not the environment that he would feel comfortable in.”
With her son due to start secondary school in a few years, Ms Thompson is already anxious and says she has already heard there is “even less support” for children with additional needs and is concerned her son would struggle.
She is urging other black parents to get their children assessed as soon as possible if they are concerned.
But delays in the assessment process could be ruining children’s education, which could make all the difference to their school life and educational outcomes.
She said: “If you feel something’s not quite right, push for that Paediatric and Educational Psychologist assessment because then that informs everything else.”
“You need to advocate and do what is best for your child and not what you are being forced to or think that you need to do, by a school system that I think is broken.”
According to education experts, longstanding systemic racism and discrimination in Britain’s education system continues to have a catastrophic ripple effect on a new generation of black pupils.
Dr Shungu M’gadzah is a leading Educational Psychologist and provides Psychological assessments and is an expert witness for education SEND appeals.
She said the disproportionate rate that Black Caribbean children are being mislabelled as disruptive is a “major concern.”
EXCLUSION
Dr M’gadzah told The Voice: “The lenses through which Black children are viewed is that of being disruptors and they are seen as having behaviour problems, whereas if we were looking at white children, schools would look at their needs and they would look at the barriers to learning.
“They would look at specific learning difficulties, or impulsivity and ADHD, but when they are looking at black children they tend to dismiss that.
“They just look at the behaviours and you get a focus on either Adultification, and seeing them as deliberately naughty, rather than there is some kind of barrier which needs to be worked with to help them.”
Dr M’gadzah, who is also a Diversity Equity and Inclusion Coach and Trainer, believes teachers need more anti-racism training.
“When children are referred to educational psychologists, what often happens is educational psychologists collude and go along with that label of the disruptive Black child and they don’t ask what are the key barriers to learning?”
The history of Black children’s experiences within the education system in Britain has been problematic for several decades.
EMPATHY
During the 1960s and 70s, hundreds of black Caribbean children were labelled as “educationally subnormal” and were sent to special schools.
This blatant discriminatory practice helped to birth the rise of the Black supplementary school movement across the UK.
But decades later, Black children are still underachieving at school and have one of the highest rates of permanent exclusion.
According to government figures, black Caribbean pupils had the second highest permanent exclusion rates between 2018 and 2019.
Cheryl Phoenix is the founder of The Black Child Agenda, a well-known community organisation that helps parents from the African and Caribbean community – whose children are failed by the UK education system.
Speaking to The Voice, Ms Phoenix said she has seen a rise in more Black children being diagnosed with SEND, which she puts down to how “they are treated in the education system” and how Black children react to unfair treatment.
She said: “If you are treated in a certain way on a daily basis eventually you are going to respond and children only know one way to respond and that is lashing out, being rude or what is perceived as being rude and not doing as they are told.”
Ms Phoenix stresses that these should not be reasons children are sent to have SEND assessments, and wants schools to have empathy for Black children and not just assume they are bad or come from a “dysfunctional household.”
LABELED
She said: “It could also be that something has happened at home, a lot of the time you could have bereavement in the family, there could be mental health at home going on, there are a lot of underlying reasons why children are being diagnosed or misdiagnosed.
“Sometimes all they need is a bit of attention and care, so that they can overcome that but they are not given that they are just labelled as disruptive, badly behaved or the parents are blamed and social services is the number one speed dial for a lot of schools.”
Ms Phoenix, who has extensive experience helping Black parents, said the problem is affecting both children of African and Caribbean backgrounds.
“There is a steep rise in children of African heritage also being painted with the same brush,” she said.
She said: “You have got new families that are coming from Africa in particular, and their children are first generation born here, so there is a massive cultural difference in how things are being presented through the children whilst in school, so it is easier sometimes to label them because schools get a lot of money for children that have a SEND or EHC plan.
“There are many children who need additional support, sometimes English is not their first language and they are not accessing the support or parents turn it down through fear of that label of their child being different – most parents see shame in that.”
Ms Phoenix said there is no harm in parents getting their children checked if they are struggling from a “behavioural or academic perspective.”
She said: “At least they know what is going on and know how best they can support them and ensure the school can do the same thing.”
Ms Phoenix wants a national investigation to take place to look at how black children are treated within the British education system from primary to university level.
She said: “We don’t want a report, we want a proper and thorough investigation not with just recommendations but also law changes on how our children are being treated, labelled and diagnosed.”
All maintained mainstream schools and mainstream academy schools (including free schools) must have a qualified teacher, or the head teacher, designated as the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO).
The DfE says discrimination has no place in schools and if a school has discriminated against a pupil on the grounds of their disability, a claim can be lodged with the free SEND Tribunal.
The DfE encourages parents and carers to contact the SEND school co-ordinator or if you think your child may have special educational needs.
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6 Comments
This particular Voice report, into why His Majesty’s African-heritage pupils are more likely to be classified as “special needs,” requires a detailed a thorough response; rather than a comment.
Having gained this “special needs” diagnosis however, the African-heritage pupils and parents are marginalised; ignore or left to fend for themselves; as this report reveals.
I have seen a U.S. Report which suggested that African-heritage boys are more sensitive to the battery of vaccines and inoculations babies and children are given these days.
Could this finding explain the disparity of English pupils of African-heritage with mental health and other “special needs?”
As parents and wise people of African-heritage, surely preventing a “special needs” diagnosis ought to be our central mission, as our best way of helping and assisting future generations of England’s African-heritage Subjects.
Hello this Article is amazing, I have a 22 year old Autistic son, and have gone though untold issues, I need advice, on what route to make a complaint or speak to someone, that could enlighten me, knowledge is power.
I read this article with interest today 6th March 2023.
Few days ago I was watching a TV documentary on this same subject on NHK.japan/world
I note that it is not only the African-heritage experience in UK.
I wanted to pass this on, as it may help with so many questions, and thinking.
You can access this link, and go to the ‘Documentary’ page.
Very best.
ANON
This is the reason why I decided to set up a YouTube channel called Apparent Pathway, to share these nuances. I have advocated for my son, who is now in further education, through these challenges and can not under estimate how important it is to stay empowered.
Special Needs Jungle launched a new panel in January 28 2022 on Race and SEND called the SNJ Intersectionality Panel.
The panel is led by SNJ’s Associate Editor: Marguerite Haye and Mala Thapar, also the parent of a disabled young person. Marguerite and Mala both understand these issues intimately and have previously written an article on SNJ about the problems faced by people from minority, in particular, Black and Brown communities.
https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/launching-snj-intersectionality-panel-focusing-on-disability-race-cultural-discrimination-send/
There is alot of work being carried out across the UK, unfortunately local SEND groups and Black/Brown SEND led groups do not participate or may not be aware.
If The Voice newspaper could connect with Autism Associates and that are prominent in such as SNJ, SEN parenting, A2ndvoice CIC, The Big E, Include Me Too, Mistaught, Happy In School Projects, Chronically Brown, Autism Voice UK, BME Volunteers, so many Black and Asian SEND advocates who speak at government level. Why is there not reports covered of this?
The Voice can do better by doing a range of articles with disabilities and not just SEND which is not a diagnosis.
National Autistic Society: Supporting ACAME autistic people and their families
2017
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/bame-families
Autism Voice UK
Autism in BAME Communities 2018
https://www.autismvoice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Autism-in-BAME-Communities.pdf
Ethnic minority children not equally identified with Special Education Needs 2019
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2019-02-13-ethnic-minority-children-not-equally-identified-special-education-needs
Black Pupils more likely to diagnosed with special needs
2019
https://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/article/black-pupils-more-likely-to-be-diagnosed-with-special-needs
2021
SNJ In Conversation: Race, discrimination, exclusion and intersectionality in SEND
https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/we-need-talk-about-race-send/
Suzy Rowland: Where is the research into Black autism and ADHD 2021
https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/black-autism/91621
There is a lot of evidence to support the severity of impacts on Black children via lack of vitamin D3 due directly to poor quality Sunlight in nations like Britain. D3 deficiency does stunt a child’s mental development, and there are other dietary factors that inhibit brain function such as EPA & DHA oil commonly found in fish – these oils, including hemp oil, are known to be VITAL in healthy brain development and function but are commonly lacking in the modern diet. We do also need to get alert to vaccine adjuvants like mercury & aluminium which are known to impair brain function – we simply just cannot continue to blindly trust that vaccine adjuvants are ‘safe’ in face of reputable lifelong studies as performed by Professor Christopher Exley, who as a direct result of his work, has suffered death threats and faced derision & ridicule by UK media and its corporate-pharma backers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Exley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jc9vWXRmA0&ab_channel=TelevisionJamaica