"Let's not put those with learning disabilities on the scrap heap" urges John Buchingham at the "Labour List" blog.
Prompted, I suspect, by the recent abuse revelations from BBC Panorama at the Winterbourne View care home and, perhaps specifically by a speaker on BBC Question Time, the central point John makes is, in my view, an absolutely correct one:
"So let’s focus not on who owns care homes; but on changing them from just ‘care’ homes into extensions of schooling – into places where those with delayed abilities can continue to learn ...."
John opens his blog post with an observation about how, for people with PMLD, the experience of leaving school can be very different from that of most people. John is making his point mainly around communication but he might have made the point more broadly true - and perhaps does so when he writes: "Learning is a lifelong process for all of us – but even more so for those who learn less quickly and who need extra help".
As someone involved with the conductive schooling of children with statements of special educational need and then with the same group as they make the transition to adulthood, I come back time and time again to wondering what, in the ideal world, conductive education should be offering this group. At Paces, we have experimented with some innovative ideas - but have precious little funding to establish something sustainable.
The recent SEN Green paper proposes a single "straighforward plan" covering 0-25 years, which points in the right direction as far as "the family's ambitions for their child from the early years to adulthood". However, this aspiration may not have the concrete detail that John Buckingham is reaching for so that learning is lifelong for everyone. For that to be a reality for people we at Paces try to help, we all need to be asking how learning is sustained at 35, 45, 55 and older. Simply being in "Care Homes", whoever runs them, does not go far enough, as John says.
