Parents of Special Education Needs children protest in Liverpool against lack of provisions

• A video report by Granada Reports Reporter Emma Sweeney

A mother forced to homeschool her seven-year-old son because the school he attended could not cope with his additional needs has joined a protest for better provision.

Dozens of parents gathered at St George's Hall, in Liverpool, call for better provision for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) to protest on Friday 13 October.

Michelle Hodson-Tickel's son Bohdi has autism, and she now has to homeschool him.

"The school had tried their best to be supportive," she said. "They did put a few different things in place to see if they worked.

"A lot of them, they would start to work, but then they were very short-lived.

"Things became very overwhelming for him that unfortunately he ended up getting restrained and when that occurred, realised that it is far too much for him."

She continued to say that Bohdi needs "extra things" within his curriculum that she "can't expect a mainstream school" to be able to provide.

Now that Bohdi is homeschooled, Michelle said her son's anxiety has reduced and he is thriving. However, it means she cannot work as much as she used to.

"Because of the cost of living crisis, I do work, but I can't work as much as I want to be able to provide Bohdi and my other children with what they need.

"I would love for Bohdi to be able to go into a school that suits him, but at the moment I don't feel that there are any."

One mum whose son is non-verbal says her son has been "segregated like a prisoner" in his current school because he cannot cope in the classroom.

She said: "We've been battling for my little boy Teddy to find a specialist school with specialist provision for some time now.

"He's eight and he's non-verbal and because he can't cope in the classroom that he's in, he's been put in a five by five room and has been segregated like a prisoner, he spends all of his days in there.

She continued: "There aren't enough spaces in specialist schools. We go through appeals, tribunals and we go through emotional torture just to be told there isn't any place in a school.

"The Government need to do more and find more spaces in specialist provisions so that when we got through the process, there is something at the end of the rainbow where we can give our child the education that they deserve."

One mother who works in an SEN school, whose son also has special educational needs, attended the protest.

She said: "I'm here today because my son does not have a voice so I need to be his voice.

"There are kids here who deserve to be in school. I work in an SEN school and I know how important it is to make sure that we are meeting their individual needs rather than putting them into mainstream where they're really struggling to cope, to manage, to have the funding, so we're here to make sure their voices are heard."

Earlier this year, the Government set out its plan to improve the availability of specialist school places and improve skills in the SEND workforce with an emphasis on early intervention.

They have also pledged to invest £10.5billion in the country's high needs budget for 2024.

Director of Special Needs jungle, Tania Tirraoro, said: "This isn't going to be finished until 2025 at the very earliest so i'm not surprised that parents are still protesting because they're not seeing any changes.

"All they're seeing is their children not getting the support they need and their children not able to attend school because the support isn't there and thew training at the moment isn't there."

Want more on the issues affecting the North? Our podcast, From the North answers the questions that matter to our region.