When bullying is a special problem

TIM collapsed on to his bed after returning from another harrowing walk home from school.

This time, his York mother recalls, an older lad had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threatened to kill him.

"People wouldn't be angry with me any more if I was dead," 12-year-old Tim told her.

The incident prompted her to speak out today against City of York Council's recent policy of integrating children with special needs into mainstream schools.

She claims it is a policy that has left her son at the mercy of violent bullies for nearly two years - although education chiefs strongly defend the changes, saying they have been a positive step forward.

Four years ago, mother-of-two Debbie Sawyer contacted the Evening Press to express worries about implementing the policy.

"The local education authority (LEA) is saying that other children are sympathetic to children with special needs, but children like Hannah (Debbie's daughter) haven't got anything visibly wrong with them, and I'm worried about bullying," she told our education reporter.

"I'm sure every parent ideally would want their child to fit into mainstream school, but you have to think of them as individuals and their happiness as well.

"I really do want this to work, as do other parents, governors and staff, but if it doesn't work, no matter how hard we try, it's going to be at the expense of these children."

Her words would appear to be worryingly prophetic for Tim (not his real name).

He suffers from verbal dyspraxia, a condition affecting speech. He also has dyslexia and the learning age of an eight-year-old.

These differences, his mother claims, have singled him out in the mainstream environment of Oaklands School, Acomb, leading to several beatings and constant taunts - "spassie" and "fat b******" being favourites.

She says the bullies also glued his football socks together and held him down while ink cartridges were sprayed over him.

Tim is one of about ten youngsters who are part of the school's Specific Learning Difficulties Facility. It helps those with severe dyslexia and dyspraxia both within a separate base at the school and through support in mainstream lessons.

Although full of praise of the facility itself, Tim's mother is livid about the behaviour of mainstream pupils towards him - but not altogether surprised. She says he has simply fallen victim to the recent major shake-up in the way children with learning difficulties are taught in the city.

In a nutshell, four special schools - Fulford Cross, Northfield, Lidgett Grove and Galtres - were closed to be replaced by two new ones. These are Applefields (for those at secondary level) and Hob Moor Oaks (primary).

This was chiefly because of dwindling numbers, the lack of facilities for youngsters with severe problems at secondary level and the desire to promote inclusion.

As of today, about 250 York children with serious special needs attend the new facilities, or are catered for elsewhere.

Another 480 youngsters, "statemented" as suffering from some form of learning difficulty, have now been integrated into their local mainstream school where they receive specialist support.

The Oaklands unit is also open to those with more serious learning difficulties like dyspraxia and dyslexia.

Under the old system, however, Tim's mother says he could have attended Fulford Cross, an awarding-winning establishment which expertly caters for youngsters with conditions like his.

"He needs somewhere like that where everyone has some sort of disability and they can grow in confidence," she said.

"The unit at Oaklands is brilliant, but it's stigmatised by the other kids and called the 'spassies class'.

"It's an environment that these kids shouldn't be in, but I've never been offered anywhere else. I'm sure there are other children out there suffering."

Tim's diary, kept on the advice of his mother to record any incidents at school, makes uncomfortable reading.

One extract says: "I've been thinking about bullying.

"On Monday a lad from Year Ten put his hand on my shoulder and said if I touched ****(another pupil) again he would ****ing kill me.

"When I was waiting to go to IT he started thumping and pushing me in the corridor for no reason.

"I was just lining up. I would like to leave this school and stay at home."

His mother accepts that Tim's immature and frequently irritating behaviour is quite often the reason for him being targeted, but says: "That is why he should be in a school with kids who are the same."

Murray Rose, City of York Council's assistant director for access and inclusion, who has implemented the inclusion policy, does not agree.

He points out that the council did not receive a single objection to the changes during a public consultation in 2001.

"The LEA has always listened to the views of parents about their concern that children with special needs may get bullied in mainstream schools," says Mr Rose, who recently launched a city-wide anti-bullying campaign.

"What we know is that there are more special needs children in our schools now than before and that bullying levels are coming down.

Mr Rose also points to dozens of success stories since adopting the inclusion policy.

He gives the example of a girl with athetoid cerebral palsy with very little control over her limbs and who speaks through a specialist computer.

She attended mainstream school for art lessons several hours a week as her parents were keen for her to be integrated into a mainstream setting.

Working with teachers, specialist support staff and therapists, she achieved an A-grade at GCSE.

Oaklands School head teacher Michelle Burns says she cannot comment on individual bullying cases.

But she said: "Where allegations of bullying are made the school investigates carefully and pupils proved to have deliberately caused distress are disciplined and parents kept informed."

But Miss Burns concedes it is not easy for the pupils.

"Sometimes a pupil from the facility may have difficulty in socialising easily with others because of social and emotional immaturity and may attract attention to himself in order to seek friendship," she says.

"This behaviour may take place at break, lunchtime or between lessons and is sometimes difficult for other young people to interpret, since a pupil can be boisterous and over-physical and yet dislike other pupils behaving in the same way. However, all pupils linked to the facility are able to spend their time there at breaks and lunchtimes and they are encouraged to share with Clare Winstanley any concerns straight away.

"All worries are best dealt with immediately and parents at Oaklands are brilliant at letting us know about any anxieties so that we can deal with these speedily."

Mrs Sawyer's fears about bullying, expressed at the dawn of the inclusion policy, have not proved prophetic for her own daughter.

Hannah, who has verbal dyspraxia and a rare neuronal migration affecting her speech, avoided being integrated into a mainstream school and is now happy at Applefields.

What is Mrs Sawyer's view now? "The situation is far from perfect," she says. "There are some children who just don't suit being in mainstream school, but their problems are not severe enough to go elsewhere.

"They should never have closed Fulford Cross."

Updated: 10:03 Thursday, December 09, 2004