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Chapter 2: Severe Low Incidence Disabilities
Criteria
1 The Committee's remit refers to the term severe low incidence disabilities as used in the document Special Educational Needs in Scotland: A Discussion Paper. The Committee recognises that this term does not have any formally accepted legal, educational or medical status. Indeed it received representations that the use of such a term could be seen as a departure from the principles of the 1978 Warnock Report which called for an emphasis on needs and not the difficulties which lead to those needs.
2 Whilst wishing to avoid categorising children in relation to their disabilities, the Committee feels that the significance of some children's impairments has to be recognised as a first step to safeguarding the additional resources required for their education. The Committee also felt it was important to consider criteria which could be used to define broadly the group of children with severe low incidence disabilities as a subset of children with special educational needs. It also took account of a number of factors when arriving at a defintition.
3 First, there are no objective criteria which define absolutely whether or not a child has special educational needs. The legal definition in section 1(5)(d) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 states that children and young persons have special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty which calls for provision for special educational needs to be made for them. A learning difficulty is present if children or young persons have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of those of their age, or if they have a disability which prevents or hinders them making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for pupils of their age. This definition also applies to children under the age of 5. For the purposes of the Act, children and young persons are not regarded as having a learning difficulty solely because the language in which they are taught is different from that spoken in their home.
4 Second, the Committee noted that epidemiologists are able to provide data on the prevalence rates of rare and specific conditions and syndromes. These rates are, however, indicative, not comprehensive and do not reveal the varying provision required to meet the needs of children with these conditions. Similarly, there exists a wide spectrum in particular conditions or impairments, such as visual impairment, hearing impairment, cerebral palsy or autism.
5 Third, the needs of most children with severe low incidence disabilities are such that they should have a Record of Needs. Pupils with a Record of Needs have special educational needs which are pronounced, specific or complex and which require continuing review. It is evident, however, that not all children with a Record of Needs could be considered as having severe low incidence disability. Again, a spectrum of needs exists. In addition, education authorities differ in the extent to which they open Records of Needs. In September 1997, there were 14,912 pupils resident and educated in Scotland with a Record of Needs (excluding pupils in nursery schools). This number represented 1.9% of the pupil population, although recording rates by authorities vary across Scotland ranging from 0.8 % to 2.6%. (Table 1b, Annex C) This variation in practice means that some children with severe low incidence disabilities, such as extreme forms of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, might not actually have a Record.
6 Fourth, there are no precise figures available on the number of pupils likely to meet a definition of severe low incidence disabilities. The Committee was assisted by the Scottish Executive Education Department (Education Statistics Division) which analysed data from the 1997 School Census based on appropriate categories of main learning difficulty which the Committee considered likely to fall within severe low incidence disabilities. ESD's analysis included the following categories of main difficulty in learning:
7 Table 1a.2 in Annex C uses these categories to provide a breakdown by responsible local authority of numbers of pupils in local authority special and mainstream schools, grant-aided and independent schools. The total number of pupils resident and educated in Scotland with the above main learning difficulties was 8,745 at September 1997. This number represents 1.1% of the school population, with rates varying across authorities from 0.6% to 1.4%. This is likely to be an over estimate of the actual number since the figures include all pupils within several categories, such as visual and hearing impairment, and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, whereas some but not all pupils in these categories will have severe low incidence disabilities.
8 The Committee took account of these factors when agreeing on a working definition of the group of children and young people likely to come within its terms of reference. It was grateful for advice received from a variety of organisations and individuals before adopting the following definition of severe low incidence disabilities:
Children and young persons with severe low incidence disabilities have pronounced, specific or complex special educational needs which are such as require continuing review. The degree of inter-agency co-operation, planning and support required to meet their needs is greater than that usually required to meet the needs of children and young persons. In addition, they require a high level of educational support in one or more of the following areas:
Their incidence in any one local authority is small. It is likely that they comprise between 0.5% and 1% of the population aged between 0-19 years.
A consequence of the interaction of the above factors is that local authorities may not currently have adequate and efficient educational provision for these children and young persons.
9 Annex D shows sample case studies of the kind of children and young people whom the Committee considers within its remit. The Committee adopted this definition purely as an aid to its discussions, however, and does not propose that it be used for any other purpose or in preference to any existing legal definition
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