Opening Address

Wednesday stream O Session 11.00 - 11.30 Length 25 minutes

Opening Address

Tom Jeffery (Director Pupil Support & Inclusion: DfEE)

Department for Education and Employment

Abstract

Ensuring that special educational needs are identified and addressed is very much at the heart of the Government's education agenda. It is a vital ingredient for the creation of a fully inclusive society, a society in which all members are valued for the unique contribution they make. We must all strive to ensure that children with special educational needs are encouraged to achieve high standards - special needs should never be accepted as an excuse for sidelining children. This is why we are committed to educating children with special educational needs with their peers wherever possible, and why we are committed to securing comprehensive and enforceable rights for disabled young people, students and adult learners in education. I have been very pleased indeed to be able to pilot through Parliament this winter the Special Educational Needs and Disability Bill. I hope it will make a significant contribution to greater progress in meeting children's needs. The debates on the Bill have focused on many of the important issues such as the balance between inclusion and specialist provision, the need for important issues such as the balance between inclusion and specialist provision, the need for early identification to be matched by early intervention and the importance of effective multi-agency support for vulnerable children, whether through statements of SEN or otherwise. I am pleased that my Department has been able to work with various interests to ensure that dyslexia does not go unrecognised in children. As many of you know, I have personal experience of dyslexia - two of my sons have experienced severe dyslexia and because of the lack of recognition and knowledge many years ago inevitably faced great delays in getting the right kind of support. I believe that practical developments, such as the British Dyslexia Association's resource pack "Achieving Dyslexia friendly Schools" produced with the benefit of a DfEE grant, can go a long way towards breaking down the barriers that can impede children's progress. I value our involvement in projects such as the Dyslexia Institute's SPELL IT research study, which is exploring structured intervention programmes in relation to young children experiencing specific learning difficulties. I was also very pleased to announce recently that £100, 000 has been made available for further research by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, Farnborough and others into the development of an early diagnostic aid for childhood dyslexia using jet pilot technology. I wish all of you a successful conference.