The 2014 Report: Disabilities and SEN

The act has high ambitions for integrated care and a focus on better outcomes for children with special educational needs (SEN), but is landing in a context that could not be more difficult.

Changes in school funding and curriculum reform, the hated "bedroom tax" and the swingeing cuts to local authority funding will make the feelgood factor from the act difficult to detect.

The act's proposals strike at the heart of the challenges around children's disability issues. How do we actually deliver family-centred care, integrated around the needs of the family rather than the needs of professionals? Can we stop arguing about whether a child has a health or an education need when actually what we mean is who is going to pay for what? And what about the Holy Grail that is information? Can we finally deliver something that really meets needs.

In the words of Coronation Street character Reg Holdsworth and others, knowledge really is power, so as professionals can we use the local offer to really let go and trust parents and indeed young people with it?

Can we say this school is good at meeting the needs of children with dyslexia, for example, and therefore mean these other schools are not? Can we be clear about what's on offer, who is eligible for it, what it costs and who is going to pay?

At the heart of our discussions is culture change, the move from being professionals who have answers working with people who have problems to that of shared endeavour, working with families openly and honestly to find the right solutions for them and their child. As professionals, this requires us to be clear about our sphere of influence.

There are things we can influence and things we can't, but what we can do is to advocate for a rights-based approach and to celebrate and value the lives of those we work with.

On one of our consultations with young people, for example, a young man told us that because of his special needs, he felt "like he was treated like an alien". Next year's wish is for a citizenship approach underpinning all our policy and practice.

By Christine Lenehan, director, Council for Disabled Children.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

• Use the Children and Families Bill as a vehicle for positive change
• Sort out health accountability
• Celebrate and value the lives of children with SEN and Disability and their families rather than seeing them in terms of league tables and costs

Highs and lows of 2013

The Children and Families Bill and the changes in it are an opportunity to develop change in the lives of families and children. But the biggest disappointment has been the demonisation of disabled people, culminating in the bedroom tax, which, despite promises, has an impact on disabled children.