I read two stories in the paper today. The government is, at long last, going to introduce means testing for Child Benefit and it is possible that thousands of children will be taken off the Special Needs register.
Apparently, 97% of families claim Child Benefit even when they have massive incomes and have no need of the extra money whatsoever. This money is often considered to be pin money for the mother or is put straight into savings accounts which then go towards making those families even more privileged.
Ideally, families on high incomes should refrain from claiming this money because it is an immoral act. In times of recession it is outrageous to give free money to people who can easily support their children without help from the government when that money should be channelled into organisations to help children from deprived or abusive situations.
Child Benefit should always have been means tested and this nonsense about a universal benefit is just woolly, liberal, vote-toadying wastefulness.
And now we come on to the Special Needs register. I am delighted that we now live in an environment where children with learning and behavioural difficulties are flagged-up and helped accordingly. The recognition and assistance for people with dyslexia, for example, has changed the lives and careers of many people, young and older.
But for a long time I have suspected that a small but growing proportion of children have been labelled as ‘special needs’ because they are not very good at something or are badly behaved. It’s a win-win situation; the school gets paid and the parents can abdicate responsibility.
At Boy the Elder’s first school, his class had 50% of the children statemented as Special Needs. 50%. In a middle class, affluent and relatively trouble-free area. I have witnessed at first hand parents who have had their children statemented and labelled simply because they are unable to cope with their behaviour and personalities. Other families have had to walk across hot coals just to get a bit of reading or maths help for their child because they are falling behind but have no official diagnosis.
Boy the Younger has shocking handwriting and can be a right little bastard. He has neither ADHD nor dysgraphia, both of which have been suggested to me as possible explanations for this. He is left-handed, eccentric and both his father and I have shocking (if characterful) handwriting and, more importantly, I don’t give him enough help with it at home. He attends a handwriting club at school which is really helping, but he does not have a ‘condition’.
My, and our doctor’s, explanation for BTY’s bad behaviour has more to do with four house moves in five years, the separation of his parents and a love-hate relationship with his older brother. He is a deep thinker and has the intellectual but not emotional maturity to work out his feelings. I am a great believer in appropriate counselling and I think this will be of far more benefit and influence than an educational statement or regular gob-fulls of Ritalin.
I have said this before and I will continue to say it until someone stuffs my mouth with socks. As a society we have become too reliant on the idea that someone else must always sort out our problems and take up the slack for our difficulties and failures. We are regressing in our personal responsibility, our capacity to assess risk and our determination to stand on our own feet, stop moaning and get on with it.
If everyone gets help with their children when they don’t need it, it distracts our attention away from the ones who really need society’s help, either financially, emotionally or educationally. So, much as it kind of hurts to say it, I fully support the government on these two measures and support their determination to bring us through this recession, with our help, so that we can build a sustainable foundation for the future.
