Advise please for my brother

nikkiran

Hi I am writing on here hoping to seek advise for my brother. We’ve always known him to speak slow process things slower and had a ‘diagnosis’ for speech and language impairment. I am a few years older than him and the way his is has become the norm for us- until recently. I really started to pay attention to things he does and the way he spoke and he was ‘different’ and his speech was obviously slower than other people I asked my parents what’s the official diagnosis for him and they said the doctors said he had a speech and language impairment. I contacted the doctors to find out more and they said he had ‘congenial disorder’ on his record no one in our family was ever told of anything like this and the doctor said he should have had specialist input throughout the first 18 years of his life which he never did. He is 19 in October and They said as he is over 18 we need to go through the council for a reassessment. Contacted the council and they said they do not do reassessments for those over 18 unless he’s in college (he not). We’ve always pushed him so hard at school encourage him etc as he’s failed maths English etc but he says his brain doesn’t process it and his short term memory is really poor. He had extra time and a reader in exams. We want to know how can we get him reassessed as the council and doctor has been of no use and any help we can get for him now would be something. Just annoyed at ourselves we’ve just been living ‘normal’ lives with him and not thought to have got him assessed sooner:( 

steve51

Hi @nikkiran

Good Morning & Welcome it’s great to meet you today.

I am one of the Community Champion’s here at Scope.

Sorry to hear about your brother & his current struggles.

We have got a number of senior members & I will forward onto them.

 Hi @Richard_Scope @Adrian_Scope  @Chloe_Scope

Can you please offer me some help with this post??????

Many Thanks.

@steve51

Richard_Scope

Hi @nikkiran
Welcome to the community.
What did the doctor want the council to reassess? Has your brother ever received a formal diagnosis?

newborn

Cling to evidence he had extra time and a reader in exams.   If the school did that, the school knew he had extra needs.  The school should not have sat back waiting for family to know the ropes and do the job.     They should and could have worked with your family and the council and the special  educational needs assesment experts.  Others will know, but I believe if he is correctly assessed, he is not an adult till he is 25?? in terms of being the educational responsibility  of his council.   Training and further education  for special  needs can be a transformation,  and expensive,  sometimes residential, which explains local  authorities wriggling out of their legal duty if they can.

Don't  berate yourselves for not battling before, but if theres the slightest chance it's  not too late, fight now, and fight as hard as you can. Other parents were better informed and knew the systems.  Your brother was wrongly excluded from the adequate extra education he required,  but if he gets it now, he might even yet make up for lost  time.   Instead of  being the only one in class who has no idea what's  happening,  he will be learning in a way suited to his own strengths.

Some teachers do a brilliant job. But u.k. literacy is about worst in developed  world, including  11%(?) still functionally  illiterate and innumerate  at the stage they are being given university degrees.  But all  teachers get paid the same scale and same generous pension and, yesterday, all including  the ones who haven't lifted a finger throughout lockdown got the same pay boost, while carers who risked their lives got not one penny.

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community glad you have joined us.

I cant really give any advice of my own but I hope other members can help and point you in the right direction. Maybe have a look round the site to see if there are any relevant groups or posts

chiarieds

Hi @nikkiran - & welcome to the community from me too. You might be able to find out about getting help for your brother by having a look at some of the following websites. Please see:

https://www.mencap.org.uk/advice-and-support/our-services/learning-disability-helpline

https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/other-services/Learning-disabilities/LocationSearch/90

https://www.supportline.org.uk/problems/learning-disability/

Hope this helps & let us know how you get on, thank you.