Harvey Hind has just turned five. He can count to a thousand. He can recite the alphabet – forwards and backwards – and he loves Play-Doh and cars.
The youngest of three children, Harvey is deafblind. He is severely sight impaired and uses bilateral cochlear implants as he is profoundly deaf.
Like so many other families, Harvey’s parents have had to fight tooth and nail to secure the educational support he needs. Now they’re worried he could lose out again because of government plans to overhaul the special educational needs system in England.
The family, who live in Clitheroe, Lancashire, waited more than a year for an education, health and care plan (EHCP) – a legally binding document that details the extra support to which Harvey is entitled – when it should take no longer than 20 weeks.
The start of his educational journey was far from ideal as a result. Harvey was given a place in a busy mainstream nursery where, despite the best efforts of excellent staff, he simply could not cope. “It was heartbreaking,” said his mother, Kimberly Hind, 35.
“He was anxiety-ridden. It was distressing and extremely challenging on every level. He stopped eating, sleeping, listening, talking … everything. He just became this little boy that we didn’t recognise.”
He became so upset that for three months he didn’t go to nursery at all and his mother had to give up her job managing a primary school kitchen to focus on him. In September, he started at a special school for deaf children and is thriving.
His mother agrees the current system needs reform. “Yes, we need change, absolutely because it is not working how it is.” She is worried, however, that the government’s changes, due to be unveiled imminently, will involve funding cuts that could affect Harvey.
“I fear they will have the power to take back what we’ve fought so hard for in the first place if there’s cuts to funding,” she told the Guardian.
“Harvey does receive a lot of funding now that we fought for because he needs it. If they strip any of that back, he will suffer again.
“Are we going to go backwards? The barriers we’ve spent so long breaking down, are they going to rebuild them again? All the struggles we’ve been through – I just don’t know if we could get through that again.
“I don’t feel confident at all about how the education system might change for disabled children – and this is from actual experience, it’s not just an opinion.
“You can change anything by law but the local authorities still won’t follow it. They don’t have the staff, the funding or the training.”
Happily settled in his new school, Harvey is like a different child. It’s a long journey for a small boy – an hour and a half each way – but he’s in a class of five instead of a big group. “When he wakes up in the morning the first thing he says to me is ‘Mr Jones’ – that’s his class teacher,” said his mother.
“He runs out the door to his school taxi and comes back home extremely happy. He’s come on so well cognitively, too. Everyone says he’s very bright, especially with maths.
“But the ordeal Harvey went through, when he was missing out on specialist provision, has had lasting effects. He loves adults and he loves his brothers but he’s still frightened of other children and won’t interact with them.
“I think those early years of education are so important and if disabled children with complex needs miss out on them it has an impact for a very, very long time, if not for ever.”
