One of Leah’s most painful memories of her former school is the time she was held down for so long by members of staff, that blood vessels burst in her face.
She says restraint was used so often on her there, that she once forced a screw into her toe as a plea for help.
Leah, who’s 18 and from the north of Scotland, is autistic and has ADHD and a learning disability.
Her family had been told that an independent special school – which charged her local council £250,000 per year for a placement – would be able to meet her complex needs.
However, although Leah initially settled at the school, she found herself being repeatedly restrained. The distress this caused led to self-harm – she shaved her hair and eyebrows and pushed Blu Tack into her ears as she tried to get out of the school.
“It was so scary,” she says. “I never felt safe.”
Leah’s is just one story from more than 50 families – along with several staff and a former headteacher – who have spoken to BBC News. They describe how children, many of whom have some of the most complex needs, are being failed by some of these schools.
A golden ticket?
Charlene says she felt she had won the golden ticket when she finally found a specialist school in the south-east of England that would meet her children’s needs.
After 40 schools had rejected her two autistic daughters, Isla, 13, and Skye, 11, she thought that, at last, this independent special school – costing the local authority £100,000 per child per year – would allow them to thrive.
