IN connection with Blackamoor School and Blackburn Council's review of special schools, one of your correspondents drew attention to the setbacks which special children suffer all too often.

My son attended Broadlands School in Blackburn and did well eventually, as a result of its help. He 'passed' into mainstream education.

A wonderful idea - special children are encouraged and 'normal' children learn to live with them and some may laugh less at those who did not choose to be afflicted.

Good theory, but all factors, human and otherwise, need to be right. In my son's case, they were not and he went backwards in mainstream.

A lack of commitment, not by him, meant that my wife, a primary head teacher, decided, with me, that we needed to try to find him a special school. He is now in one and progressing well. I am distinctly suspicious of trying to put pupils with obvious difficulties in ordinary schools. It was a Tory policy and many of their policies were driven by cost-cutting considerations - the Care in the Community fiasco.

For such a policy to succeed, one has to train the community and not just the patients. The same applies to education.

Teachers need training to deal with special pupils. Far too many are too busy to cope, or worse, too set in their ways; battered by politicians of all colours and intelligence levels.

The 'socialists' seem inclined to carry on such 'saving' policies, but as with so much in British politics, it is short-term gain for long-term suffering.

Suffering not borne by those well-paid bureaucrats and 'thinkers' who put such 'reforms' into effect, suffering borne by those who cannot often make their views known and their parents or carers, who are too busy or tired or both.

J KENT, Fairfield Close, Clitheroe.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.