{"id":86242,"date":"2026-05-12T09:12:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=86242"},"modified":"2026-05-12T13:46:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T12:46:06","slug":"when-your-child-has-msi-its-like-a-postcode-lottery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/when-your-child-has-msi-its-like-a-postcode-lottery\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen your child has MSI, it\u2019s like a postcode lottery\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mum, Caroline Jones, 43, from North West England, fears her son, 10-year-old Thomas, is \u201cnot really learning anything meaningful\u201d at his SEN school because she believes it lacks the specialist teaching staff he requires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Thomas
Thomas with his dad, Anthony, and mum, Caroline, at Sense\u2019s TouchBase Pears hub in Birmingham.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the spring of 2025, we reached out to all 153 local authorities in England to find out how many multi-sensory impairment (MSI) teachers they employ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of local authorities that do not employ any MSI teachers has increased by 2% since 2021, when it was 52%. At the same time, there are now 4,630 children with MSI in England, an increase of 21% on 2021. <\/strong>The number of MSI teachers has clearly not risen to meet this demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caroline believes that Thomas\u2019s communication would progress faster if he were given full-time one-to-one support at school from a suitably qualified BSL user with deafblind awareness training, but their requests have been refused.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Thomas<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div> \n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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After learning BSL themselves, Caroline and Anthony have been trying to teach more of it to Thomas at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s now signing to tell them he\u2019s off to school, that he\u2019s hungry or wants a cuddle \u2013 and that he loves dogs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas has CHARGE syndrome and is deafblind. He has a designated MSI teacher, but she covers many schools and has a responsibility to monitor him at least once a term.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div> \n<\/div>\n\n<\/div> \n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n

Caroline spoke to us …<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thomas is happy at primary school and has fun playing in the sand. But I worry he\u2019s not really learning anything meaningful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The children in his class are all hearing. They acknowledge him and wave and smile, but they can\u2019t sign to him using BSL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most of his time at school, there are no signers with him who could teach him using BSL. He\u2019s in a special school and the teachers there are all amazing \u2013 but I fear that they can\u2019t meet his needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is that the existing system is completely flawed. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Thomas is assessed, he qualifies for the maximum level of sensory service and MSI support within his local authority, and that sounds like, \u2018Wow! Phenomenal!\u2019 But in reality, the maximum level of support is almost nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many people assume all special schools can meet every disabled child\u2019s needs, but really, when your child has MSI, it\u2019s like a postcode lottery. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no requirement at all for a special school teacher to do MSI training, learn BSL or do vision impairment (VI) training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lots of teachers at Thomas\u2019s school have told me over the years that they would love to learn BSL, for example, but I think it\u2019s all about money. Even if the training was provided free, there wouldn\u2019t be any time or money to release that member of staff to do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Thomas
Thomas is signing with a member of our Children’s MSI team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At home, Thomas\u2019s dad and I have paid to learn BSL. We sign with Thomas and, even though he\u2019s not completely proficient, we try to teach him more. Once he started learning, he began telling us about his day for the first time, signing that he\u2019s going to school or communicating his needs \u2013 like he feels hungry or wants a cuddle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also discovered that Thomas loves dogs. When we meet one in the park or in the street, he\u2019ll make the sign for dog, and I know he wants to say hello. Making it possible for him to communicate like this is so important.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve tried and failed to get Thomas more one-to-one support at school so he can progress, to the point I felt it was hopeless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Thomas<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Laura from the Children\u2019s MSI team at Sense, who has known Thomas for years, has now helped us contact another special school that would have everything for Thomas. They specialise in MSI. He would have a peer group \u2013 but trying to get him in there will be very, very difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if Thomas doesn\u2019t get a place, it will have to be homeschooling when he gets to high school. Even though he\u2019s happy enough now, if his individual needs aren\u2019t met as he gets older, he will become even more isolated at school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caroline fears her 10-year-old son, Thomas, is \u201cnot really learning anything meaningful\u201d at his SEN school because she believes it lacks the specialist teaching staff he requires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":86246,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[1422],"class_list":["post-86242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","display_author-caroline-jones"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86242"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=86242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}