How autistic children are being let down by inexplicable ban on private therapists in schools
Speech and language therapy is vital for the thousands of children with communication problems
Whispered during my son’s autistic spectrum disorder diagnosis appointment were two truths about speech and language therapy for young people with communication difficulties: one, that it is integral; and two, that demand for it far outweighs NHS capacity.
We asked about the private sector. More whispering. There was a speech and language therapist who could help. They couldn’t give her name, but maybe we could find it.
Fast forward nine years and my 12-year-old son is on the verge of making the transition from primary school special provision to secondary. It’s a big year.
A sudden change
Until August 2025, his weekly independent sessions were a staple of his timetable. Like most autistic people, his boundaries and routine are rigid – school is for work, home is not – and the emotional overwhelm after the school day is real, so he accessed sessions within school hours, when they were most beneficial.
The arrangement worked beautifully for many years. Staff valued the specialist knowledge, and other children undoubtedly benefited from the additional professional input.
But in August 2025, independent therapists were suddenly barred from the county’s schools. We received no letter, no phone call, no email from the education authority – in our case, East Lothian Council. Instead, we were told by the therapist herself that a policy had apparently changed and she was no longer allowed into any – any – of the council’s education settings.
Incredulous calls ensued, and, eventually, we were thrown “safeguarding” as an explanation. No. The therapist in question – like private and public sector speech language therapists up and down the country – is professionally regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council, adheres to their strict standards, and holds Protecting Vulnerable Groups and Information Commissioner’s Office registrations, as required by law for all allied health professionals.
Pushing back, we were lobbed “equality”: not everybody could afford a private therapist, and so why should our child access that service within school. No. Our son – like every child with his disabilities – is entitled to social security support to help with precisely these sorts of costs.
We were tossed “access to NHS therapy” as an explanation. No. Even in a special educational setting like my son’s, this is now next to nil.
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275,000 children’s wellbeing
We’re far from unique. Figures from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Scotland show that around 275,000 children and young people – that’s one in four – need help with speech, language or communication.
In a recent article for this paper, Glenn Carter, the college’s head in Scotland, explained that communication is fundamental to a child’s wellbeing, learning and participation in school and society, so it’s easy to see why early speech and language therapy support can lead to positive outcomes.
Nicola Holmes, chair of the Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice, agrees, adding that, “across the UK, demand for speech and language therapy currently exceeds capacity in many areas, which is why families often seek support through a combination of NHS and independent provision”.
“The issue isn’t whether therapy is provided by the NHS or independently,” Holmes explains, “all registered speech and language therapists are regulated to the same rigorous professional and safeguarding standards. It’s about ensuring that children’s access to support is not restricted by organisational boundaries. Any approach that delays or prevents children from receiving the help they need deserves careful scrutiny.”
In the case of East Lothian Council’s hastily amended policy – the details of which are now subject to investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office – there appears to have been very little scrutiny at all, and certainly no sense of accountability.
Stop disregarding children’s needs
Paul McLennan MSP has been liaising with the council on behalf of constituents and is dismayed at what he has found. “In discussions with senior officials at the council, it has become clear that there was no consultation nor individual equality impact assessments carried out,” he says.
“I sought a meeting between the council and parents, which the council did not agree to, but I would urge them to meet parents and myself as soon as possible to discuss a way ahead, and not to disregard the children’s needs anymore.”
And that is precisely the point. Children are being failed by this policy, which flies in the face of the national framework of Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC), elements of which are now enshrined in law, implementing the United Nations’ Conventions of Rights of a Child (including, fittingly, article 13, “freedom of expression”).
The ‘marginalisation of a minority’
Families are outraged. Andrew and Karen Ponder, whose daughter has a rare speech disorder, find it “baffling” that a long-term, professionally regulated, private practitioner, with an established relationship, is not allowed into school to treat their daughter, whilst the council provides no guarantee that she will receive specialist support.
“The simplest, most child-centred solution is obvious,” they say. “Allow vetted, familiar, professional private practitioners to deliver sessions in a suitable space within the school. Schools routinely make space for external professionals when it benefits all children. Refusing to do so here is not safeguarding – this is marginalisation of a minority who need help the most.
“The council should reverse this decision immediately and publish a clear, evidence-based explanation for why it believes preventing vetted practitioners from supporting children in school is in those children’s best interests.”
And that is precisely what has been lost here, amid the clumsy rolling out of a policy across vast swathes of Scotland: the interests of some of the most vulnerable children, whose parents and carers accept that the NHS cannot offer their young people everything they need, and who are prepared to pay to equip them with vital communication skills.
Getting It Right For Every Child? Sadly, quite the opposite.
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