Children with severe disabilities: more help preparing for life after school

He said the current system made it hard to prepare disabled students for independent living. Support for disabled students preparing to leave school should be better co-ordinated.

“There’s no clear pathway, there’s no real plan in place and I think this is the biggest finding from my report – planning is talked about, but it’s not done,” he said.

Mr Shanks said parents kept disabled children at school as long as possible because they wanted to delay the shift into the adult world.

He said half of the 40 families he studied were considering placing their children in residential care after they finished school.