Thirty-two areas of England are set to trial long-awaited reforms for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the government has announced.
And ministers say seven new special free schools will soon be built, creating over a thousand places for children with SEND to receive "high-quality specialised learning".
The expansion of SEND provisions comes with 17% of pupils now being considered as having special educational needs, according to minister for children Claire Coutinho.
Areas being conducting pilots of SEND reforms have been selected to "deliver a ground-breaking new programme to test and refine the reforms to services for young people and families, the Department for Education said.
The trials will help inform the development of new national standards to improve the consistency of provision across the country.
Minister Coutinho said supporting children with special educational needs "is a priority", adding reforms are being introduced to to "make sure every child and young person gets consistently high-quality support, no matter where in the country they live".
She added: “Today we’re making sure that those reforms are informed by the experiences of real families, up and down the country, and creating the thousands of new places at specialist schools and in staff training courses that are needed to make sure our plan is a success.”
But the National Autistic Society said the announcement is "not enough on its own to fix the woeful lack of school places and support for autistic children in all types of schools across England".
