'It's a minefield': the struggle to support special needs children online

10 March 2025, 08:36

Online Safety Day is today, Monday 10th March, from 7am to midnight on LBC, available across the UK on Global Player on your smart speaker, iOS or Android device; on DAB digital radio and TV, at LBC.co.uk and in London on 97.3 FM.

Teaching online safety to special needs children proves difficult, as the children lack the necessary tools to navigate internet dangers, says teachers.

Yewstock School, teaching children with special educational needs (SEN), has seen a recent rise in online bullying, sexting, harmful language and even behaviours of coercive control between students.

"Schools have a really big part to play in online safety, and our job, first and foremost, is to protect children and young people from harm, and that includes online as well," said Christine Chadwick, deputy headteacher and safeguarding lead at the Dorset school.

Staff described how difficult it is to teach SEN children about the dangers on the web, as they have a "lower level of awareness to danger".

This comes as the new Online Safety Act lays out new rules to protect young people from harmful content online.

Aggie Chambre explains the Online Safety Act

Chadwick said: "It's tricky because so many of our SEN children are tech savvy, but they don’t have all the tools for navigating the online world."

The deputy headteacher said that her students struggle to decipher what's fantasy and what is reality online - and they may implicitly trust influencers, or those messaging them.

"Sometimes they lack critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, they might be more social isolated, they might automatically trust what someone online is telling them," she said.

She pointed out that terms and conditions and privacy settings are not written in an accessible way either.

Read More: The ultimate guide to keeping your children safe online by LBC's tech guru Will Guyatt

The school uses the guidance offered by the Department of Education, safeguarding policies, child protection, mobile phone policies, behaviour and support policies to aid them in teaching pupils about the dangers on the Internet.

E-Safety lead at Yewstock School, Ben Healy, said he is still worried about his students online.

"You can be prepared for one thing one morning, and then by the middle of the day, another thing will have popped up," he said.

He said games, like Roblox, are difficult to navigate for special schools because they may prepare guidance and advice for students for one section - while the game releases another, different, section in quick succession.

He said: "It is really quite a problematic stage of the actual process of having to keep ahead of the game."

A Roblox spokesperson said the platform has four categories for labelling content - minimal, mild, moderate and restricted - and that there are parental controls available that enable parents to restrict access to content. This includes communication restrictions and screen-time limits.

Roblox said they offer information for parents, caregivers, educators and users on safety features on their website.

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Healy said finding resources that effectively communicates online safety to SEN children proves difficult.

"I’m worried about the fact that sometimes it takes three or four times for a student to really take on board what is the problem," he said.

"You have to take into account their attention spans. We need more resources aimed at the TikTok generation. Short sharp videos that get across information," he continued.

"We need to bridge the gap with the generation born with a tablet in their hand."

He argued that educators need to sit down and talk to their students to find out what content they access on the internet.

"We are behind of the perception of what students are actually like," he said.

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Chadwick added that navigating the online world is vital for SEN children.

She said that "giving them the tools so they can navigate the online world is a real life skill".

Using your phone to look up information, book a doctor's appointment, or use an online bank are all fundamental skills, Chadwick argued.

Healy said it's a "minefield" navigating the online world and that it's paramount that schools work with parents to educate SEN children.

Yewstock School helped parents introduce 'Family Link' on their children's devices, which allows parents to filter content and monitor the content the child engages with.

Healy hoped the new Online Safety Act " gets updated every year", to keep up with the ever evolving internet platforms - especially AI.

Chadwick said she was glad the act would hold social media platforms to account as "safeguarding is everyone's responsibility".

Chadwick represents special schools in Dorset on the Dorset Education Safeguard Board.

She urged that educators must "stay current, stay informed, and also share best practice."

A Department of Education spokesperson said they have developed teacher training modules to support teachers to deliver statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) content on online relationships, online and media and internet safety and harms.

The Department said it updated its guidance on Teaching Online Safety in Schools in 2023. This guidance helps schools to deliver online safety content in a coordinated and coherent way across their curriculum.

The Department published ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) which is the statutory safeguarding guidance that all school and colleges must have regard to.

The guidance has been significantly strengthened with regards to online safety in recent years. Online safety is now embedded throughout the guidance, making clear the importance of ensuring a whole school approach to keeping children safe both on-line and offline.

The guidance also makes clear that schools and colleges should ensure appropriate filtering and monitoring systems are in place and that their effectiveness is regularly reviewed. This limits children’s exposure to harmful content while on school-managed computers