Childhood MS and education

Schools have a legal obligation to meet your child’s needs if they have a health condition that could affect their learning, like MS. So it’s important to have good communication with your child’s school or college so they understand any difficulties your child is facing. 

How will MS affect my child’s education? 

MS might affect your child’s attendance or how they complete work. But every child with MS will have different challenges, so it's important that schools consider their individual needs. Some of the ways MS might affect things include: 

• MS symptoms
• the emotional impact of living with MS
• time off from school

MS symptoms

MS symptoms like fatigue, mobility or dexterity problems, or eyesight problems could make it harder for your child to attend school or take part in some activities. This can be particularly difficult with ‘invisible’ symptoms other people don’t notice, like pain and fatigue. 

Problems with memory and thinking (called cognitive symptoms) might affect how they can pay attention at school and take in information.

Your child’s symptoms can vary from day to day. So plans and adjustments need to take this into account.  

The emotional impact of living with MS 

The emotional impact of living with a long-term health condition could make your child feel stressed, anxious or angry about attending school. If they miss time at school that could add to their concerns. 

Time off from school

Your child might miss school to attend medical appointments, or if they have a relapse. Schools and colleges can help minimise any disruption to your child's education if this happens. 

How can I help my child in their education?

There are things you and their school or college can do to help your child in their education. To get support from the school, they need to know about the health issues. All schools have a designated member of staff who looks after students with additional or special needs. This might be:

• in England and Northern Ireland, a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO)
• in Scotland, an Additional Support Needs or Additional Support for Learning (ASL) Assistant
• in Wales, an Additional Learning Needs (ALN) co-ordinator

It might also be a good idea to talk to the head teacher. The main thing is to establish good communication with the staff at your child’s school. This way, issues can be resolved quickly when they come up. 

Information for schools and colleges

You might find it helpful to point school or college towards our website so they can get a better understanding of MS symptoms. For example, how fatigue is not just the ordinary tiredness a teenager might feel. 

But remind them that not everyone is affected in the same ways. The support from the school or college should match your child’s own needs.

When to speak to the school about MS

You might speak to the school even before a diagnosis, or soon afterwards. It can make sense to speak with the school sooner rather than later. But that might not mean changing things at school straight away. 

A diagnosis of MS can be a shock for everyone, so it could be good to take a little time. See how your child is coping mentally and physically before changing too much about their life at once. 

What to think about for adjustments 

There are lots of different adjustments that might suit your child at school or college. Think about how MS affects your child and talk to them about any adjustments they may need to make during the day. For example: 

• asking for more time to complete work
• help with getting around the school or college site
• having more rest breaks.

These are all examples of common adjustments. 

If your child is likely to be away from school for a long time, encourage them to stay in contact with their friends. This can make it less daunting when they’re ready to return. 

If your child is finding things difficult at school, talk to them about ways to manage stress and anxiety. You can ask a health professional to help you do that. And you can find out more about supporting a young person with anxiety on the Young Minds website. 

Contact other families

Some people find it helpful to find out how other families have managed things. You might find families with children with MS through our online forum, or families with similar situations, for example, through the charity Contact.

What can the school do to help my child?

Schools and colleges are required by law to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to help students diagnosed with MS. And even without a confirmed diagnosis, the law could apply, depending on how their health is affected.

Reasonable adjustments are changes the school or college makes so your child isn’t disadvantaged. There are lots of things schools could do to help meet the needs of children with MS, including:  

• supporting your child as they settle back into class if they’ve had time off. While they’re off, that could include a member of staff keeping track of any work missed. Maybe some work could happen at home before they return to the classroom
• having help in the classroom from a learning support assistant or a teaching assistant. Or specific support with certain skills if that’s useful – like reading or writing
• allowing more time to move around the school if needed
• making it easy to access school facilities, including lockers, classrooms, toilets and sports facilities
• avoiding the need to carry heavy books and kit around school

You might also discuss with the school:

• providing access to meditation or other quiet time if that’s useful
• allowing your child a ‘free pass’ to use the toilet whenever they need to
• changing where a child sits in the classroom, if this will help with visual or cognitive symptoms
• using technology to help with your child’s learning
• pacing activities throughout the day to allow for extra rest breaks
• making special arrangements for exams – allowing extra time, for example

Good communication with the school

What’s right for your child depends on their own circumstances and the set-up at the school. Working closely with the school and having open conversations about your child’s needs will help you to find what reasonable adjustments work best for your child. Your child should be at the heart of this ongoing communication.

Adjustments should be personal and flexible

Adjustments might change over time. That’s not just because of the way MS can change day to day, but as you all learn what works well and what might need to be adjusted. Supporting someone with MS is never ‘one size fits all’. 

Expert help for memory and thinking

If your child has difficulties with their memory or thinking, you might find it helpful to ask for a referral from the GP to an educational psychology service. They can identify strengths to build on and areas for support.  

How will my child’s needs in school be assessed? 

Schools must go through a process to plan support for children with additional needs. The details vary in the different UK nations, but the process usually follows a similar pattern:

1. The school will have a member of staff responsible for children with additional needs. They will assess your child’s needs. This could involve talking to you and other members of staff involved in your child’s education
2. The school might work with you to draw up a support plan. This should outline how the school will support your child to achieve specific learning outcomes
3. If your child has more complex needs than the school can provide for, the local authority (council) will usually need to do a more detailed assessment.  This will see if there’s any extra support your child needs
4. If the assessment finds your child needs extra help, a plan is put in place. This plan is a legal document that describes your child’s health and social care needs, and the support that should be provided

Read the government information about support for children with special educational needs in England

Read the government information about about support for children with special educational needs in Scotland

Read the government information about support for children with special educational needs in Wales

Read the government information about support for children with special educational needs in Northern Ireland

Moving onto college or university

If your child moves on to college or university, their needs may be similar, but arrangements for support will be different. For example, older children might need to: 

• contact the college in advance
• think about reasonable adjustments that would be useful
• think about who they'll want to tell about their MS
• look into the financial support that's available

Contacting the college in advance 

School support plans don’t continue automatically into further or higher education. So it’s worth contacting the college or university as early as you can to discuss arrangements and any assessments that could help. Most colleges or universities should have a Disability Adviser who can help you.

Reasonable adjustments at college

Colleges and universities are legally required to make reasonable adjustments to support you. For example, it could be specialist equipment, extra help from tutors, extra time for completing work or in exams, and help with transport.

Disclosing MS to colleges

They might find it useful to tell their course provider about their MS. That can help the provider understand from the outset why they might sometimes have difficulties getting to lectures or completing work. But who and how much they tell anyone about their MS is always a personal choice. 

Financial support for students with MS

Having multiple sclerosis usually makes you eligible for financial help through the Disabled Student Allowance.

Find out more about support as a student on the Disability Rights UK website 

What are the laws covering education and MS?

There are laws and regulations in each UK nation to make sure all children and young people can access education in the best way for them. If you’re in England, Wales or Scotland, you can access free legal advice through our MS Helpline. 

Across the UK

Everyone with MS is covered by the Equality Act (2010) (in England, Scotland and Wales) or the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland. This supports the rights of disabled people, explaining how services, including schools, must not unfairly discriminate against disabled children and adults. Under this law, children with MS count as disabled, however their MS affects them. 

In England:

• The Children and Families Act 2014 outlines responsibilities of mainstream schools to do everything they can to meet a child or young person’s special educational needs (SEN)
• The Special Education Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 describes the process children must take in order to get an Education Health and Care (EHC) assessment and plan
• The SEN Code of Practice 2014 gives guidance on how schools can support children and young people with SEN and disabilities.

In Scotland:

• The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (or ASL Act) sets out your child’s rights to get any additional support they need in school
• The ASL statutory guidance 2017 provides guidance to education authorities and other agencies on supporting children’s and young people’s learning

In Wales:

• The  Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 sets out the duty of local authorities to identify and provide for children with additional learning needs.
• There are extra details that fit with the Act in the Additional Learning Needs (Wales) Regulations 2021 and the Additional Learning Needs Code for Wales 2021

In Northern Ireland:

• The Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (SENDO) and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 sets out the rights of children with SEN
• The 1998 SEN code of practice gives guidance to schools on supporting children with SEN