PARENTS who have children with a learning disability say they are not getting enough support in the classroom, a new survey shows.

The poll by the ENABLE Scotland charity found 70 per cent of children said they lacked support while 94 per cent of parents felt schools were not getting enough resources to work with them.

The survey, of more than 250 parents and children, also found 85 per cent of young people with learning disabilities said they were excluded from opportunities offered to other pupils.

Julie Brown, an Aberdeen parent who took part in the survey, said: "For three years I did everything I could to keep my son in school and get him the correct support because that is what he wanted.

“But despite teachers being supportive they could not provide an appropriate learning environment and the experience left my son believing he was stupid and useless."

Jan Savage, the charity’s executive director of campaigns, said the survey would now be extended to teachers to get their perspective.

She said: "We want to get a picture of what education is really like for young people who have additional support for learning needs, including learning disabilities.

"It is clear at this point that we are not getting it right for too many children who have learning disabilities in Scotland’s schools - a picture underpinned by the fact that additional support needs staff have been cut by 10 per cent since 2010."

The campaign comes just days after the NASUWT teachers' union called for smaller class sizes when teaching pupils with special needs such as autism and dyslexia.

Under the policy of inclusion, more pupils with additional support needs (ASN) are being taught in mainstream rather than special schools.

However, surveys have shown teachers are concerned the increase has led to rising indiscipline and a negative impact on the education of other pupils.

Jim Thewliss, general secretary of School Leaders' Scotland, which represents secondary headteachers, agreed that support was patchy across the country and that there were areas where support was not as good as it should be.

However, a spokesman for the local authority umbrella body Cosla, said councils took their responsibilities for additional support needs pupils extremely seriously.

He said: "Councils are under huge resource pressure, but there can be no suggestion that local government is doing anything other than delivering on its legal responsibility to children with additional support needs.

"This rather gloomy survey fails to convey firstly the good job councils are doing in this area and secondly the complexity of the issue at stake or the dedication shown by staff, schools and local authorities to children in their care."

Under the 2004 Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act a statutory duty is placed on local authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils.

ASN covers pupils with a range of issues including learning disabilities, dyslexia, a visual or hearing impairment, language or speech disorders, autism and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

There are currently more than 153,000 ASN pupils in Scotland - some 21 per cent of the school population - but the numbers vary markedly between different council areas prompting concern from campaigners that thousands of pupils are missing out on support.

The Local Government Finance Statistics 2014 indicate that education authorities spend just over £4.8bn on education in Scotland. Of that £555m is spent on additional support for learning.