A YOUNG special needs pupil developed a stammer because Hampshire County Council failed to provide speech therapy, the local gover-nment ombudsman has revealed.
The child, for legal reasons known only by the false name Michael, has Down's syndrome and was entitled to four visits from a speech therapist each term.
But because of "maladministration" Michael did not receive any therapy for most of 2002.
His mum, given the false name Mrs Jones, claims the error lead to Michael developing a stammer.
An investigation by the ombudsman revealed the speech therapist retired and was not replaced. It wasn't until Michael's mum complained that anybody at the council realised.
The council put the incident down to a "failure of communication" and said it had reviewed its procedures.
Hampshire County Council has offered £500 of education resources to Michael and paid his mum £150 for the time it took to process her complaint.
The council's standards committee chairman, Cllr Colin Davidovitz, said: "On investigation, I strongly believed that the complaint was due to a failure in communication and not the county council's ability to provide specialist education. The county council has acted swiftly to review procedures to ensure this situation is unlikely to occur again."
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