By STEPHEN NAYSMITH

A TEENAGER who suffers from a learning disability has described how she felt “invisible” in class and was bullied by other pupils.

Lucy McKee is affected by Sotos syndrome - a genetic condition which brings with it a range of medical issues and causes mild learning disability.

The 17-year-old, who is a pupil at Bearsden’s Boclair Acadmey, said there had been a mixed level of support helping her in class.

She said: “If it is a lesson I understand then I feel comfortable.

“But for others I need additional support and without it I worry that I’ll fall behind.

“The school have included me in some things, but not everything.”

“Friendships were always a challenge and the attitudes of other pupils towards myself.”

It comes as a new report by the charity Enable Scotland suggests pupils with learning disabilities in mainstream schools are being are routinely left out of school trips and sport, and sent home informally in exclusions that are never officially recorded

Scottish Government Guidance says every exclusion from school must be recorded. But Enable says the informal exclusion of learning disabled pupils is routinely happening under the guise of ‘cooling off periods’, and other euphemisms.

In the survey, which included 410 parents or carers, 40 per cent said their child had been informally excluded from school and 19 per cent said this was happening on a weekly basis.

More than 200 education staff - headteachers, classroom teachers, additional support for learning teachers and classroom assistants and others - took part in the survey and 57 per cent said either that they had, or they may have informally excluded a young person with a learning disability from school.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said ministers were aware of high levels of exclusion of pupils with learning disabilities.

She said: “The exclusion rate per 1,000 pupils, for pupils who have an additional support need, is more than four times higher than those who have no additional support needs. That is unacceptable and more needs to be done to reduce these numbers.”