St Albans MP Daisy Cooper has called on the government to reduce the time it takes for children to receive special needs assessments.
Families currently have to wait for 20 weeks for their child to receive a special educational needs and disability (SEND) assessment, which Daisy said was "far too long".
In a parliamentary debate, Daisy highlighted the plight of children in Herts county council-run schools, where as many as one in seven pupils are kept waiting for longer than the statutory time limit.
She said: "I can see the enormous strain that families face when a school is unable to cater for their child's needs or when they have to wait weeks for an assessment.
"If all our children are to receive the life chances they deserve, we need the government to invest properly to ensure they get adequate support and intervention at the right time."
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