The service, known as portage, will be cancelled from this summer.

The council says other organisations now do the same work and insists no one currently getting the service will be affected.

But parents say they believe no other service can match the results which the portage workers have achieved.

Portage is a home visiting and teaching service for pre-school children with special needs.

Youngsters with learning or physical disabilities get an hour or so of specialist teaching in their homes every week, often with specialist toys.

‘Complete madness’

Sophie Lawrence from Bath has a son with Down’s syndrome.

She told BBC Somerset: “I just don’t understand why the first people they have to target are little, mentally impaired and disabled children between the ages of zero and three.

“Why target them first? It doesn’t make sense.”

Another mother, who did not wish to be identified, said she has seen her child go from timid to confident in the past 16 months…..Continue reading