"'special educational needs' still implies that those who have them are a bit 'odd'."

No it doesn't. It's you stigmatising children because they have different educational requirement. It says that children are individuals and have individual needs - something you're always banging on about, so what's your problem? Let's face it, you have such a downer on education in this country - something you haven't the faintest idea about - that nothing anyone says is going get your head out of the sand. When was the last time you actually went into a school and watched teaching in progress, saw how happy the kids were and how much they enjoyed the process of learning - and how professional and switched on the majority of teachers are? It may not be what happens in Lizzieworld but in the real world the education system wokrs for the majority of chilkdren, provided their parents don't turn them against it from an early age.