SOS!SEN is a small charity based in Middlesex that offers a fantastic service to parents who are trying to secure the right educational support for their children. It was started by a small group of individuals who had spent much of their lives in education or related services. They now have a team of volunteers made up of parents and friends who have children with special education needs. They deal with an ever growing number of cases, including representing parents at the SENDIS Tribunal.
SOS!SEN have a telephone hotline and lots of useful information on their site. They are well-versed in the tactics of local authorities and during 2009, the SOS!SEN helpline fielded 6,000 calls. About 30 per cent were new referrals.
They offer a free, friendly, independent and confidential telephone helpline for parents and others looking for information and advice on Special Educational Needs (SEN). We concentrate on helping people to find their way through the legal and procedural maze which is so daunting to so many who try to obtain satisfactory provision for a child’s special needs.
Their aim is to empower parents and carers, and to encourage them to become sufficiently confident to tackle for themselves the obstacles and difficulties that arise in battling for SEN rights. In turn, they hope they will use their knowledge and experience to help others.
They offer our services throughout England and Wales and run monthly walk-in advice centres in Twickenham, Thornton Heath and Aldershot, so that parents from surrounding local authorities such as London, Surrey, Hampshire, Kent and Middlesex can come to see them, if they have a particularly complex problem.
They are also launching a series of workshops that will be very useful for parents to attend about the various stages of statementing.
If you are on the statementing road and you encounter problems, do get in touch. The workshops mentioned above will help get you started as well.
Tania is an experienced broadcast and print journalist & author. She also runs a PR, web & social media consultancy, SocialOro Media.
Tania is a rare disease & chronic pain patient advocate with Ehlers Danlos syndrome.
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