SEND parents under surveillance… is your council watching you online?
For families of children and young people with SEND, social media is one of the greatest assets we have. It brings isolated families together, it gives us a chance to …
Category: Columnists
Could the SEND Review’s “big ideas” wither on the vine of political uncertainty?
Two Secretaries of State ago, back in the politically distant days of July, the House of Commons Education Select Committee wrote to the then Education Secretary, James Cleverly MP, about …
The stark inequalities of social mobility of disabled young adults in England
Childhood disability has been conspicuously absent from longstanding social mobility and intergenerational inequality debates. This is partly due to the persistence of medical interpretations of disability, which disregard the negative …
“Global wellbeing” is out of reach while children and vulnerable adults are routinely restrained in places of “safety”
This year’s World Mental Health Day 2022 theme is to make a global priority of mental health and wellbeing. It’s a good theme, and much needed, but at the same …
New SEND Minister, Kelly Tolhurst: many responsibilities but none so important as disabled children’s futures
We’d begun to get a little paranoid at Special Needs Jungle that maybe no one really wanted children and young people with SEND. Three weeks have passed since a new …
Gendered misperceptions: Research shows girls with ADHD miss out on school support
Attention, Deficit, Hyperactivity Disorder, (ADHD) remains a controversial topic for all sorts of reasons. Research illuminates just by how much the ADHD debate is a can of worms; multi-layered, emotive, …
Why the Down Syndrome Act ‘call for evidence’ is also relevant for people with other genetic conditions
Government consultations are like buses. No sooner has one gone by, than another arrives. In the same week the SEND Review consultation closed, the Department for Health & Social Care …
Using a different lens for neurodivergent children: Don’t treat them as younger, give them the tools to achieve
A little while ago someone on my Facebook posted a meme that supposedly showed the functional age of a child with ADHD according to their chronological age. The meme contained …
#SENDReview: National standards plans are an assault on the rights and entitlements of children and young people with SEND
One of the main, and most worrying, proposals in the SEND Green Paper is the introduction of National Standards. Some in the SEND sector are in favour of National Standards …
Quince back on board with SEND as the Education Committee sends a shot across the bows
It’s finally been confirmed that Will Quince MP will continue to have political responsibility for SEND, and the SEND Review, following last week’s ministerial resignation/reshuffle that saw him promoted to …
Without detailed plans for its planned “Inclusion Dashboards”, the DfE is navigating towards an Inclusion Illusion
I don’t mean to show off, but my car has a very fancy dashboard. As well as the standard features – speedometer, odometer, petrol gauge – it can, with a …
Are new SEND financial accountability measures compatible with lawful SEND provision?
Accountability. Ask most SEND parents, and that’s what they’ll tell you is missing from the current system. Most of the questions that parents put to Minister Will Quince at last week’s …
SEND Stats 2022: How has the pandemic affected the numbers of pupils with SEND?
It’s the middle of June, and that means the Department for Education (DfE) has just published its annual set of statistics on special educational needs in England. You can find …
Behaviour management in schools: legally, the playing field has not been levelled
And Alex Stafford, Solicitor, IPSEA legal team member, parent of teenager with SEND The publication at long last of the SEND Review has taken up nearly all our attention in …
Campaigning for inclusive education for children with Down’s syndrome
with Chris Barnes, Down’s Syndrome International Diversity and inclusion. Two words we champion daily, the holy grail for those in the disability community. But what do they mean? And how …
The EHCP statistics 2022 don’t tell the whole story. And see who topped the new EHCP LA Hall of Shame!
At the end of last week, the Department for Education (DfE) published their annual statistical summary of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in England. These figures can tell us a fair …
What are the implications of the #SENDReview for deaf children?
with Justin Cooke, National Children’s Deaf Society I’ve got two deaf boys. They’ve experienced some of the best and the worst that the English SEND system has to offer, under …
How can the #SENDReview implement new changes while avoiding the same mistakes of the last reforms?
Let’s kick off with some Green Paper quotes: “Disabled children and children with SEN tell us that they can feel frustrated by a lack of the right help at school …
Bureau of Investigative Journalism finds SEND funding black hole grew by 52% in a year, with one child in a SEND school 412 miles from home
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with a mission to hold power to account. TBIJ have spent the last few months looking into the SEND …
Déjà vu: How will the #SENDReview end the over-promising and under-delivering cycle of support for disabled children?
As you have seen, SNJ are unpicking the detail and supporting parents to have a voice throughout the SEND Review Green Paper consultation. Much is laudable in the SEND review, …