What does it take to get a disabled child to preschool?
In our summer SEND blogger showcase, we featured Alex Davey’s blog, The Long Chain. Alex has three children, the middle of whom has an undiagnosed condition other than being “a complete …
Category: Guest Posts
Our wish for a mainstream school turned into a nightmare
We really want to be able to bring you stories of great experiences of the SEND system by families. Sadly, we don’t often get sent them and today’s parent story …
SEND Blogger showcase 4: Rainbows, Broccoli and Wristbands
And now, what better day to bring you our final fabulous SEND Blogger showcase of this summer than on the August bank holiday! And what’s more, it’s a three-for-two featuring …
Home to school transport policies “inaccurate and inadequate”
So many families of disabled children rely on home to school transport. Whether it’s a shared taxi, minibus or a taxi with an escort, many parents simply could not manage …
IAS Service: Supporting families of children with SEND
When you need help or advice as a parent about your child or adolescent’s education or difficulties with special educational needs, there are a number of options. A while ago, …
SEND Blogger showcase 2: Mum On A Mission & Our Altered Life
Today we have the second in our August SEND blogger showcase and we’re so delighted to be able to share some of these brill bloggers with you. This week we’re …
SEND blogger showcase: itmustbemum & The Long Chain
When I started out blogging here on SNJ, before social sharing was a ‘thing’, there really wasn’t anyone else out there. Perhaps a few in the US, maybe one other …
Choosing a mainstream school for my disabled child
The issue of the type of placement for a child with special educational needs or disabilities can be a thorny one. For many, including my own sons with Asperger’s, a …
How I became a better child physio after parenting my sick newborn
We love sharing good practice with you that can help both parents and professionals offer improve the lives of children with disabilities. Andrea Selly, is the mum of twins and …
The Secret Life of Holly, from the Disabled Children’s Partnership
In England today, there is an unacceptable gap between the quality of life and opportunities available for disabled children, when compared to those without disabilities. Today, a new coalition of …
Helping carers and disabled children with Qigong
We are all living in stressful times. World events, both near and far, can leave us feeling anxious, fearful and on edge. When you are also dealing with illness and …
Irlen syndrome: a screener’s perspective
Back in 2012, we ran a parent story about her son’s difficulties, “When the words move by themselves – it could be Visual Stress.” It’s also known as Irlen syndrome and …
SEND, support staff and challenging behaviour in schools.
You may remember that we had Tess Philbert on the site not so long ago, talking about person-centred planning. Tess is a parental supporter for SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disability Information …
Explaining new funding rules for early years children with SEND
Funding is always a hot topic in local authorities and schools and nowhere more so than in special educational needs. From this month, April 2017, the Department for Education is requiring …
Inclusion and putting the ‘Disability’ back into SEND
A leading advocate for inclusive education, Richard Reiser, says he is increasingly concerned about the direction of inclusion in the Children and Families Act. For many parents, special schools are …
Holly’s autism film starring role helped raise her classmates’ awareness
Last week, I said Autism Awareness had graduated from a day to a week. Dear reader, I was wrong. It’s a month. Look, if Ehlers Danlos syndrome, a rare disease …
Speech, language and communication needs: have your say and help change the future
We’ve covered the Bercow: Ten Years On review last year, when Barney looked at its recommendations a decade ago and what became of them. Today, we are really pleased to have …
How a parent held her council to account for its SEND failures
Today’s parent story is a classic case of a local authority’s disregard of the SEND reforms: poor communication and lack of cooperative working across services, resulting in a failure to …
The heartache that lives alongside our son’s very rare disease
Rare Disease Day is almost upon us and we have the third of our parent posts today about their lives with their child who has a very rare condition. We …
Finding my son near death started our rare journey to his genetic diagnosis
It’s bad enough when your child has a severe illness, but when you discover it’s a condition few have heard of, the journey to getting them the right treatment gets …
