Special needs parenting: Love, determination and fury
The first time I held my eldest as a newborn, it hit me that my needs would never come first again. It may sound strange, but it hadn’t quite occurred …
Category: parenting
Racial discrimination and SEND: Why was I accused of harm?
Every child with SEND has a right to access the best provision to help them reach their potential. Their families must be treated with respect and dignity. Far too often, …
Children with SEND and the emotional impact on parents
I recently came across a research article in the British Journal of Special Education entitled, Children with SEND and the emotional impact on parents by John Holland with Gabriella Pell, …
The Deafblind world: The ‘Shoeness’ of a Shoe
Imagine a world you can neither see nor hear, yet you must find a way to grow and thrive within it, feeling your way, using the senses you do have …
Coming to terms with your child’s hidden Special Educational Needs.
Not all Special Educational Needs are immediately obvious. Some are initially hidden, such as dyslexia, autism or ADHD. When parents approach me about their child with SEN of this kind, …
Why consistency in parenting is vital, especially for children with challenging behaviours
We have adopted a cat, or rather he has adopted us. We’ re no strangers to owning cats, but this is the first time in our renovated home. There is …
Help! I’m a parent carer and I’m on my VERY last nerve!
With contributions from Angel Kelly, SNJ Mental Health Editor It’s not just tough physically being a parent of a disabled child. The toll on mental health can be extreme. It’s …
Balancing the needs of siblings, when one has ADHD
In a class of 30+ children, a teacher’s prime objective is to make sure that everyone is working to the best of their ability. Their attention is inevitably drawn to …
How SEND parent support in England is changing, by Christine Lenehan
For the first four years of the reformed SEND system in England, families had available to them a free Independent Supporter who would assist them through the process of transferring …
The secrets and lies of special needs and disability
A secret: Confidential, untold, not to be made public. In other words something to be hidden. A lie: To speak falsely or utter untruth knowingly. Again, to hide something. Why do we …
How do expectations influence disabled young people’s educational attainment?
The statistics speak for themselves:17% of all adults with a learning disability in England are in paid work. There will be many reasons for this figure, but one that’s just …
Seeing the view from the other side of the parent-teacher divide
‘Teachers leave them kids alone’, the line from Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall, must resonate with some parents of children who are different, and who feel their children …
Struggling for work-life balance as a mum with a disabled child – and a career I love
Working and parenthood is the biggest balancing act for so many families. That goes double when your child has a disability. And if you’re a single parent, the challenge is …
Good news to inspire your SEND parenting in 2018
We hear all the time about the bad things that are happening in the world of special educational needs and disabilities. The local authorities who aren’t doing what they’re supposed …
To medicate my anxious child or not. It’s an emotive question
My son, Monty, has autism as well as many other, co-morbid conditions. Co-morbidities are conditions which overlap with the ASD diagnosis; for example he has chronic anxiety, ADHD, Tics, Dyslexia …
Supporting families to participate in making person-centred decisions
One of the big things that was supported to be improved for disabled children and families was person-centred planning. De-jargonned, that means making the provision fit the person and not …
YouGov survey: Teachers blame “parental pressure” for misdiagnosis of SEN
A YouGov poll of more than 800 teachers across the UK, has shockingly revealed what is potentially one of the biggest reasons the SEND reforms are not making as big …
Parents of children with learning disabilities lonely, distressed and under pressure
It can be hard to cope with having a child with a disability. It can be particularly hard on relationships. A report out today has found that one in three …
How satisfied are pupils, parents and teachers about SEND in schools?
At the end of last week, a couple of surveys were published by the Department for Education. One was a survey of pupils and their respective parents/carers at state schools …
Removing the barriers to bedtime for children with disabilities
I have to admit that for a while, R and I joined the ranks of Smug Parents. We didn’t mean to. Most of the time we are running around in …
