by Conrad Bourne, Mercia Trust Our post earlier this year, ‘No specialists = no support’ highlighted a severe shortfall in the number of speech and language therapists and other specialists …
A school’s commitment to inclusion can easily be measured in three core ways: whether the SENCO is given the time and team to advocate for its children with identified needs; …
As anyone with a child or young person in a state school or further education college will know, the vast majority of children will be at home today as thousands …
Our SEND parent community is wise and knowledgeable, and we like to tap them for their views now and again. A while ago, I set the following topic: What are …
With Matt Keer Ofsted has found increasing numbers of primary school children with SEND are being referred to alternative provision, because of a lack of access to specialist help. Around …
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, …
with Amanda Wright, Deputy Head of Whole School SEND Earlier this year, The Department for Education announced a funding service to improve SEND training in school and further education workforce, …
with Tristan Middleton, University of Gloucestershire & chair, LLSCIC. Under the SEND Code of Practice, SENCOs must be gain a Masters-level NASENCO award within three years of taking the role. …
The Government’s Schools White Paper (herein SWP for short) has just been published, the day before the long-awaited SEND Green Paper will finally arrive. It’s been emphasised that the two must …
with Susan Lenihan, educator and parent of children with SEND After the recent BBC programme, Don’t Exclude Me, Joanne Lewis, parent of children with ADHD, wrote two articles, here and …
with Joanne Lewis parent & ADHD Superpower founder Last week on SNJ, parent of autistic children and … Joanne Lewis wrote about her reactions to the first of the BBC’s …
Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) can, and do, have a lifelong impact, particularly when not recognised and supported. Effective communication is crucial for educational outcomes, social experiences, self-confidence and …
Autism is one of the most commonly identified needs in England, with more than 82,000 school-age children with an Education, Health and Care Plan for ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder’, representing 30% …
Tania’s note: Have you heard of Whole School SEND? If you’re a keen reader you certainly will be, after our posts and conversations with former director Anne Heavey, who has …
For children with special educational needs, a skilled teaching assistant can be the difference between them being able to progress in school or not. They’re vital for teachers supporting children …
with Dr Helen Curran senior lecturer in SEN at Bath Spa University, The earlier a special educational need is identified in a child, the better their chances are of achieving …
Tania’s note: It may seem hard to believe but one day, we will get back to “normal” in schools. The question is, what will this new normal look like? Schools …
In an earlier SNJ blog in 2015 I wrote about the critical role of the SENCO in schools. The SEN Reforms had called on a more strategic role for SENCOs …
Last month Barney and I participated in the Whole School SEND Summit, spreading our message in a roundtable at the conference about working with parents. More than 200 parents (many …
I started Special Needs Jungle with the intention of spreading knowledge to parents about how to get themselves organised and prepared for their child’s statutory assessment application. I even wrote …
