Autism and Anxiety: What helps?
Anxiety appears to be increasing in children in recent years, or is it perhaps that we just appreciate its existence more these days than when I was a child? Whatever …
Category: special needs
Sensory toys don’t work on their own.
Suppose I told you I was going to teach your child maths, and then I dumped a load of maths resources on the floor: protractors, bricks, calculators, even an old …
People power! Parents and disabled children march to end the #SENDcrisis
What a day it was! On Thursday 30th May 2019, up and down the country, parents, children, young people, professionals and even a smattering of politicians showed up in their …
EHCPs in 2019: Bedded in, or bogged down?
Early Thursday morning, whilst thousands of families and allies were preparing to march to draw attention to the national crisis in SEND, the Department for Education published their annual set …
Today we make history, taking to the streets in protest to end the #SENDNationalCrisis
Today families of children with SEND—and the children and young people themselves too—are making history. Up and down the country they are gathering in their hundreds, maybe even thousands, in …
Legal bid to change the way “school refusers” are treated
We’re seeing increasing numbers of parents feeling forced to crowdfund to help secure justice for special educational needs educational issues that should never arise. Several LAs have been taken to …
SEND inquiry takedown: Parents Vs DfE
There have been close to 700 pieces of evidence (and counting) sent in to the SEND Inquiry. Tomorrow, the Department for Education will be giving evidence to the Education Select …
The SEND crib sheet: How you can help school help your disabled child
Back when my youngest, then known as Son2, was in mainstream, he didn’t yet have statutory support. Although the infant feeder school would have sent notes on to the junior …
The emotional impact of parenting a disabled child
Instead of writing my own post for Mental Health Week, I’d like to share my column today with Jo Griffin, a Counselling Psychologist and parent carer. I met Jo through …
Mum’s brilliant home education helped me thrive as an autistic student
You may have noticed we’ve been featuring more young people recently. It’s a deliberate move to broaden the the conversation from what it’s like for parents or practitioners, to hear …
Scrap league tables and boost SEND training to beat off-rolling
No sooner had the Exclusions Review announced that off-rolling of pupils is “rare”, Ofsted comes along with research that indicates quite the opposite. I wasn’t going to write about this …
The Exclusions Review tries hard but falls short of a fix
“Schools must be places that are welcoming and respectful, where every child has the opportunity to succeed. To ensure this is the case, they should understand how their policies impact …
Are EHCP Annual Reviews being unlawfully delayed by too-busy LAs?
When my sons had their first annual review after their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), it happened roughly on time. However, we never received the report after the review. …
Celebrating #roarsome children with undiagnosed genetic conditions
It’s Undiagnosed Children’s Day. It is hard to believe that it was seven years ago that Lauren (now of SWAN UK) and I began Undiagnosed Children’s Day (It used to …
Restrictive Interventions: We need to change the way we think
Elly Chapple is back with a hugely important topic. We’ve recently been hearing horror stories about children – many of them with SEND – being held in seclusion in school …
We’re the country’s future. We demand our right to a properly funded education!
Imagine living in a country where the government and politicians are robbing their youth of their futures? Where budget cuts have decimated the education system? Where students attempt to learn …
Does spending time with peers help autistic people to improve their social ‘skills’?
I’m sharing this post with my 19-year-old autistic son, Philip, who is looking for the experiences of other autistics who’ve been told they need to spend time with peers because …
SEND National Crisis: Marching for our disabled children’s future
We’ve written many posts here on SNJ about the funding crisis. Renata and I also joined the NEU organised event at the back end of last year. And as the …
SEND inspections: what do Ofsted and CQC inspectors really think?
There have been a few happenings recently that I have intended to write about but meetings and other commitments, plus the good ol’ Ehlers Danlos, have meant it hasn’t been …
Visit The Autism Show 2019 (and meet SNJ too!)
We’re excited to be able to be at The Autism Show, the national event for autism, in London this year! We’ll be handing out our flow charts and other leaflets, …
