Eye-catching special needs news & autism articles from this week

Another week of rain and economic gloom. Note to self, stop listening to the Radio 4 Today programme, it's starting your day off ALL wrong.

Still there is some good news for me, anyway: I've been asked to take part in a Dragon's Den/Apprentice type thingy for young people. Apparently, I'm an inspirational business expert. When I told Son1, he snorted with derision. Now I'm going to spend the next few weeks feeling like a total fraud. I said yes, of course, because my message to those young people will be to embrace opportunities when they come-  both to help yourself and to help others.

Anyway, happy weekend and here's my pick of the posts and special needs news from the last week.

• Special Needs Jungle: If ‘child centred’ help is a no-brainer, why isn’t it happening?
• Ambitious About Autism: Ambitious about Autism helps create leaflet about mental capacity issues 
• Mumsnet: Q&A with Sharon Hodgson, Shadow Minister for Children and Families on Mumsnet
• Bury Free Press: Autistic teen was ‘failed by system’ > another tragic story and lack of provision
• Kat's Cafe:   ‘I Wish I Didn’t Have Aspergers’:#AutismPositivity2012
• Carers UK: new figures show cost of families forced to give up work to care reaches £1.3bn
•  The Voice: Voice comments on scholarship scheme for SEN support staff :: Voice The Union
•  The Guardian: Imagine the hell faced by our most vulnerable children, prime minister by Camila Batmanghelidjh
• Special Needs Jungle: Advocates For Children – a FREE SEN legal advocacy charity. If you missed this yesterday, here's the link again 
• DSE International: Landmark research study shows targeted intervention improves reading & language skills of children with Down syndrome 
• Informa Healthcare: Where to with treatment for ADHD?, Current Medical Research and Opinion, Informa Healthcare
• Autism and Empathy: Theory of War
• Thirty Days of Autism: ‘I Wish I Didn’t Have Aspergers’: a letter to my son for AutismPositivity2012  
• Funding Announced For Autism in Waleshttp://ow.ly/aB3dP
• Aspie n the Family: Autism and sleeping from Aspie in the familyow.ly/aAvcY @MumForAutism
• Sky Badger: Free cash for disabled students inc. dyslexics! dld.bz/avmmF Disabled student's allowance.
• FooDee: Autism and restaurants - my first experience with discrimination - FooDee
• Sky Badger: Autism holidays in France.no need to apologise
• BBC News - Bullied 'more prone to self harm'

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Tania Tirraoro

Founder, Co-Director at Special Needs Jungle

Founder of Special Needs Jungle. (She/Her) Parent of two young adults with autism. New grandma. Tania, who is autistic, is a leading SEND advisor, working with the Special Education Consortium, Ofsted, and Whole School SEND. She is also an Advisory Board member of the Royal Holloway, University of London Centre of Gene and Cell Therapy and an Editorial Board member of Springer Nature Gene Therapy journal.
Tania is an experienced broadcast and print journalist & author. She also runs a PR, web & social media consultancy, SocialOro Media.
Tania is a rare disease & chronic pain patient advocate with Ehlers Danlos syndrome.

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Latest posts by Tania Tirraoro (see all)

• Ombudsman report says councils are “standing in the way of support” by failing to offer personal budgets during the EHCP process - November 24, 2023
• 10 reasons the Change Programme might fail, by experts from across the SEND sector - October 27, 2023
• For children with SEND and their parents, a compassionate teacher is key - October 20, 2023