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Short breaks
Giving the gift of time to siblings of SEN children Clare Rochford discusses how the need to support siblings has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and her own experiences with her sister with special needs.
T
he pandemic has changed our service provisions in many ways. While remote sessions through the magic of Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, Jitsi and countless other pieces of software have helped to fill the void, it has also been essential to maintain regular 1:1 contact with families. Over the summer, we worked to deliver play sessions within childcare bubbles to minimise any and all risk of transmission for families playing together, and to ensure staff can continue to provide care for those who need it most. We even managed to pull together a Santa’s grotto to provide some sense of normality during the festive season for families of SEN children. However, one area where I think we can all make improvements is supporting siblings of children with SEN. This has become even more apparent during the pandemic. Working with families over the past three years, I have learnt that there is a big gap in provision for siblings. I believe that a lot of this comes down to funding and people having the skills to deliver this kind of project. I felt as a team we could definitely meet this need, we know a lot of the siblings of the children we support really well, and we have watched them
SEN111
“A lot of these young people will not experience many adults in their life that can give them time.” grow and have given them time and freedom to be themselves. But could we go one step further and give them a project solely targeted at supporting them?
Being an SEN sibling I myself am a sibling. My big (but little) sister has a rare genetic condition called Smith-Magenis Syndrome, a developmental condition affecting many parts of the body. It was tough growing up, I took on the big sister role, I felt like my mum and dad didn’t have time for me, and a lot of their time was taken up caring for her. Because of this, I had a really warped view of senmagazine.co.uk
