SEN Magazine - SEN115 - Nov/Dec 2021

Nov • Dec 2021 • Issue 115

Inclusive creative arts SEND and safeguarding Epilepsy diagnosis Transitioning with spina bifida & hydrocephalus Bullying • Play • Reading • Epilepsy • Music therapy • Music • PMLD • Yoga • Mobility Autism • Siblings • PLUS CPD & Events • Book reviews • Points of View What’s New • Petition Watch

Welcome Nov • Dec 2021 Issue 115

Slowly but surely, the school routine is getting back to an approximation of normality. But for some, the return to a ‘normal’ school life means the difficulties and problems of the past are reappearing. In some ways very little has changed for those children and young people with the need for a little extra help and support.

However, this new start does offer opportunities to look at the world around us, our relationships and interactions and ask ourselves the question: Can we do things a little differently than before?

Editorial Team Steve Muddiman (right) Mary Mountstephen

Advertising sales Denise Williamson Advertising Sales Manager denise@senmagazine.co.uk 01200 409808

Charlotte Williamson Advertising Sales Executive charlotte@senmagazine.co.uk 01200 409805

Administration Anita Crossley (left) anita@senmagazine.co.uk 01200 409802 Amanda Harrison (centre) office@senmagazine.co.uk 01200 409804/800 Dawn Thompson (right) dawn@senmagazine.co.uk 01200 409804/800

Design Rob Parry RobP Design robpdesign.co.uk design@senmagazine.co.uk

For parents, carers and educators alike, an awareness of what is happening in our interactions is a critical part of the support role Jannine Perryman and Louise Parker Engels continue their series of articles on school attendance difficulties and persistent absence by looking specifically at the issue of bullying (p50). Sara Alston looks at the issue of Safeguarding, particularly in relation to SEN children and young people (p84). Dave Whitaker reflects on how best to implement school behaviour policies with a little common sense and understanding (p82).

These thought provoking articles highlight the need for vigilance and common sense when it comes to the pastoral role.

Enriching the educational experience through the arts is something which benefits everyone involved. Michelle Temperley of the National Youth Theatre discusses the issue of inclusivity in the arts (p35). Madeline Aslan gives a detailed account of how music therapy can help and develop children with profound and multiple learning disabilities (p26), whilst Mel Boda describes the origins and work of the interactive music charity Electric Umbrella (p32).

For some, their experience of the education sector is beginning to draw to a close. Early consideration of the changes needed for transitioning to adult life for young people with Spina Bifida and/or Hydrocephalus is advocated by Iona Campbell (p64).

At the other end of the educational journey, Rajvinder Singh Gill describes the arduous and sometimes difficult process of diagnosing children with epilepsy (60) When we see a problem affecting our loved ones, then it is often a motivation to try and get them the support and help they so obviously need. Steve Hermon gives a moving account of how he is working towards helping to get a fair and equitable therapy provision for all those with speech and language difficulties (p72).

Steve Muddiman

Director

Jeremy Nicholls Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in SEN Magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher. The publisher cannot be held liable for incorrect information, omissions or the opinions of third parties.

SEN Magazine Ltd Chapel House, 5 Shawbridge Street, Clitheroe, BB7 1LY Tel 01200 409800 Fax 01200 409809 Email info@senmagazine.co.uk senmagazine.co.uk

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CONTRIBUTORS Sara Alston Madeline Aslan Sarah Bew Mel Boda Iona Campbell Georgina Durrant Louise Parker Engels Judy Gordon Valenee Gosine

Lisa Harwood Steve Herman Feliciea Jibson Michelle John Simone McClean Mary Mountstephen Karen Olney Jannie Perryman Josianne Pisani

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Hannah Rix Douglas Silas Rajvinder Singh Gill Cheryl Smith Elise Stirling Michelle Temperley Dave Whittaker

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Trampolining

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SEN products and services

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Children’s Books

by Tim Parsons

Aimed at 4-10 year old children, educating upon the work of the Ambulance service.

Available from...

and other online retailers

www.timparsons.co.uk

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Nov • Dec 2021 • Issue 115

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Play can boost relationships… but it won’t ‘reverse’ autism

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The importance of play for children with SEN

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Attachment play and neurodiversity

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Integrating play for SEN children

Music therapy and PMLD The benefits of music therapy for PMLD children

How commitment and compassion kept a SEN school running during coronavirus Challenge upon challenge for a new SEN Head

Improving mobility through Targeted Training Support for functional skills and independence

The arduous journey of diagnosis

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Make reading a habit for children with SEN

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Campaigning for the right to speak and be heard

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Consistency - or maybe a bit of flexible consistency?

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Yoga as a complementary therapy for children with SEND Boosting mental health and wellbeing through yoga

Living with epilepsy

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What does a truly inclusive arts sector look like?

Achieving inclusivity in the arts

Focus on mental health

Growing into adulthood with spina bifida and hydrocephalus

Interactive music experiences for SEN learners Creating opportunities to take to the stage

Mental health issues for children and young people with SEN

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Transition challenges

Develop a love of reading

A worrying picture emerging

Dealing with school behaviour policies

SEND and Safeguarding Opening up communication to beyond bullet points on a page

Sustaining the needs of the 21st century educators Professional support to stop the loses

Regulars

Zayne’s journey with autism

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SEN news

Autism through a parent’s eyes

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What’s new?

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Point of view

Growing up with a SEN sibling

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Petition watch

Bullying a barrier to attendance

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Book reviews

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CPD, training and events

Responding when parents are being abused by their child

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SEN resources directory

Child to parent abuse: A guide for teachers

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About SEN Magazine

Siblings and special educational needs

School attendance difficulties

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Play

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Yoga

Creative arts

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Safeguarding

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SEN news

New Autism research sparks controversy A recent study has evoked headlines in the media, including the Guardian and the BBC. The original research can be found here: https://bit.ly/3lOI5gQ. The study was reported in the Guardian Newspaper on the 20th September with the headline ‘Autism therapy aimed at infants may reduce likelihood of later diagnosis’, witht byline that the: ‘Study suggests tailored therapy could help some children develop social skills before school age’. The BBC, on the same day, issued a posting on their website with the headline ‘Early baby therapy could reduce autism diagnoses’.

These articles raised a significant amount of concern and comment with regard to the issue of how neurodiverse individuals are treated in society and how best differences can be accommodated within the modern education sector.

Feedback from the news pieces was such that the Guardian amended their article on the 1st October, to remove a reference to the therapy not being “a cure” for autism, as this term is not appropriate within the context of reporting on autism.

Such events highlight the difficulties faced when reporting on highly sensitive issues which have very real impacts on others, who may be unconsciously categorised as ‘different’ by those writing such news reports.

In response to the original publication, The Guardian published an opinion piece by Dr James Cusack, chief executive of Autistica, a British autism research charity. In that piece, he both welcomes the findings of the research, but also sounds a warning about how such information can be used to deny children the ongoing support which they may need, if they are denied a diagnosis.

He notes: ‘What’s exciting about the findings of this study is that the therapy does successfully boost the social development of the children who receive it. That confirms what autistic people have been telling us for a very long time, namely that the best possible way to help autistic people build skills is to create the best possible environment for them and to follow their interests – rather than leaving autistic people feeling they have to hide or “mask” their autistic traits to fit in with a neurotypical world.

What makes this complicated, however, is that social communication skills are one of the main things measured when someone is assessed for an autism diagnosis. The fact that this therapy boosted those skills meant that children scored lower on those parts of autism assessments, which in turn meant they didn’t meet the criteria for an autism diagnosis.

In fact, the study shows that this therapy reduced autism diagnosis by two-thirds.

■ Help autistic people follow their interests.

Even if the therapy allows autistic people to have a better start in life, the system will need to change to ensure support is there if and when it is needed.’

Following this piece, the lead authors of the original paper wrote a letter response to the Guardian pointing out that there was indeed a paradox in the research and its implications. They were careful to emphasise that the therapy in question was working with parents (not the infant at all) to help their awareness and responsiveness to infant differences in communication.

They conclude their letter by stating ‘Maybe what really needs to happen as a result of this work is an examination of the very concept of clinical diagnosis itself and the way it is made.’

One of our readers has reached out and written an article as a result of this controversy. Her piece can be found on Page 12.

News deadline for next issue: 08/12/21.

Email editor@senmagazine.co.uk

That raises questions that should give us pause. The main concern for us in the UK is that support only follows diagnosis.

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This font simulates what it’s like to have dyslexia Graphic designer Daniel Britton has designed a font which gives viewers an impression of what it is like for those who suffer from Dyslexia. He has produced a font which, when formed into complete sentences, presents words as a challenge to read in order to emulate exactly how frustrating dyslexia can be.

As someone with dyslexia, believing it to be misunderstood and under-researched, Britton designed the font in his final year at university to raise awareness of the condition.

“For most people with dyslexia, letters and numbers do not jump around on the page and the colours remain the same,” Britton said. “It is simply a breakdown in communication between the eye and the brain. You can see the information, you can see each letter perfectly but there is something in your mind that is stopping or slowing the process of information.”

To slow down a non-dyslexic person’s reading speed, Britton removed 40% of each letter’s lines, rendering sentences a struggle to read. He notes that his font doesn’t show what a dyslexic individual sees when looking at text, rather it recreates the experience—mainly frustration—when reading.

According to Dyslexia International, dyslexia affects over 700 million people worldwide. Impacting a person’s ability to read, write and spell, this learning difficulty can have a knock-on effect in academic success and their self-esteem.

Individuals with dyslexia are affected to different degrees, and it should be noted that the above graphics are just his representation of the condition.

You can find more of Daniel Britton’s designs on his website. https://bit.ly/3aO16tu

New Policy Briefing on Care Leavers A policy briefing on the lifelong health and well-being of care leavers has been published by the Nuffield Foundation and the International Centre for Lifecourse Studies at UCL, which shows a clear need for joined-up thinking.

From the sample of data considered, the authors of the briefing found that the chances of care leavers enjoying the same health, social and economic advantages as other adults are deeply unequal.

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The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care recently found that “there is much more we can do to help children who have been in care progress to further and higher education or find a job or home, acknowledging it might sometimes take longer than their peers.” The briefing research confirms and reinforces this finding. It recommends that all policy development demonstrates a society- and government-wide commitment to support the needs of care leavers.

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SEN news

Nadhim Zahawi, Education Secretary - the first few weeks Nadhim Zahawi has replaced Gavin Williamson as Education Secretary in the Government reshuffle carried out in September.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT said: “We welcome Nadhim Zahawi to the post of Secretary of State for Education.

“One of the most pressing tasks facing Mr Zahawi will be to ensure that the government now fulfils its promise to deliver a properly funded recovery package so that every pupil in the country receives the support they need and deserve. With the comprehensive spending review only weeks away, there really is no time to waste.

“As always, NAHT stands ready to work with the new Secretary of State and his department to ensure that every child receives the very best education possible.”

It was at the Conservative Party Conference in October that Mr Zahawi began to give some idea of the approach that he will be taking with regard to his role, stating: “So as the foundation of the next decade of reform during this parliament we will deliver 500,000 teacher training opportunities.

We are carrying out a fundamental overhaul that will make this country the best in the world to train and learn as a teacher.

“And that means investing in our outstanding early years staff too. 40% of educational inequality is baked in by the age of 5.

“Great early education can change that. Which is why we are investing a record £180 million in developing and deepening the expertise of the brilliant men and women who care for and educate our children when they are absorbing most about the world around them.”

In addition, the education secretary has pledged to bring forward a schools white paper in the new year outlining plans to “tackle innumeracy and illiteracy”.

So we see that the training of teachers is a high priority, together with funding for early years education. Although there were no direct references to the SEN Sector made in that speech, the commitment to teacher recruitment and training and a focus on early years education does imply that there will be some funding for specialist SEN training and the early assessment and support for SEND pupils.

On 9th October he addressed the NAHT Conference and provided more detail on his plans and the thinking behind them: “We are committed to improving services in those first, critical 1001 days, championing family hubs, and helping parents provide the best home-learning environment for their children.

This is so important because high-quality education at this stage can really boost children’s outcomes later in life, and that’s particularly true for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

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■ Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi

“One-to-one tutoring is no longer going to be something that the children of wealthy parents can fall back on, but the right of every child.”

“But perhaps one of the most crucial commitments, certainly as far as I’m concerned, is that we do far more for vulnerable children and make sure they have the support they need to succeed.

For me, this is about children with SEND, or those who are looked after, getting as many opportunities as their peers.

“It is about acknowledging that we must close the disadvantage gap and do the best by every single child by focusing on the outcomes for every single child.

“And that means mental health must be better understood and support provided where it’s needed. I want us to put wellbeing at the centre of everything we do in schools alongside a drive for rigorous standards and high performance.

“But of course we can’t do this if children are not at school, so another key priority for me will be getting to the root of what is causing children to be persistently absent and then tackling it head on. Because the children who lose out the most from not being in school are likely to be the ones who can cope least, the vulnerable, the disadvantaged… You can’t help them if they aren’t there.”

These comments give a picture of a Secretary of State looking both within and outside the school environment to provide support and help for SEN pupils.

We hope that his commitment to address the important issue of school attendance is dealt with sensitively and with understanding (as reflected in our articles on this subject in Issue 114 and on Page 50 of this Issue).

So early in his tenure, it is difficult to be sure of the direction SEN education support and training will take, but rest assured, we at SEN Magazine will continue to monitor and report on any new developments. senmagazine.co.uk

Equals

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Autism

Play can boost relationships... but it won’t ‘reverse’ autism Elise Stirling responds with a neurodiverse perspective to the idea of autism being a reversible condition.

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ecently, headlines such as “Early baby therapy could reduce autism diagnoses“ and “Early signs of autism can be reversed if babies are offered therapy” were popping up all over the internet, following a study of play interventions for parents of autistic children (Ed Note. See our News Section for more on this story). As an autism specialist, an autistic individual, and mother of autistic daughters, this had me concerned. Being autistic is not something needing ‘reversal’ or ‘reduction’ – it is a natural, albeit different, state of being and exists within the person from pre-birth.

Autism has historically been a medicalised condition that requires an extensive assessment and diagnostic procedure, using criteria that (until recently) had not had any involvement from those who were themselves autistic. It is hoped that in the future, any changes to diagnostic criteria will be made with the full engagement of autistic individuals, to fully encapsulate the SEN115

“Being autistic is not something needing ‘reversal’ or ‘reduction’” diversity of human minds (or ‘neurodiversity’) in a more positive light, whilst recognising the true challenges faced. Autism is simultaneously a biological reality and a social construct, and this should be recognised throughout the process of diagnosis, education, and care of autistic individuals. As a biological reality, there are differences in how autistic brains and bodies work.

Porges’ Polyvagal theory proposes that there is a potential difference in the information flowing from the brain to the body in autistic individuals because of differences in the brain’s senmagazine.co.uk

Autism

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About the author Elise Stirling is an autistic mother of autistic daughters, and an autism specialist teacher. She is currently studying for her PhD in Applied Autism Research.

“The relationship between a child and their teacher is key”

recognition of safety versus threat (neuroception). Some autistic individuals appear to live in perpetual fear of their environment and social experiences, obstructing their ability to perceive, understand and react in a way that an otherwise regulated person might. In safe contexts, the nervous system’s state is ‘soothed’, and the body becomes more regulated. The default state for autistic individuals, however, is more dysregulated, or ‘mobilised’, resulting in fluctuating social communication, irregular eye gaze, changes in receptive language ability, fewer externalised social gestures, and differences in social behaviours. This can account for individualised, contextbased, levels of ‘functioning’ depending on the environment and experiences at the time.

I have proposed research in an education context that considers feelings of safety, regulation and authenticity at school. Although autism is not caused by relationships or lack thereof (the ageold ‘refrigerator mother’ argument), quality attachments can potentially have a positive impact on inclusion in schools.

The quality of the relationship between a child and their teacher is key to this, and emotional security in such relationships are central to a child’s later functioning. Forming attachments to key adults is possible, and is still beneficial to a child’s wellbeing at any stage of development. Attachment is a basic human need and something that all humans have a propensity and a capacity for, but this can be interrupted by external factors such senmagazine.co.uk

as too much stress in the environment. It can be established or restored at any age, as long as the conditions are favourable. It follows that even with a dysregulated autistic individual, healthy attachments can be developed if the stressful environment that dysregulated them in the first place is removed or lessened to the point of comfort and security. It is never a removal of the ‘impairments’ (or cure, or prevention) of autism that I advocate for, but a removal of the negative stimuli that are causing the dysregulated state, before engaging in the development of attachment relationships.

The neurodiversity movement challenges us to rethink autism through the lens of human diversity. As part of this movement, autistic people have come to analyse autism and often arrive at very different conclusions about autism than the non-autistic professionals, including the development of play in children. The play behaviour of autistic children may be described by some as atypical and is often subject to scrutiny, where those involved have attempted to re-orientate these behaviours to something they deem more appropriate. The repetitive behaviours and ritualistic mannerisms, or stereotypies, have been attributed to many potential deficits, delays and difficulties in the past, but few people have considered these actions within the notion of play. It may be that these are not signifiers of delayed development, deficits, or otherwise lacking, but as playfulness and individuality which could be embraced by those around them instead of discouraged or extinguished. The concept of neurodiversity is not a new one, but it has evolved to become a description of difference in neurocognitive function, and includes neurotypical (as in, not significantly different from the

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Autism

norm in terms of cognition) and neurodivergent individuals, who are rendered different from the norm by differences in cognition or a condition that places them outwith the neurotypical range of function.

Part of this movement is encouraging parents and educators of autistic children and young people to use responsive tactics, learning to speak the child’s language, so to speak, communicating on their terms and steering them away from dangerous treatments and therapies that can cause more harm than good. We can use this model to allow authenticity and individualisation during play activities and relationship building, with the aim of more successful inclusion being possible in schools.

Despite many ‘interventions’ for autism reportedly being playbased, they can still be influenced by a deficits model that may contain potentially problematic language and ideas such as ‘symptoms’, ‘disorder’, and ‘treatment’. Some may go as far as saying that autistic children are ‘missing out’ and not achieving vital milestones, although these concepts are based on typical, or non-autistic, development. The proposal of a play-based support for autistic individuals is desirable, but I would rather advocate for such a mechanism that is based on autistic norms and not limited by neurotypical expectations.

For example, while one example I read in a recent article did acknowledge a more inclusive notion of play as one that reframes the solitary behaviour of autistic children (eg. restricted, repetitive behaviours) as play, it still presumes autistic individuals to be atypically developing on a normative scale, and that they need to be put on the correct pathway to be successful. I do not support this presumption, and advocate for a more individualised pathway through attachment play.

■ Fidget

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“Attachment play activates antianxiety and anti-stress hormones”

Attachment Play, popularised by Margot Sunderland, happens when an adult and child face each other to play where the relationship, not toys, is the focus. It enhances confidence, social skills, ability to trust, and brain development, particularly the frontal lobe and hippocampus, and Denice TullochJohnson (who works in partnership with Margot Sunderland on attachment play in the early years) states that one to one attachment playtimes at home and at school are just as important for older children as for infants in terms of social, emotional and brain development. Attachment play optimises the chances of conversation and real ‘moments of meeting’ between adult and child. According to Margot Sunderland, science shows that attachment play helps develop higher brain function and may trigger new brain cell growth, as brains may have been previously damaged by stress such as shouting, shaming or negativity toward the child. Attachment play activates anti-anxiety and anti-stress hormones and can repair the damage done and the more these are activated, the more the brain benefits from them. Attachment play can create interpersonal synchrony: a delicious feeling of oneness with the other and it has a unique impact on the brain according to Denice Tulloch-Johnson.

Because of this, attachment play is going to be the focus of my doctoral research at which point I will deliver an attachment play package I have designed specifically for autism. It will encompass not only the important factors of attachment play itself, but caters for autistic individualism and authenticity, and provides a uniquely holistic ‘autism-friendly’ programme, pragmatically based on a neurodiversity model of autism in schools. If the conditions (environment, freedom of expression, acceptance, and so on) are favourable then there is a real opportunity for autistic individuals to match or even outperform their non-autistic peers. However, dismissing autistic approaches to communication or social-emotional aspects of life as inappropriate or wrong is failing to recognise them as important strategies for success, and it is vital to promote experiences that are compatible with their dispositions, without being forced to mimic non-autistic behaviours which could be potentially damaging. It is hoped that this research will show ways to support autistic individuals in school, without the unnecessary implications of uncomfortable and damaging neurotypical expectations. I would also like to think that, one day, we can live without such damaging headlines and change society’s views of autism to a more positive, neurodiverse frame of mind. senmagazine.co.uk

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What’s new?

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Achieve together

Specialists in outdoor spaces

It is important for Achieve together to respond to local needs and as such are excited about their new support services, including in:

dbdplay specialises in the design and installation of exceptional outdoor spaces.

• Sussex, supporting young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities in line with the National Core & Essential PMLD Service Standards.

• St Helen’s, to support young people who are autistic and may present with behaviours which challenge.

• Staffordshire, to support young people with learning disabilities and/or autism who benefit from living in their own large flats. achievetogether.co.uk

bibic launch free monthly Live Q&A’s to help families! bibic, a charity that supports a wide range of developmental and neurological difficulties, genetic conditions, learning disabilities and special educational needs (SEN), have launched a free monthly Live Q&A to help families with questions around their children’s difficulties, due to an increase in demand for their services.

The Live Q&A’s have a new topic each month, run by a bibic Developmental Therapist, who will be happy to answer all of your burning questions.

Check out what topic is coming up this month and register for free by going to bibic.org.uk/services/live

Mercury announces Aladdin as inaugural pantomime The sparkling pantomime Aladdin will play at the Mercury’s newly redeveloped theatre from 27 November 2021 – 16 January 2022. The pantomime will have two relaxed performances, two BSL interpreted performances as well as a captioned and audio described performance with pre-show touch tour.

Presale opens for priority booking on 25 November, followed by general on sale on 27 November.

For younger audiences, The Jolly Christmas Postman will play the Studio at the Mercury from 8 December 2021 – 24 December 2021.

Tickets can be purchased on the Mercury’s brand-new website. Find out more about Aladdin, upcoming shows and the latest news at the Mercury at mercurytheatre.co.uk

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“It was really important to us to find a partner that listened and truly understood the outcomes we were looking for when planning our outdoor learning centre and dbdplay did exactly that.

They understood the need for a variety of different learning areas to match the diverse needs of our students, the need for unrestricted and ease of movement around the garden with areas of high stimulation through colour, texture, sound and smell. dbdplay have designed and created an accessible, inclusive and inspiring learning environment for our cohort of inspirational students.” Treloar School and College. dbdplay.com

Supporting deaf young people Located in Exmouth, Devon, the Deaf Academy specialises in supporting deaf young people with additional needs in a language rich environment of English, British Sign Language and Sign Supported English.

If you’re looking for the next stage in your child’s progression, be that finding a provision that caters for their needs, next steps after primary school or college, come visit them and discover how they know and grow every learner.

Visit: thedeafacademy.ac.uk or contact: admissions@thedeafacademy.ac.uk

Become Tommy’s foster care hero Could you offer a loving home to seven-year-old Tommy around the Chesterfield area?

Tommy loves visiting the zoo or riding the newest theme park rollercoaster.

Tommy is autistic and receiving support to manage his ADHD. Consistent routines and boundaries help him feel settled and safe. Tommy doesn’t fully understand why he has come into care, so his carers need to be patient, build his self-confidence, offer reassurance and provide him love.

If you’d like to know more about Tommy or about fostering in Derbyshire, their friendly team would love to hear from you.

Call 0800 083 77 44 or visit derbyshire.gov.uk/fostering

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Inclusive Rugby Skills Festival Fairfield Farm College Sports Leaders course have been working with Bath Rugby Foundation coaches to plan an ‘Inclusive Rugby Skills Festival’ for local primary school pupils with additional needs. The coaches helped them to learn how to organise and deliver a variety of different activities during the planning session. The Sports Leaders worked well as a team and developed some fantastic ideas for the event, which is being planned for October 2021. ffc.ac.uk

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Autism and Education Conference 11 November 2021 Join the one-day online conference aimed at education professionals.

Increase your understanding and knowledge of autism and best practice in supporting autistic children at school.

Hear from leading speakers and learn from research, innovations and evidence-based approaches.

With fantastic sessions on: mental health & wellbeing; exclusion; girls in education; sensory differences; emotional regulation; transition; social relationships Don’t miss out and book your place today.

Find out more: autism.org.uk/education-conference

A toolkit to help the 1.4 million children who struggle with speech and language* With WellComm, you can screen children from 6 months to 11 years for speech and language delays in just 20 minutes, and provide immediate support with play-based activities included within the toolkit.

Instant reports enable you to take action straight away, and the optional Online Report Wizard will automatically generate a personalised profile with a list of targeted interventions.

Technology transforming learning Diagnosed with dyspraxia, twelve-year-old Aidan always found reading difficult.

Aidan worked with language therapists, but reading remained problematic, he struggled to keep up with schoolwork.

Aidan was blown away by discovering OrCam Read – an intuitive ‘point-and-click’ handheld device that quickly reads full pages of text and screens.

Aidan: “I’m able to do schoolwork by myself now! And I can read and enjoy a whole book on my own.”

Find out more at gl-assessment.co.uk/WellComm or contact them directly: hello@gl-assessment.co.uk or 0330 123 5375, quoting GL3074.

Aidan’s Mum: “The OrCam Read promotes independent access to text – enabling Aiden to understand and successfully complete teachers’ assignments.”

*ICAN annual report 2018-19

For more information: orcam.com/en/read/

IBEForuM hosts Smart School Summit – Saudi (Virtual) to focus on the challenges of the education sector

AA & DSA Interactive Guide

Saudi Arabia’s education sector is the largest in GCC, with 300 thousand Kindergartens, 5.5M in Primary Education, 1.4M in Higher Education and 128 Thousand in Technical Education. COVID-19 has proven to be the driving force to boost e-learning. This conference is designed to bring together digital learning solution providers from all over the globe that will cater to Saudi’s Vision 2030, modernising and digitising the education sector and solving the challenges of digital learning.

For more details, visit smartschoolsummit.com

The easy-to-use interactive guide to Access Arrangements & Disabled Students Allowance is an intuitive way to find our clinical, JCQ or SACS approved range of assessments, that provide the crucial evidence your students’ need to support their application process.

With in-depth descriptions and easy to read reasonable adjustment tables, this downloadable PDF will help you find the right test for your student’s unique examination needs.

Find the right assessment for your student: pearsonclinical.co.uk/aadsanov

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What’s new?

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Latest online autism training courses

Play equipment from Sovereign

Schudio TV online courses include “Being an Autistic Teacher” and “Autism and Behaviour”.

As education sector professionals, you know how critical genuine SEN experience and expertise are in delivering outstanding play and learning environments that are easily accessible to all. From exploring and stimulating their senses, to interacting and participating in activities with their peers, Sovereign’s range of bespoke SEN play equipment has been carefully designed and developed over nearly 30 years to promote inclusion and beat isolation in the playground. From the initial consultation and creative proposals through to manufacture, installation and aftercare, you can relax and know you’re in safe hands. Get in touch and together we can make a difference.

Delivered by Lynn McCann and her team from Reachout ASC, these courses bring practical understanding and support ideas for parents, teachers and care staff supporting autistic people from an autistic perspective.

Personal memberships offered from just £10 per month, and whole school memberships. Perfect for whole school CPD training with accreditation. schudio.tv

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Grace Garden School now open

Sunken Trampolines

Ruskin Mill Trust is delighted to announce the opening of Grace Garden School.

Offering an education to young people aged 9 – 16 with complex social, emotional and behavioural difficulties including autism spectrum conditions. Grace Garden School is set in 18 acres of cultivated landscape on the outskirts of Bristol. At Grace Garden School, children and young people are supported to learn as much as possible outside, participating in crafts, gardening and the exploration of nature. From these experiences their young people will come to understand the larger world and their place in it, along with the connections between themselves and their community.

Sunken Trampolines are delighted to announce that they have been chosen to be the UK distributor of Global Playgrounds products, which include Bird’s nest swings and playground trampolines. Global Playgrounds are innovators in trampoline design and have produced wonderful shapes enabling schools to have exciting patterns and trails.

For more information please visit their website: sunkentrampolines.co.uk

To find out more contact 0330 055 2653 or admissions@rmt.org

SEND Bitesize

Online education provider

SEND Bitesize is a half termly bite sized e-briefing, digital and printed, offering you information in the areas of Special Educational Needs and Disability. Your number one guide for SEND.

The Support School (TSS) are an established online education provider with experience in meeting the needs of students with SEND and EAL and working with over 240 students worldwide.

Written by teachers for teachers. SEND Bitesize is part of the SEND Group Family. Bringing insight and knowledge together in one place.

Bringing together the latest SEND knowledge, information, research and resources in one easy to digest e-briefing.

Designed and curated for SEND professionals by SEND professionals. sendbitesize.co.uk

TSS provides online support classes, mentoring and training for SEND and EAL staff and the work with schools, both at home and in the international school community.

All their staff are experienced UK registered teachers and follow the UK safer recruitment practice. When you just need a teacher for a few hours, need accredited training, or you are looking for accredited educational courses for specific student cohorts, then TSS could be the answer. thesupportschool.co.uk

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What’s new?

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Free building design and planning service from TG Escapes At this time of year many educational establishments are preparing Condition Improvement Funding bids. If you are looking for a new building and planning to apply for CIF or any other funding, TG Escapes will be happy to provide free building designs to support your bid. They offer a complete design and build service and have successfully delivered 100’s of buildings for SEND through the UK. Rated 4.9 out of 5 based on 159 reviews.

For more information call: 0800 917 7726 Email: info@tgescapes.co.uk Case studies at: tgescapes.co.uk

Would you like to create an outdoor sensory space, but have no funding?

The outdoor sensory space in any setting should be fully inclusive and provide the same opportunity for everyone to explore regardless of their ability or special need. It should be a place where diversity is respected and valued, enabling children of all abilities to explore their surroundings in a safe child-centred inclusive environment.

Timotay Playscapes have a free funding guide and free inspiration guide to outdoor sensory play spaces and outdoor sensory play equipment.

For a free copy, email enquiries@timotayplayscapes.co.uk or call 01933 665151.

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Optimal flexibility to meet daily needs A Staffordshire family’s son was born with global developmental delay and epilepsy and has no mobility. One of AAT’s Chilli Bean variable postural support cushion seats meant he was comfortable.

“What works for him one day may not be suitable the next,” explained mum. “The Chilli Bean is perfect: we’re able to adjust the contouring and firmness of the seat.”

AAT provides technical training, demonstrations, and free client assessments. aatgb.com/booking-form

Bett returns to ExCeL London On 19-21 January 2022 returns to reunite the global education community. Discover three days of free-to-attend, inspiring content and professional development, networking opportunities, and innovative product demonstrations from hundreds of exhibitors.

Returning for 2022, day three of Bett will feature a special focus on SEND and inclusion content, including Sally Phillips who will share a parent’s perspective on SEND education, Carol Allen and John Galloway on Universal Design for Learning, and more. You’ll also have access to a range of exhibitors showcasing assistive technologies ensuring a student-led learning experience and helping develop SEND students as independent learners.

Registration now uk.bettshow.com

Special Education for ages 5 to 25

Could this be you?

St Piers School and College offers day and residential placements for children and young people aged 5-25 with learning difficulties and a range of needs including epilepsy, autism, and related conditions.

Adopting a child is a transformative and exciting experience, but understand that it can be daunting at times. Rest assured, Adoption Counts will be by your side, guiding you from the moment you enquire to the day your child joins your family and beyond. The experienced team has a breadth of skills and knowledge to support and help you with anything you need.

From the moment students arrive at St Piers, they are supported to progress as learners and as unique individuals.

Putting young people at the centre of everything they do with the expert team developing social skills and independence.

Helping each learner to build their imaginative power, confidence, and self-esteem, enabling them to fulfil their potential and preparing them for their lives ahead.

We are particularly reaching out for people who will consider children aged three years and above, sibling groups, children of a BAME background (particularly from Black African and Black Caribbean communities) and children with complex needs.

For more information, please see our website stpiers.org.uk or email education@stpiers.org.uk or call 01342 831348.

If you’re thinking of adopting, get in touch today: adoptioncounts.org.uk

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Point of view

Point of view: a dyslexic

Words A poem by Simone McClean about dyslexia Words pour out of me, like the breath I breathe, keeping me alive, they sustain me. Like a sudden invasion, they circulate throughout my dyslexic mind. Working their way through muddled and unclear systems, which are uncertain but not twisted, no they never leave me. Words scare me, rushing inwardly to myself, trying to find safety in an effort to explain it all. These words do test me.

Sometimes I battle with them, a lonely warrior on a quest to nowhere.

About the author Simone McClean’s background is in fine art and textiles design. She is a qualified further education teacher and holds two masters and a doctorate in archeology. She has experienced bullying throughout her educational life and mockery from those who could not believe someone with dyslexia and other challenges could achieve a doctorate.

At times I am trapped by troublesome phonics, and the absence of how these letters should really be pronounced.

Although big words do not frighten me, as they enable me the time to think aloud, stretching the spectrum of my vocabulary to read them and make the right sounds.

Words like exaggeration are friends not foes, but it is the familiar well-known tricksters such as arithmetic which causes mayhem and panic. Yet words bother me like the spiteful deeds of some I should call neighbours, malignant and unkind in nature.

Each of their words are filled with suspicion and indifferences, I combat these with my higher consciousness. Come words fill me and give me pathways to express my gratitude, for the kind ones like grandma Florence, and the well-meaning teachers such as Mr Pinnock who supported me along the way.

Letter after letter I tried to apply this compulsive creative rhythm to expel fears and doubts. Words find me wherever I go, along daring billboard posters, car stickers, train tickets and the like.

Funny letters come to me as they filter through this dyslexic mind, forming nonsensical words, only known to me causing me to laugh aloud at myself. Indeed, these foolish words are all mine. Occupants in the mind of a lonely only child, who is rich in self-entertainment shared only between Teddy and myself. These words lift the sadness and protect me from the unknown ills, brightening my path and giving me hope. In time out of nonsense, I will become an alchemist transforming these silly words into more meaningful ones.

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Learning Disabilities

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Point of view: teacher

The hidden challenges faced by disabled teachers Determined to lift the lid on disability, teacher Valenee Gosine discusses the impact of her GNE Myopathy diagnosis upon her profession with Karen Olney.

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here’s a resounding sense of calm in the classroom as the teacher moves from student to student to assist with their work. The after-school tuition group at Kip McGrath is quietly focused yet brimming with positive energy. The teacher, Valenee Gosine puts children at ease and cannot resist cracking the odd joke. ‘It is important’ she says, ‘that they are not in the same classroom set up as they have been all day. We want them to look forward to coming for the extra lessons without them feeling like they are back at school.’

It is apparent that Valenee has a great rapport with her students and that this is an environment that she thrives in. Yet there is something quite unique about this classroom. Valenee is, by all accounts, a rarity. She is a teacher with a disability. A 2016 government census implied that less than 1% of teachers, at the time, were disabled. Teaching with a disability is uncommon and it is imperative to ask why this is the case?

Valenee was diagnosed with a rare muscle-wasting disease called GNE Myopathy at the age of 26. The condition is genetic and debilitating and there is no known cure. She has a bilateral SEN115

“A rare muscle-wasting disease called GNE Myopathy” foot drop and suffers from loss of muscle in her legs, meaning that she often uses a mobility walker for support. Valenee describes the muscle loss as similar to having ‘bags of flour’ tied around her ankles. Mobility is a struggle, and the condition has robbed her of the freedoms that others take for granted.

Children, she says, are much more accepting than adults.

‘Most children, when they first meet me, stare because they can’t understand why I walk the way I do.

Some ask, ‘what’s wrong with your legs?’

I have always been upfront with the children and tell them I have a muscle wasting condition. The muscles in my legs are senmagazine.co.uk

Point of view

“Always been upfront with the children and tell them I have a muscle wasting condition.” weak and that’s why I walk this way. They have always been intrigued and most fully understand, once I have explained. I don’t blame them for wondering. I would if I was them.’

When it comes to teaching, it is clear to see that Valenee’s disability does not impact her ability to teach. The children in the classroom are respectful and unfazed. They know to pull in their chair if she needs to pass with her walker.

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About the author Valenee Gosine s a qualified primary school teacher, 37 years old living with a physical disability.She has a very rare muscle wasting condition called GNE Myopathy. She writes to encourage teachers with a physical disability that they can still teach as long as they have the right support in place.

Karen Olney is a freelance journalist. @karen-olney-9a518ba3

‘My condition will gradually decline, and affect my whole body over time,’ she says, ‘but when I began my degree I was as able as anybody else.’ With GNE Myopathy striking during her early years of teaching, Valenee began to find that the physical challenge of a fast-paced environment became increasingly difficult. Walking around the building, carrying books and even photocopying work required additional support.

‘I had a whole host of both negative and positive experiences with my condition. In one school I asked if I could swap a windy playtime duty for another day, where I felt I could be steadier on my feet. But I was told in no uncertain terms, that no, that was my allotted time and duty.’

We are at a point in time where we are tearing down the barriers of stigma. Mental health, sexuality and disability are becoming topics that are openly discussed and widely acknowledged.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects disabled children from discrimination and schools are now required to accommodate a child with a disability. However, teachers do not always feel this same level of support. Despite having a positive experience in her NQT year where the school installed handrails, gave Valenee extra support for school trips and aid with daily tasks, support was not always so forthcoming in other schools. This led Valenee to leave mainstream schools and look for other teaching routes, which, fortunately, she found.

A child’s future is shaped by what they learn and the experiences that they obtain at school. Good teachers, and bad, are remembered for years to come. A great teacher can become an inspiration for life, and what better inspiration is there than seeing an adult overcome physical and mental hurdles to teach others. Valenee is teaching her children, not only lessons in the curriculum but also equally important lessons in resilience, compassion and empathy. She wants to encourage others with disabilities not to be put off their career path and encourage schools to listen to their needs. A great school, she says, is a supportive and encouraging employer, and one that she has found with Kip McGrath. senmagazine.co.uk

A recent study by Cambridge University, ‘The Work Lives of Disabled Teachers’, spoke in detail to a small group of disabled teachers and called for an ‘urgent change’ in their treatment and support. They found that these teachers often felt lonely, isolated and misunderstood by their employers. The research states that there are several safeguards and provisions that could be implemented to assist disabled teachers, including college training and support networks.

Clearly, broader research and action is needed. Schools have come so far in recent generations, supporting disabilities and actively helping in diagnosing children with learning needs.

However, there appears to remain a huge gap in understanding when it comes to their teachers.

When asked what Valenee hopes to achieve by speaking out about her experience she says, ‘I believe my disability does not define me as a person. I would like my story among others, to reach professionals in education and encourage others. Despite our disabilities, we can still have a career and use our skills with the help, support and understanding of others around us.

Everyone deserves a chance to shine in their chosen passion and profession.’

Has this article inspired you or given you pause for thought?

Your ideas and comments would be welcome.

Email editor@senmagazine.co.uk

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Complementary Therapies

The importance of play for children with special educational needs Play is not just for the very young. Georgina Durrant gives advice on how play can be integrated into other activities, and the benefits it provides.

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ver the course of the pandemic there’s been a lot of concern over children with special educational needs missing out academically and whilst this may be true, I strongly believe that we need also to focus on the fact that children have also missed out on play.

Playing with friends, playing outside, playing with grandparents, playing at their friend’s house…the list goes on. And whilst play might be seen as something trivial it’s actually imperative for children’s well-being and their development of important skills.

I’d go as far as saying that for young children, play is the mechanism for learning.

Play is everything, it’s squishing play dough and in turn developing those important fine motor skills that help them learn how to write. It’s walking and balancing on the equipment in the trim trail and learning how to take risks and finesse their gross motor skills. And it’s falling out with a friend over sequins and learning those really important social and language/ communication skills.

Play doesn’t come naturally to all children. By supporting them with playful activities we are helping them to play successfully with others, developing their social skills.

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“Play doesn’t come naturally to all children” But what do i mean exactly by play?

There’s lots of different types of play, from sensory play to imaginative play and all types of play can benefit children’s development. And whilst play may seem like something that happens in early years education, I’d argue it is important for all children.

Sensory play (simply play that involves the senses) such as playing with sand, water etc. can be particularly calming for many children. It helps them to relax after a busy day and take time to process situations, making it fantastic for emotional regulation.

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Complementary Therapies

“Get an insight into how children are feeling”

learn important problem-solving skills for later in life, develop resilience and help with concentration.

Imaginative play is wonderful for language, communication and social skills. It can also be fantastic for teachers and teaching assistants to observe - as often you get an insight into how children are feeling and the things they are worried about by seeing them act them out during play. This could be children setting up a small school with their toys and you might see for example, one of the toys not having anyone to play with at playtime - this could be a reflection of what the child is experiencing themselves (or has seen other children experience) and it can provide an opportunity to discuss this with the child.

Children’s appetite for play also has a crucial role in helping them to develop friendships - and friendships are incredibly important for children’s social and emotional wellbeing.

How can schools help children develop skills through play?

Firstly, often you don’t always need to do very much. It’s really important to provide time for free play where children can choose who and what to play with - enabling them to enjoy play and relax. Remembering that free play is important for developing skills as well as helping with mental well-being.

Provide opportunities for sensory play One aspect of play that can be hugely beneficial for many children with or without special educational needs, is sensory play. Therefore, try to provide opportunities for sensory play activities, especially at the end of a busy day, to help children relax and regulate their emotions. This could be with sand, water, play dough - anything that involves their senses. Or for older children, this could be something as simple as relaxing music. Be led by your class, some children really benefit from sensory play, whereas for others it can be overstimulating.

Utilise imaginative play If children in your setting are playing imaginatively, either through an activity in the lesson or during play time - take some time to observe them at play. Often it can provide an insight into their day and any concerns they have. Watch the interactions they play out with their toys for example. Use imaginative play activities to strengthen children’s language and communication skills. You may find a child is reluctant to put up their hand in a lesson, but when playing imaginatively, or taking part in an imaginative play activity as part of the lesson - they are much more encouraged to communicate. senmagazine.co.uk

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About the author Georgina Durrant is author of ‘100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play’ and founder of The SEN Resources Blog.

She’s also a former teacher/ SENDCO and now private tutor for children with SEN. senresourcesblog.com @senresourceblog

@senresourceblog

Weave literacy and numeracy into play It’s vital to remember that children can learn whilst they are playing. Don’t be afraid to weave literacy or numeracy learning into play-based activities. For example, if you’re playing ‘vets’ with an early years class, maybe you could help the children to make notes about the patient, draw the sign, count the patients etc. And if you’re trying to help a KS1 class learn their multiplications, make it part of a game outside in the playground.

Keep providing opportunities for fine motor skill development Fine motor skill activities are vital for the development of the muscles in the hands and fingers needed for learning to write, do up buttons etc. Throughout early years education and KS1 there’s thankfully a big focus on fine motor and gross motor skill activities. But for many children this needs to continue into KS2 and beyond. Including play-based activities that enable children the opportunities to develop their fine motor skills can have huge benefits for their development.

These could include threading beads, moulding dough and sorting small objects. Many of these activities can be incorporated seamlessly into lessons, for example during maths lessons using numeracy manipulatives not only helps children with their maths understanding but provides fine motor skills development.

Whilst there may be pressures to ensure children ‘catch up’ academically after the disruption of the pandemic. We must always do what we do best, which is putting the child at the centre of our planning and decision making. And in these circumstances, I think ensuring they can catch up on lost play is not only vital for their development and well-being but a handy tool for weaving in vital learning.

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PMLD

Music therapy and PMLD Through a description of her work, Madeline Aslan gives valuable insights into the wide ranging benefits of music therapy for children and young people with PMLD.

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any children with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) present with significant communication difficulties which can make it hard for them to express their emotions and to have them acknowledged. However, children with PMLD can often develop a social connection through improvised music making.

Music therapy can be used to create meaningful connections with those who are often isolated and frustrated, and nonverbal musical exchanges between client and therapist can aid the development of communication, which can ultimately lead to improved wellbeing outside of the music therapy room.

William*, aged 5, was referred to Coram for music therapy by educational staff to support him with socialisation and communication. He has a complex medical history and often showed challenging behaviour at school and at home, frequently becoming frustrated and hitting people. William has disordered development, delayed gross and fine motor skills and has spent much of his short life in and out of hospital.

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“Connections with those who are often isolated and frustrated”

William’s teachers were keen for him to have an outlet to be creative and develop ways of regulating his emotions.

Throughout our sessions, William was supported by a teaching assistant (TA) who informed me that William has little or no ability to communicate independently.

In his first music therapy session, William was initially tentative, he looked around the room actively avoiding eye contact with me. He carefully stepped over all the instruments that were senmagazine.co.uk

PMLD

“Found this incredibly funny and would laugh” laid out for him and because of his physical challenges, this took effort and consideration. After a few minutes in the room together I began to play the piano and sing a calm ‘hello song’.

When William heard me sing his name he immediately looked at me and grinned. I realised very early on in our work together that he had a good sense of humour, and this became a big part of our relationship.

It was important to think about appropriate instruments before we started our sessions due to William’s challenges with fine motor skills. I chose various handheld percussion which he could easily hold but that would also make a lot of sound with little movement needed. I also placed the keyboard low to the ground within his reach. Although I knew I would need to support William with some of the instruments, it was necessary for him to have a reasonable level of autonomy in our sessions.

In this first session, I picked up on William’s early anxiety and was aware that he had not accessed these instruments before, so I sat down on the floor and began to show him the different sounds they could make - this caught his attention. Supported by his TA, William boldly took the instrument from my hands whilst shaking his head and smiling. We spent the rest of the session trying every instrument together and putting them all back in the box one by one. This was William’s idea.

As the sessions progressed, William confidently chose the instruments he wanted to play and learned very quickly that if

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About the author Madeline Aslan is a music therapist in Coram’s Creative Therapies team. Coram provides specialist educational provisions in both art and music therapy, working with children and young people with severe learning disabilities (SLD), social and emotional mental health issues (SEMH), as well as PMLD. creativetherapyadmin@coram.org.uk

he made a sound I would respond on the piano or guitar. We did a lot of musical turn taking and had long musical exchanges.

When William didn’t want to play he communicated through shaking his head or by pushing instruments away. William would often sit on his chair and avoid looking at me and was able to communicate what he needed in that moment without using words. Sometimes I would just be with William, but other times I could see he was trying extremely hard not to laugh and was desperately avoiding eye contact, so I decided to play along and started responding to his body movements musically. William found this incredibly funny and would laugh and move his arms and legs or shake his head, just so I would play something on the piano in response. He would ask to be helped up by pointing and was supported by his TA to do magical dances across the room. William would suddenly stop and look at me with control, put his finger to his lips and say ‘shhh’, so I was quiet. Other times William would gently rock back and forth on his chair and watch me, so I played the piano to match him and we would fall into a steady pulse. I followed William’s lead.

This type of musical mirroring may seem somewhat intrusive, however with a child with PMLD it can often provide a rich, shared experience. Matching their movements with sound can support them to feel more grounded and aware of their body. William controlled his body in a very deliberate way. He was aware of cause and effect and really knew what he was doing.

Music therapy sessions have traditional therapeutic boundaries of time and space.

I always use ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ songs

■ Creating music.

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PMLD

and at times during the improvised music I may begin to sing other familiar songs which can be predictable and calming.

Children with PMLD have little or no opportunity for independence, therefore effectively communicating the capacity of the client, as seen in a music therapy session, with other adults is vital.

Whether it be through video or having parents/carers in the sessions supporting the child.

I requested the same TA to support William every week as it was important for me to also develop a good relationship with her. Initially, William’s TA would actively tell him to play when he was communicating that he didn’t want to, or she would grab his hand and do it for him. I explained to her the importance of giving him space to be heard and that I felt he had capacity for more independence. She stepped back slightly and began to watch William in a different way. After a few sessions she began to join in and started communicating with him similarly to how I was. She would frequently comment that he was more focused than ever, and they had some really beautiful and communicative exchanges. Through weeks of explaining my process to her, I felt confident that the TA could support William in this way outside of the music therapy room. He knew that she had heard him too.

In my sessions with William, I learnt about his strengths, not his deficits. I was told he could not communicate effectively but I gave him space to be heard and responded to his music making. I noticed that he instantly developed interests in new sounds and became motivated to engage with me. William was

“The importance of giving him space to be heard” playful and funny and extremely communicative. I only noticed William becoming frustrated when he was visibly unable to communicate his needs with me, but with space and time and the predictable structure of our sessions, William felt reassured and we developed a trusting therapeutic relationship.

Music has a beautiful and distinctive nature when working with children who have PMLD. It is extraordinary to observe how music-making can support those who are isolated in their environments. William was disengaged from people around him but through our shared music we developed a greater understanding of each other. The music therapist can go beyond any communication barriers and reflect back, or match, the smallest of communications presented by a client.

This therapeutic relationship can offer a child with PMLD an experience of being acknowledged and heard, and a deeply meaningful connection can be formed on an entirely non-verbal level. *Names have been changed.

MPS: care for children with cerebral palsy must be improved To coincide with World Cerebral Palsy Day, a cross-party group of MPs has released a new report calling on the Government and local authorities to do more to improve access to care for children with Cerebral Palsy and their families.

The publication by the All-Parliamentary Group on Cerebral Palsy examines how best practice can be spread in the vital Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).

Drawing on the testimony of experts, parents and those with lived experience of Cerebral Palsy, the APPG’s report finds that there are gaps in the existing process and service provision that are letting children with Cerebral Palsy and their families down.

To remedy this, and to end the postcode lottery of access to support, the APPG makes a series of recommendations that will revitalise the current support system and remove the barriers that children and young people with Cerebral Palsy and their families encounter.

For the latest news and articles, visit:

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Making the transition from child to adult services?

Here at Achieve together we understand that leaving the security of the education system into adulthood can be daunting. It is essential for young people with disabilities and/or special educational needs, that parents/carers start planning early for their future. This transition takes place in Year 9 and will be an ongoing process, not a single event. Having the right information and support will help you and your child make informed decisions.

It is important to talk to your child and find out what they want for their future and who is best placed to help them achieve their aspirations.

How Achieve together can help Achieve together are one of the UK’s leading providers of support for young adults with learning disabilities and/or autism, including profound and multiple learning disabilities. In addition, we support young adults who are deaf, have hearing or sight loss and experience a range of health and neurological conditions including complex epilepsy.

We support young adults who may present with behaviours which challenge, and/or may present with mental health conditions.

The Achieve together Health & Wellbeing Team provides a

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range of expert multi-professional support to the young person and their support team, including through our PBS Practitioners, Mental Health Lead, Nursing and Health Facilitation Team, Inclusive Communication Lead, Relationship & Sexuality Advisors and Coproduction Team.

We have a wide variety of support options available, depending on your child’s needs. These include outreach facilities in the local community, supported living, and residential services. We live and breathe our core values, and putting the people we support at the heart of everything we do is pivotal.

To find out more please about our specialist services please call us on 03301 755 332 or visit achievetogether.co.uk

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PMLD

How commitment and compassion kept a SEN school running during coronavirus Cheryl Smith recounts her experiences of working with young people with PMLD when a pandemic is thrown into the mix.

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orking with young people who have special educational needs and complex mental health issues can be challenging at the best of times, but what happens when a pandemic is thrown into the mix? Cheryl Smith recounts her experiences.

Cheryl Smith has more than 25 years’ experience working in education, but has only been in the Headteacher role for 18 months which meant she took on the role at the start of the pandemic.

“To say it was tough starting a new job during a pandemic, which already had many demanding requirements and complex constraints, is probably an understatement,” Cheryl says.

“I didn’t have the luxury of a slow introduction to the job, I literally had to hit the ground running because my primary aim was to ensure we stayed fully open throughout so our young patients still had access to quality education. Fortunately, I know St Andrew’s very well, so I was already familiar with how things ran on a day-to-day basis. Alongside maintaining an excellent education provision for our young people, I had to focus on introducing all the COVID-19 safety measures so staff and patients were well protected.”

Mental Health Act St Andrew’s College caters for children aged between 13 to 18 years old who have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act to receive treatment for their mental health. This means the students are often very unwell and presenting with risks to themselves and/or others.

“Thinking even more ‘creatively and flexibly” “So, this means my team have to be highly skilled mental health practitioners,” Cheryl says.

“They also need to be resilient compassionate carers as well as educationalists, to meet the needs of our pupils fully and ensure they feel safe and supported.”

But throwing COVID-19 into the mix meant Cheryl had to dig deep and start thinking even more “creatively and flexibly” when it came to delivering lessons, even when wards were in isolation due to outbreaks of the virus.

“We had a few staff teaching from home on occasions, which meant they had to work extra hard at keeping the students engaged in their learning,” Cheryl explains.

“When on site we ensured all our teachers were in full PPE, following our COVID-19 protocols and carrying out extra hygiene routines throughout the day.”

Unannounced inspection If that was not enough to contend with, in June 2021 Ofsted turned up for an unannounced inspection!

“I don’t think any Headteacher in the world would choose to have Ofsted in for an inspection straight after a pandemic and national lockdown, but we rose to the occasion and got on with it, doing what we do best. Teaching, caring and educating,” Cheryl says.

Thankfully the hard work paid off and the published report rated the school ‘Good’ overall and ‘Outstanding’ for behaviour and attitudes.

Trauma informed approach ■ Creative thought process.

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About the author Cheryl Smith is Headteacher of the St Andrew’s College, of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service within the St Andrew’s Healthcare site in Northampton.

■ Music therapy.

around each young person’s specific needs and recognising the experiences they have had.

Cheryl says this involves the team building trusting therapeutic relationships with each student when they are first admitted, because it is generally acknowledged that entering the hospital for the first time can be very frightening as our young people don’t know what to expect.

“A friendly face and a sympathetic ear can go a long way with these children who are understandably scared, uncertain and often lacking in hope at the beginning,” Cheryl explains.

“We’ve found the key is to engage them early, so they get used to seeing us. Once we’ve got to know the patient a bit, then we start building their bespoke programme of education around their future aspirations and individual learning and mental health needs.

‘Resilience and self-esteem’ “It’s our sole aim to develop the child as a whole person during their time with us, and we do that by focusing on the development of their resilience, self-esteem and hope for the future, alongside more formal and mainstream educational achievements.”

Despite the challenges that coronavirus has thrown at staff, they must have been doing something right as more than 170 qualifications were achieved this year alone, including a number of grade 9 GCSE results.

Now that the worst of the pandemic (hopefully) seems to be over, Cheryl is starting to look to the future. She has community plans she is hoping to roll out which will become even more vital, as the impact of the pandemic and recent lockdowns on children’s mental wellbeing begins to emerge.

“We know most people struggled with being kept at home for long periods of time, away from many of their friends and family, and it’s crucial we don’t forget the impact this may have had on our kids too, many of whom didn’t really fully understand what was going on,” Cheryl says. senmagazine.co.uk

“Bespoke programme of education around their future aspirations”

St Andrew’s and the school have developed a programme for other schools called The Lightbulb Mental Wellness Programme.

The aim is to help schools recognise and meet the needs of children with mental health, and create a culture of positive mental well-being for their pupils and staff.

Cheryl says she firmly believes that the initiative could make a real difference to how mental health is perceived and supported in schools and could therefore have a huge impact on young lives in the future.

When asked what makes St Andrew’s so unique, Cheryl instantly replies with conviction and sincerity, so you are left in no uncertain terms just how much she cares for her students.

“We care for some of the most poorly children in the country,” she says. “And we do so with compassion, kindness and understanding, while also encouraging them to achieve the best they can in their education and develop as young people.

“It’s very easy for the children to fall through the cracks in a system which is under so much pressure in the community.

We pick them up and help them to believe in themselves and to achieve their goals, whilst they get the help they so desperately need.

“We travel the recovery journey alongside them to ensure they feel safe and supported as they make progress, helping to reintegrate them back to their lives in the community. For me, that is what it’s all about helping to educate and empower these young people so they recover and live their lives to the fullest.”

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Creative arts

Interactive music experiences for SEN learners Hertfordshire based charity, Electric Umbrella, creates live, interactive music experiences for people with SEN. Co-founder, Mel Boda, reflects on how it all began, and the impact the charity has today.

I

’m a qualified Art Therapist so I already had experience of working with SEN learners, and found it incredibly rewarding.

When I met Tom, our co-founder, on a community arts project, we both recognised there were few opportunities for people with SEN to take to ‘the stage’ and we wanted to change that.

We started by delivering workshops across Hertfordshire, raising small amounts of money through crowdfunding initiatives and busking opportunities. Within two years we had delivered hundreds of hours of music workshops, performed to thousands of people at gigs, and held our first summer festival, Umbrellafest.

“Social care models are hardwired to be about surviving, not thriving.”

Our education programmes are central to everything we do.

We’re now supported by a group of amazing professional musicians, a small, dedicated staff team, and lots of amazing volunteers. In doing so, we’re on a mission to challenge people to think differently about people with SEN.

Every Wednesday afternoon, we deliver Music Machine, a specialist music experience for hundreds of SEN schools across the UK. We also offer mainstream schools EU Express, unique tour visits with our members, all part of our ambition to challenge children and young people to think differently about our community.

When our superstars take to the stage, they help change the way the world looks at them - and others. This is so important because we believe people with SEN are all too often left behind and social care models are hardwired to be about surviving, not thriving.

Music Machine is joined by hundreds every week and helps teachers and students everywhere to connect, express themselves through music and importantly, have loads of fun.

Teachers regularly tell us just how much their students love it, and for them it’s an opportunity to switch off and join in too.

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“Promoting self-confidence and independence” These online sessions are fully interactive, filled with vibrant music to lift spirits, stimulate minds and shake out the body.

Right now, our autumn term is up and running. We are currently on the road to delivering our exciting new concept, Music Machine - On Tour!

This will give schools across the country an opportunity to have an Electric Umbrella visit during a show. All delivered with the help of our brand new (and very yellow) bus.

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About the author Mel Boda is a qualified Arts Therapist, co-founded Electric Umbrella with Artistic Director Tom, after they met on a community arts project. electricumbrella.co.uk @electricbrolly

@ElectricUmbrella @electricumbrellacharity

For schools who want that little bit more of Electric Umbrella magic, we can also offer bespoke workshops, and show stopping performances.

Our work doesn’t end there. We reach people with SEN all over the world via free online ‘Plug In’ sessions. These work to combat social isolation by facilitating regular, meaningful social interaction for members as well as promoting self-confidence and independence.

During the pandemic we launched additional online sessions to bring fun interactive shows, singalongs, often with inspiring guests, for over 2000 people, many of whom relied on these social and creative sessions to get them through this difficult time.

Guests have included celebrities Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Toyah Willcox, Andrew Self, Dan Gillespie Sells from The Feeling and Tony Hadley - the two latter also sang on the charity’s Christmas single The Best Christmas (In Lockdown).

We also offer smaller sessions where members can express themselves. Many of our members are able to use their social care budgets to meet the cost of these amazing experiences.

This includes two Big Yellow Choirs, one for people in Hertfordshire and the other is online and open to everyone, anywhere in the world! We also have cyber sessions for young people aged 11-17 and adults. These are small group sessions where members can express themselves, make music and importantly, new friends.

We have members who have been part of our journey from the very start. We recently launched an Ambassador programme, for these experienced members who want to embrace new challenges to plan and perform live, gain valuable work experience, and participate in our schools programme.

There’s real opportunities to make music too, over the past year members collaborated on one of the most extraordinary albums ever released. senmagazine.co.uk

■ Live performance.

Co-written and produced from our homes, Sunflower Avenue documents a spectrum of emotions travelled by the SEN community living through a pandemic.

Overall, everything we do is all about the magic that happens when people with SEN and pro-musicians work shoulder to shoulder. It’s about achieving incredible things together. It’s about adapted instruments, making extraordinary adjustments, and it being perfectly acceptable that sometimes it takes three people to play a cello!

Music can have a magical, inspiring impact, and yes, it really does change the lives of those in our community.

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What does a truly inclusive arts sector look like?

As the government sets about launching their new National Disability Strategy, Michelle Temperley discusses the concept of inclusivity in the arts and how it can be achieved.

H

ere at National Youth Theatre (NYT) we have been on a journey over the last few years to explore how we as a charity and how the wider arts industry respond to this question.

In all our work we have always sought to celebrate the ways that we are different and create an environment where everyone can thrive and do their best work. This is a given for most arts organisations; A culture of acceptance, openness, collaboration and experimentation is vital for them to succeed. So why has it been such a struggle for our sector to develop and attract young disabled and neurodiverse talent? Why do many people feel the arts are still inaccessible and far from inclusive?

Often when thinking about addressing inequality the arts industry starts at the top. We recognise how under-represented groups lack visibility. We highlight and try to tackle the lack of public role models and mainstream recognition and appetite for their output. These are laudable responses but as we all instinctively know, change has to be underpinned by something senmagazine.co.uk

“A struggle for our sector to develop and attract young disabled and neurodiverse talent?” more, something deeper; an infrastructure that will support and sustain these desired cultural shifts.

The Arts Council’s current ten year strategy, ‘Let’s Create’, recognises this too. It cites as two of its three key outcomes the need to support the development of ‘Creative people opportunities for everyone to develop and express themselves

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“Inclusive cultural community must be organic and outward facing.”

About the author Michelle Temperley is the Inclusion Project Managerfor the National Youth Theatre. nyt.org.uk @NYTofGB

creatively’ and ‘Cultural communities - villages, towns and cities that thrive through a collaborative approach to culture’.

Together we must work to create inclusive cultural communities which offer scope for disabled and neurodiverse young people to experience and shape their cultural worlds.

But where to begin? It’s tempting to start by looking inwards.

To look at your organisation’s culture, policies and offers and try and correct them and realign them, in the hope that by doing so you create greater accessibility and inclusion as the result. But an inclusive cultural community must be organic and outward facing. It needs space and time to grow.

Since 2018 at NYT we have worked alongside two nonmainstream schools in London - Highshore School in Southwark and Samuel Rhodes school in Islington - to explore how we can embed drama provision into the very fabric of a school and understand what impact this has on students’ cultural and personal development.

This has been a shared, iterative and reflective process and we have seen students develop greater confidence and observed how their communication skills have been enhanced, which in turn has impacted on all aspects of their academic and personal life. But more than this, by creating an opportunity for creative expression, we have started a conversation around how that creativity can be supported, harnessed and shared.

Learning from each other throughout the process, together we have explored how we can engage young people beyond the classroom and connect them to cultural opportunities in their locality so they are not just recipients of culture but consumers and creators.

This work has informed how we recruit, audition and support our young members at the NYT, enabling us to facilitate students to take up places on the creative opportunities and pathways that we offer that were previously less visible and accessible. It has helped us create new work experience and creative work skills offers, designed with our school partners and aligned with the work we are already delivering with them. It has also allowed us to better understand how to make our productions more accessible and informed our approach to relaxed performances which we now offer across all our work.

Most importantly this work, and partnerships with industry leaders and critical friends like Jess Thom and the team at Touretteshero, David Bellwood Access Manager at The Globe and the team at Diverse City, has influenced how we talk and think about inclusivity. Ongoing active learning and reflection SEN115

@NationalYouthTheatre

enable us to continually adapt our inclusive training, which is embedded into all our staff and Associate Artists continuing professional development and all our young members courses, training and leadership opportunities incorporate this too.

Inclusivity has become a mindset not an add on or adjunct.

In the spring of this year we embarked upon the next part of this journey as we launched a new Inclusive Practice Collective. The Inclusive Practice Collective is a movement which aims to build on our previous work and seeks to not only embed drama provision and foster cultural connectivity in non-mainstream schools but also train a new generation of young inclusive practitioners. Funded by the Government’s Kickstart scheme we have partnered with non-mainstream schools and colleges in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and continue our relationships in London, and we will be training up to 60 young Inclusion Facilitators providing them with a paid six-month job placement to deliver drama provision across this academic year. These young people, some of whom identify as disabled and/or neurodiverse themselves will become inclusive cultural community ambassadors, sharing their learning in their own communities and shaping the next chapter of inclusive practice.

Despite outstanding leadership from individuals and organisations mentioned above and others like Graeae Theatre Company and Blink Dance, as a sector our understanding of inclusive practice is still in its infancy and we have a long way to go. It is vital that young disabled and neurodiverse people see themselves reflected in the stories our sector tells on stage and screen, for it is these narratives that help validate and shape our understanding of ourselves. At NYT we will continue to develop and commission these stories and work with disabled and/or neurodiverse artists, writers, directors and actors but we will also underpin this with our wider inclusivity work, our efforts to create opportunities for young disabled and/or neurodiverse people to enjoy creative experiences and engage in and influence their own inclusive cultural communities. We hope this work will create pathways for future generations of role models who will continue to shape our industry and its output ensuring it truly represents everyone. senmagazine.co.uk

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ARTiculate for Staff in Education Training school staff to support children’s emotional literacy through art Delivered online or in your workplace.

ARTiculate is designed, endorsed and delivered by the British Association of Art Therapists specifically for staff in education settings who wish to use art to support children and young people with a range of issues including relationship building and emotional literacy.

This course is over 3 days: Introduction, Intermediate and Advanced.

Please see the website for more details www.baat.org

Advertisement feature

Petra’s Place Petra’s Place is an inclusive nursery and early-intervention therapy centre for mainstream children and children with special needs and autism aged 2 – 6 years. The first few years of a child’s life determines their future ability to learn, which is the reason why early-intervention is so vital.

Our OFSTED registered nursery is open 48 weeks a year from 8a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday to Friday with SEN experienced nursery practitioners offering a high ratio of care (1:3).

Children have direct access to speech and language therapy, sensory integration, occupational therapy, music and art therapy sessions and intensive nursery and therapy packages, where a multi-disciplinary approach achieves the best outcome.

skill of the nursery and therapy staff and the opportunity to mix with and learn from other parents.

Our clinical approach is to learn from the best evidence-based interventions. However, we have developed our own unique programme which draws on this to combine early development, creativity, therapy and learning in one package. Our intensive nursery and therapy programme specifically targets the areas that children with autism struggle with: social communication, joint attention, motor skills and sensory issues.

The centre is a warm, inviting and secure environment where children are made to feel instantly at home. They feel comfortable from day one and this helps them to adjust quickly and learn and develop. Petra’s Place is definitely the place that you want to be if you have a child with special needs.

Parental feedback has been overwhelmingly positive about all areas of the service; the many developments they are seeing in their children, the calm and child friendly environment, the

For more information about our services or to register your child, please contact reception@petrasplace.co.uk or visit our website petrasplace.co.uk.

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Yoga

Yoga as a complementary therapy for children with SEND Lisa Harwood provides a guide to how yoga practices compliment many of the therapies accessed by SEND children and young people.

Y

oga is the union of body and mind and is viewed as a total body and mind activity for the physical and emotional wellbeing of children, teenagers and adults with or without SEN. It provides an enjoyable and fun activity for children with SEND and their family to participate in together whilst complementing their treatment plans from physiotherapy, speech and language and psychological services.

Benefits of yoga for SEN children and teens The benefits of yoga for children with SEND has been well researched demonstrating that yoga ‘increased balance and coordination, increased self-esteem and social communication skills’ (Kenny, 2002), improves ‘balance, flexibility and coordination’ (White, 2017) and for young children with special needs, yoga improves concentration, focus and creativity’ Mochan (2017).

Mental Health Wellbeing Yoga is the state of being present and mindful in our practice.

It allows us to focus on what we are doing now and occupy our minds so we are not worrying about what we should be doing. The yoga concepts of being present (mindfulness) and relaxation, including guided meditations are used in yoga for SEN children and teenagers. These techniques are often used

by CAMHS teams (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service).

Resources are available from CAMHS teams including YouTube videos on yoga practice and accessible chair yoga. Collaborative working between CAMHS and Learning disability teams has resulted in the development of activity packs which include yoga practice, breathing exercises and mindful activities for children and parents to access (Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust). These enhance the management plans and support that SEN children and their families receive. On a personal level I have delivered guided meditations recordings (10-15mins each)

“Our minds so we are not worrying about what we should be doing.”

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About the author

“More in control and empowered to manage their anxiety”

to a teenager accessing local CAMHS services. The CAMHS team has been supportive of the use of these tools and the teenager has commented that ‘I really enjoy them, they help me relax, but I wish they were longer’.

Lisa Harwood is a Senior Staff Nurse, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, RYT 200 (YA) and teen yoga teacher. She is co-author of the ‘Yoga for Me’ approach to teaching yoga to teens and adults with learning disabilities. echoyoga.co.uk @lisa_echoyoga

Physical Wellbeing Pranayama or breath work is an excellent tool to help with breathing regulation and self-enquiry or noticing what is happening in the body. Having accessible tools such as placing the hand on the abdomen, can help the child or teenager feel more in control and empowered to manage their anxiety when they first notice it is increasing. For those children with breathing restrictions due to differences in physical shape of the ribcage or spine a focus on breath work (being made fun with activities such as blowing bubbles, a feather or leaf on the palm of the hand) can help increase the amount of lung capacity used in breathing. Use of breathing techniques including bumble bee breathe, snake breathe or lion breath create movement and vibration within the mouth and vocal cords. These activities can complement the work of speech and language therapy services that the child may already be accessing.

The most familiar part of yoga, the physical practice or Asana is often thought of as preventative physiotherapy. According to physiotherapist and yoga teacher Katherine Geddes (kjgeddes.co.uk) ‘Physiotherapy and yoga can work together. I find yoga can complement traditional physiotherapy treatments’.

According to Shirley Telles (2017) ‘yoga and physiotherapy both empower an individual to regain health and well-being through

an all system approach to improve all aspects of life’. You may even find that some of the exercises that physiotherapy providers give you to work on at home are very similar to those used in yoga. A physiotherapy colleague commented that it wasn’t until they took up a personal yoga practice that they realised how many of the exercises they used were yoga poses.

Let’s consider the Tree pose. One of the most popular yoga poses in my classes. The pose works on balance, strengthening ankles, engaging the leg muscles and core to achieve stability to balance. You can also ask the person to focus and concentrate on an object that doesn’t move, to help with the balance.

We may not hold the balance for long but everyone has fun trying. One of my students reported that her physiotherapist commented on how much her balance and strength had improved and advised her to continue the yoga, as it was beneficial for her. The student loves yoga and was very pleased with this positive feedback.

Yoga can be accessed within the community or school settings.

If your school currently doesn’t offer yoga, but is an activity you would like to consider, Teen Yoga may be able to help you. It can be difficult to identify local yoga teachers with a specific interest in teaching yoga to SEND children and teenagers. Teen Yoga is an advocate of Yoga in Schools and has a host of specially trained yoga teachers that can deliver yoga to SEN students.

Conclusion Yoga is a whole body and mind practice.

It can be a fun activity that can support the traditional therapies’ that children with SEND may be already accessing.

By involving family members in a relaxed approach means children don’t perceive these exercises as something they have to do as part of their therapy. Yoga can have a far reaching beneficial effect with positive outcomes for the child and family.

■ Relaxing after exercising.

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Complementary Therapies

Giuliana Wheater is an author, writer, multi-award winning therapist, teacher, trainer and active advocate.

Her work has been recognised by the Children's University and she is the Well-being Ambassador for Anna Kennedy Online autism charity & specialist panel member for the UK IHM Community.

Private sessions (including Zoom sessions), courses and workshops available. For more information, visit:

www.therapiesforspecialneeds.co.uk

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Mobility

Improving mobility through Targeted Training Sarah Bew describes how Targeted Training, alongside physiotherapy, can improve movement control and mobility.

C

hildren with mobility problems may have difficulties with sitting, standing or walking and may be dependent on others or mobility aids to get around.

At The Movement Centre we try to optimise every child’s movement control to gain as much mobility as possible.

The Movement Centre provides a specialist therapy called Targeted Training. The therapy draws on specialist physiotherapy and bioengineering. A child will start Targeted Training with support at the appropriate level and progress downward as far as possible as control is gained, this may be improved head, trunk or lower limb control. As a result of improved movement control children can gain new functional skills and independence, which can have a huge impact on their lives.

Targeted Training therapy can be suitable for children with cerebral palsy, global developmental delay, those who have an acquired brain injury, Down syndrome and other genetic disorders. We work closely with families and the course of therapy is tailored to each child’s specific needs. With the addition of a course of Targeted Training therapy a child with cerebral palsy is three to four times more likely to gain gross motor function than with conventional physiotherapy alone. It is noteworthy that increased functional skills and independence can mean there is less of a need for future equipment, medical intervention and carers. Targeted Training therapy works best in addition to regular physiotherapy.

Courses are usually 6-12 months in length, combining the use of a specialist standing frame and physiotherapy. It is different from other therapies because it works by placing a child in an upright position and the standing frame provides stability and support. The support happens directly beneath the area where movement control is a challenge. As progress is made the level of support may be lowered. This process mirrors the way in which movement control is naturally developed, from the head downwards.

Mobility is a key element to a child’s independence and even small gains in controlled movement can be life changing for individuals. If a child has no head control, they are completely dependent on everyone around them, however if they gain control over their own head movements this can open up opportunities such as learning to use an electric wheelchair that is controlled by a switch system on the head support.

Controlling your own movements allows such an increase in freedom and sense of independence.

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About the author Sarah Bew is a clinical specialist physiotherapist at the Movement Centre. the-movement-centre.co.uk

TMCOswestry @themovementcentre4tt

“Three to four times more likely to gain gross motor function”

Many of the children who attend The Movement Centre have difficulties with their core stability. Using our specialist equipment and segmental approach, we simplify the learning of trunk control. Once control has improved children may then be able to roll independently, commando crawl or bottom shuffle, allowing them to explore their environment.

Where a child gains pelvic control, this opens up the world of crawling or walking on their knees, in reality this may mean they can move around a room and choose a toy from a different location rather than ‘only’ having the toy that has been placed near them; or get themselves into places they shouldn’t!

Specialist standing frames also allow us to work with children on their lower limb control and in some instances, we have been privileged to help them to stand independently and gain their first steps. A child’s first step is a huge moment for them, and their families and the implications on their future mobility can be immeasurable.

If you would like more information or details on how to refer a child to us, please visit our website: themovementcentre.co.uk senmagazine.co.uk

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Autism

Zayne’s journey with autism Read about Zayne’s journey with autism and his family’s life by his Mum.

“At the beginning, life was really stressful and confusing, mixed with long waiting lists and no answers. We just wanted to be able to help Zayne the best we possibly could, but with very little knowledge and understanding of what he needed, it proved almost impossible to know what to do for the best.

I found myself up at night searching for answers and joining online support groups. However, without knowing what difficulties Zayne was having, it was hard to know what support we actually needed help with. I really needed that support, advice and guidance more than ever, and I did start to lose all hope after hearing that waiting lists were starting at about 18 months long.

When Zayne started his journey with bibic, he was struggling with sensory meltdowns and numerous other difficulties that we were trying to understand. He needed lots of sensory input in certain areas and much less sensory input in others. This was something I hadn’t understood before we began working with the charity.

He absolutely LOVED his time there, the therapists really understood him and made us all welcome from the very start.

He loved playing games and bouncing on the trampoline, for him I suppose it must have felt like some really fun days out, but it was so much more exciting than that for us as a family - because we were all learning how to help.

Watching his journey, and our journey as a family, was just amazing because we came home with so much knowledge, so much understanding and we felt able to actually help Zayne almost immediately after leaving! The support before, during and after his assessment was absolutely gold standard. I couldn’t have possibly dreamt of anything better, especially since that period of time was one of the hardest of our lives.

We had felt so alone before getting this kind of help.

■ Zac at the skatepark.

Zayne eventually got diagnosed with autism in August 2020.

We had suspected this would be the case, but the support from bibic helped us be able to help him with his individual needs before he even had a diagnosis. We were able to support him, without having to wait for that much needed help, because they worked with us, and with Zayne’s specific needs, when we desperately needed that guidance.

Life for Zayne now is so much better, more fulfilled, he is so much happier now we know how to help and what steps to take if anything is too much for him, or he feels overwhelmed.

We found out what he really loves, and what helps his sensory needs at the same time - trampolining, flipping, scootering, bike riding, dog walking, etc. He spends most of his life outdoors come rain or shine, and he is such a happy little boy.

He is doing much better at school socially, but has ear defenders if he needs them and a chair that he can take sensory breaks on (doing push-ups or any other movement break type activity).

Without bibic we would’ve definitely struggled on for a very long time not knowing where to go, or who to turn to. I am so grateful for the help we were given so quickly, and for Zayne’s assessment as a whole - it really helped us to understand what he needs and put things in place for him.”

Written by Zayne’s mum

bibic is a national charity based in Langport. It delivers therapeutic programmes to children and young adults ages 6 months to 25 years with developmental and neurological difficulties. bibic sees them without diagnosis and supports a wide range of neurological and genetic conditions. If you want to enquire about how they could help your child, please visit bibic.org.uk ■ Enjoying the outdoors.

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Autism

Siblings and special educational needs Judy Gordon highlights the challenges and rewards of having a sibling with SEN.

S

ibling relationships are generally viewed by relatives and friends as characterised by long-term reciprocity and rivalry. But life alongside a sibling with special educational needs entails a somewhat broader range of experiences. Around 2.3 million children in the UK have a sibling with disabilities, yet there is a chronic shortage of research or discussion about these children. My own sister has special educational needs. I grew up with a very limited understanding of those needs, and from a more mature perspective, I was only able to expand my knowledge by initiating my own research into available information and resources.

Personal experience I grew up with a sister who has autism. Autistic individuals are conventionally categorised by a ‘triad of impairments’, broadly centred on their difficulties with social communication skills, social interactions, and rigid, often repetitive behaviour patterns. The latter difficulty is particularly characteristic of my sister, who must have watched The Little Mermaid a SEN115

“There is a chronic shortage of research or discussion about these children” thousand times, and who always wanted her hair styled in a precise and very particular way before school (a style only I could create to her satisfaction, and which frequently made us both late for school).

When I was young and ill-informed about autism, I assumed that my sister was simply misbehaving, either to get my mother’s attention or to get her own way. This was not a major issue in my early life, because as one of six children I never seemed senmagazine.co.uk

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About the author Judy Gordon is a qualified special educational needs teacher, who has recently completed a Master of Science in Psychology and has now become an independent special educational needs consultant. senconsultancyldn.co.uk

senconsultancyldn @senconsultancyldn

“A valuable ability to bounce back from difficult situations”

to lack playmates or attention, and all I really understood was that my autistic sister did not want to play with the rest of us in ways we considered normal. I only began to see autism in a broader context after I entered secondary school, where I recognised that my sister’s social skills and behaviour were very different to those of neurotypical children. As I grew older, I saw how her behaviour triggered frequent exclusions and numerous changes of school, until home schooling became her only option. I worried about her lack of friendships or opportunities to socialise with other children her age.

Responsibility I was often (and to some degree still am) directly involved in my sister’s care. This could be challenging at times – especially when set against my adolescent desires to go out with friends regularly, get to school/college on time, etc. – but my sister and I always shared a special bond. Because she would often listen to me more than our other siblings, I was the go-to girl for certain conversations and for the trips out and about that were her only real contact with the wider world.

Today, as a permanently busy adult with responsibility for my son, I still do what I can to help my sister, asking her out on trips, either alone or with my friends, and finding short courses or interesting activities through the local authority’s ‘local offer’ senmagazine.co.uk

service. My sense of responsibility for her has increased as I have matured, and my awareness of societal expectations and norms have grown. I worry about what the future holds for my sibling, and about my mother’s ability to care for her as they both get older. Contributing where I can, and worrying when I cannot, could be seen as burdens, but I refuse to accept them as such. They’re just a natural part of being a big sister.

Strength and resilience Growing up with a sibling who has autism has, in many ways, been very good for me. The almost daily family readjustments needed to cope with adversity around my sister’s autism taught me to practice and appreciate resilience at an early age, gifting me a valuable ability to bounce back from difficult situations. Less obviously, my lack of understanding around autism required me, at a very early age and without conscious effort, to ‘bracket’ my personal experiences as a way of more objectively observing the behaviour of others. I am convinced that this process has played an important, positive role in my emotional development.

Empathy Siblings of Special Educational Needs (SEN) children have been found to display enhanced understanding of individual differences, and above average levels of empathy. A study conducted by Shivers (2019) also found that those with autistic siblings often show a heightened grasp of

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Autism

different perspectives, and that this ability coincided with the demonstration of loving and happy feelings towards the autistic sibling. These findings illustrate the central importance of empathy in sibling relationships that include individuals with disabilities.

My own experiences, as the sibling of a child with SEN, support the findings. Empathy and understanding towards others with special educational needs has been a prime influence on my career, which began in Special Education at the age of 17. They have also contributed to a rock-solid relationship with my sister that is free of conflict, rivalry and other conventionally negative aspects. Zaidman-Zalt, Yechezkiely & Regev (2020) state that having a family member with a disability makes typically developing children more attentive to the needs of others, and it is widely accepted that growing up with a disabled sibling can have both positive and negative impacts on ‘neurotypical’ children (McHugh, 2003).

Risk factors Siblings of children with SEN can also experience a range of stresses and feelings that present potentially damaging emotional and behavioural challenges. The risk from these may be increased by the added responsibilities of helping with the sibling’s care or taking on extra work around the house (Milevsky, 2016). Parents of SEN children may also spend most of their time with their needy child. This will often reflect the SEN child’s care needs, but it can look like preferential treatment to neuro-typical siblings, and provoke an array of negative feelings, including anger, jealousy and resentment (Giallo et al, 2012). On a personal note, and with hindsight, I was a somewhat disengaged school student, which had negative effects on my progress and performance, but I do not believe my attitudes were significantly influenced by my sister’s ‘disability’.

“Potentially damaging emotional and behavioural challenges”

Conclusion Research suggests, the needs of siblings are often overlooked by both parents and professionals (Batchelor, 2019). Although people may agree that more support is necessary for siblings, the lack of support is evident. As this disconnect presents itself, siblings can become more responsible for the planning and decision-making. Having a sibling with special educational needs can impact an individual’s upbringing affecting their life.

Further research can identify these needs, increasing support while growing up. Creating awareness in schools, so individuals can have someone to talk to besides their peers. Talking therapies should be more accessible for these children alongside the parent and children with special educational needs. There are some brilliant charities dedicated to supporting the needs of siblings, but there are not many.

Government policies need to outline these challenges and set out a framework of support offered to these families with a child with special educational needs. My sister is important to me and has changed my life, being one of the reasons why, where, and who I am today.

Nevertheless, receiving more support in my younger life would have changed both of our lives.

■ Siblings playing.

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Bullying

Bullying a barrier to attendance Jannie Perryman and Louise Parker Engels continue their series on the causes and remedies for school attendance difficulties by addressing the issue of bullying.

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chool attendance difficulties can be hard for parents and professionals to understand and support. What used to be known as school refusal or emotionally based school avoidance is more commonly referred to in the context of “barriers to attendance”.

“37% of pupils with SEND reported being bullied”

Respond to all incidents of bullying and assault “Schools, colleges, and Local Authorities have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. Schools’ anti-bulling policies should set out the actions which will be taken to prevent or address bullying, including racial and LGBTQ+ related incidents, as well as peer sexual violence and online bullying. SEND children and young people can be at an increased risk of being bullied.”

(Define Fine Guide on School Attendance Difficulties)

Bullying can be a barrier to attending, and a very real cause for avoiding school “Help With Bullying (kidscape.org.uk)” lists some of the common signs for parents and professionals in identifying where bullying is occurring. These include changes in behaviour and being scared to go to school or take part in usual school activities, with disturbed sleep, unexplained tummy problems and headaches.

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Changes in school attendance patterns can be a result of bullying. A child who does not feel safe, feeling they are constantly in a state of fight or flight will find school attendance difficult, if not impossible. They may not be able to communicate what is happening to them.

SEND pupils are vulnerable to bullying All children have a right to an education. For that to work, SEND children need to be supported and kept safe. Sadly, there is evidence of increased bullying for these children.

• 37% of pupils with SEND reported being bullied based on other pupils’ attitudes or assumptions towards their SEND at least once in the past year • SEND pupils were also more likely to say they have experienced other forms of bullying (Wave 6 Research Report Summer 2019 - SNJ).

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About the authors

“Some may self harm and have suicidal thoughts”

This is acknowledged in the Government Guidance ‘Preventing and tackling bullying’: “Some pupils are more likely to be the target of bullying because of the attitudes and behaviours some young people have towards those who are different from themselves. For example those with special educational needs or disabilities, those who are adopted, those who are suffering from a health problem or those with caring responsibilities may be more likely to experience bullying because of a difference.”

This is certainly consistent with our professional and lived experiences which include: • Children who may look or behave differently – with physical characteristics, as well as stimming, shouting out, needing to move

Jannine Perryman is a former SEND specialist teacher, and is now a Neurodiversity Coach to children, adolescents, adults, families, schools, students, employers and clinicians. She is the CEO and Founder of ADHD Wise UK, and Neurodiversity Networks CIC. Louise Parker Engels is a former primary school teacher. She cofounded Define Fine: Parent Peer Support for School Attendance Difficulties with her team to combine their professional and lived experiences of children’s difficulties with school attendance.

• the reasonable adjustments highlighting differences – such as assistive technology, mobility aids, sensory toys • children who struggle to process – with speech and language difficulties, auditory processing or other executive functioning difficulties • sensory processing differences – those who are more sensitive to sound or touch • children who are unable to attend regularly, then struggling to explain their attendance and feeling isolated from their peers, and missing learning and other school experiences • children who miss social cues, or communicate differently • children who mask, are demand avoidant, or oppositional.

Bullying affecting social, emotional and mental health problems can become a SEND issue Bullying affects mental and physical health, sometimes leading to heightened levels of anxiety and depression. Some may self-harm and have suicidal thoughts, difficulty sleeping, low self-esteem and other PTSD or trauma responses. ‘Preventing and tackling bullying’ provides guidance when bullying has a severe impact: “In some circumstances the consequences of bullying may lead to a child or young person experiencing pronounced social, emotional or mental health difficulties. Schools should ensure they make appropriate provision for a child’s short-term needs, including setting out what actions they are taking when bullying has had a serious impact on a child’s ability to learn. If the bullying leads to persistent, long-lasting difficulties that cause the child or young person to have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of those of the same age, then schools should senmagazine.co.uk

■ Bully pulling hair and taunting young girl.

consider whether the child will benefit from being assessed for SEN.”

Supporting the most vulnerable children to be able to attend school As with all attendance barriers, bullying needs to be acknowledged through school policies by developing a more inclusive culture.

There will also be a range of other local or individual factors that result in some children being more vulnerable to bullying

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and its impact than others. Being aware of this will help schools to develop strategies to prevent bullying from happening. It will also help schools be alert to those children who may be severely affected when it does occur.

In addition, children with special educational needs or disabilities can often lack the social or communication skills to report such incidents so it is important that staff are alert to the potential bullying this group faces and that their mechanisms for reporting are accessible to all.

• Take all reports seriously • find ways for children more vulnerable to bullying to communicate with staff • listen, observe closely, then observe some more • what looks like playing or banter may not be as it seems • vulnerability should be assessed, acknowledged and included in individual support plans and EHCPs.

The importance of modelling by teachers and other adults Teachers set the tone for how a child might be viewed by their peers, meaning a difficult lesson can then result in them being singled out. Being mindful of this risk might be all it takes for a teacher or teaching assistant to make a difference and turn this around in the early stages before it becomes a habit or a pattern.

It’s more common than it should be for a child with additional needs to be kept back or reprimanded for not completing work as quickly or thoroughly as their peers.

Lessons that end on a negative note can leave a child or young person emotionally dysregulated as they go out on to the playground or home. This most certainly increases the chance of them making poor decisions or having lower tolerance for the actions of others than they might otherwise have.

An example of this is rejection sensitivity which is part of the executive function challenges associated with both autism and ADHD. Dysregulated emotions plus a recent negative interaction with a teacher leaves a child at a higher risk of negative outcomes and higher need of support and acknowledgement.

■ Speaking out.

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“It might seem like an overreaction, but it’s not though, it’s a build up” These children are going to feel the slightest of negativity more painfully than other children might. It might seem like an overreaction, but it’s not though, it’s a build-up. They’ll need help to calm back down and skills building so they can manage their emotions better.

Break and lunchtime supervisors also have a role to play in setting an example of inclusion and acceptance. A kind word goes a long way for any child, but for one who is struggling, even more so. Children see everything and positive (or negative) regard will never go unnoticed and is often replicated. Lunchtime supervisors seem to be a low priority for staff training because they aren’t contracted to be there for much of it and their availability can be problematic. But without an understanding of the risk factors for bullying, how can they be expected to play their part in preventing it? With regards to diversity, equality and inclusion, I would say the same. How can they play their part in ensuring it?

A comment from a parent: “School avoidance isn’t a new thing. It just looked different in the past to how it does now.

Both myself and my daughter could have been viewed as having school attendance difficulties. V has autism, ADHD and learning difficulties. She reports hiding in toilets to avoid lessons and break times when she felt she was at risk from the bullies. She had mysterious tummy aches that she later told me was because of the anxiety around bullies. When I spoke to her school about bullying they told me she brought it on herself. How? I wish I’d known to ask that question then.

But as a professional, I hear it now, and I do ask. The answer always boils down to this. They brought it on by being different - which means they didn’t bring it on at all and the school has work to do in addressing discrimination. My daughter wasn’t able to stay home because she didn’t have the voice to say what she needed and I wasn’t listening. So she went and she avoided attending lessons and breaks by hiding. I think there are many children like that in secondary school, or there would be if we didn’t have digital registration for lessons. The need to get away doesn’t disappear and may be even worse with the restrictions and controls of today’s educational system.”

If a child or young person doesn’t feel they can tolerate the school environment, the only options are to walk out or not walk in. I raise this point as it seems to be viewed as a new or worsening phenomena when, arguably, it is a variation on an old and established theme. It is, and has always been the case, that difficulties around attendance are a form of communication, a sign of needs not being met. Our role is to stop and listen with a view to finding a solution so that the child gets a suitable education without jeopardising their mental health, or further trauma and difficulties relating to their specific educational needs. senmagazine.co.uk

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Responding when parents are being abused by their child: a guide to CPA Michelle John discusses the unacknowledged issues surrounding child to parent abuse, and how schools can help.

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ore and more parents are reaching out to their child’s school to disclose abusive or violent behaviours happening at home.

In fact, 89% of parents, carers and guardians report that they’ve disclosed their experiences to their child’s school [PEGS parental survey, Spring 2021].

Research into Child to Parent Abuse is in its infancy compared to the extensive studies which have been conducted on other types of abuse – but currently the experts estimate between 3% and 10% of households are impacted.

And yet, there’s no obligation for schools to be trained in responding to CPA – and there are no standard policies in place across the education sector to ensure staff have adequate knowledge and resources.

It’s the same for GPs, police forces, social care teams and any of the other professionals a parent might reach out to – which helps explain why the majority of parents report feeling helpless, hopeless, and largely unsupported.

What is CPA?

“The impact is profound and siblings and pets are also likely to be targeted” impact is profound and siblings and pets are also likely to be targeted by violence.

Other behaviours include financial abuse (stealing, forcing parents to pay for items or taking out credit cards in their name), sexual abuse, and online abuse (such as spreading rumours).

Of those parents who were employed before the behaviours began, the majority report needing to reduce their hours at work or leave their job completely as a direct result of CPA. As with other types of domestic abuse, there’s often a misconception that abuse is always male to female (in this case a son towards their mother – or equivalent female within their family). While this may be the most common, around a third of

Child to Parent Abuse can take many forms, with the most widely reported being physical or verbal abuse. Whether it’s hitting, kicking, strangling or coercion, control and threats, the senmagazine.co.uk

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children displaying these behaviours identify as female – and many fathers, grandfathers, and male carers and guardians are on the receiving end.

There’s also a misconception, not helped by the formerlywidely-used phrase ‘Adolescent to Parent Violence or Abuse’, that this behaviour is only seen within teenage children. In actual fact, it’s more common for parents to begin experiencing CPA (where the behaviour has gone beyond the sorts of boundary pushing we’d expect during childhood and become abusive or violent behaviour) between the ages of five to seven than it is during the teen years; and more than 50% of the families supported by social enterprise PEGS (one of the only UK organisations which focuses on CPA parental support) have children aged 12 or under. It’s also sadly fairly common for abuse to stretch past the age of 18, which may be of note for schools who have students with older siblings who may be displaying these behaviours.

Of course, where a child has Special Educational Needs, this can complicate matters in terms of determining whether the behaviour they are displaying is a symptom, or whether it constitutes CPA. SEN and CPA don’t necessarily go hand in hand either – one often happens without the other, but families can be experiencing both at the same time.

And this is why it’s important for professionals coming into contact with families to have a working knowledge of behaviours associated with CPA, and what can be done to support not only the child but the rest of the family too.

Home v school behaviours Recognising that the behaviours a child displays can be vastly different at home compared to within school is a huge step forward in supporting families impacted by CPA.

“In the most extreme of circumstances, children have been temporarily or permanently moved away” Some of our parents report extra difficulties involved with accessing support from social care teams because the child’s educational setting states there are no behavioural problems.

Naturally, honest and accurate reporting to professional agencies is to be encouraged – but so too is listening to the parents, carers and guardians about what they’re seeing outside of school hours.

Just as we may see an adult being abusive towards their spouse behind closed doors and then never displaying these violent tendencies at work or in social settings, it’s entirely plausible for a child to become violent only towards those within their family.

Responding One of the complications with CPA is that there’s no set way to respond – what works for one family may not work for another.

Children’s behaviours, emotions and responses aren’t cookie cutter replicas of each other – and this is even more true when we’re talking about those who have additional educational needs where there are extra considerations when it comes to their physical health, wellbeing or development. In the most extreme of circumstances, children have been temporarily or

■ Tell me what’s been happening.

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About the author Michelle John is the Founding Director of PEGS, an organisation set up to support parents, train professionals, influence national policy, and raise awareness - borne out of her own lived experience and background in domestic abuse advocacy. pegsupport.co.uk @PEGS_support

■ Getting frustrated.

permanently moved away from the family home in order to keep their parents and siblings safe, but this is naturally a very last resort only when the behaviour has escalated beyond the point where any other solution will have an impact.

And that’s why open and honest conversations at the earliest possible opportunity are always to be encouraged.

Parents report feeling lonely, ashamed, guilty and isolated – and simply hearing ‘I am listening and I believe you’ can be a huge relief where they have felt able to disclose their situation to their child’s school.

Many parents will have tried various methods to try and reduce the number or severity of incidents – so it’s important for professionals including schools to gauge what has worked well, and what hasn’t worked, from the outset.

Naturally, other organisations such as social services are likely to take the lead on working with a family to improve and hopefully resolve the situation – but having that open relationship where parents can feel comfortable sharing their CPA experiences with their child’s school can be hugely valuable, and having that information as a teacher is key to help them understand the home life of a student.

Signposting Where organisations such as social services, Forensic CAMHS or not-for-profit services are already involved, it may be that parents don’t need schools to signpost them towards avenues of support. But sometimes, a member of staff is the first senmagazine.co.uk

@ PEGS-Child-to-Parent-AbuseSupport-111995540438423

“Parents report feeling lonely, ashamed, guilty and isolated”

professional a parent has spoken to – and in this case, it can be hugely helpful for the school to understand who’s out there and able to help, both from the public sector and the third sector too.

While CPA-specific services have traditionally been few and far between, now that both research and public awareness is increasing, charitable and not-for-profit organisations who have a working knowledge of CPA and can assist a family are also on the rise.

Keeping a directory of local and UK-wide services (including those who can help a family with related problems such as debt resulting from financial abuse) could help connect a family with a professional who can make a real difference.

The blame game!

It can be easy to assume CPA is a parenting problem – however many families will have multiple children but only have one displaying abusive or violent behaviours.

Their parenting experience is likely to have been altered somewhat anyway by the additional needs their child has, and then again when the CPA began. Being able to share that with someone outside of the home, and for that person to listen non-judgemental, can be a turning point in them going on to access more support and working towards a solution for their family.

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School leaders urge government to publish SEND Review On 20th October the School leaders’ union NAHT brought together professionals from a range of sectors – including education, health and care – for NAHT’s virtual SEND Conference. The event coincided with the union’s call for the government to accelerate and publish its SEND Review, so that the crisis in SEND funding can be properly addressed.

Marijke Miles, chair of NAHT’s SEND Council, said: “It is hugely frustrating that two years on from starting the review, the government seems no nearer to publishing its findings.

Government needs to urgently progress the SEND Review and start implementing the changes required to address long-standing systemic shortcomings.

“We need to flip the system, to make SEND support needs-led and not resource-limited, and lift the barriers to cross-sector joint working, so that education, health and social care are each able to work together effectively, for the benefit of all pupils with SEND. “There is an opportunity in the imminent spending review for government to clearly signal the value they place on investing in the future of every child and young person.”

Topics being discussed at the event included: • Neurodiversity – ‘A Spectrum of Traits’ - ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Autism, with Dr Tony Lloyd and Colin Foley • Behaviour Hubs - All change, no change? With John d’Abbro • Understanding How to Help Parents to get the Best Outcomes for Their Children, with Grainne Saunders • Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, with Shushma Jain • Undiagnosed Genetic Conditions, with Jo Wright of SWAN UK

With a focus on the changing landscape in SEND, this timely conference, “New Perspectives on Neurodiversity – Needs, Names and Knowledge” seeks to identify, celebrate and disseminate the excellent practice which promotes effective outcomes for young people with SEND across the whole of the education sector.

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• Building confidence, communication skills and a global perspective in SEND settings through digital immersive storytelling, with Dr Harriet Marshall, Head of Educational Research at Lyfta.

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Mental health issues for children and young people with SEN In this issue, Douglas Silas looks at the impact on children and young people mental health issues.

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uring the past few years (and especially during the past 18 months with the Covid-19 pandemic) we have seen an increase in the number of children and young people with mental health issues. Unfortunately, children and young people with SEN and Disability (SEND) have again been disproportionately affected (although those without SEND have also suffered greatly

What are mental health issues for children and young people?

Although mental health issues have been recognised for many decades (and some would say for more than a century), it is only during the past few decades (particularly the last ten years or so) that children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing has been identified as a specific issue that needs to be addressed by society.

Unfortunately, older generations often say that mental health issues are really a result of children and young people having it too easy and therefore not being resilient or ‘tough enough’ as they were in their day. This is not a helpful approach and does not take into account the fact that society has inevitably changed over many years and there are now a lot more things around that can have a negative impact on children’s and senmagazine.co.uk

“Can have a negative impact on children’s and young people’s mental health” young people’s mental health (such as social media or online bullying etc.) which have aggravated situations that may have been seen to be more ‘normal’ previously.

What is the current view on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing?

The Government (through Public Health England), together with the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition) has recently issued Guidance entitled: ‘Promoting Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing’. This points out that it is widely recognised that a child’s emotional health and

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“Have experienced greater negative impacts on their mental health and wellbeing”

About the author Specialist SEN solicitor Douglas Silas is the Managing Director of Douglas Silas Solicitors.

SpecialEducationalNeeds.co.uk

wellbeing influences their cognitive development and learning, in addition to their basic physical and mental wellbeing in adulthood, as well as their social health. It also says that there is a lot of reference to secondary school-aged children having mental health difficulties, but seems to say that many problems are caused further down the line when children are younger.

The Guidance sets out eight principles that a school or college can take to promote children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. It then considers each principle separately and gives examples, which they say will help the reader reflect on the implications for practice in their own settings. The Guidance also signposts the reader to resources available to help them implement the support and includes references to further government guidance and advice, training for staff, curriculum support and resources for young people, parents and carers.

Finally, the Guidance says that it will be useful to anyone responsible for promoting and supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in schools and colleges, including: • headteachers • principals and their senior leadership teams

@douglassilas

@douglassilas

and young people have generally coped well during the pandemic (March to September 2020), other evidence suggests that some children and young people, especially those with certain characteristics, such as those who are disadvantaged economically, females, and those with pre-existing mental health needs, appear to have experienced greater negative impacts on their mental health and wellbeing.

Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils and students, by developing approaches tailored to the particular needs of their pupils and students. Taking a coordinated and evidence-informed approach to mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges can also help foster readiness to learn.”

• school and college governing bodies

• school nurses

The Guidance is then broken down into eight specific chapters, followed by separate sections entitled ‘Resources’, ‘Appendix’ and ‘References’ and the eight chapters are broken down as follows:

• educational psychologists

Chapter 1: Leadership and management

• senior mental health leads • special educational needs (SEN) and pastoral leads

• local public health teams

Chapter 2: Ethos and environment Chapter 3: Curriculum, teaching and learning

So what does the Guidance say?

Chapter 4: Student voice

A good start would be for me to quote directly from the ‘Rationale’ first, as follows:

Chapter 6: Identifying needs and monitoring impact

“Good mental health is important for helping children and young people to develop and thrive.

The Mental Health of Children and Young People in England survey (2020) found 16% (1 in 6) of children aged 5 to 16 years to have a probable mental health disorder, an increase from 1 in 9 in 2017.

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in fundamental changes to the lives of children and young people. The Public Health England COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing surveillance report suggests that whilst some evidence shows that children SEN115

Chapter 5: Staff development, health and wellbeing Chapter 7: Working with parents, families and carers Chapter 8: Targeted support and appropriate referrals

How does this impact on children and young people with SEND? Although the SEND Code of Practice 2015 brought in under Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 already provides statutory guidance and practical advice to Local Authorities (LAs) and health bodies (such as Clinical Commissioning Groups [CCGs] and education settings on how to carry out their duties, the 2014 SEND Reforms also included a change from the characterisation of ‘Behaviour, Emotional and Social Development’ to ‘Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs’. senmagazine.co.uk

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The Guidance poses one question (of many) about whether a school’s or college’s culture promotes respect, inclusivity and value diversity. Examples are given where children in primary school are taught to embrace and value difference, including having an active anti-bullying policy and promoting cooperative learning and positive social interactions. It also refers to the fact that it is important to note the difficulties which learners may have when they have complex individual needs and face a number of social, emotional and behavioural challenges, which sometimes result in fixed-term exclusions, or even permanent exclusions, that could have been avoided if the school had committed to valuing each individual and their needs. This can sometimes require also quite a big overhaul of standard PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) education.

Where can I find out more?

You can find the Guidance here: https://bit.ly/2YD5CIw There are specific sections at the back of the Guidance that refer to ‘Resources’ including government guidance and advice, such as: • ‘Mental health and behaviour in schools (2018)’ (mainly for school staff) • ‘Counselling in schools: a blueprint for the future (2015)’ (mainly for school staff and counsellors) • ‘Preventing and tackling bullying (2017)’ (mainly for head teachers, staff and governing bodies)

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“Having an active antibullying policy and promoting cooperative learning and positive social interactions.”

• ‘Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children (2015)’ (statutory guidance for LAs, CCGs and NHS England) • ‘Keeping children safe in education (2014)’ (statutory guidance for schools and colleges) • ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions (2014)’ (statutory guidance for governing bodies of maintained schools and proprietors of academies in England).

There are also sections that refer to ‘Training’ and ‘Curriculum resources’ and specific sections entitled: ‘Resources and support for children and young people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities in chronic illness’ and: ‘Resources for specific issues’.

There are also sections on ‘Helplines and resources for young people’ and ‘Parenting programmes and support for parents and carers’.

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Epilepsy

Living with epilepsy: stories of children and their families Rajvinder Singh Gill accounts of families and their children’s journey through the process of diagnosis and its aftermath.

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he diagnosis of epilepsy is part of a journey that an individual will make alongside their family. The epilepsy journey varies and can be challenging for families. For some, the diagnosis leads to relief and better management of epileptic episodes to the point that normal life resumes while for others it is a difficult process of medical reviews and appointments often resulting in temporary relief without a long-term resolution. Parents often find that their child’s presentation varies day to day and at times there is the accompanying loss of cognition and emotional wellbeing.

Epilepsy is often a hidden condition even though it’s prevalence should make it more visible. In terms of numbers, around 87 individuals get diagnosed with epilepsy in the UK every day.

The picture is complex. It presents differently in individuals and there are around forty types of seizures to account for.

Perhaps most of us equate a seizure with the body writhing in pain from the loss of muscle functions. However, the source of SEN115

“Around 87 individuals get diagnosed with epilepsy in the UK every day.” epilepsy is in the brain. It is a neurological disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions, associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

Individuals experiencing a seizure may go blank or have an absence lasting a few seconds whilst some individuals fall to the ground. Individuals with epilepsy do lead normal lives although sometimes epilepsy occurs alongside learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. In young children senmagazine.co.uk

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About the author Rajvinder Singh Gill is a psychologist working with children, young people, carers and their families as a therapist and facilitator. rsinghgill@youngepilepsy.org.uk

“Just the beginning and for some, the end is further and further away.” to the doctors followed with frequent hospital appointments as further investigations were done. Both parents found themselves struggling with their own mental health alongside worries about finances and jobs.

with learning disabilities, epilepsy can have a profound impact as it compromises their quality of life.

The diagnosis of epilepsy is often an arduous journey for many parents and their children. The assumption on diagnosis is that the child will recover and get better soon. However, the truth is that this is just the beginning and for some, the end is further and further away. Due to the complexity of epilepsy, some cases are untreatable while for others there is a sense of relief as it will be better managed through medication. However, it does not go away.

The accounts below are of families and their children’s’ journey through the process of diagnosis and its aftermath. All the names have been changed and other identifiers have been removed.

Hank and his family I met Hank and his parents when he was thirteen years old but the story starts when his parents first noticed that something about Hank was not right. Hank was around three years old when his parents shared their concerns with his paediatrician.

The regular health review followed and, it became apparent to the medical staff that Hank was not reaching the milestones as expected. This led to further investigations and an appointment with a neurologist. This confirmed the suspicions that Hank had epilepsy. The parents’ expectations at this point were that it would be okay now that they knew what it was. Repeated visits senmagazine.co.uk

On meeting with the family to discuss a school placement, I encountered a father who was still grieving for his lost child and angry that nothing appeared to have been done to make Hank better. He missed his three-year-old son. Hank’s mum appeared to have given up on life and was going through the motions of living. Their individual ways of grieving for a lost childhood and a hoped-for future were striking. Both had convinced themselves that the professionals had deceived them of the truth. Their story piqued my curiosity and I found myself wanting to know more of how it had been for them. As they told their story of the diagnosis and aftermath what struck me was the repetitive nature of their trips back and forth to the medical professionals for tests and further investigations. Each time they had a meeting with the professional concerned and each time the treatment and intervention was discussed with them, a little light of hope was lit however, as little changed for Hank, they stopped listening, feeling overwhelmed by the task ahead. In this state of mind, they could not retain the information or even process it for its truth. Hank has a particular type of epilepsy named Lennox Gastaut Syndrome. It is a progressive disease and will probably cause increasing deterioration in Hank’s capacity to participate in learning, social and physical activities as he grows older.

Hank and his family’s story is not unique. It is quite usual to meet with parents of children with epilepsy who felt they were initially not believed and when they were taken seriously it led to more trips to the specialists and little to show for it. They were not looking for management of epilepsy, they were looking for it

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to be fixed. The deception lay not in the epilepsy being ignored or called something else but in parents’ certainty that epilepsy will pass away once the child was diagnosed and medication prescribed. We tend to hear what resonates with us and learn to see what pleases us. In doing so we often ignore the things that are uncomfortable to explain and observe.

In schools across the country children with absences (a particular type of epilepsy) are sometimes designated as daydreaming or not ‘with it’ until the persistence of the parent or the astuteness of a professional raises a concern about the child’s capacity to be alive to the situation.

Epilepsy by itself is not a learning difficulty since it is a medical condition however, the impact of epilepsy on a child and young person’s engagement with learning is profound. A child repeatedly having small absences in the classroom will be missing chunks of learning and losing any hope of catching up as their peers’ forge ahead. Self-esteem suffers as a consequence of not being quite there alongside their peers. Specialist appointments and missing school all play their part in the child not fully in education. Alongside this, the child experiencing seizures is worried about their presentation.

Sometimes accidents happen and a seizure may lead to loose bowel movement or urine leaks. A child experiencing drop seizures is seen as vulnerable and as someone for whom it is difficult to provide care for in school. This in turn may lead to behavioural problems and the child is seen as difficult. Dom’s story below provides a context for this.

Epilepsy and Dom Dom was in mainstream school doing well. He was observed to be polite and conscientious about his work. Around the age of fourteen epilepsy appeared in his life. The onset of epilepsy was gruelling; the family saw the boy they knew disappearing before their eyes and he found it difficult to hold his own in his mainstream class. Often, he was physically present but having absences and missing chunks of information. His presentation became a topic of conversation amongst peers with words that were meant to hurt. His behaviour was now the source of concern for the school and his parents. Dom himself was concerned about his lack of knowing and missing chunks of information that his peers appeared to grasp whilst he was

“May lead to behavioural problems and the child is seen as difficult.” not aware of it. His presentation changed from being lively and energetic to disorientated and confused. As epilepsy started taking over his life it became difficult for him to be present in learning and eventually in school. The consistency in his life was now the hospital stays. The family were in crisis as they worried about the next time, as his strain of epilepsy was drug resistant.

Dom’s case highlights the unpredictable aspect of the onset of epilepsy. No one in Dom’s family has epilepsy and this took the family by surprise as it turned their lives topsy turvy with such force that they can only dream of the lives they used to live. For Dom the future is one in which his cognitive abilities will deteriorate. At present he is aware of the deterioration and he himself is experiencing the loss of who he was. His mental health and emotional wellbeing are suffering as his quality of life worsens. From a position of independence, it is likely that with time he will become dependent on carers for most of his basic needs.

Both cases highlight the human cost of epilepsy that is often forgotten as parents stride from one episode to another with professionals holding their hands but not able to do what the parents actually want; get rid of epilepsy. Management through medication appears the most that can be done. Parents find themselves chasing and fighting bureaucracy to get the right provision for their child. A fight on top of others. Managing epilepsy and the care for their child becomes an all-consuming affair and at times is relentless in its urgency. School staff often do not understand the nature of epilepsy and find themselves at a loss to support the child and the family.

The challenge for the parents and the school is to maintain the placement while providing a sense of normality to the learning environment.

■ Medication.

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Spina Bif ida/Hydrocephalus

Growing into adulthood with Spina Bifida or Hydrocephalus Iona Campbell highlights the need for early preparation as people with Spina Bifida or Hydrocephalus come to the post-school stage of their lives.

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ith hormones and homework controlling the dayto-day, being a teenager and thinking about the future is challenging for most people. For citizens with Spina Bifida and/or Hydrocephalus (SB/H), and other long-term health conditions, this period is made even more demanding by the necessary transition from paediatric to adult health care services. Advances in healthcare mean that more people with SB/H are living into adulthood. With this comes a variety of life transitions for citizens and despite a decrease in mortality, ageing means there are increased comorbidities for individuals. Thus, a supportive and holistic transition process in the teenage years is paramount in setting up citizens with SB/H for a future in which they can thrive and receive the support they need. Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus (SBH) Scotland is advocating for improvements to the transition process across all sectors.

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“Advocating for improvements to the transition process across all sectors.”

In terms of education, 40% of young people with a long-term condition are worried about leaving school due to a lack of support, lack of routine and feeling that they must cope on their own. ARC Scotland demonstrates that parents concur with 90% of them being “effectively unaware of any formal plan for their child’s transition” and 61% being “either ‘fairly’ or ‘very unhappy’ with this. SBH Scotland service users have senmagazine.co.uk

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About the author Iona Campbell is a Clinical Research and Innovation Assistant with Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus (SBH) Scotland who worked closely on their Transitions Project.

She is also studying Human Rights and International Politics at the University of Glasgow. sbhscotland.org.uk @SBHScotland

@SBHScotland @SBHScotland

process confusing and frustrating with little preparation tools and support provided throughout. It is suggested by ARC Scotland’s ‘Principles for Good Transitions 3’ and NICE’s transition guidelines that transition preparation should begin in early teens, or around two years prior to transfer of services.

The reality is that some SBH Scotland service users will still be with paediatric services into their late teens - well after leaving school - and into their early twenties, due to a lack of preparation and fear of moving over to adult services.

also indicated being ‘railroaded’ into certain decisions about their future because of their condition, such as going to college.

For young people with long term conditions, planning for the end of school also comes with planning to transition from paediatric to adult healthcare services. Unfortunately, this transition through healthcare is no smoother than that of education. Many families report that they have found the

“Staff in adult services are perceived as lacking specialist knowledge and showing little respect to the young person and their special needs. Family doctors (GP’s) are often excluded from communication flows, regarding ongoing care, and an encounter with primary care providers often results in frustration as the same key information is sought repeatedly”.

Often paediatric doctors will keep young people on longer to protect them from the tumultuous transition journey. Whilst this is done with the best of intentions, it encourages a lack of independence and self-management skills. In addition, it leaves future healthcare professionals out of the loop meaning that they do not understand the history of the young person on a holistic level. Therefore, when the young person does eventually transition, they receive below adequate care.

“We started nine months before his birthday but it wasn’t long enough – lots of reports to coordinate” - Quote from parent about the transition process.

Ideally, SBH Scotland would like to see most young people preparing for the transition process at 14 and beginning

■ Transition board game.

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the process at around 16 years old so that they have fully transitioned by 18-19 years old. It is also advisory that young people meet their new doctors and have tours of hospitals before moving over. Transition readiness must also be taken into account; the process should only happen when a young person is ready and assessments for this have taken place.

Professionals involved in the process should consider the young person’s overall wellbeing and work with a range of services to achieve a joined–up journey for the young person and their family.

Despite the will of hard-working doctors,nurses and other healthcare professionals, the reality is that there are distinct gaps in the healthcare system which make the process for many people unpleasant at best and extremely challenging at worst.

“Transition - I can’t put into words what I feel – I find it extremely upsetting to go there in my mind – it’s too upsetting. Come next year I know it’s all going to change so I don’t know” - Quote from a parent about the transition experience.

These gaps are caused by a range of problems, including a lack of expertise with particular complex conditions such as SB/H, inappropriate communication techniques which do not suit the age, cognitive ability, maturity or mental wellbeing of the young person and an overall lack of understanding of the whole transition process. Often, if a young person is to fall through these gaps, they disengage with healthcare and see their health deteriorating. Trust can be lost at this stage and is very difficult to recover. Some people may even go the rest of their lives never engaging with the healthcare system unless in the case of an emergency.

More needs to be done to achieve a process that young people deserve; a process that considers all the facets of wellness, from their mental health to their financial wellbeing. SBH Scotland received funding from The Burdett Trust for Nursing to develop their very own transition project to try and help improve the

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“More needs to be done to achieve a process that young people deserve”

process. The organisation opted to develop interactive learning tools about transition which provide a practical step forward for people not knowing where to start. SBH Scotland’s transition project aims to give a voice to service users who then helped us co-produce tools to aid young people, families and carers through the transition process. The organisation has created a boardgame aimed at young people and families to learn more about the transition process prior to starting their journey. In addition, an online course has been produced for healthcare professionals which encourages them to work closely with other sectors, consider the rights and wellbeing of young people and to work within the relevant policy guidance and legislation to achieve successful transition support. SBH Scotland has also created digital stories where our service users tell of their experiences with transition.

SBH Scotland also works closely with educational professionals offering support in the transition of young people moving through the education system or much earlier in their early learning and childcare setting offering support, information or guidance on how to support children and young people “to be the best they can be” and to offer professionals helpful tips and tricks to support children’s learning and development.

You can find out more about SBH Scotland’s transition project or download the transition boardgame here: sbhscotland.org.uk/transitions

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Creative design

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New briefing scans the school system landscape A new briefing out today from PLMR, one of the country’s leading communications consultancies, is a state of the nation-style report on the school system in England.

The briefing, Academies: where are we at and what comes next?, offers an overview of what the school system currently looks like and the direction in which it is headed. It uses data from the Department for Education to show that academies are a major part of the school system, with more than half of children and young people already attending one.

As the school system is rapidly approaching the 10,000th academy opening, the logic of a continued fragmentation with the school system split between academy and local authority maintained schools may not make sense for much longer.

PLMR suggests a number of questions and factors for schools and trusts to consider as a starting point for thinking about the best options for a school or trust, given the current landscape, in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for both pupils and staff.

robpdesign.co.uk \ hello@robpdesign.co.uk \ 07962 263 365 senmagazine.co.uk

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Literacy

Make reading a habit for children with SEN Hannah Rix provides valuable advice and guidance.

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EN is an emotive subject for teachers and parents. The ways in which children with SEN learn and engage cannot be compared.

Teaching children with a range of complex needs has demonstrated that one there’s no continuity or consistency with how children learn. Each day can be a whole new teaching and learning experience. Individualised curriculums and differentiation have to be taken to a whole new level and rightly so as each child’s learning style is wonderfully unique.

How do children with SEND learn?

The Education Policy Institute (EPI) conducted a study that shows access to support for these pupils is a ‘postcode lottery’. The level of support they receive is entirely down to the school the child attends.

With over a million children registered as having special educational needs in England, this is not good enough. But empowering teachers and parents with tools and skills to enable better support in the classroom and at home is a step in the right direction.

There’s no simple answer to this question but in my experience children with an SEN often will let you know very quickly what’s working and what isn’t. I’ve found it helpful to have a ‘bag of tricks’ approach when introducing a new book or task with a student.

When one activity is sinking, swap it out for another.

A multi-sensory approach to learning can be effective for all students but especially those with SEN. These students process information in a different way cognitively as well as physically in some cases.

Start by asking yourself (or the student if it’s appropriate): • What type of learner is your child (visual, auditory, verbal, kinaesthetic)?

• Do they enjoy responsibility and independence with work?

• What are their hobbies or interests?

• What are they sensitive to (e.g. loud noises, stuffed animals)?

• Do they learn best with ‘hands-on’ activities?

• Who do they work well with?

• What type of environment are they most comfortable with (e.g. desk, beanbag, outside)?

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“Find reading very challenging and almost scary.”

Working in a SEND school, I’m lucky enough to have some wonderful support assistants. Making use of the adults in your classroom is vital. I genuinely feel that the most valuable asset in every school is its staff. Briefing staff properly about the activity with clear and simple instructions is essential to making the learning experience enjoyable.

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About the author Hannah Rix is a SEND English teacher and has been teaching in both secondary and SEND schools for over 8 years. This experience led to co-founding Readingmate Ltd. readingmate.co.uk

@readingmateapp @readingmateapp

How can you inspire a love of reading and make it a habit?

Reading is a passion of mine and has been for as long as I can remember. Personally and professionally, I feel it’s one of the most undervalued skills and hobbies to have. For all children it’s a chance to escape from difficulties in their life, engage with the story, empathise with the characters and (most importantly) reflect on their own thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

Unfortunately, some children with SEN can find reading very challenging and almost scary. This is especially prevalent when it comes to phonics (blending and segmenting words) as well as being able to decode the text and comprehend the story. As a teacher, I take these skills very much for granted.

For some children reading and understanding the story is a tricky skill to master.

Methods I’ve found helpful with my students: 1. Children with SEN, including those with autism, ADHD and dyslexia are often visual learners. During the early stages of reading, I would start with large picture books and discuss the images to support their understanding.

Forget about the words on the page and explain to them you’re going to tell the story with the pictures.

What’s happening on this page? Who do you think this character is? Where is this set? How are they feeling?

How do you know?

2. I f your child is ready to read, scan through the text and see which digraphs (2 letter sounds ‘ea’ and ‘oo’) or trigraphs (3 letter sounds ‘igh’, ‘air’) and sound these out together before reading. Also, underline any complex words that are repeated so you can introduce them but will help the child to remember how to pronounce them later in the text.

3. Highlight punctuation throughout the story. Some students get very focussed on the words and forget about the full stops and commas. Discussing and modelling the role of these punctuation marks is helpful. When the student comes across the highlighted punctuation mark, it will remind them of what to do.

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■ Inspire a love of reading.

4. Treat books like treasure. This is helpful for all children but especially those with SEN. Demonstrating a love for all books and sharing your excitement and respect towards them will influence your student’s opinions of them too.

5. M odel the reading. The best way for students to enjoy the reading experience overall is for you to model how to read in an engaging way so they can practise and also learn from you.

6. Praise, praise, and praise some more. Celebrating every milestone (no matter how small) with your students is integral to their desire to read more. You can never celebrate your student’s achievements enough.

7. Offer a variety of books. Some children with SEN have favourite books or stories that they will go to time and time again. To widen their reading circle, introduce a new story and use their ‘favourite’ as a reward for after.

Equally, if you feel a book isn’t working, change it. Life’s too short to read books we don’t enjoy!

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“Empowering teachers and parents with tools and skills”

8. Talk with parents. Parents are such a great resource when it comes to getting to know what students like or dislike. Ask them what or if they’re reading at home and offer to loan books for holidays and weekends. Books are expensive and libraries are less and less available.

To keep that reading habit up, continue and encourage it home.

9. Build reading into an established routine. James Clear discusses ‘habit stacking’ in his book ‘Atomic Habits’.

Essentially, to build a new habit, you slot it into an already established one. I feel this can be applied to every facet of life. My students have a well-established routine. You could share a class story in the afternoon before home time or have ‘time with books’ in the morning before lessons.

10. Pages don’t mean progress. Forgetting about how far the child has got through the book or how many books they’ve read will not only take the pressure off the student, but it will enable you to focus on their skills in greater detail.

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■ Enjoying a book together.

11. Bring stories to life. Story sacks are great for students who are more kinaesthetic or visual but also very engaging overall. If you’re reading a story about food, bring some sensory items in or even cook meals from the story. Bringing words or actions from the story to life will not only help students understand what’s happening but will also support future references when they come across those words in the future.

To ensure your students have a natural desire to read, we must ensure they’re at the centre of every decision. Tapping into what makes your students feel excited, happy, and enthusiastic as well as understanding their learning style, you’ve got the key to unlocking their reading potential.

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SLCN

Campaigning for the right to speak and be heard Steve Hermon gives an account of how he began his journey as a campaigner for speech and language therapies to be given greater support

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ay 2019 was a month that sticks in my memory for a few reasons. Wolves (the football team I support) qualified for Europe for the first time in forty years, our son Eddie celebrated his 4th birthday and an event was organised that would help me more than the organisers will ever know.

I was on the train to work at BBC Radio WM in Birmingham and saw loads of Mums and children carrying posters with various slogans on. I realised they were attending a SEND Crisis March I’d read about. It was being held to raise awareness of the issues facing parents and their children with special needs and disabilities.

I briefly walked through Victoria Square to see the event being set up and carried on into work to read the news. A short time later, one of our reporters went to cover the demonstration for us. She sent back an interview with one of the organisers, Kate Taylor. Listening to it provided a huge turning point in my own journey as a parent of a child with SEND. On that day she said:

“The words were tough to listen to but they were what I needed to hear” “When you have a child with special needs and disabilities, there’s an element of grieving that takes place, so when you first get your diagnosis or you’re first aware of it, you have to let go of the child you spent your life dreaming you were going to have and you have a whole new journey and that journey is equally beautiful and equally amazing but it’s different and there is a period of adjustment and that’s very hard and often very, very isolating.”

I played those words on the radio in my bulletin but after the red ‘on air’ light went off, the words sank in. I sat there and I cried… because she was right. I dreamt of having a son, who I would take to Molineux to watch Wolves. I’d watch him play for a Sunday league team and he’d get married, have kids and carry on the Hermon name in our family tree. The words were tough to listen to but they were what I needed to hear at that time. I knew he was ‘different’ but I had not fully accepted that we had a child with special needs and I was struggling with the reality that our boy wasn’t speaking when other children were.

That’s despite our SEND journey being well underway by this point. We were in the middle of the EHCP process and had visited special schools that Eddie might attend later that year.

My wife Kate is to thank for that. She stayed focused, booking the visits and constantly spoke with Council officers to make sure the paperwork went through. Ultimately, she accepted the situation a lot quicker than I did and crucially spoke to her friends about it. I didn’t speak to mine. I didn’t think they’d find it interesting during a chat over a pint. At home, I also didn’t want to let on to Kate that I was struggling. Instead I did the worst thing and bottled up my feelings. I guess I isolated myself and hadn’t gone through that ‘grieving process’ Kate Taylor referenced.

■ Simon and his son Eddie.

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About the author Steve Hermon is a Dad of 2 children. He has a passion for raising awareness of SEND issues, particularly funding for speech and language therapy. He also works for BBC Radio WM as a Broadcast Journalist, covering News & Sport in the West Midlands. @SteveHermon @stevehermon

■ Raising awareness

you expect, so we referred him before his 2nd birthday. After a hearing test (which we knew he’d pass because he can hear a packet of crisps open from a mile away), he was eventually referred to the NHS speech and language therapy (SaLT) service in October 2017. It was another 7 months before Eddie attended a session with a therapist but just before we received a letter telling us that due to a lack of resources and demand, his 3 one hour blocks of therapy were being reduced to one 30 minute session.

This was the first time I contacted my local MP, Mike Wood because I felt it simply wasn’t good enough. That set me on the road of finding out why our local service was like that. I’ve since spent countless hours of my spare time researching funding levels for SaLT across the country. I’ve met with council staff, politicians, other parents, and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. They’ve been extremely supportive, especially Peter Just and Padraigin O’Flynn. The RCSLT also introduced me to Gillian Rudd, senior lecturer in SaLT at Birmingham City University, as well as a fellow parent, Dave Harford. Both have a passion for the same issue and that led us to co-signing a petition on the Parliament website [https:// petition.parliament.uk/petitions/587872] calling for improved support for people with communication and swallowing needs earlier this year. Like many things, it’s been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

We were delighted when the petition reached 10,000 signatures in less than a month. That meant we received a response from Government, which is great but frankly it won’t lead to change. I’ve received statements from ministers in the past after writing letters and even heard a response in the Commons last year when Mike Wood raised the issue on my behalf. It was appreciated but the response felt hollow. senmagazine.co.uk

“Every time he says a new word, it’s the BEST feeling in the world.”

It’s ironic in a way but words from ministers won’t help my son with his vocabulary. Fairer funding and action will. It’s an overused term but SaLT via the NHS suffers from a postcode lottery. Myself and Dave Harford often say, it’s not right that geographically we live 23 miles apart and yet the quality of service his son had at the vital Early Years stage compared to what Eddie received is like being on another planet. His son attended weekly sessions a short distance away, while our lad was restricted to half an hour! That can’t be right can it?

100,000 signatures on the petition could trigger a Parliamentary debate but that’s only the start. I’ll never give up until things truly change for our son and thousands more children growing up without a voice. They don’t have one, so we must use ours for them. We also need to speak up for the hard working, dedicated therapists in the industry. They’re doing the best they can and my frustrations aren’t directed at them. I want to work with them, so they get the resources they need to meet demand.

Kate Taylor from that SEND Crisis march was right about another thing though. As a family, we’re now on an ‘equally beautiful and amazing’ journey. We’re lucky too. Eddie is a happy boy full of smiles. He loves going to school and responds really well to Makaton (which we learnt by watching Mr Tumble on CBeebies and YouTube videos) and he enjoys his sessions with our brilliant private therapist, Kate Sheffield. We turned to her last year to top up the support he receives in school. All of this has helped Eddie begin to find his voice in spite of the barriers we’ve faced. A conversation with my boy is the ultimate goal but he can now say a number of words and every time he says a new one, it’s the BEST feeling in the world. Not even witnessing a last-minute winner for Wolves can top that.

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Lockdowns trigger surge in online disability hate crime Online disability hate crime soared by more than 50% across England and Wales during 2020/21. This latest police data, gathered by leading disability charities Leonard Cheshire and United Response ahead of Hate Crime Awareness Week, shows a huge spike during a period when much of the population was forced to stay at home during national and regional lockdowns.

Leonard Cheshire and United Response commented: “The stories we’ve heard suggest many police officers do not have a good understanding of disability. So we’re calling for a

Mental Health Symptoms in ASD A recent study on IQ and Internalising Symptoms in Adolescents with ASD (Monisha Edirisooriya, Dominika Dykiert & Bonnie Auyeung: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders). Has found that self-reported anxiety was significantly higher in youth with a lower IQ, while depression was positively associated with IQ. This demonstrates that mental health can be affected throughout the Autism Spectrum, although its manifestation may vary.

Parents, schools and clinicians should be cautious of underestimating anxiety in youth with a lower IQ. However, care should also be taken to ensure adolescents with ASD without intellectual disabilities are not overlooked with regards to social and emotional support.

specialist disability liaison officer in every police force. We want the government to make disability hate crime easier to report too. We hope the upcoming Home Office Hate Crime Strategy will address just this.

“The government has a role to play in preventing hate crimes altogether. One of the most important steps in tackling hate crime is creating a more accepting society where differences are tolerated. The government’s National Disability Strategy promised a disability awareness raising campaign. That should be an opportunity to educate everyone, including young people and those in school, about disability hate crime.”

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Petition watch Our readers are passionate about a wide range of issues. Here we will provide you with opportunities to support initiatives which are of importance to you.

Petition Watch comprises a list of petitions relating to SEN which are currently active on the UK Parliament website with more than 100 signatures at the time of compilation.

To add your name to any of these, go to the relevant page on the UK Parliament website (petition.parliament.uk). The petitions are not just symbolic. Any which reach 10,000 names will receive a response from HM Government. At 100,000 names, there is a chance that it will receive a debate in Parliament.

We will continue to monitor and update this list in future issues, and of course report in more detail on any which meet either threshold.

Require all school staff receive training on SEN children

Fund improved support for people with communication and swallowing needs

All school staff should be required to take a course on children with special educational needs (SEN). Too many school staff don’t have any idea how to engage with SEN children!

We want the Government to improve the lives of people of all ages with communication and swallowing needs by ensuring they are able to access the speech and language therapy that they and their families and carers need.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/587365

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/587872

Government Response:

Government Response:

The majority of services for people with Tourette’s syndrome are commissioned locally by Clinical Commissioning Groups. These services will be appropriate for the majority of children and young people with Tourette’s syndrome, and the teams involved will refer them to multidisciplinary teams including clinical psychologists where necessary.

We welcome the recent report “Speech and language therapy during and beyond COVID-19” by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and its recommendations.

To increase the number of trained clinical psychologists available, Health Education England has supported a 60 per cent expansion in the clinical psychology training intake over the past two years.

Trainees are able to undertake specialist placements focusing on Tourette’s syndrome, in addition to Tourette’s syndrome featuring as part of the broader neuropsychology curriculum.

For those who require more detailed specialist support, there are a small number of recognised services with focused multidisciplinary teams assessing and supporting children with tics, Tourette’s syndrome and motor stereotypies and their families.

The Department of Health and Social Care funds research into conditions through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition. Since 2018, £2.1 million has been invested into research on Tourette’s syndrome through NIHR’s research programmes.

We are undertaking the biggest nursing, midwifery, and Allied Health Professional recruitment drive in decades, which includes recruitment of speech and language therapists. In 2020 there were 620 acceptances to speech and language therapy programmes in England, an increase of 28% on 2019.

On 23 November 2020 we published a Wellbeing and Mental Health Support Plan for COVID-19, setting out the steps we have taken to strengthen the support available for people who are struggling, including those with communication and swallowing needs.

With respect to speech and language therapies specifically for children and young people, last summer NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I) published guidance making clear that essential services provided in the community, including therapies, should be restarted for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged up to 25 years who have an Education Health and Care Plan in place or who are going through an assessment for one.

Department of Health and Social Care

Department of Health and Social Care

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Ban Applied Behavioural Analysis for autistic people

Require School SENCOs to be fully qualified for the role

Ban Applied Behavioural Analysis (sometimes referred to as “conversion therapy”) for autistic people.

School senco’s to be qualified before they take the role and they must have done in depth training on special educational needs. The current role can be filled by a person not qualified for the role and they have 3 years to qualify.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/578616

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/591092

More funding for local authorities to assess and support Autistic children

Ensure mental health assessments for children are within 4 weeks of GP referral

What is needed are social workers specialised in Children with disabilities and not safeguarding social workers. Two different assessments and this needs to be recognised.

The Government should make it a requirement for all NHS Trusts to ensure that the mental health needs of children are assessed within 4 weeks of a referral by a GP, and provide the necessary funding to create capacity for this.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/585737

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/588224

Introduce a statutory Mental Health Policy to schools in England

More Funding For SEN Children To Access Appropriate School Provisions

Introduce a specific policy for schools which follows the Mental Health Act 2017.

Make more funding available for schools and local authorities to offer better provisions for SEN children, especially those who do not fit the criteria for special needs EMS/mainstream schools.

It should promote inclusion and reasonable adjustments, to ensure pupils with significant mental health needs can access education regardless of their limitations. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/584017

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/584129

Fund free NHS testing for adults for Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Dyspraxia

Create an emergency fund for ASD (autism) & ADHD assessments

Allow all people to be tested for free for Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Dyspraxia via the NHS by specialists.

The Government should create an emergency fund to deal with waiting lists for autism & ADHD assessments for children AND adults.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/596236

Reform school behaviour policies to prioritise wellbeing and inclusion We want the Government to recognise the need for a system-wide review and redevelopment of school behaviour policies, support and training, to benefit young people in schools; aiming to complement and extend the DfE guidance on supporting emotional wellbeing and inclusion.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/589677

Review and fund improved diagnosis and treatment of ADHD/ASD -Increase funding for mental health and neurodivergency services to improve services and reduce waiting times to under 6 months -Fund improved training for MH professionals on how to accurately identify and diagnose neurodivergency.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/594653

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/593604

Government funding required for an autism training support scheme

Increase awareness of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis in UK schools

To Create a scheme for autistic adults and adults with learning difficulties, to break the stigma around adults with learning difficulties, such as autism. As 80% of us are facing poverty and unemployment, as the education system struggle to support those with learning and educational needs.

Make sure that schools are more aware, and properly educated, about JIA, how it affects a child and their families, as well as the impact this can have on a child’s mental health. JIA happens when the immune system attacks the lining of the joints causing the joints and other organs to swell.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/590723

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/576198

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Book reviews

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Book reviews Connecting & Communicating With Your Autistic Child:

A Toolkit of Activities to Encourage Emotional Regulation and Social Development

J. Griffin

Tessa Morton and Jane Gurnett co-founded Act for Autism, to deliver country-wide training and to contribute to community projects. With qualifications and extensive experience in drama, counselling and autism, they won a NAS award in 2020 for their work.

Act for Autism is a not-forprofit social enterprise that provides workshops in their programmes : Cleartime and 3C Pathway. Both of these approaches help parents and teachers to build reciprocal communication and to nurture trusting relationships.

The 3C approach refers to ‘connecting, calming and

communicating’ and supports children in becoming more self-aware and able to express themselves in healthy ways.

Morton and Gurnett explain how they use drama exercises throughout their work in, in this book they describe how these exercises are used in their workshops and in their drama settings. These are designed to give parents and carers an idea of what it might feel like to be autistic.

This is a very positive book that is supportive and the exercises are well described and have been developed and refined in many settings. The authors also stress that the exercises can be personalised as parents ‘enter into their child’s world and ‘lean in’ to their passions.

Jessica Kingspey Publishers ISBN: 978-1-78775-550-5 £14.99

The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties K. Spohrer

This is one of a series of practical guides providing essential advice for classroom aides, assistants and support staff. Other books in the series include guides to Managing Behaviour, Dyspraxia and Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

The author of this book, Kate Spohrer, is a Behavioural Consultant, ADHD Family Coach and trainer and she is also the author of the guide to ADHD in the series.

Chapters include a range of activities, case studies and quizzes to consolidate learning and the emphasis is on emotional health and wellbeing, rather than difficulties or deficits.

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The format encourages a reflective approach and the quizzes are particularly useful, as the correct answers at the back also provide a brief explanation of why the answer is correct.

This series of books would form a very useful core resource library for support staff, as well as contributing to professional development training. The books are compact and the authors manage to distil years of experience into bite-sized information chunks that can support staff in improving their understanding of learning differences. The practical activities are well-chosen to support and reinforce this learning process. By inviting the reader to think more creatively about how to face problems in school, there is a focus on shifting the emphasis away from a dependency culture and towards environmental change.

Continuum International Publishing Group ISBN: 978-0-8264-9838-0 £16.99

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by Mary Mountstephen

The Disgusted Dragon

Author: K. Brophy Illustrator: K. Boys This book is one of a set of six based around ‘Finding Your Way,’ that have been created by Kay Brophy, a psychologist and creative therapist who has specialised in working with children and families in schools for the last twenty years.

Each book is devoted to an exploration of one of six key emotions: sadness, fear, happiness, surprise, anger, disgust.

The stories take place in ‘Lifeland’, a magical place, where colourful characters learn to work through their emotions with someone they trust.

Each book includes a map of Lifeland, providing the locations of places such as ‘Forest of Fear’, ‘Anger Arches’ and

‘Station Surprise’, and this supports the adult with points for discussion about where on the map the character is located, and what it needs to do.

The books are lively and engaging and written in rhyme and it is clear that Brophy is passionate about supporting schools, parents and families to develop emotional well-being and with learning how to deal with emotions more effectively.

She clearly explains the difference between emotions and feelings and how to encourage children to process their own thoughts and memories.

A useful resource.

Middle Farm Press (Acorn) ISBN: 978-0-9928896-7-8 £5.00

The Intensive Interaction Classroom Guide: Social Communication Learning and Curriculum for Children with Autism, Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties, or Communication Difficulties A. Mouriere & P. Smith

The authors of this book are both associated with the Intensive Interaction Approach through their roles as Team Leader and Coordinator and have specialisms in autism. The additional contributors include teachers, teaching assistants, consultants and a Head of Learning Support.

The book also includes appendices with photocopiable sheets to support implementation of the programme.

In the foreword to the book, Intensive Interaction is characterised as a process-orientated rather than an objectives-based approach. There is an overall focus on the ‘developmental reality of the learner’ and the fundamentals of communication. The contributors are clearly passionate

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about this play-based approach that focuses on building relationships and on the frequent repetition of activities to develop the level of depth and complexity of their attainment.

Short case studies are used in some chapters to illustrate the ways in which Intensive Interaction can support the development of skills such as vocalising to share feelings and thoughts and to understand that communication is a two-way process.

This practical guide provides support for teachers working from nursery to Post-16 with a wide range of students, not only those with autism or learning differences.

Routledge (Taylor Francis) ISBN: 978-0-367-77330-4 £24.99

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Overstone Park School

Advertisement feature

High quality education from Overstone Park School Situated in 17 acres of idyllic countryside, Overstone Park School provides high quality education for all pupils including those with Educational Health Care Plans.

We provide a safe, stimulating and caring environment, with high staff ratios and the advantages of an experienced multidisciplinary team. We have a strong commitment to work in partnership with parents and value their contribution.

We see pupils as unique individuals and focus on their specific needs, capabilities and aspirations.

By providing a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum which has regard to the National Curriculum, we ensure that all pupils have the chance to complete a wide range of level 2 qualifications and offer up to 14 GCSE subjects to choose from.

To ensure that pupils do not have to wait for their therapies, we have within our grounds a beautiful log cabin which is used by our specialist therapists. In house we have a school councillor; an occupational therapist and a speech and language therapist.

We also have regular visits from physiotherapists.

A wide range of therapeutic interventions are provided, including animal care on the school farm; music and sport therapies and many leisure activities for our pupils.

At Overstone Park School we promote the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, cognitive and physical development of pupils and build trusting and valued relationships with our pupils and their families.

It is our belief that every child is an individual and has a right to be treated with respect and dignity by everyone. All children can learn and make progress, and should find school an exciting and interesting experience. Every child whatever their background and circumstances have the right to: • Be healthy • Stay safe • Enjoy and achieve • Make a positive contribution • Achieve economic well being. overstoneparkschool.co.uk

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Behaviour

Consistency – or maybe a bit of flexible consistency?

Dave Whitaker reflects upon whether the consistent and inflexible implementation of a school behaviour policy is always the best approach for the well being of all pupils.

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ehaviour policies can either empower us or deeply frustrate us. They are one of the most contentious and divisive aspects of school life. They can either help us develop and grow as professionals or tie us to a rigid set of rules that we may not even believe in.

There is a sense, under the current government, that the preferred direction for schools is a traditional methodology of strict discipline, zero-tolerance and no excuses. Schools are being encouraged to consider mobile phone bans and silent corridors with ministers backing head teachers to use exclusion with confidence. Encouragingly, many head teachers are taking an alternative stance and looking to develop relationships and restorative approaches as their way of preventing exclusions.

The polarisation of views is a worry. Surely, we need to be looking at what works and at what cost? Cost, in this case is not a monetary price, but the impact behaviour policies have on the lives of the children. What ‘unintended’ consequences do zero-tolerance behaviour approaches have? Are these actually unintended consequences or are they seen as acceptable collateral damage in a system designed to meet the needs of SEN115

“Do not fail our most complex children with narrow, strict compliance”

some but not all children? Does a relational approach mean schools are accepting lower standards and ‘allowing’ children’s inappropriate behaviour to go unpunished?

A great behaviour policy should not be over reliant on harsh punishments and high rewards. It should be supportive and flexible, with the drive towards intrinsic motivation to achieve high standards of acceptable social behaviour both in and out of school. We do not want to create a society where appropriate behaviour is predicated on the threat and fear of punishment, but we do want high standards and great behaviour. senmagazine.co.uk

Behaviour

“The polarisation of views is a worry.”

Behaviour is complex, therefore managing behaviour is complex too. A great behaviour policy must focus on four key areas: • H igh-quality classroom practice that allows all children to prosper and flourish.

• Expertise in relationships, restorative practice, reflection and personalisation.

• Sophisticated approaches to exploring the reasons why children display challenging behaviour – considering emotions and feelings and being aware of trauma and anxiety.

• Delivery of high quality special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) interventions and the support of children with additional needs.

We hear a great deal about how important consistency is in the management of behaviour. However, Oscar Wilde (1885) once said ‘I have always been of the opinion that consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.’ With that in mind we must use our wisdom, imagination and creativity to make sure we do not fail our most complex children with narrow, strict compliance and get lost in the concept of consistency. Yes, we must be consistent with our expectations and we must also be consistent with the strong and supportive relationships that we develop with the children in our charge. If we are not careful, consistency can be hijacked to justify harsh and unreasonable punishments. Consistency can stop us using any form of discretion and therefore personalisation.

In most aspects of education, we use discretion and personalisation. We plan the curriculum with acknowledgement and consideration of children’s different levels and starting points. We use interventions to allow pupils to catch up with their phonics or their writing. In lessons, skilled teachers use personalisation and differentiation to make sure that work is appropriate, and children can thrive and be successful at many levels. Yet, when it comes to behaviour, we default to consistency as the panacea.

We need discretion to be our solution and we need children to feel like they are understood. Without this we risk alienating them, and this then escalates to an over-reliance on sanctions.

Consistency implies that one size fits all. It tells us that we must endeavour to fit square pegs into round holes and if they don’t fit then we throw them away and look for round ones that do fit. In other words, consistency means compliance – but are we looking for compliance at all costs?

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About the author Dave Whitaker is an Independent Thinking Associate and the Director of Learning for the Wellspring Academy Trust. His new book The Kindness Principle: Making relational behaviour management work in schools (Independent Thinking Press, 2021) is out now. @davewhittaker

are accepting that we are dealing with meeting the needs of our children. When we understand this, we can introduce the concept of ‘flexible consistency’. This concept allows us to move away from justifying inappropriate and unreasonable punishments and take a more sophisticated approach to dealing with behaviour. We can still remain consistent in our expectations, standards and relationships, but be flexible with our solutions and support. Therefore, we focus on the cause of inappropriate behaviour rather than the symptoms. We move away from a behaviourist approach (a reliance on rewards and sanctions) to a relational approach, where individual needs are considered.

Flexible consistency allows us to make reasonable adjustments and to think differently, but without compromising on standards and expectations. We look beyond the behaviour, at the emotions and the feelings, considering the cause and the influences that drive the behaviour. We attempt, to the best of our ability, to deal with these in a way that both supports and challenges the pupils.

Embracing flexible consistency will allow staff in school to be more solution-focussed and to be problem solvers rather than looking for revenge and compliance. Surely that is a good thing to aspire to?

So, our consistency exists in building trusting relationships and growing the connections we make with the children. It also means that we have a consistent approach to how we work with our pupils, even if that is flexible. Children need to be secure in their relationships with the adults in school and these connections must be sustainable through difficult and challenging times.

Consistency is therefore a great word to adopt when associated with an adult’s relationship with a child. Consistency can give out a message of fairness and positivity so that children know where they stand, and this allows them to trust and be trusted. Consistency comes when all adults believe in the same approach and that connections and relationships are the key to successful behaviour management.

Consistency is great – even when it’s flexible.

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Safeguarding

SEND and Safeguarding: more than four bullet points Sara Alston gives an in-depth analysis of the additional safeguarding vulnerabilities of children with SEND.

K

eeping Children Safe in Education 2021 uses just four bullet points (para 185) to remind us of the additional safeguarding vulnerabilities of children with SEND. However, if we are to ensure their effective safeguarding, we need to probe these points more deeply. To start, we need to be conscious that children with SEND are not a single group with identical needs. Ensuring their safeguarding requires us to consider their individual needs, strengths and difficulties. Effective safeguarding is dependent on knowing and listening to our children.

• Communication barriers and difficulties in managing or reporting these challenges.

It is important that a child’s voice is heard, regardless of how it is expressed. Many children with SEND have communication difficulties. Any child who is dependent on others to support them to express their needs is at risk of being misinterpreted or silenced. This is a particular issue as schools and parents often need to advocate for children, explaining and supporting their communications with other practitioners, especially when children use alternative communications strategies or devices.

Behaviour is communication, particularly when we lack or cannot use words to express our needs or worries. Changes in behaviour are a key indicator of a safeguarding need.

All changes in a child’s behaviour should be considered and questioned.

“Changes in behaviour are a key indicator of a safeguarding need.”

with information from facial expressions or body language, there are clear topics for interaction. Yet they can lack the understanding to differentiate between friendship and bullying.

These difficulties can be increased where children struggle with the difference between fact and fiction. Where a relationship is formed within a computer game, it can be hard for a child to identify or understand when there is a move beyond the game, that activities that might be acceptable, if not age appropriate, within the game are not acceptable within the real world. Children may act without understanding the implications of their actions and can be incited to inappropriate or even dangerous behaviour leading to involvement in violence, child criminal exploitation, sexualised behaviour (including the sending and sharing of nudes and semi-nudes) and vulnerability to radicalisation. Many perpetrators deliberately target these children.

• Children being more prone to peer group isolation or bullying (including prejudice-based bullying) than other children.

Children with SEND’s difficulties with communication and interaction, SEHM and/or physical needs and difficulties can mean that they can struggle to form and maintain social relationships. They may misunderstand socially appropriate behaviour and conventions – both in themselves and others.

Their learning, behavioural and physical needs may make them appear different. This can be exacerbated by the support they receive in school causing them to stand out from their peers, leading to bullying, abuse and risks of exploitation, both in the physical and online worlds.

Many with SEND struggle with face-to-face interactions, so online interactions can seem easier to manage, because this is time to think before responding, you don’t have to deal SEN115

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Safeguarding

“Mental health difficulties, including self-harm, can be an indicator of abuse.”

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About the author Sara Alston is a SEND and safeguarding consultant and trainer, part-time SENCo and the co-author of The Inclusive Classroom: A new approach to differentiation (Bloomsbury, 2021). seainclusion.co.uk

• Assumptions that indicators of possible abuse such as behaviour, mood and injury relate to the child’s condition without further exploration.

Injury and changes in behaviour and mood are key indicators of abuse. Yet too often for children with SEND these are assumed to be related to their SEN or disability and so disregarded without further exploration.

Any injury in a non-mobile baby or child is an immediate red flag. If a child cannot move, any injury to them is likely to be caused by someone else. Equally because a child has regular meltdowns and throws themselves about or has seizures where they can injure themselves, does not mean that their injuries could not be caused by someone else. Further, being dependent on physical assistance and possibly intimate care reduces a child’s ability to resist or avoid abuse?

Mental health difficulties can co-occur with many forms of SEND. KCSIE highlights that mental health difficulties, including self-harm, can be an indicator of abuse. This must be considered for those with SEND, particularly where there is a change in behaviour or a lack of continuity of care which could lead to changes going unnoticed or being disregarded.

It is key that we keep asking ourselves the question: how would we regard a child’s behaviour or injury if they did not have special needs? Are we allowing their SEND, or our perception of their SEND to mask their communication of abuse?

• The potential for children with SEND or certain medical conditions being disproportionately impacted by behaviours such as bullying, without outwardly showing any signs.

An underlying key concept when considering safeguarding harms, impacts and risks is to compare a child to another similar child. This does not mean a child of the same age, but at the same developmental stage. For children with SEND, not only do we need to consider this for ourselves, but we need to be able to explain what a similar child is like to other practitioners.

Many of us working with children with SEND, forget how much specialist knowledge we hold and use in our work without thinking and assume others share this. This is particularly true for children with non-visible needs and disabilities (e.g. autism, ADHD, speech and language difficulties). This includes explaining that special needs are a continuum and not all children with a particular difficulty will behave in the same way or have the same needs. senmagazine.co.uk

@seainclusion @ SaraAlston

Extra bullet points: • Working with parents.

Effective working with families is key to supporting the safeguarding of children with SEND. There is a real dichotomy here. Often when we are working closely with families, we become emotionally involved and engaged in their difficulties, so there is a danger that our compassion and understanding for parents can blind us to children’s safeguarding risks and needs. This can lead to a professional reluctance to make judgements concerning aspects of parenting. We need to remember that abuse perpetrators, including parents, groom the adults around them, including the professionals working with their children. Further the risks of disguised compliance are not reduced by being the parent of a child with SEND. At the same time, professionals are not always open to listening to parents, particularly when their perception of their child varies from that of professionals. Children will behave differently at home, but often this is disregarded. Parents’ descriptions of their children’s behaviour can lead to safeguarding concerns and judgements about parenting.

• Neglect.

Among the additional risks to children with disabilities and special needs is an increased vulnerability to neglect. Neglect is always hard to identify and evidence, particularly, for those with SEND. We need to be aware of issues with access to and engagement with services, including appropriate equipment and responses to medical needs, and concerns about physical interventions and behaviour modification. Equally the lack of availability and difficulties in accessing services can mean that children and/or their parents don’t complain or question professionals. Further, parents will have their needs which require support.

We need to remember that the key to our work with all children, including those with SEND, must be that ‘the welfare of the child is paramount.’ This requires us to see beyond the child’s SEND needs to understand, question and evaluate the challenges and risks they are experiencing.

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Fostering

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SEN products and services

ARTiculate for Staff in Education Training school staff to support children’s emotional literacy through art Delivered online or in your workplace.

ARTiculate is designed, endorsed and delivered by the British Association of Art Therapists specifically for staff in education settings who wish to use art to support children and young people with a range of issues including relationship building and emotional literacy.

This course is over 3 days: Introduction, Intermediate and Advanced.

Please see the website for more details www.baat.org

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Professional support

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Sustaining the needs of the 21st century educators Feliciea Jibson and Josianne Pisani discuss the need for professional support tools for SEN learners, to help reduce the high turnover in the teaching profession and provide more fulfilling learning experiences for pupils.

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e can all agree that every parent wants the best teachers and the most effective teaching for their children, and rightly so. But good quality teaching doesn’t happen by magic. As in all professions, it takes years to gain the skills teachers need to be effective in their roles. Yet on average, this profession loses around 8% teaching staff every year.

Education is very complex. Even experienced teachers are confronted with big challenges. They not only need to deal with changes in the content for the subjects they teach and with new instructional methods, but also get to grips with the constant advances in technology and changes to laws and procedures. Add to this the extra support they are expected to give their peers, parents and students and it is easy to see why 1 out of 3 teachers leave the profession within their first three years and half leave within their first five.

“Even experienced teachers are confronted with big challenges. programmes get disrupted, not to mention the risk of burnout and fatigue due to the extra responsibilities that teachers that stay will need to take on. Ultimately, it is the learners who suffer the consequences.

Teacher retention is a global issue that is spread within all sectors of education, but studies show that in the field of special education there is a 46% higher predicted turnover rate. The demands are high but the formal training teachers receive does not reflect it. Could professional support make a difference?

The effect that teacher turnover has on education is far reaching.

Naturally, hiring and training new teachers is an expensive process. More than that, schools lose out on experience and senmagazine.co.uk

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Professional support

“There is a significant discrepancy between the SEN learners’ targets and those of their peers” Education should be about providing a curriculum that meets the needs of the children in today’s world. Yet, teachers face an overwhelming number of issues ranging from those related to behaviour to those associated with school culture and learning difficulties. Why is this happening?

It is no secret that there is a shortage of teachers. The number of neurodivergent learners in mainstream schools is also on the increase. Sometimes it’s because parents feel that a special needs school is not suitable for their child; at other times it’s because there is no space available. Yet, the staff in this type of educational setting often don’t have the knowledge, resources and funding available to adequately meet the children’s needs.

As a result ‘accessing the curriculum’ and ‘differentiating outcomes’ are loosely used - there are so many misconceptions surrounding these terms.

In most cases there is a significant discrepancy between the SEN learners’ targets and those of their peers. Teachers try to find activities for the learner that are related to what they are doing in their planning and curriculum, but struggle to find an adequate way of working with such children. So, more often than not, children are given work that is below their age level to avoid overwhelming the child or are made to complete

About the author Feliciea Jibson is Chief Science Officer at PAGS SRL and founder of PAGS (Profile, Assessment and Goal Setting). pagsprofile.com

Josianne Pisani is a teacher, teacher trainer and materials writer at ETI Malta with years of experience in teaching English as a second language to learners of all ages and abilities. englishpracticecafe.com

numerous colouring sheets with a lot of cutting and pasting of pictures or photos. At the end of the term or year the child’s parents have some academic work to look at and lots of artwork they can admire, but is it meaningful to the child’s educational and life experience? Do such activities really help the child to develop the skills they need?

Let’s consider a group of year 3 students who are learning about forces ie ‘push’ and ‘pull’. While the class is learning about the

■ Profile, Assessment and Goal Setting.

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Professional support

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different factors that affect these forces, a SEN learner could be colouring a push and pull worksheet. But wouldn’t it be more effective if the child actually experiences pushing and pulling then goes on to identify situations when they need to push and when pulling is required. To get the child to use simple sentences, they can then describe a picture of someone pushing a car or pulling a rope. The child is now in a better position to process the information and apply their newly acquired knowledge to everyday life.

Devising such activities, in which the task rather than the content is differentiated, requires us to identify what the child’s strengths are and where the learning gaps lie. Only then can our learners be given a meaningful learning experience, enabling them to move forward at a pace and in a way which is appropriate to them.

In this sense, effective professional support can go a long way. It allows for more effective practices that can be applied to different situations and enables higher quality instruction.

This will translate into better learning outcomes for learners.

As teachers become more competent, they also become less susceptible to stress and burnout.

Support can come in different shapes and sizes, be it as a mentor, coach, through face-to-face sessions or an on-line course, through workshops and conferences, or through whole

■ More effective practices in the classroom.

school programmers. It is vital that it reflects the needs of the educators though.

We are. lucky that we live in both a globalised and digitalised world that not only gives us the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills we need to address the learners’ challenges, but also the tools to deliver the right teaching to our learners and meet expectations.

TSS Support the UN sustainable development goals

UK Education Provider Number 10088011

An online support service for schools in the UK and the international school community Outsourced SEND and EAL teaching and assessment online CACHE Certified courses for teaching support staff Inclusion staff/SENCO mentoring / school audits (incl. school site visits) Inclusion centred, accredited NCFE courses for students not in exam focused curriculums

Certified Functional Skills courses- English, Maths, ICT After school/ school support tutoring SEND STAFF CPD - Accredited Courses (NCFE/CACHE) Early years courses - CACHE accredited SPLD teaching and support

All our teachers are UK qualified and registered TSS follow UK safer recruitment practises.

Our teaching takes place in our own secure virtual classroom platform.

email: admin@thesupportschool.com

www.thesupportschool.co.uk Accredited provider

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https://www.facebook.com/TSSINCLUSION https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-support-school Twitter - @TSupportSchool

TSS are an online inclusion hub for SEND and EAL, working with schools, students and parents

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CPD, training and events Your indispensable guide to SEN courses, workshops, conferences and exhibitions

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CPD, training and events

Last enrolment 29 November 2021 ICEP Europe

Understanding Autism Designed to provide you with a thorough understanding of the autism spectrum, current research, and best practice approaches, this comprehensive programme equips teachers, parents and other practitioners with evidence-based strategies to meet the needs of children and young people with autism, from preschool to further education. The content of this course has been revised and updated in 2021. icepe.eu/cpd

National Autistic Society

Essential bundle deal - five for the price of four!

Online modules

Developed by autistic people and professionals, our online modules are designed to enhance your autism knowledge while fitting into your busy schedule. autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development

The Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education

Part time training Accredited Counselling, Wellbeing, Arts Psychotherapy Training

Diploma in Counselling skills with children using the Arts Diploma in Counselling Teenagers Diploma in Traumainformed Schools Diploma in wellbeing practice for children and young people 020 7704 2534

info@artspsychotherapy.org artspsychotherapy.org

Online Education from New Skills Academy Online

New Skills Academy pride themselves on providing the best online education courses to further your career.

Their experienced tutors have meticulously created some incredibly well received diplomas. Their diverse portfolio includes courses in the following areas: Autism Awareness Diploma; ADHD Diploma; Asperger Syndrome Awareness Diploma. Use Code SEN76 for up to a 76% discount on all courses this month. newskillsacademy.co.uk/ courses/teaching/?ref=32

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The Centre for Child Mental Health

Attachment: What every teacher and child professional needs to know Webinar 020 7354 2913

info@childmentalhealthcentre.org childmentalhealthcentre.org/ webinars

IPSEA

Education, Health and Care plans

Our Education Health and Care plans webinar explains the EHC plan process, from the decision to assess, right through to the final EHC plan. The webinar covers the following topics: - What is an EHC plan - What an EHC plan should contain - What a parent/carer should do if they are not happy with their child’s plan ipsea.org.uk/education-healthand-care-plans

The Centre for Child Mental Health Webinar with Dr Margot Sunderland (child expert and award winning author)

Using arts and imagery to help children and teenagers talk about their life 020 7354 2913 info@childmentalhealthcentre.org childmentalhealthcentre.org/ webinars

‘ReboundTherapy.org’

the official UK body and international consultancy for Rebound Therapy. Responsible for the development and delivery of the genuine ‘Eddy Anderson model’ accredited and approved training courses.

Founded 1972.

Last enrolment 29 November 2021 ICEP Europe

Teaching Happiness and Promoting Wellbeing

This online CPD course examines how happiness and wellbeing can be enhanced through the application of positive psychology in your own life and those of others.

This course is delivered fully online allowing you the flexibility to learn from the comfort of your own home and at your own pace. The content of this course has been revised and updated in 2021. icepe.eu/cpd

NOVEMBER 2021

10 November 2021 Henshaws Specialist College

Open Day

Henshaws will be delighted to welcome you to an open day at their campus in Harrogate. Come and find out what makes Henshaws a great place to learn, live and grow. Henshaw’s support young people aged 16-25 with special educational needs and disabilities. henshaws.org.uk/opendays

10 and 11 November 2021 National Autistic Society

Understanding and supporting autistic people Online training

An introductory course based on the SPELL framework that builds your knowledge of autism and how to support autistic children and adults.

9 November 2021

autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development

Equals

11 November 2021

Logically Illogical A personal history of autism by Ros Blackburn

The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact: admin@equalsoffice.co.uk equals.co.uk

9-11 November 2021 Terrapin

EDUtech Asia 2021 Virtual, Free

Asia’s festival of education returns through a 3-day virtual festival. Join K-12 and higher education educators and technology experts from Asia and beyond. Get ready to be inspired. https://bit.ly/3kt3hZD

National Autistic Society

Autism and Education conference Online training

Our one-day online conference is aimed at education professionals. Increase your understanding and knowledge of autism and best practice in supporting autistic children at school. autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development

11 November 2021 Revolution Events

The Education People Show

The Kent Event Centre, Detling

Register now for your FREE place. Engage and learn from industry leaders through the educational seminar sessions, inspirational keynotes and the extensive education suppliers.

theeducationpeopleshow.co.uk

0330 122 5684 reboundtherapy.org

The Centre for Child Mental Health

Attachment play for primary aged children (5-10 years) Webinar 020 7354 2913

info@childmentalhealthcentre.org childmentalhealthcentre.org/ webinars

Please check all details with the event organiser before you make arrangements to attend. senmagazine.co.uk

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16 November 2021

22 November 2021

26-27 November 2021

7, 8 and 9 December 2021

Equals

Equals

Terrapin

National Autistic Society

MAPP - Mapping & Assessing Personal Progress

by Mike Sissons

EDUtech India 2021

Teaching mathematics

by Peter lmray The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact: admin@equalsoffice.co.uk

17 November 2021

The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact:

Disabled Living

equals.co.uk

Join them at their NEW Location ACC Liverpool WHAT’S THE LINK Live and in person

23 November 2021

equals.co.uk

KIDZ to Adultz North

A FREE Exhibition for carers, parents, professionals and all those who support children and young adults with disabilities and additional needs – Children welcome.

A wide range of companies will be showcasing a vast range of products and services.

Boost your CPD by attending the FREE seminars running alongside the exhibition.

Register for your free ticket!

kidzexhibitions.co.uk/kidz-north

17 and 18 November 2021 Govnet

The School & Academies Show NEC Birmingham

Register for a free place to be part of the largest online discussion on the future of education. https://hubs.la/H0QSnry0

admin@equalsoffice.co.uk

Equals

Teaching play and leisure by Peter lmray The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact: admin@equalsoffice.co.uk equals.co.uk

26 November 2021 Equals

Moving on 14-25 curriculum and accreditation by John Hartley The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact:

Virtual, Free Join us EDUtech India on 26-27 November as we bring together India’s education community to inspire the next generation. 40+ free K-12 and Higher education sessions by 60+ inspirational speakers.

EarlyBird licensed user training

This licensed user training is for professionals to support parents and carers of autistic children under five years old through our EarlyBird programme. autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development

https://bit.ly/3iun0pk

8-9 December 2021

30 November 2021

Bailey Comms HK

Equals

Teaching communication

by Peter lmray The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact: admin@equalsoffice.co.uk equals.co.uk

DECEMBER 2021

Asia-Pacific International Schools Conference (AISC)

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

An annual event for international school leaders and educators in the Asia Pacific region. Bringing international school communities together to explore topical issues that educators are keen to discuss and debate, with international speakers providing expertise. aisc.com.hk

1-2 December 2021

8-10 December 2021

IBEForum

Bailey Comms HK

Smart School Summit Virtual

admin@equalsoffice.co.uk

This conference will bring together the digital learning solution providers from all over the globe that will cater to Saudi’s Vision 2030.

equals.co.uk

smartschoolsummit.com

Learning and Teaching Expo Hong Kong

This annual signature event enter it’s 11th year and provides a platform for education buyers, leading academics and scholars to source the latest developments in educational resources and learning technology. ltexpo.com.hk

JANUARY 2022 11 and 12 January 2022 National Autistic Society

Autism and SPELL in higher education Online training

An introduction to autism and the SPELL framework for higher education professionals. autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development

18, 19 and 20 January 2022 National Autistic Society

EarlyBird Plus licensed user training This licensed user training is for professionals who support parents and carers of autistic children aged four to nine. autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development/

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CPD, training and events

19-21 January 2022

FEBRUARY 2022

Hyve

1,2 and 3 February 2022

London Live event

National Autistic Society

Bett Show 2022 Bett returns to ExCeL London.

Be immersed in inspiring SEND-focused content and discover innovative assistive technologies to help develop SEND students as independent learners. Register now uk.bettshow.com/visitorregistration

EarlyBird licensed user training

This licensed user training is for professionals to support parents and carers of autistic children under five years old through our EarlyBird programme. autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development

20-21 January 2022

1 and 2 February 2022

Edge Services

National Autistic Society

Level 4 Advanced ROSPA Accredited Children Handling and Risk Assessment Key Trainers Certificate (Refresher/Update)

Understanding stress and anxiety in autism

This course will further advance your professional development training others in the moving and handling of children/young adults and provide you with a valuable opportunity to trade experience with others.

autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development

Brighton

edgeservices.co.uk

19 and 22 January 2022 National Autistic Society

Understanding and supporting autistic people Online training

An introductory course based on the SPELL framework that builds your knowledge of autism and how to support autistic children and adults. autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development

25-28 January 2022 Edge Services

Level 4 ROSPA Accredited Children Handling and Risk Assessment Key Trainers Certificate

This course explores how you can help autistic children and adults to reduce stress and anxiety, how to understand their behaviour, and how to support them during difficult times.

8 February 2022 Equals

Teaching thinking and problem solving

by Peter lmray The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact: admin@equalsoffice.co.uk equals.co.uk

15 February 2022 Equals

Teaching independence

by Peter lmray

The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact: admin@equalsoffice.co.uk equals.co.uk

MARCH 2022 1 March 2022

Brighton

Equals

This course will provide you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to train others in the moving and handling of children/young adults and how to conduct manual handling risk assessments.

Teaching reading and writing by Peter lmray The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact: admin@equalsoffice.co.uk

edgeservices.co.uk

equals.co.uk

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1-4 March 2022

23 & 24 March 2022

Edge Services

National Autistic Society

Level 4 ROSPA Accredited Children Handling and Risk Assessment Key Trainers Certificate Birmingham

This course will provide you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to train others in the moving and handling of children/young adults and how to conduct manual handling risk assessments. edgeservices.co.uk

8-9 March 2022 Edge Services

Level 4 Advanced ROSPA Accredited Children Handling and Risk Assessment Key Trainers Certificate (Refresher/Update) Birmingham

This course will further advance your professional development training others in the moving and handling of children/young adults and provide you with a valuable opportunity to trade experience with others. edgeservices.co.uk

8 and 9 March 2022 National Autistic Society

Autism and SPELL in higher education

An introduction to autism and the SPELL framework for higher education professionals.

Understanding stress and anxiety in autism Online training

This course explores how you can help autistic children and adults to reduce stress and anxiety, how to understand their behaviour, and how to support them during difficult times. autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development

MAY 2022 24-27 May 2022 Edge Services

Level 4 ROSPA Accredited Children Handling and Risk Assessment Key Trainers Certificate Edinburgh This course will provide you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to train others in the moving and handling of children/young adults and how to conduct manual handling risk assessments. edgeservices.co.uk

autism.org.uk/what-we-do/ professional-development

10 March 2022 Equals

The Engagement Model and the PreKey Stage Standards

by James Waller The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact: admin@equalsoffice.co.uk equals.co.uk

18 March 2022 Equals

Moving on 14-25 curriculum and accreditation by John Hartley

The session will take place between 3:45 and 5:15pm To learn more or to book a place please contact: admin@equalsoffice.co.uk

Please check all details with the event organiser before you make arrangements to attend.

equals.co.uk

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SEN resources directory Information, advice and support for all things SEN. NEW! Full directory now available on the SEN Magazine website - senmagazine.co.uk/main/resources ADHD

Learning disability

Rebound therapy

ADHD Foundation

BILD

ReboundTherapy.org

Training and awareness raising around ADHD. adhdfoundation.org.uk

Charity offering support and information on learning disabilities. bild.org.uk

The UK governing body and international consultancy for Rebound Therapy. reboundtherapy.org

Law

Autism National Autistic Society

Douglas Silas Solicitors

Help and information for those affected

by ASD. autism.org.uk

Douglas Silas Solicitors are the legal experts specialising exclusively in SEN, helping parents successfully throughout the SEN process.

SpecialEducationalNeeds.co.uk

Cerebral palsy Action CP Charity raising awareness of issues facing children and young people with cerebral palsies. actioncp.org

Literacy National Literacy Trust Literacy charity for adults and children. literacytrust.org.uk

Mental health

Down’s syndrome Down’s Syndrome Association Information, support and training on Down’s syndrome. downs-syndrome.org.uk

Special education needs nasen Organisation for the education, training and advancement of those with SEN. nasen.org.uk

Visual impairment The Partially Sighted Society Bold-lined exercise books and resources for schools and individuals for visual impairment and visual processing difficulties. partsight.org.uk

MIND

RNIB

Advice and support for people experiencing a mental health problem. mind.org.uk

Support and advice for those affected by visual impairment. rnib.org.uk

Dyslexia British Dyslexia Association Information and support for people affected by dyslexia. bdadyslexia.org.uk

Dyspraxia Dyspraxia Foundation UK Dyspraxia advice and support. dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk

Epilepsy Epilepsy Action Advice and information on epilepsy. epilepsy.org.uk senmagazine.co.uk

The esSENtial read

Looking for specialist help?

Equipment? Resources?

Visit the new SEN Magazine Resource Directory online. senmagazine.co.uk/resource-directory If there’s something you’d like us to include in the directory, please let us know! Send an email to feedback@senmagazine.co.uk, mentioning “Resource Directory” in the subject line.

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