Yet again, it has been a busy old month in the world of SEND. To be honest though, I don’t think there’s ever a quiet month for any of us.
The biggest story of the month was probably the mistake made by legal firm Baker Small, when they publicly took to their Twitter account to celebrate what they considered a win for themselves (although bizarrely, in this particular case, the initial ‘win’ was actually for the family). Many posts were written which can help you understand what went on – Debs from Chaos in Kent wrote the first, ‘Baker Small (BS), what were you thinking?‘ and I followed hot on her heels with ‘Why Baker Small should be out of business tomorrow‘. The Life of a Colourful Autism Family describes their experiences of Tribunal in ‘Thank You Mr Small‘ and Rainbows are Too Beautiful explained that ‘It’s not supposed to be Them vs Us‘. It’s All About Evie wrote from the viewpoint of being both parent and solicitor in SEN Law & Professional Responsibility and Katherine Runswick-Cole recalls how parents nearly always say ‘The Tribunal was the most stressful thing‘. Special Needs Jungle pulled everything together with a call for national change to the system – please do go and add your comments to their post Call to Action.
Carers Week ran from 6-12 June this year and Rainbows are Too Beautiful gave us a glimpse into her life with autistic children. Looking for Blue Sky shared a day with Smiley with us in her post With or Without You – written initially to highlight the lack of services for adults, but it also gives a great description of a Carer’s role. Joy from PinkOddy talks about her experience of changing from a Statement to an EHCP, something which many families have had to do over the past year. We went through this process as part of the Pilot programme, so it feels like a long time ago for us and it’s good to hear about what is happening out there right now. Brody, Me and GDD highlights the Changing Places campaign and The Long Chain tells us of their family’s much needed holiday whilst also mentioning the need for changing places. Emma from Little Mama Murphy describes in detail how it feels to care for a child with epilepsy – not an easy read, but one which I think should be shared to encourage others to think about what some carers go through.
For those of us who cope with children with high levels of anxiety (particularly common with PDA but understandably also for lots of children with SEND), there are some great tips and lots of helpful links in this post from Life With ASD & the Rest on Autism & Anxiety. The Family Fund Blog is showcasing some great stories from parents and I really liked this one called One Little Word – ‘it’s about the little things’ is a phrase I’ve often used.
As we hurtle towards the end of term at breakneck speed, Faithmummy talks about how it feels to have one of those children who are not rewarded or ‘chosen’ like the others, and AutismMumma looks back at how time has flown by for her girl. Finally, to end on good news, Lisa at mrssavageangel brings us the good news that a school has been selected now for her son, and Lucie at Our World and Autism celebrates success with progress in food tasting and eating – something many of us are hoping for!
If you’ve enjoyed any of these posts, why not leave the writers a comment, or share a little blog love by retweeting or sharing on any social media platform? The more we inform others of what we go through, the more understanding there will be, and we all help build a better life for our children. I’ll look forward to reading your links this month.
The post SEND Round-up: Carers Week & Twitter storm appeared first on BritMums.