I must kick off with a huge apology for this month’s round-up being so late – we had an extra busy run-up to the end of term as we have a Year 6 Leaver here, so even more than usual was packed into the schedule! So sorry for that; thank you for all the wonderful links left last month. It’s so great to see this friendly and motivated group of SEND bloggers sharing and making others aware in all sorts of different ways.
Luckily it is still the beginning of the holidays so I will start by sharing the very helpful Family Fund blog 10 Top Tips for surviving the summer holidays with Special Needs children, written by Miriam from Faithmummy. There are two important ongoing campaigns; first please read Selfish Mother’s post The Future I’m Trying to Change where she describes how awful it is to have to use the floor of public conveniences for her son, and then please also support the push for supermarkets to sell bigger nappies, as written about by Brody, Me and GDD.
Autismmumma looks at the positives in her post Can Do and Gymbunny mummy talks about feeling happy and lucky that her son is going to special school. The Long Chain appreciates the kindness of others in The Unexpected and Rainbows are too beautiful explains why her autistic son would make a great father. Jarlath O’Brien looks at research showing the positive effects of inclusion in his post Maximising Cleverness – but for whom? Meanwhile Chaos in Kent tells us what she hates about the SEND minefield whilst Special Needs Jungle and Premmeditations blog bring us one example of the EHCP process gone wrong – I’m sure there are many more stories to be told on that front.
Looking for Blue Sky opens up the discussion around respite in her post When Respite Worked for my daughter; it seems to me that the push towards larger, more anonymous care homes and secondary schools is not necessarily in everyone’s best interests. Faithmummy writes about the parents who cannot leave the house with their own children; as I personally enjoyed a short trip to the London Aquarium with my girls today, I’m feeling extremely lucky. We rarely get out to events and places that other families take for granted though, certainly not without much effort and planning and rest days either side, but I feel comforted by the fact that other parents in this SEND community understand that and don’t judge or assume that what is easy for one is easy for another.
In Not Less, Someone’s Mum describes a situation that many of us have probably been in with our children – and the reason why we need to carry on writing to help others understand. Life with ASD and the rest explains how being able to talk and being able to communicate are two different things in Autism & Communication, a post definitely worth sharing. A Blog about raising my autistic son also considers communication in her post The Way We Speak. In Rear Window, The Wrong Kind of Snow talks about Child Development Centre sessions and how parent-to-parent is the way the most useful and information is spread in the world of special needs – but should it really be like this, by chance? I’d also urge you to read another post from that blog, On a scale of one to ten, which looks at emotions and feelings. A post I especially loved this month was from Nancy at The Diary of A Not So Ordinary Boy; Tribe is a heartening read about those involved with charity.
Finally, I’m delighted to share Renata from Just Bring The Chocolate’s post with you about her son’s need for independence; I can now let you know that the fundraising target was reached and a new wheelchair will be en route shortly! I do love happy news. Please add your SEND posts over the following month to the linky for inclusion in next month’s round-up; Happy Holidays in the meantime!
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