SEND Round-up: Reviewing & looking forward

I’m obviously not the first to wish you all a Happy New Year, but that doesn’t mean I wish it any less for you! 2017 could be a cracker – certainly in terms of blogging from the SEND community and getting our messages out there. Good luck to everyone for the year ahead. In terms of our round-up, this time of year can generally go two ways I find: time to reflect on what has gone and what may come, or no time for anything at all as you get thrown headlong into a brand new year and all that entails (the latter is me, can you tell?!). Luckily lots of posts have been linked up again so we’ll see which camp they fall into….

First of all, reflections. It’s a Tink Thing says ‘Goodbye to 2016 – here’s to a Happy New Year‘ while Rainbows Are Too Beautiful tells us why she still thinks autism is like the courtesy car.  To Aufinity and Beyond recognised how well this Christmas had gone for their family compared to the previous year, and Living With A Jude shared the joy of a successful day over the festive period which was very welcome after a particularly difficult one. The Long Chain started the year with a look back on a difficult 2016, but at the same time taking all the positives from it and looking forward with that same positive attitude. In a post which brought a tear to my eye, Down in Front Please reflected on how a negative narrative has been replaced with a positive one, thanks to sunshine… I definitely suggest you read It’s a Long Way on a Donkey with a tissue handy. Then go and find more tissues before you check in with Hayley and Downs Side Up – ten years on, she returns to the NICU unit to say thank you, and fate plays an important role shortly after.

On to some advice in the form of a post about Why Special Interests matter from teacher aka Mummy Times Two and a post about telling people your child has autism from Raising My Autistic Son. Someone’s Mum looks at the lottery of going out and about and how it can work brilliantly sometimes and not so much others. Zebra Hooves talks through the difficult decision she’s had to make about the school residential trip, which will be on our agenda before too long also, and Wristbands and Roadsigns explains why visual support is essential for her child with ASD. As posted by The Inclusive Home, 2017 kicked off with plenty of talk about accessible toilets, thanks largely to a paralympian who was talking in the media about an unpleasant experience. On an even more upsetting note, Ordinary Hopes let us know how her son was excluded due to disability – this surely can’t be right in any day and age?

I do always love to finish with some positives, so please do read the following: Faithmummy with her exciting story of how Google Street Maps has helped her boy find a new way of communicating, A Hunter’s Life sharing a letter which she wrote to her oldest boy, sibling to her child with special needs, and Tori Story also talking of siblings in her post ‘Don’t Feel Sorry For Me‘. Finally, Carer’s Club shares some Tips for Happiness which we can all use.

That’s it for this month but do please link up any posts which you write over the next month if you’d like them including in the next round-up.

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