Broken SEND

The stress levels today are almost intollerable.  Another 3am wake up and unable to get back to sleep. Lots of families of SEND kids find the run up to the start of a new school year very difficult.  It is a time of transition from the familiarity and comfort of the summer holidays, to a new term, new year, sometimes a new school.  And it is a time that needs to be very carefully managed to make sure that the child / young person can make that transition successfully. In my case, we have three things ongoing that are affecting this process. 1. The LA have changed their rules and processes around EOTAS (Education Other than At School) provision.  They have a bank of AP (Alternative Provision) organisations and can now send round an EHCP with some details about the child / young person, and will pick any / the cheapest who claim that they can meet needs.  This is just what Hampshire County Council have done and found a start up one-person band who have made such a...

  In this blog, I will be writing about my personal crusade aiming to help autistic people better manage diabetes.   In this article, I will summarise progress that I have made alongside Rotary Direct Members and our diabetes partners: Solent Diabetes Association, Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation and Diabetes UK. In September and October, DRWF commissioned Autek to run a consultation where we spoke with over 25 autistic people who had experiences of diabetes and learnt more from them about the challenges they face.   In October, I presented some of our findings to a packed hall at the Diabetes Professional Care conference in London and got a lot of positive feedback.   From the questions at the Q&A I was particularly interested in what professionals can do to support patients who they suspect are neurodivergent, but don’t identify as such.   Of course, the approach should be the same, just avoiding neurodivergence language. In December we comp...