School Avoidance Week 2024

School Avoidance Week 2024

How can we recognise and properly support children who are struggling to attend school? School avoidance – sometimes referred to as school ‘refusal’, which we’ll address further on – is a very complex and multifaceted issue where a child experiences intense difficulty attending school.

Managing Different Needs Within the Family

Mixed Needs Blog

The task of meeting the needs of your entire family is demanding enough without mixed needs to consider; how do we manage different needs within a family effectively? In this post, we’ll be sharing some valuable insight from families whose children have mixed needs, as well as signposting you to our own resources in order […]

School Climate: The REAL Reasons For School Avoidance

The REAL Reasons For School Avoidance

If you don’t yet follow our founder Chrissa Wadlow on Instagram under her new channel ‘SunshineChrissa‘, you’re missing out. Her latest 5-part series on the REAL reasons for school avoidance addresses the nuance behind why children may struggle to go to school – you may find it highly relatable. Evoking meaningful and validating conversations about […]

What is Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)?

If you’re a parent or professional in the world of SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities), you may have come across the term ‘Pathological Demand Avoidance’, often abbreviated as ‘PDA’. What is Pathological Demand Avoidance, though, and why are we really only just starting to hear more about it? A long unrecognised and poorly understood […]

Self-Care For SEND Parents

‘Self-care’: Two words that as SEND parents, we often hear as part of well-meaning but ultimately hollow snippets of advice. “Oh, you NEED to practice self-care, you need to make sure you take time for yourself…” accompanied by a knowing wink, a nudge and a nod, and how on earth do we respond to comments […]

What is Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria?

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria is a symptom of ADHD not listed in the DSM-5 and is considered as a form of emotional dysregulation. It is extremely common (around 95% of ADHDers experience it) in both children and adults with ADHD, but as there is still very little research it is unclear whether it is a trait exclusive to people with ADHD.