Mum and daughter receive covid hero awards

A MOTHER and daughter from Chellaston have both been named Beacons of Hope in a brand-new awards scheme aimed at recognising the heroes of the coronavirus pandemic. The Derbyshire Beacon of Hope awards – a collaboration between Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, the Lord-Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Derbyshire – was created to identify and thank groups […]

The New ALN Bill in Wales, will it be a catastrophe?

The Welsh Government in all their wisdom have decided to adopt the Additional Learning Needs and Educational Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 with effect from September 2021.  But what does this mean? In essence, it means that the current Special Educational Needs legislation will be abandoned for a whole load of new legislation similar to what […]

How can we help SEN children with sleep problems?

There is no secret in the fact that children with SEN have a larger chance of having sleep problems. The prevalence of sleep issues is around 40% in Neurotypical developing children. However, sleep difficulties rise to around 86% in children with SEN, which is what ignited my passion for helping and supporting families with their […]

Living with Epilepsy

On a global scale, Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder, affecting approximately 50 million people worldwide…  Although more common in children and elderly, epilepsy and seizures can develop in anyone, at any age and any time. It seems that the exact cause of epilepsy has yet to be identified and research suggests that the […]

Recognising the Signs of Autism is COMPLICATED

Recognising the signs of Autism in the early years is not a straight forward process…. I decided to speak to Sunshine Support’s Head of Family Support, Corrina Wood, to get an insight into the difficulties in recognising the early signs of Autism. According to Corrina, “Autism can present in many ways, it is like having multiple jigsaw […]

The Truth About Diagnoses

The importance of being diagnosed early on, owning your identity and understanding yourself and others. Last week Sunshine Support’s very own Chrissa Wadlow, our leader and the embodiment of all thing’s sunshine went live on Facebook to talk about the importance of getting a diagnosis early on in life. The 50-minute-long event covered an array of […]

Crohn’s Disease and Me

Inflammatory Bowel Disease and why I don’t want society to return to ‘normal’ after the lockdown restrictions have been lifted… I first encountered the symptoms typically attributed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) when I was age 9, many years of tests ensued and eventually I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, age 16. Very little was […]

The Role of Social Care in SEN; The Good, the Bad and the UGLY

The topic of Social Care in SEN is a controversial one. The question is what role are they supposed to play? And what role have they adopted? Often the role of social care in the SEND system is overlooked, undermined and misused. In an ideal world the correct social care should support children, young people […]

ADHD in Girls – how ignorance of early signs can have lifelong impact.

Statistics tells us that boys are diagnosed with ADHD 3 to 4 times more often than girls are… We explore why this is and what we can do to support females with ADHD. “When people think of ADHD, they often think of children who are ‘bouncing’ off the walls, can’t sit still and perhaps disruptive […]

Independent Assessments, Diagnoses + Reports: 5 things you NEED to know

You know that messy drawer that we all have in our homes? The one filled with broken pencils, takeaway menus, that key you have kept for years even though you do not know what it is for? Well, we all have a draw like that, and it is usually disordered, confusing, even frustrating, but most […]