Speech Freedom

30/04/2026

Are you a mental health professional thinking about training in EMDR? Come along to my introductory webinar on May 6th to hear more about it and to see if it might be the modality for you.

EMDR is a trauma-focused therapy which is recommended in the NICE guidelines. It is evidence-based and can be highly effective with diverse populations.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1975840288491?aff=oddtdtcreato

30/04/2026

We are sooo sick of being told our children need to be more resilient!

WE ARE RECLAIMING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE RESILIENT WHEN YOU ARE NEURODIVERGENT!

But heres the thing, i think we need to change the narrative around resilience, I think our kids do need to build a resilience, but the resilience our kids need is resilience for the bu****it of expectations placed on them to fit in and tolerate hostility, harm & distress from unsafe environments and people. They do not need resilience from a neurotypical perspective. They need it from a neuro affirming perspective!

We need to build armour against judgment, not pressure to conform.

Resilience is teaching our kids that some people don’t “get it” and that’s a them problem! Not an us problem.

Resilience is teaching our kids that sometimes people will be judgemental, ignorant, non-empathetic and they are not our people and that’s their loss!

Resilience is teaching our kids that the world is not always ready for us or accepting or understanding of our experiences and needs. And that’s on the world not us!

I will not teach my children to be “resilient” to people, places or environments that are uncomfortable and cause distress!

I will teach them to recognise and trust themselves to know what is uncomfortable and causes distress and to have autonomy and confidence to make themselves comfortable even when others don’t approve!

That’s resilience, that’s safety and that’s vital.

30/04/2026

Scrolling through FB today and reading some emails, I am constantly amazed at the lack of knowledge about where to start with supporting those with SM especially teenagers. Before we jump to “getting a teenager talking”, we need to ask a much more important question:

Do they feel safe enough to communicate at all?

One of the biggest misunderstandings around selective mutism is the assumption that silence is simply a lack of speaking behaviour that can be “worked on” through prompting, encouragement, rewards, speech practice, or direct elicitation.

But speech does not sit at the top of the pyramid.

It sits at the very end of a long chain of neurophysiological, emotional, sensory, relational, and communicative processes.

Many selectively mute teenagers are living in a state of chronic threat. Their nervous systems are not calmly choosing not to speak — they are protecting them. In that state, direct demands for speech can increase panic, shame, freezing, dissociation, and avoidance.

Before speech work comes:

• felt safety
• trust
• co-regulation
• autonomy
• reduction of performance pressure
• predictable interactions
• sensory safety
• relationships without hidden demands
• acceptance of all forms of communication
• reduced monitoring and scrutiny
• opportunities for success without speech
• nervous system regulation
• connection before expectation

And perhaps most importantly:

The young person needs repeated experiences of adults who are safe to be silent with.

Teenagers with selective mutism are often exhausted by years of being watched, prompted, praised for tiny verbal responses, discussed in front of others, or treated as communication projects rather than human beings.

Speech may emerge when safety emerges.

And sometimes progress looks like:
– staying in the room
– communicating nonverbally
– tolerating proximity
– laughing
– texting
– whispering to one trusted person
– showing personality through actions before words

Those things are not “nothing”.

They are foundations.

If we skip the foundations and go straight to eliciting speech, we risk building intervention on anxiety rather than connection.

Communication grows in safety, not surveillance.

There’s lots in my upcoming book about this and Dawn and I will be delivering training and workshops on it

29/04/2026

Trans Rights Won in the High Court Today. Did You Hear About It?
The Office for Students tried to fine the University of Sussex £585,000 for having a policy that said transphobia is not tolerated and that staff should positively represent trans people. It was the largest fine the OfS had ever attempted to levy against a university. It was designed to send a message to every institution in the country about what happens when you protect transgender students and staff.
The High Court threw it out completely today.
The judge found the OfS had closed its mind to any outcome other than finding the university guilty before the investigation was finished. The regulator interviewed Kathleen Stock. It did not interview a single person from the university despite the university repeatedly requesting to be heard. That is not regulation. That is a verdict dressed up as a process.
The judge also found the OfS took a fundamentally flawed approach to deciding what academic freedom even means. The university’s vice chancellor called it a devastating indictment of the impartiality and competence of the OfS, implicating its operations, leadership, governance and strategy.
Kathleen Stock resigned from Sussex after student protests over her views. She was not dismissed. She chose to leave. The OfS built a £585,000 case on the basis that a policy saying transphobia is not tolerated had made her more cautious about expressing her beliefs. The High Court today said that reasoning did not hold and that the process used to reach it was biased from the start.
The OfS said the outcome was disappointing and that it did not accept the finding of bias. Its chairman said he would consider over several weeks whether to appeal. The interim chief executive said he was pleased that a dozen institutions including Sussex had amended policies which restricted freedom of speech as a result of the investigation.
Read that again. The regulator whose investigation was found to be biased, closed-minded and procedurally flawed is describing universities removing trans inclusive policies as a positive outcome it is proud of.
That tells you everything about what this investigation was actually for.
Universities across the country had been watching this case with alarm. A fine of that size for having a trans inclusive policy would have sent a chilling effect through every institution in the country. Institutions would have removed protections for transgender students and staff not because they wanted to but because they could not afford not to. That outcome has been stopped today.
From April 2027 universities could face fines of £500,000 or two percent of their income for failing to protect free speech. The regulator that was just found to have closed its mind to any outcome other than the one it wanted is about to be given even stronger powers.
That part of the story is not over.
But today the University of Sussex stood its ground. Today a High Court judge looked at how this fine was issued and found it could not stand. Today transgender and non-binary students at universities across England got something they have not had much of recently.
A win.
Take it. They are rare enough to be worth naming when they arrive.
Now Let Us Talk About How This Was Reported
The BBC covered this story today.
It reported the High Court ruling. It covered the fine being overturned. It quoted the vice chancellor and the OfS. It explained the procedural findings against the regulator.
It did not use the word transgender once.
Think about that. A case that began because a university had a transgender and non-binary inclusion policy. A fine issued because that policy was deemed to create a chilling effect on gender critical views. A High Court ruling that found the regulator was biased in how it investigated that policy. A story entirely about what protection transgender people deserve in academic institutions.
Reported by the BBC without mentioning transgender people.
Compare that to how the BBC covers stories that go the other way. When a ruling or a policy or a statement can be framed as a concern about transgender inclusion in spaces, sport or healthcare, transgender people are named, their advocates are quoted, the community’s response is sought. The word transgender appears in the headline.
Today it did not appear at all.
This is not a small thing. Language shapes what the public understands about who is affected by a story. When transgender people are named in stories about threats to them they become the subject of the story. When they are removed from the language of a story about a victory for their rights they become invisible even in the moment of winning.
The BBC has a responsibility to report accurately on who is affected by the stories it covers. Today a university successfully defended a transgender inclusive policy against a biased regulatory process. The people that policy exists to protect deserved to be named in that coverage.
They were not.
That is worth noticing. That is worth saying out loud. And that is worth asking the BBC to explain.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ BBC News

29/04/2026

27/04/2026

GCSEs and the superhero pose

Like many teachers and support staff across the country, I do everything I can to help my students feel calm, confident, and ready to take on their exams. One of my favourite little traditions with my learning support pupils is the superhero pose.

Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Before they head into their GCSEs, we take a moment to stand tall: feet apart, hands on hips, chins lifted, shoulders back, just like Superman, Wonder Woman, or whatever hero they relate to most.

Now, don’t worry. I definitely don’t spring this on them out of nowhere. We talk about it well in advance. I promise I’m not ambushing them in the corridor with a cape and theme music, though I’ve been tempted. We have honest conversations about nerves, self-belief, and the power of mindset.

The superhero pose is more than just a bit of fun. There’s science behind it. Research has shown that holding a strong, open posture for just two minutes can help lower cortisol, the stress hormone, and boost feelings of confidence and readiness. When students feel nervous or unsure of themselves, especially in high-pressure environments like exams, that quick shift in body language can be surprisingly powerful.

It’s not about pretending to be fearless. It’s about showing your brain and body that you are capable and calm. That you’ve got this.

For my learning support pupils, confidence can sometimes feel fragile. They may have spent years being told what they ‘can’t’ do, focusing on what’s difficult for them, or feeling like they’re always slightly behind. The superhero pose is a small but meaningful moment, a way of saying, ‘I’m here, I’m ready, and I’ve worked hard for this.’

We often pair the pose with a few quiet affirmations or reminders:

• ‘I’ve done the revision.’
• ‘I can only do my best.’
• ‘I am more than my grade.’
• ‘I am ready.’

And I join in, too. We all stand together, slightly awkward at first and often giggling a bit, but by the end there’s a shift. They feel it. You can see it in the way they walk off to the exam hall, a little taller, a little stronger.

So if you’re a parent, teacher, or support worker, maybe give it a go with your own young people. Talk to them about it, have a laugh with it, and let them feel what it’s like to stand in their power, literally.

GCSEs are tough, but our students are tougher. And sometimes, all it takes is two minutes, a superhero stance, and a deep breath to remind them of that. Sending them in to their exams after a giggle with their teacher may also just lower those nerves too.

Emma
The Autistic SENCo
♾️

27/04/2026

Telling Your Child They Are Autistic: An Affirming Guide for Parents & Carers

By Helen Autistic Realms , Jess of GROVE and GROVE's team of Young Leaders.

We hope that this guide will give you some foundations, principles, and ideas you can reflect on, so you can pick and choose what feels right for your young person.

Available on our website now!

25/04/2026

This

I am due to begin my new BEING ME groups this coming week so have been busy carefully going through the information I requested from parents/carers regarding their young person's needs, interests, hopes etc.

I look for potential tension points between the young people, shared interests, what they know and believe already and how we might build or gently offer new perspectives and so on. We do not 'use' interests for engagement - I ask for consent to build them in if possible and in small, subtle ways and I don't do that unless consent is given. This is the beginnings of their Being Me journey being adapted to suit - this continues as best I can throughout their 10 weeks as I get to know them and we receive ongoing feedback.

So, this week for example I sent a copy of the current background colour and font for those who are dylexic or have any other need related to the visual presentation so they can check if I need to change it.

In amongst that I got the most wonderful email from a parent about our last groups so I thought I'd share...

Jess (GROVE's Founder/Director and Lead Mentor for BEING ME)

24/04/2026

Please read and sign. This one is really important

I believe that the Government’s proposed SEND reforms could limit EHCPs, weaken legal rights, replace individual plans with packages, reduce appeals, and remove school choice. In my view, children could be left without the support they need as a result.