Songbird Music Space

04/04/2026

It was lovely to share what I do with people today. Thanks to everyone who came down!
I spoke to over 100 people which was gorgeous and now need to lie in a darkened room and not speak for 5 days! 🤣🫣💤

04/04/2026

The Woman Who Turned Children into Birds by David Almond, illustrated by Laura Carlin

28/03/2026

Eeee today was an emotional day! I went back in my gorgeous studio for the first time in 4 months. A third of a year! The magic is still there. It's been sitting waiting for me oh so patiently.
I was 44 last week. Happy birthday me! 44 is a good year. ♥️♥️♥️

28/03/2026

Music Wonders. Org CIC are doing amazing things... consider supporting their crowd funding campaign for their SEND provision this Easter.

Just wow 🤩 thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to our Give SEND Families a Break this Easter campaign 🐣💛

Here’s the urgent bit…

We don’t actually have 30 days left — we have just two weeks.

Two weeks to make sure our fully booked SEND respite holiday clubs (with a waiting list!) can go ahead 💛

The funding covers:
• staff (paid at the real living wage)
• materials and resources
• heating, bills
• food and healthy snacks

These sessions are expensive to run because our children — like Kit — need higher staff ratios to stay safe, regulated and engaged.

At Musicwonders we offer:
🎵 music
🎨 art
🌈 sensory play
💛 and a space where children can truly be themselves

And while the children are having fun, parents get four hours to breathe.

That might look like:
• going to work
• giving grandparents a break
• spending time with siblings
• catching up on life
• or simply… resting

It has taken years to build this model.
Years to build trust with families.

Because if you have a non-speaking child or a child with complex needs… you’ll know how hard it is to leave them anywhere. I feel that myself every single time with Kit.

So — I’m doing something a bit mad 😅
I’m doing Couch to 5K every day for the next two weeks to help raise funds (very slow jog… but still counts! 😂)

If you can spare the price of a cuppa ☕ (or more), it would mean so much.

💛 Please donate
💛 Please share
💛 And if you know a local business, ask if they can sponsor us

Let’s make sure these children — and their families — get the support they need this Easter.

Link in the comments 👇

BBC Newcastle The Northern Echo Newcastle Chronicle

27/03/2026

I have a story to tell and it's not Instagram-friendly. It's long. It's heavy. It's important.
It can't be told in Instagram style snippets.
It needs to be shared and it will come in its own time. When it's ready and when I'm ready to share it.
I've been through a year of fire. Burning. Pain. Learning. Tempering. Refining.
On the 22nd March this year I stepped out of the fire. The burning is over (in that particular form anyway, I'm sure there's more to come in future!) and it's time to compost! Take the learning from the past year and move into a new phase of growth, abundance and flourishing.

I've been very unwell for a while now and have had to take 4 whole months off work. Hm, no, 4 months off from . I was mostly certainly still doing work, but of a very different kind!

I'm most delighted to share that I'll be back to my work at on the 20th April. I can't wait! Well actually, I can. This is a new thing for me, learning to wait. To observe myself and what I need.

I'm coming back different. Stronger. Clearer. With so much learning. With so much to share.

I'll share the story slowly over time.
For now... observing. Watching. Being still. Putting down roots and grounding myself so that I can pour from a very full cup. Overflowing!

See you all soon.❤️

Photo description: I'm playing recorder dancing on a fountain at while Penny plays cello.

26/03/2026

Help us raise £2,000 to fund four SEND respite holiday clubs this Easter, giving families of children with additional needs a break.

06/02/2026

Awesome opportunity...

04/02/2026

A politics graduate reflects on life being autistic and experiencing alexithymia and aphantasia.

31/01/2026

.

"I’m neurodivergent. It’s taken me years, not weeks or terms, to begin recognising my emotions, let alone managing them. I wasn’t broken. I needed time, experience, and safe spaces."

Eesh, that chimes for me! And I am so lucky that our space is one of the safe spaces for others too.

Does ‘neuroaffirming’ mean letting children and young people do whatever they want?

Let’s me be clear. Being neuroaffirming does not mean letting children and young people do whatever they want, with no boundaries or expectations. That isn’t support. That’s neglect.

What it does mean is taking the time to understand the individual. Recognising their current skills, their pace, and their reality, and working from there. Not from a ‘typical’ developmental chart. Not from one size fits all interventions that promise transformation.

Too often I see targets that look harmless on paper but are deeply damaging in practice. Things like, ‘Jeremy will be able to recognise and regulate their emotions within a term.’ Well meaning, yes. Realistic, no.

I’m neurodivergent. It’s taken me years, not weeks or terms, to begin recognising my emotions, let alone managing them. I wasn’t broken. I needed time, experience, and safe spaces.

I needed the real world. I needed to observe, reflect, and slowly piece things together. I needed to be allowed to cry, to be angry, to feel messy and lost without being punished or pathologised. To be accepted, even when it made no sense.

Neuroaffirming practice does not mean no rules or no progress. It means realistic progress. It means understanding who a child is, not who we wish they were.

It says, ‘I see you. I’m not here to change you. I’m here to walk beside you.’

It does not say, ‘You’re not like the others. Let’s fix that.’

That’s the difference. That’s the heart of it.

Emma
The Autistic SENCo
♾️

28/01/2026

Eesh tell me about it!

Sensory Stress is common for Autistic people but it's also something that many other neurodivergents experience too. As sensory stress gradually builds, we experience increasing signs of distress.

Daily stress from systemic trauma, capitalism, the collapse of democracy, the violence we witness, and the fears we face, pushes us further along this continuum so that sensory averse input becomes even more likely to cause fatigue, overload, meltdown, shutdown, and burnout.
✏️ I'm crowdfunding my current work in progress: The Nervous System Study Guide. This is a workbook covering holistic nervous system science from a neurodiversity paradigm lens with an aim towards collective healing, not just individual soothing. Details here: https://traumageek.thinkific.com/courses/nervous-system-study-guide

🧠 If you don't want to wait for me to finish writing the Nervous System Study Guide, you can get all the info now in video format. Topics include polyvagal basics and criticism, energetics of the ANS, the BioPscyhoSocial nervous system, Neurodivergent trauma, attachment trauma, systemic trauma, and pathways to healing. Details here: https://traumageek.thinkific.com/courses/holistic-nervous-system-science-study-group-recordings

28/01/2026

This will be awesome

Newcastle Piano Festival is returning 🎹

We’re really excited to be bringing back the first (and only) piano festival in Newcastle. Across the weekend, you’ll find headline concerts alongside free events, interactive family shows, and the chance to hear new voices, all designed to feel welcoming and easy to step into.

We can’t wait to open the doors and welcome people back. Layla’s Kitchen will be with us all weekend. There’ll be a bar each evening, and on Friday and Saturday, you can arrive early for free cocktail piano performances at our pre-concert drinks receptions.

This year, a significant part of the festival focuses on young people supporting young people, through our mentorship programme, I Love Piano schools outreach, and by championing brilliant young artists like Mia Odeleye.

We’re counting down the days and really looking forward to sharing it with you.

Semibreve cic Newcastle Piano Festival Steve Luck
Layla’s kitchen catering The Maestro Online Ltd

02/01/2026

Music is for everyone.