AuSends Consultancy

07/03/2026

06/03/2026

The Government has launched a consultation into updated statutory guidance for children in school with medical conditions (and no, there's no Easy Read). We've added details to our SEND Politics page, plus all the links for the White Paper consultation: https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/send-politics/

06/03/2026

Are you a girl aged 11–19 with ADHD? We’d love to hear from you! ✨

Alice Morgan-Clare, a researcher at the University of Southampton, is carrying out a research study about how girls with ADHD experience school — and your voice really matters.

You can take part if you:
💛 Are aged 11–19
💛 Identify as a girl
💛 Have ADHD (diagnosed, self-diagnosed, or waiting for assessment)

Alice works in education and she's also an ADHDer herself, so she knows that school can feel different when you have ADHD. She wants to hear about your real experiences; what’s worked well, what’s been hard, what’s helped, and what you think schools could do better.

💬 Taking part involves a relaxed, friendly chat (online or in person, depending on location). There are no right or wrong answers, this is about your experience.

If this sounds like something you’d like to be part of (and if you’re under 16, with your parent/carer’s permission), Alice would love to hear from you! If you are over 16, You can contact her directly. If you are under 16 you can ask your parents or carers to contact her via email at: A.Morgan-Clare@soton.ac.uk

Your voice could help make school better for other girls with ADHD 💛

06/03/2026

So very true.
I’ve had clients say LA and education won’t accept their private reports.

I agree exactly as you’ve said above that there’s no legal reason to refuse any reports prepared by a qualified, registered professional; they’re not going to risk their job/reputation to write based on what a parent wants.

Something that genuinely makes me sad in this profession is when independent speech and language therapy reports are dismissed or discredited simply because they are not written by an NHS therapist.

I have been a speech and language therapist for 40 years. I am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), just like every other SLT in the UK. That means I am bound by the same professional standards, the same ethical duties, and the same responsibility to base my opinions on evidence, assessment and professional expertise.

When I write a report, I don’t write what anyone wants me to say. I write what the evidence shows.

Every opinion I include must be something I can justify through assessment results, clinical observation, research evidence, and decades of training and experience. If I couldn’t stand up in court or tribunal and explain exactly why I wrote something, I simply wouldn’t write it.

So when parents tell me that someone has suggested my report should be ignored because I am “independent”, it is honestly upsetting. Not because it questions me, but because it distracts from the only thing that should matter: the child.

There is no such thing as a “better” speech and language therapist because they work for the NHS. NHS therapists, independent therapists, school therapists and charity therapists are all trained to the same professional level and regulated by the same body.

The real question should never be “Where does the therapist work?” The question should always be “Is the evidence sound and does this child need support?”

I am not interested in professional politics. I am not interested in winning arguments. And I am certainly not interested in writing reports to please anyone.

I am only interested in one thing: making sure children with communication needs are properly understood and properly supported.

Because when adults argue about who is “allowed” to say what, the child in the middle is the one who loses.

When adults focus on protecting systems instead of listening to children, the system has forgotten why it exists.

03/03/2026

Anyone else seen this ? Honestly 🤦🏻‍♀️😬

When Bridget Phillipson says her SEND reforms will take children from “sidelined and excluded to seen, heard and included,” I want to believe her.

Every parent does, of course!
But words are not provision. Promises are not funding. And slogans are not safety.

Right now, schools are already stretched beyond capacity. Teaching assistants are cut. Specialist placements are full. CAMHS waiting lists are months more often years long.
Local authorities are operating in deficit.

You cannot reform SEND on hope alone.

Inclusion is not a press release, Inclusion costs money. It requires smaller class sizes, properly trained staff, therapeutic support, sensory-informed environments, flexibility around attendance, and behaviour policies rooted in understanding rather than punishment.

Because here’s the reality many of us are living.
The culture in too many schools is still driven by attendance targets and behaviour charts.
Rigid systems.
Zero tolerance.
“Persistent absence” letters.

That mindset does not magically become inclusive because a policy document says it will.

And what about the children already pushed out of the system?

There was no meaningful mention of EOTAS children — those educated otherwise than at school because school itself became unsafe or inaccessible.
How will they be supported? How will their provision be protected?

There was no real acknowledgement of children with EBSA. They are not suddenly going to attend because a “hub” has been placed inside the same environment that overwhelmed them in the first place.

For so many families, the barrier isn’t laziness.
It isn’t defiance.
It isn’t parenting.
The barrier is the school environment itself.

The noise.
The unpredictability.
The pressure.
The sanctions.
The inflexibility.

You cannot build a small safe room inside a building that is fundamentally unsafe for that child and call it solved.
If the system doesn’t change, the outcome won’t either.

These reforms speak about inclusion but what about the children already fallen through the cracks?
The ones out of school, The ones medically unwell from burnout. The ones waiting for provision that doesn’t exist.

They are not mentioned.
They are not centred.
They are not reassured.

Parents don’t need better messaging.
We need meaningful change.

We need ringfenced funding.
Mandatory SEND training.
Legal protections that remain strong.
Real flexibility around attendance.
Accountability when schools cause harm.
And genuine pathways for EOTAS and EBSA children, not just pressure to return to environments that broke them.

Until funding matches the promise, and culture shifts from compliance to compassion, many of us will remain sceptical.
Because our children cannot afford another experiment.

Michaela
Article on Netmums 👇🏼

03/03/2026

We have been asked an important question this year.

Should occupational therapists and physiotherapists be using the Evaluation in Ayres Sensory Integration to assess dyspraxia and Developmental Coordination Disorder in UK and Irish health services?

At ISIC Porto, we shared our emerging analysis.

Developmental Coordination Disorder, often called dyspraxia in the UK and Ireland, is usually identified through motor performance tests. These are helpful. They show us what a child can or cannot do.

But they do not always explain why.

The EASI allows us to look beneath performance and into sensory integration and processing. It helps us understand vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile contributions to posture, balance, praxis and motor learning. It gives us data about sensory motor foundations, not just motor outcomes.

For therapists working in NHS, HSE and community settings, this matters.

It supports:
• clearer hypothesis formation
• more precise intervention planning
• better alignment with participation goals
• improved conversations with families
• a more neuroaffirming, strengths based narrative

We also examined feasibility and cost comparisons across commonly used tools. When looked at over a three year period, the EASI compares favourably, particularly when considering the breadth of information it provides.

This is not about replacing everything else.

It is about strengthening clinical reasoning.

It is about making visible the sensory motor differences that underpin praxis challenges.

It is about ensuring that when we talk about dyspraxia, we are not only describing difficulty, but understanding the systems that support doing.

We would love to hear from colleagues across occupational therapy and physiotherapy:

How are you currently assessing DCD?
What questions remain unanswered in your clinical pathways?
Where could deeper sensory motor data strengthen formulation? A copy of the poster can be found: https://sensoryproject.org/porto2025_dcd/

If you would like a large printable version copy of the poster or to discuss implementation within your service, please get in touch.

03/03/2026

The whole thing is a joke!

It’s not child led or in child’s best interests at all.
Adding inclusion bases to mainstream is not addressing the main reason for those struggling in mainstream- environment and class sizes.

Stripping law around EHCPs isn’t what’s needed. The system works WHEN LAs are held accountable for not following the law, nor writing SMART plans.

The tribunals are more successful for parents (98%) because LA don’t apply the law, they use their own policies as law.
Tribunal powers don’t need stripping, they need extending to give them more powers to enforce LA to do their job.

They don’t address the gaping blanks- where exactly are they intending to find all of these educational psychologists and SLT to be available for schools, as a national shortage of EPS as it is.

Teaching staff are already going above and beyond to help support kids and the white paper now wants them to add additional paperwork by writing SSP’s. It’s implied that these will have some legal stance but School staff are not legal professionals and therefore unable to write anything that is legally enforceable.

The whole thing is vague with more emphasis on stripping child and parents legal rights than actually listening to them.
Using kids as Guinea pigs with an untested strategies.

Their “SEND Conversations” were a joke!
They were purely conversations by two people in a panel, parents questions were ignored. Parents couldn’t input, and then to add insult the DoE did a online talk again after releasing the paper where there were no captions available, the speakers were so far back at the end of a room it was impossible to lipread. it was completely inaccessible to anyone that requires captions or lip reads or signs.

This is not inclusion or listening.

I’m glad my kids are no longer of compulsory school age this year!

Daily Digest - 1

"We’re re-shaping the SEND system to make all mainstream early years settings, schools and colleges truly inclusive. We’re investing billions of pounds to adapt classrooms and corridors, train teachers, educators and assistants, and bring experts like speech and language therapists into settings."

This is a proposal in the DFE's "What parents of children and young people with SEND need to know" supporting document for the "Every child achieving and thriving" SEND consultation website.

You are welcome to list your thoughts, concerns or questions in the comments. PPCV would like to collate them.

This isn't the only way to respond to the SEND consultation. If you have any other recommendations, we would love to hear about them in the comments.

03/03/2026

This is why accessibility and inclusion should be a priority. Doing bare minimum is not inclusion.

When “Easy Read” isn’t easy: Why the SEND consultation risks excluding disabled children and young people—and why this matters

01/03/2026

On paper, exit passes seem supportive for autistic young people...
A clear rule. A bit of autonomy. A way out when things feel too much.

But in real classrooms?
They rarely work the way adults hope they will.

Here’s why 👇

🔦The spotlight effect🔦
Most Autists hate to stand out generally, but using an exit pass puts all the focus on them at the exact moment they’re least able to cope with it.
Standing up. Walking out. Being watched 👀

“Everyone’s looking at me”
is far more distressing than staying in a space that’s already overwhelming.

👥Fear of judgement from classmates👥
Even when peers aren’t being unkind, the perceived judgement is real.

“Why are they leaving again?”

“They’re getting special treatment.”

“They’re weird.”

That internal narrative can be enough to stop a young person using the pass at all.
Avoiding attention becomes the priority, rather than self-regulation.

😕💬You still have to ask (and explain)😕💬
Most exit passes still require verbal initiation or explanation.
When a young person is anxious, or overloaded, speaking up can feel impossible.

So instead of leaving early…
they sit, freeze, shut down 🫥

Not all teachers are aware.
This is a huge one.

Supply staff. Cover lessons. New teachers.
Not everyone knows the agreement, and the young person knows this. Secondary schools can be particularly challenging.

That uncertainty leads to:

fear of being challenged😣

fear of being told no🫷

fear of having to justify themselves in front of others😢

So they don’t use the pass… just in case.

🧑‍💼The risk of being questioned or challenged👨‍🏭

“How many times have you used it today?”
“Can you wait five minutes?”
“Is it really necessary right now?”

Even one experience of being challenged can be enough to make a young person stop using it altogether.

When support feels conditional, it stops feeling safe.

❌It doesn’t address the cause ❌
Noise.
Lighting.
Crowded seating.
Social pressure.
Unpredictability.

An exit pass doesn’t reduce any of these.
It just offers an escape after the nervous system is already overloaded 😢

💡What works better than exit passes alone?💡

Pre-agreed movement breaks that don’t require asking

Adults proactively noticing early signs and prompting DISCREETLY

Quieter working spaces, on the edge of the room, near to the door

Consistent staff awareness (not just one teacher)

If a strategy only works when a young person is calm, confident, articulate and willing to be noticed… it’s not really accessible.

Regulation support should reduce pressure, not add another layer of fear, judgement, or uncertainty 🙏

Patsy x💜💙

P.S. Before anyone says, "They need to learn to speak up and advocate for themselves" in an ideal world yes, but we don't live in your ideal world!

01/03/2026

We’ve launched a short survey on the Government’s SEND consultation and White Paper — and we really want to hear from parents/carers and professionals: https://ow.ly/spoP50YmTzF

Your answers will help us shape our formal consultation response, which will tell the government what needs to change in their plans to fully meet the educational needs of children with a PDA profile.

It should take around 20–30 minutes, and you can skip any questions you don’t want to answer.

The survey closes on 16th March.