C Baird Consultancy

We’re definitely going to be tuning in to this tomorrow night. We need much more understanding about SEND provision in schools and how it’s utterly failing to meet the needs of so many children.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DPQ3kceDAmc/?igsh=c2hra2JsNGw0a2Jj

Finally….. @bbcpanorama Monday Night. BBC 1. 8pm. For all the SEND families out there who are still fighting to get the right support for their child. This one is from my heart to yours. #send #sendcrisis

Cost-cutting measures like this only serve to exacerbate the challenges that people who need a diagnosis to receive support face. In the long run, that same lack of support is highly likely to result in increased strain on health services and overall HSCP resources.

Content warning: mention of suic1de

Yesterday we read the heartbreaking news about hscpaberdeenshire sharing their plans to close the Autism and ADHD assessment pathways.

Like many of you we are absolutely devastated to hear this. Both of us have worked incredibly closely with Aberdeenshire HSCP – Marion on the creation of the Autism pathway, and Flick on the Aberdeenshire Autism strategy of which the pathway was a key component. The loss of this vital service – being blamed on lack of Scottish Government funding – is a false economy and in their own risk assessment the Aberdeenshire HSCP acknowledge that it may cost them additional monies and cause strain on other services. The HSCP also acknowledge that these services are not fit for supporting Autistic people and ADHDers needs.

We are dismayed that the Integrated Impact Assessment does not fully reflect the full destructive impact this will have on our community. We strongly feel that they underestimate the negative effects this will have on the lives of Autistic children as well as adults.

The report acknowledges the high rates of suic1de and suic1dal ideation within the Autistic community (words slightly altered to avoid limited reach), and our below average life span. It acknowledges that access to an assessment has a preventative effect for many, yet despite this they are still recommending the pathway closes in order to save money.

Their suggestion that Autistic people feeling suic1dal can access 3rd sector support – which is also woefully under funded to the point of being practically non existent in the area – is shockingly ill-informed.

Accessing private assessments is set out as an alternative in the report, but the funding required is massively prohibitive, especially for a group who they also acknowledge are under employed.

A lack of access to a diagnostic pathway will negatively impact access to ADP, employment support, increase drop out rates of tertiary education, and in many cases, our life expectancy.

We strongly urge the Aberdeenshire HSPC to reconsider this action. We also urge anyone living in the Aberdeenshire area to contact their local councillors to raise their concerns over this decision. We have long been able to be proud of the model as an example of good practice in letting Autistic people self refer. While much work needed to be done to reduce waiting times, getting rid of the service entirely is not the way forward in supporting our vulnerable community.

Flick and I created a petition, l1nk in comments. We will also do our best to engage with the Aberdeenshire HSPC to encourage them to reverse this decision, and provide the kind of support our community needs to thrive.



Maggie Chapman pressandjournal Audrey Nicoll MSP Evening Express Station House Media Unit northsound1 Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership healthandcare.scot BBC Scotland STV News Karen Adam MSP Maree Todd MSP

Really good article on the link between hormone levels and ADHD.

www.linkedin.com

It’s a long read, but it’s well worth it. Non attendance at school is not always because a child does not WANT to go. Sometimes it’s because they CAN’T go.

‘Children are holding a mirror up to us’: why are Britain’s kids refusing to go to school? For many, lockdown was a relief. Some never went back at all. As a new academic year begins for most of the UK, more children than ever are worried about returning. What’s being done to get them into the classroom – and is that always the best idea?

Our famous app wheel has been updated! We hope you like it and find it useful when it comes to narrowing down the choice of thousands of literacy support apps out there. Download the new version here www.callscotland.org.uk/downloads/posters-and-leaflets/ipad-apps-for-learners-with-dyslexia/ Let us know if there are any other apps you think should be on the wheel- thanks!

This advert really struck home with us with things we experience on a regular basis. All the things that don’t get noticed because they happen behind the scenes, and then the resulting outward responses that can so easily be misinterpreted.

Well done Vanish.

https://youtu.be/DLuqZn_FMSg

Vanish: Me, My Autism & I Credits: https://bit.ly/3m1h6l1Our Creative Partner: https://bit.ly/doodooc_creativepartnerJoin Us: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adsofbrandsTwitter: ht...

We’ve been looking into this new reading method and it looks pretty useful. Although the app apparently has a few glitches with pdf’s, it seems like a step up from the more typical Dyslexic friendly fonts.

BR for You. Bionic Reading® App for iOS, Android & Web. Only the Gold award-winning App is good enough. For you. Get Bionic Reading®. Even better. Even more features. But always unique. Like you.

Over the past two years, breathwork has become an increasingly important part of not just my own routines, but also of the strategies which I discuss with our clients. Breathing is something we take for granted - we don't think about it, we just do it. However, it can give us the ability to influence our physical reactions to stressful situations, to improve our mental well-being, and also - conveniently - to keep us alive!

This online event looks to be an amazing opportunity to find out more about how we can improve our own health and well-being by taking control of something we do over 10,000 times a day!

AirHeads Online – A live, interactive crash course in breathwork! FULL DAY Join in a day of fun breathing practices & fast learning! (Feat special guest Gus Hoyt!) AirHeads – The Smartest Way to Learn Breathwork

Sometimes the last thing you want to happen, is to stand out. However, that’s exactly what our education system forces neurodivergent children to do - whether they want it or not. It’s no surprise that so many of our clients talk about their school years as being something traumatic. Something they would never describe as being “the best years of your life”. We need a complete rethink of the system rather than trying to just make adjustments on an individual basis, and then making the individual feel that they’re failing.

When an unusual child meets an inflexible school system, things can go wrong. Then, it's common to locate the problems in the child rather than in the environment. Here's what families tell me about that..

Children who don't fit the mould are told that they need to try harder, make less fuss, be less different. The way that everyone else fits in is held up as what to aspire to - no matter if the child thinks otherwise special arrangements are sometimes made. They come out of class for extra reading, or they stay seated in the hallway when everyone else in class. They might have a special card they can raise in class if they're overwhelmed. They come in late, or leave early

Adults think of these things as support but for children it feels quite different. They feel 'other', and not in a good way. Everyone else does it one way, and they are the stand out, the exception. The other kids notice and they're often not kind, children tell me that they think it's their fault. They don't know why they can't be like everyone else, they just can't. They tell me that they are stupid, or even bad. They tell me they hate being marked out, even when they need it. This often includes their diagnoses.

Sometimes they grow to hate the words which are used to define them, blaming the words for the way that they feel. Sometimes the words are used to bully them - many adults have told me that the word 'special' sends a shiver down their spine.

Their parents are often reframing differences in a positive way. They may have their own diagnoses which they have found life-affirming and liberating.For them, it enables them to find their people and be themselves.They tell their children it's fine to be who they are but for the children, it all seems like hot air. It's not liberating when you find school so anxiety-provoking that you can't go. It's not life-affirming when no one will play with you. Why should you be positive about difference when you'd like to be just one of the gang?

I've worked with dyslexic adults who cry when they tell me of the shame they felt aged seven, when everyone else could read. I've worked with autistic adults who are still upset when they remember being the last one standing, unchosen for P.E because they had no friends.

I remember myself, different at secondary school in so many ways. I didn't want to (and couldn't) be like everyone else, but I was bullied and ostracised for who I was. Adults tried to tell me I was fine as I was, but it was obvious the other teenagers didn't think so.

It's important for parents to be positive about difference, but it's not enough. We can't expect our children to appreciate themselves when their way of being means that they are ostracised. We can't tell them it's okay to learn at their own pace when it so clearly isn't.

We're up against a system which isn't flexible enough. We're up against a set of standards which tell our children that they are failing. We're up against a system which prioritises conformity and compliance, with kids who can't or don't want to conform.

We need a system which starts with an assumption of difference and variation.Where the aim is for each child to end their education knowing that they are ok, just as they are. No matter if they struggle to attend full-time, or if they learn to read when they are 6, 8 or 12.

For that is what our children carry through life with them. They won't remember their GCSE history syllabus in 20 years, but they'll remember how it felt to be laughed at, to be excluded, to be told not to be so silly when they explain how the playground makes them scared.

What would it look like, a system where the priority was for each young person to end school feeling good about themselves, no matter what their differences? It's hard to imagine because it's so far from what we have now. But for me, that is what inclusivity really means.

Word by Dr Naomi Fisher
Illustration by Eliza Fricker (Missing The Mark)