resources.
Navigating a sea of resources can be exhausting, we hope to give you a few of the key things that have helped us......
Page under construction.....
HEALTH:
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EYES: NYSTAGMUS (common in FASD)
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DENTISTRY; Some good references here to how to support fasd need
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SENSORY INTEGRATION; a great presentation from Family Futures
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SMEARING; a common problem for children with sensory needs and those who have experienced developmental trauma
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TOILETING & SENSORY NEEDS Some great support here from The Childrens Bowel & Bladder Charity ERIC
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SLEEP Some great resources and ideas for supporting sleep
TEACHING & LEARNING:
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PRIMARY FRAMEWORK TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT FASD
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SECONDARY FRAMEWORK: TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT FASD
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Some great FASD SCHOOL support here from New Zealand, they lead the way on FASD; why re-invent the wheel, lets learn from them!
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FASD STRATEGIES as recommended by Dr Cassie Jackson ASW conference 2021
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EXECUTIVE & COGNITIVE some excellent detailed teaching techniques for scaffolding teaching & learning (excellent for an EHCP)
SCHOOL:
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Disabled Children and the Equality Act 2010: What teachers need to know and what schools need to do
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Exclusion, Temporary or Alternative Education ; your legal rights
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Transport; your legal rights
Pupil Premium Plus:
https://www.adoptionuk.org/blog/pupil-premium-plus-the-lowdown
This guidance from PAC below is very helpful but is slightly out of date as the monetary value has gone up to £2,345 per child per school or via EOTAS: https://www.pac-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/PAC-UK-Education-Service-Pupil-Premium-Plus-Flyer.pdf
EPPLAC meetings & paperwork: This is a document that is used to identify key strengths and areas to support for your child in school. 'Education Plan for Previously Looked After Children' (we are currently challenging the title of the form!)
Education Plans for Previously Looked After Children are a continuation of the good practice seen within the regular (PEP) Personal Education Plan reviews for 'Looked After Children'.
The purposes of these meetings are to:
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Encourage positive collaboration and communication between home and education provision
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Raise awareness of the needs and issues faced by children and their parents
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Review the support, interventions and progress of the child
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Identify unmet needs of the child
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Discuss PP+ allocation, in relation to the child’s needs and the benefit of the school’s cohort of Previously Looked After Children.
So what all this means to us is this document can be a vital tool to support and EHCP and can inform the School about your childs needs through regular meetings which should be held through a SEND review. If your School don't do this with you currently they need to so contact the School SENCO to arrange.
EHCP & SEN:
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EHCP Getting Started! Really useful guide to help you prepare everything you need to consider
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EHCP Good Practice with examples of what to write
Support & Template Letters:
https://sossen.org.uk/information_sheets.php
Useful facebook support groups: EHCP Experiences & SEND support, Dorset LA EHCP, SEND& EOTAS Support group, Somerset EHCP Support, EHCP Experiences Devon, EHCP Experiences Hampshire, Bristol & surrounding areas EHCP support
Supporting documents:
I have added this education support link again here as it is a very powerful document that should be included in any EHCP application as well as any review as Maria Catterick summarises beautifully everything a school needs to know in a nutshell
The law and SEND:
NODDY ‘no-nonsense’ Guide to SEN law February 2022
(important document if you are appealing decisions)
Disabled children legal handbook (free downloadable book)
HOME EDUCATING:
Flexi Learning: http://www.home-education.org.uk/articles/article-flexi-schooling.pdf
Very helpful SEND legal advice here: https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/send-law-now-why-mustnt-confuse-eotas-home-education/
Important guidance if due to physical or mental health needs your child needs to attend education part time: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/941900/health_needs_guidance_accessible.pdf
Education Other Than School (EOTAS):
De-registering your child from School:
Latest government statement re EHE (Elected Home Education)
Government guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/elective-home-education
Join here our friendly facebook Home Educating Friends group, lots of ideas and friendship
VIRTUAL SCHOOL HEAD: On the 1st September 2018, virtual school head teachers became responsible for promoting
the educational achievement of previously looked-after children living within their local area. Statutory guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) requires virtual school heads to provide information and advice to adoptive parents, special guardians and carers and also to
providers of funded early years education and designated teachers. Virtual school heads must also ensure that their local authority fulfils their duty to provide suitable advice and information for the purpose of promoting the educational achievement of previously looked-
after children. If you don't know who your Virtual Head is Google Virtual Head in your area, they should have a website with details of what is happening in your area.
Statutory rights of children looked after & post looked after: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683556/Promoting_the_education_of_looked-after_children_and_previously_looked-after_children.pdf
DESIGNATED TEACHERS: Every School is required by law to have a Designated Teacher who represents children in care and those who have left it. It is their role to liase with the Virtual School, SENCO and other school staff. Please ask your school who your designated teacher is as they should participate in every meeting you have at School and support your family. They will take part in specialist training that is available through the Virtual School. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/designated-teacher-for-looked-after-children.
FUNDING FOR EQUIPMENT:
BENEFITS:
TIPS ON HOW TO SUPPORT CHILDREN & TEENS:
Nate Sheets YouTube videos were my lifeline when I started finding out what really works for children with FASD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSsCXnsYKRI I particularly like his 'tips for educators' where I have found that without school 'getting' the needs of our children a lot of the difficulties we see at home stem from School. If a child is struggling in school then he/she is likely to blow at home, mine did exactly this.... masked all day and then literally as soon as they came out were bouncing all over the place. Until we put in lots and I do mean lots!... of sensory breaks in School and the School learnt to pace their language we then saw a noticeable difference. Also we did a lot around keeping our children safe in school as they are impulsive and very easily influenced by others..... this needs to written into risk assessments.
RISK ASSESSMENTS: To make sure your School has considered risk ask for their risk assessment of your child or young person. The actions from this should inform SEND reviews or/and EHCP reviews. So for example it is risk assessed that additional staff need to support your child or young person on a school trip this should be included in the risk assessment and the EHCP as additional funding will be required from school budgets. Examples of risk assessments can be found here
EQUALITY
NATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR FASD (NOFAS) RESOURCES
THE SYSTEM FAILS a very powerful video by Sarah Naish focussing on the role of the social worker; signposting to useful tools to assist professionals in assessment of need
JUSTICE SYSTEM:
Nobody made the connection; powerful research discussing why early intervention is everything, should be included in every EHCP application!
SEEKING DIAGNOSIS:
Ask your GP to make a referral to Paediatrics, the GP commissions this team so they will be able to do this as routine. If we know of
a Paediatrician with FASD experience in your area we will tell you so please do ask , use the contacts page to do this.
In waiting for the paediatrician appointment start pulling together a short summary of what you know about birth history,
signs and symptoms you have seen as a baby/toddler, and what you see emerging now. Find below example of what this
summary might look like, please feel free to adapt this to suit your needs to help you get started, it is not a prescriptive list so
please have a look at other FASD traits and co-morbid conditions to think about what you see in your child and add to the
summary: DOCUMENT HERE
Take this with you, along with photographs you might capture of things that you see as possible FASD (you may not see any and
thats OK as remember FASD is a huge spectrum)... On the day your child might not wish to be examined so is useful to have
photos with you to describe what you see...... e.g flattened upper lip (photograph a not smiling/straight faced), the ear (looking to
see if they have FASD 'train track' ears), feet (gaps in big toes to the next toe can be Sandal Toe or Hallux Valgus or cross over toes )
or cross over toes called Clinodactyly), spoon shaped toe nails (hyperplastic nails), poor nail growth, ridging, flaking loss of
nails (dysplasia), palm of hands (lines across palms.... called simian crease or palmer crease).
Important: Bring someone with you to your child's first Paediatric appointment where when called leave your child with that
person, tell the paediatrician you want to talk to then alone. NEVER let the Paediatrician talk about your child in front of them
due to risk of secondary trauma. Go in alone at first to chat to the Paediatrician about what you see and know about your child.
Give them the summary document to read. You might have an OT report that you could give them too. I took a copy of the
summary so I could talk through each thing I saw without them dismissing things. After calling in your child and the
Paediatrician examining them, take them back out into the waiting room for you to continue talking to the Paediatrician with the
child in the room (paediatricians will not be used to parents doing this as it is a new agreed way of working to avoid secondary
trauma or triggering the child).
Some more good advice from NOFAS of how to seek a diagnosis found here