Archive for August 13th, 2011

Towards a Positive Future: Stories, ideas and inspiration from SEN children, their families and professionals

As the education system in the UK enters a period of change, and the political and educational factions argue about the future of provision, it’s all too easy to forget those for whom it is really intended – SEN children.

Whatever the procedure in the future, it should be based on best practice and sound principles and always be centred around the child concerned. Towards a Positive Future focuses on these practices and principles, not only from the point of view of the professionals involved but those of parents and children too, and it highlights how what has been learned from the past should underpin any future process.

Towards a Positive Future will be launched at Towards a Positive Future, a 2-day conference for parents and professionals. For full information about the event, follow the link to: www.towardsapositivefuture.wordpress.com

okeefe Towards a Positive Future: Stories, ideas and inspiration from SEN children, their families and professionals
 

Publication date October 2011

ISBN 9781907826122
Price: £12.99 paperback [+postage and packing]

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Special Educational Needs: A Guide for Inclusive Practice (2011)

40061 9780857021632 Special Educational Needs: A Guide for Inclusive Practice (2011)

With a Foreword from Baroness Mary Warnock, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the field of special educational needs (SEN). It contains chapters written by a range of experts on different aspects of SEN, and is full of practical suggestions for how to achieve effective, inclusive practice. Various research perspectives are considered, the value of labels is examined and the need to recognize the overlapping characteristics between different syndromes is highlighted. Chapters focus on translating theory into classroom practice, and include case studies covering the Birth to 19 age range.

There is coverage of:

- SEN and the state of research

- SEN and legal issues

- parents’ perspectives

- speech and language difficulties

- dyspraxia and occupational therapy

- dyslexia

- dyscalculia

- Auditory Processing Disorder

- Behavioural Optometry

- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

- Asperger Syndrome and Autistic Spectrum Disorder

- Tourette Syndrome

Ideal for those undertaking teacher education courses, as well as experienced teachers, therapists and policy makers, this book is a guide to understanding and supporting learners with additional needs.  Janet O’Keefe and janet Farrugia have contributed Chapter 6.

Paperback ISBN: 9780857021632 £23.99
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What is Wordswell?

WW reports strap 02a 300x156 What is Wordswell?

 

 
Wordswell is a group of speech and language therapists improving the communication skills of children and adults in the Eastern Region from King’s Lynn and Peterborugh to St Neots and Cambridge, Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket with an administrative base in Ely, Cambridgeshire. Therapists are available to work in a clinic base, schools or clients homes. Janet O’Keefe is available for assessment  and attendance in Court or SENDIST as an expert witness nationwide. We have special interests in hearing impairment, autistic spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia and language disorder and feminisation of transgender voice.
 
We have a new logo and a new website.  Do have a look and let us know what you think.
 
WW comm strap w 300x51 What is Wordswell?
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The Clarity Foundation is a multidisciplinary network of health, education and social care professionals who work with children with SEN.

 

 The Clarity Foundation is a multidisciplinary network of health, education and social care professionals who work with children with SEN.

Established 2011 by Janet O’Keefe and Robert Ashton

The benefits of being a member are:

  • A professional entry on an excellent website easily accessible to parents, other professionals and potential referrers
  • An office staff dedicated to helping you find clients and contracts to keep you busy providing therapy, teaching or other support services
  • Regular CPD, support and supervision opportunities
  • Back office facilities and services such as virtual secretarial services and telephone answering reception services

The benefits of contracting with a Clarity member professional or group of professionals to provide a service you need is:

  • A one stop shop to find people in your geographical location who have the skills you need rather than having to go to many different websites and organisations to find your team
  • All basic checks will have been done and references taken up so that the contract can be started immediately without delay
  • Services such as insurance and CPD can be provided to the member

The benefits to parents and children with SEN are:

  • A clear, easy to use website to find information relevant to your childs needs and professionals with the skills to provide the services your child needs including legal advice
  • Funding may be available to help with the cost of funding services directly or support and training from the Foundation to help your school or local community find a creative way to provide what your child needs
  • An organisation that listens to your needs and tries to find solutions to support you and your child reach their educational and life outcomes

Do come to the Towards a Positive Future Conference on 14-15 October 2011 and help shape what Clarity will be for its members and users.

The membership will attract recommendation by client review, evidence of CPD, and professional references which will enable those fund holders or clients to find easily those members or groups of members in their geographical locations to fulfill contracts and provide much needed services to children with SEN.

We will ensure that all members have jumped through the appropriate hoops of insurance, CRB and CPD training and be able to provide all appropriate back office support so that clinicians can concentrate on the provision of therapy, teaching or training being contracted.

Members will be able to buy into the level of support that they need to work as efficiently as possible. It is not a gatekeeper, professionals will still need to belong to their profession specific organisations and membership is voluntary. The details are not set in stone which is why we are inviting prospective members to be part of Clarity’s evolution. There will be an annual membership fee. In order to join people will need to prove they are who they say they are and be checked out. The membership fee will cover an excellent website, and an office staff who are dedicated to providing services to and for the members, encouraging and supporting networking, sharing skills and knowledge and promoting members to the public and fund holders/potential referrers. It will also provide a range of services which members may find helpful to them in running and developing their business.

It will be a social enterprise and any profit made on selling these services to members will go into a fund to pay for services or support projects for those individuals or groups who may not be able to get funding elsewhere. If members need a CRB we could be an organisation to apply for one, if members need insurance then we could provide it and if support or supervision is required then this could be facilitated. It needs to be flexible because each professional group will have different needs. We will encourage everyone who wants to to join. The only differentiation will be that website profiles can be enhanced by online recommendations and reviews and references along the lines of social networking sites but we would do our best to ensure that all reviews are genuine as many are posted falsely which is not helpful.

Potential referrers will continue to seek tenders from a range of providers but our network will actively seek potential contracts on behalf of members and help with the paperwork so that our members are represented in as many tenders as possible. There are many, many other ideas and support services which the network could provide to members at a cost accessible by sole traders, charities, support groups and small businesses. It will grow and evolve as the membership grows.

It will be UK wide for the network and membership. There will be an advertising and marketing strategy through local and national networking, direct contact with prospective referrers, talks, local and national media and website optimisation. Members will only stay members quite rightly if the organisation provides real measurable benefits to them as individuals, their business, their clients and the wider community. It aims to be both creative and innovative in finding ways that services can be provided and paid for in the current economic climate. All ideas to improve from the membership or other stakeholders will be listened to.

Make sure you book your place at the conference today. We look forward to working with you on this exciting future journey…

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The Clarity Foundation

CF logoRGB5 300x119 The Clarity FoundationI have established the Foundation to bring professionals together across health, education and social care. It will get people from different backgrounds and perspectives understanding each other better and working better together. It will help us to support each other and work in true partnership with parents to provide the support and services they and their children need to achieve better educational and life outcomes.

We have the care of a child who ticks all the boxes. He has health, education and social care needs. We are supported by both statutory services and independent professionals yet even with our knowledge and contacts it is still not easy to achieve an integrated and coordinated package of teaching, care and support to make a real difference to his life.

The Clarity Foundation will aim to make the systems we all come across clearer to understand and easier to work with to achieve what we all want – independent and successful adults who are not found in a hospital, prison or cemetery because society has failed them. It is an inclusive network. All are welcome to join or work with us to achieve these aims. The detail will develop as the Foundation grows and responds to need.

I can’t do this on my own.

We all need to work together to make this successful.

If you’re interested in getting involved, make sure you book your place at our conference.

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Conference Overview

We have a great line up of presenters and speakers at this years ‘Towards a Positive Future’ conference in October 2011 and we hope that you as parents and professionals living and working with special needs children will sign up quickly for a place so as not to miss out on this opportunity to learn:

  • what the health, education and social care reforms will mean for your children with SEN;
  • how Academies can find ways to meet the needs of students with complex needs;
  • what social enterprise is and how it can benefit children with SEN and those professionals working with them;
  • what Big Society really means for SEN children and their families – the threats, opportunities and challenges;
  • the legal implications for children with SEN including current and future funding arrangements;
  • how you find people to advocate, represent or support you in getting an assessment;
  • how you can access independent experts;
  • what the difference is between professional and expert opinion;
  • how you use that information to get your child the support services they need in school;
  • what Tribunals are like;
  • how to prepare for a Tribunal hearing.
  • transition to University for students with SEN

There are only 252 delegate places available each day and there are only 140 places available at the conference dinner to launch the book of the same name on the Friday evening.

In addition to the auditorium presentations you can attend 2 seminars from a choice of 12 about the specific needs of the children you live and work with.  These seminars will be lead by university lecturers and researchers, teachers, psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, young people with SEN and parents.  We are delighted to have the support of Mary Hare, Shapwick School, Dyslexia Action and the Child Brain Injury Trust and are sponsored by Field Fisher Waterhouse Solicitors Anthony Collins Solicitors and SEN Magazine amongst others.

The topics covered will range from Applied Behavioural Analysis, social skills programmes (Talkabout and SCAEP), what is working and what isn’t in the area of undiagnosed problems of students with emotional, behavioural and social problems in mainstream schools, Facial Oral Tract Therapy, how victims of injury ensure that funds are in place to enable their rehabilitation, what it takes to get better children’s social work services and how we can work together and network better and negotiate better to ensure children with SEN grow into independent and successful adults … towards a positive future.

You need to come to this conference if you live or work with children with:

  • Autistic Spectrum Disorder including Asperger Syndrome
  • Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD) including ADHD
  • Specific Learning Disability (Dyslexia)
  • Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) including hearing impairment/deafness
  • Moderate or Severe Learning Disability/Complex Needs including physical disability and head injury

‘Towards a Positive Future’ is a two day conference which will focus on providing encouragement, information and hope for parents of, and professionals working with, SEN children.  Attendance at the conference will encourage parents to take control, to share, inspire each other and make sure SEN children get the support they need and launch a new professional network that will empower, enthuse and enable practitioners to be heard and shape the future.

‘Towards a Positive Future’ takes place on 14 – 15 October 2011 at Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury.  Our early bird rate ends on 31st August 2011 – don’t miss out – BOOK YOUR PLACE NOW!

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Why I’m organising this conference and why I think it’s important to you as a parent or professional

 Why I’m organising this conference and why I think it’s important to you as a parent or professional

After 12 years working in the NHS as a Speech and Language Therapist, I started Wordswell, an independent speech and language therapy clinic, in 1997 and have met many inspirational families and children. Every one of whom has taught me about individual differences, how children learn, and how to communicate better.

Inspiration for my book and this conference have come from my work as an Expert Speech and Language Therapy Witness but also the carer of a child with a life-threatening medical condition and special educational needs.

Governments monitor the outcomes of the processes but not the emotional impact, or the stress, or even the educational outcome. This conference will focus on what we know works and how this can continue to work whatever the future political or legal system we find ourselves under in the coming months and years.

The Big Society is a mind shift for many of us but by working together and networking we can continue to make a positive difference to all those we come into contact with on a daily basis.

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