Welcome
Welcome to the July edition of the SEND Newsletter. In this you will find an update from Preparing for Adulthood, Pubic Health Nursing and the additional work School Nurses have done during Covid - 19. In addition there are links to a vast range of free resources created by Child and Family Health Devon and Babcock including visual resources to help children and young people understand Covid - 19 and a guide on transitioning from home to school environment, along with many more fantastic resources.
From the Covid - 19 pandemic Barnardos have continued to offer the Cygnet Programme online through licenced trainers. This programme is for parents / carers of children aged between 7 and 18 years. Following this families of children and young people who are currently on the Autism assessment pathway and who have an Autism diagnoses now have access to the programme.
Please click here for more information and how to access the programme, in addition to accept the programme please email Learner Support.
With the return of school soon approaching, Babcock have created a guide on supporting children and young people with Autism on transitioning from home - learning back into school.
In addition, Babcock have provided professionals and families with weekly resources focusing on a different topic each week encompassing Autism and Communication and Interaction.
Children and Family Health Devon have created a number of resources to develop the understanding of Autism and support children and young people. These resources include a range of videos on specific topics such as recognising ASD, Anxiety in Autism and one minute guides on anxiety, behaviour, communication and much more.
They have also created a number of resources to help families while they wait to see a Speech & Language Therapist and for use with children already seeing a Speech & Language Therapist.
Children and Family Health Devon have prompted a number of visual resources to help children and young people understand Covid - 19.
Champions for Change is a network of young people who want to champion the voice of young people with special educational needs and disabilities. They are busy changing the way they work which they hope to share over the coming weeks. Follow Devon SEND Local Offer on Facebook for the latest news. Find out more about Champions for Change on their website.
As many of you will be aware there has been an increasing international focus on the link between speech, language and communication needs and social, emotional, mental health. Follow this link to find out more information on what the research has shown. |
Public Health Nursing
During Covid - 19 the School Nursing and Health Visiting Service have continued to operate. From this they have created a fact sheet explaining the changes that have been made in order to keep families safe while ensuring services continued, along with a range of contact details. In addition School Nurses have produced an update on the support on offer for primary school children and secondary school children and young people.
Preparing for Adulthood's latest edition informed you of the changes to the role of the Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) team during Covid - 19. This informed you that the team took on the management and completion of young people's transition where the young person was aged 17.5 - 18 years old. This was to support Devon's Adult Social Care teams in their response to the Covid - 19 pandemic. Please click here for the full update.
Adult Social Care Community Teams are now able to take over the management of transitions to Adult Social Care (once the young person has turned 17 years old). This means that the Preparing for Adulthood Team is returning to early preparation work, and earlier engage with young people and their families. Where the PfA team have started working with a young person and their family on the transition to adult services we will continue to support them until after their 18th birthday.
We will continue to keep you updated through the SEND Newsletter of any further changes.
Action for Children is offering free online parenting support for families with children aged 0 - 19. You can ask them for help on all sorts of things from how to keep your child entertained at home, how to handle difficult behaviour and how to manage stress and anxiety at this challenging time.
Head to parents.actionforchildren.org.uk to read their advise and useful resources or to talk to a parent coach via the confidential 1 - 1 live chat.
Tiny Happy Little People was due to be released and promoted just before Covid-19. Whilst the big launch by the BBC may have, understandably, been delayed the materials are in fact live and proving to be a great help to families and professionals alike.
The resources are fantastic- there are videos, activity suggestions (from antenatal - 5yrs), tips, recipes and loads of really helpful advice for both professionals and families. All of the resources are evidence based and supported by a range of professionals. |
