{"id":8290,"date":"2023-08-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/?p=8290"},"modified":"2024-02-22T09:26:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T09:26:28","slug":"back-to-school-disabled-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.familyfund.org.uk\/news\/back-to-school-disabled-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to school when raising disabled children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout the UK, families are getting ready for starting nursery or primary school, moving to a special educational needs school, home-educating or making the transition from school to college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ‘back to school’ season can be challenging for families raising a disabled or seriously ill child. Change to routine, sensory overload, lack of support are just some of the issues families tell us make it difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, we look at what being ‘back to school’ means for families raising disabled or seriously ill children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding the right Special Educational Needs (SEN) nursery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kim and her son Lenny are preparing for the move from nursery to a specialist primary school. She told us: “Going from nursery 10 hours per week to a full-time nursery, five days a week, six hours a day is terrifying to me as a parent. Lenny went to three different nurseries which couldn’t cope with his needs. Then we tried a SEN nursery. There were only three children and he had one to one support there. It was a hit from the start and he coped really well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The transition process has been scary. His schoolteacher did a quick home visit in June. And then in July we went to see his classroom with the other children who will be in his class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’ve done a visual book with pictures of the school, the teachers and the other children which we hope will familiarise him with the new faces. But only time will tell how he, and us as a family, will cope and adjust. One thing I will say is letting go with such little knowledge is very hard as a parent and that’s okay.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting the right support in mainstream schools<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tyrion’s mum Kathryn tells us about getting Tyrion’s diagnosis and extra support from school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Tyrion was diagnosed with autism at the age of four. Signs of autism were picked up when he was at nursery, but they don’t tend to test the child until they’re at school. His school was absolutely fantastic! They had all the information from nursery and took a couple of months to observe Tyrion themselves before helping to complete the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Tyrion attends a mainstream school which he enjoys. He did struggle a bit last year with the transition between year two and year three since the work does get a lot harder. But I’ve had meetings with school, and they’ve put support in place which has helped him to settle more.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Useful resources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Changes in routine can be daunting. The resources below can help your family during this challenging ‘back to school’ time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact has some tried and tested tips for preparing for a change in school or year group<\/p>\n\n\n \n Visit contact website<\/span>\n <\/a>\n\n\n\n

The National Autistic Society provides advice on all things education, from getting your child to school, to lunchtimes, to homework<\/p>\n\n\n \n Visit the national autistic society website<\/span>\n <\/a>\n\n\n\n

Young Mind has useful recommendations for helping your child cope with the move from primary to secondary school<\/p>\n\n\n \n Visit young mind website<\/span>\n <\/a>\n\n\n\n

Mencap explains how to get SEN support and what’s available in your local area<\/p>\n\n\n \n Visit mencap website<\/span>\n <\/a>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at our Education pages for more resources<\/p>\n\n\n \n Go to our support pages<\/span>\n <\/a>\n\n\n\n

Follow us on social media to see the weekly stories and signposting resources we’ll share with our followers!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Changes to routine and lack of support are some of the issues families told us make going back to school difficult. See here some of our family stories and signposting to useful resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":8291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_mixd_wp_review_post_reminders":[],"_mixd_wp_review_date":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"class_list":["post-8290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBack to school when raising disabled children - Family Fund<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The end of summer marks the start of a new school year for many families. 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