Janet O'Keefe

When you come to Wordswell for speech and language therapy for yourself or your child, our therapists will listen to you and establish with you a really clear outcome for therapy.  All our therapists attend a 4 day NLP Diploma course with Vievolve as early in their employment with us as possible and always within their first year.  This develops their ability to notice what is happening in interaction, both verbal and non-verbal, have flexibility within and between therapy sessions and build a deep rapport with you and/or your child in order to maximise progress and the effectiveness of therapy.  Albert Mehrabian in 1972 published research from controlled experiements that demonstrated that non-verbal signals are significantly more influential than other stimuli.  In his work Mehrabian concentrated on the face as the source of non-verbal information.  Other researchers have since demonstrated similar results with non-verbal data including the elements of posture, gestures and so on.  The key message is that 93% of our ability to communicate is not the words that we use.  38% is intonation, tone, accent, rhythm, pauses and stresses and 55% is facial expression, eye movements, muscle movements and skin colour.  It is therefore impossible for individuals, even if non-verbal, to not communicate.  With this in mind we know that the environment that speech and language therapy occurs in will greatly influence the effectiveness of that therapy.  We have therefore developed a really clear visual identity for our therapists and the therapy materials we use based on the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.  We work closely with our Occupational Therapy colleagues to also incorporate appropriate movement and ensure that we are enhancing and developing self regulation of sensory processing rather than over stimulating.  Whenever possible out therapists wear clothing and use equipment that incorporate our colours of purple/lavender, yellow/gold/lemon and cream.  We have identity badges and lanyards and a striking Wordswell logo which incorporates shape and texture too.  The beginning and end of therapy is signalled by an auditory tone and the room and materials smell of our unique lavender, lemon and vanilla blend of scents from Busy Bee Candles.

When editing the forthcoming book ‘ Towards a Positive Future: Stories, Ideas and Inspiration from children with special educational needs, their families and professionals’ there were 10 things that cropped up repeatedly in the personal stories of the 14 families featured that made a positive difference to their well-being and the educational and life outcomes for the students.  These are:

• having a clear description of all of the child’s needs
• schools and services that focus on the child’s abilities and strengths
• productive activity for the child throughout the day to promote learning rather than a differentiated but meaningless curriculum
• safe, secure, appropriate physical environment which minimises the disability for the child and enables them to learn
• integrated therapy and teaching
• a positive and close relationship between parents and school
• social care working in partnership with parents and schools
• appropriate individual specialist programmes available as part of the curriculum
• appropriate medication and nutrition available in school
• access to specialist solicitors, barristers, advocates, representatives, expert witnesses and tribunal to achieve all of the above as early in the child’s life as possible

The book is available to pre-order from www.jr-press.co.uk and will be launched on Friday 14th October 2011.  To book your place at either the Book launch, the Conference or both please go to http://www.wordswell.co.uk/conference/

If your child has Special Educational Needs, you’ll need to go through the process of statementing to get the proper provision for them in school. But what is statementing, and how do you go about it?  

Green Paper: All change please 

The world of SEN and statementing is facing the biggest shake-up in 30 years: proposals outlined in the recent Green Paper on SEN will, the Government says, simplify procedures and give parents more control over the statementing process. However the reforms’ aims could conflict: two of the problems to be addressed are parents having to battle to get the support their child needs; an Ofsted’s belief that too many children are identified as SEN.

 What is a Statement?

A Statement is a legally binding document that describes a child’s special educational needs, what sort of provision must be made by schools and LEAs in meeting those needs and where it should happen. A LEA school or setting cannot ignore the contents of the Statement; the child is entitled to the provision that is described.

You may realise that your child or children need assistance in school that is additional to or different from those provided for children who don’t have SEN. The signs that children need such help are that, despite receiving extra support, they make little progress, show signs of difficulty in developing literacy or mathematics skills, continue to work at levels significantly below those expected for peers of a similar age or have sensory, physical, or speech, language and communication needs.  One in 10 of Tamba members have children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) according an educational report published by the charity last year. Getting extra help for these children in schools should be a simple process but it can be a struggle due to the restrictions of local authority funding.  

 How do I request a Statement?

There are two stages: first, the LEA has to make a statutory assessment, and then it decides whether to make a Statement – against which you can appeal if you want to contest the provisions it lays down.

You can make a request for a statutory assessment to the LEA at any time, independently of the school, if you consider that one or more of your children have special educational needs, and the school is unable to provide the necessary level of help without additional funding. It is in the children’s best interests if the school work with you on any request for a statutory assessment.  Requests should always be made in writing and all parties should keep copies of all correspondence. Schools must consult with you before requesting a statutory assessment. On receipt of a request the LEA must contact you to find out more about your concerns.

If the LEA refuses to carry out a statutory assessment they explain why, and also set out the provision that they consider would meet your child or children’s needs within 6 weeks of the request being made.  If the LEA agrees to undertake a Statutory Assessment they should work with you, the school and health and social services agencies and request written advice on all the child’s needs.  You are entitled to provide your own reports from experts as part of the statutory assessment procedure.  You are allowed to be present at any assessment or interview. The LEA must also seek the views of any children involved, as part of the statutory assessment procedure – if the child is too young, then all parties must agree on how the child’s views are heard.

The statutory assessment process ends when the LEA decides whether or not they will make a Statement.

 The LEA’s decision.

The LEA must decide whether or not to produce a Statement of Special Educational Needs it must inform you of the reasons for this within two weeks.  If it says no, it must inform you of the reasons for this and must make sure that you know what provision is available within the child’s school to meet your child’s special educational needs.

If the LEA decides to produce a Statement they must first draft a Proposed Statement. This will include a description of your child’s needs and the provision to meet these needs.

Appeals

If you are  informed that the LEA will not produce a Statement, the LEA must also inform you of your right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal, the time limits for this appeal and the availability of parent partnership and disagreement resolution services.

You may also be able to appeal if you do not agree with aspects of the Statement.  If you do turn to the Tribunal, you can get help fromsupport groups and charities. If you are entitled to Legal Help the Citizens Advice Bureau will be able to give names of experienced solicitors who participate in the scheme.

 Further Assistance: SEN and Statementing

• National Autistic Society, National Deaf Children’s Society, AFASIC, SCOPE, Dyslexia Action
• Education Advocacy
• IPSEA (Independent Panel for Special Educational Advice)
• The Children’s Legal Centre
• SOS!SEN (the independent helpline for Special Education Needs)
• Anthony Collins Solicitors
• MGLaw Solicitors
• Douglas Silas Solicitors
• Langley Wellington Solicitors
• Advocacy Services and Special Education training (ASSET)
• AM Phillips

Help and Info: Multiples with Special Needs

Tamba has a Support Volunteer for families where one or more children from a multiple birth have special needs.  Co-ordinated by Karoline Jordan, you can make contact via the Tamba office on 01483 304442 or e-mail carolclay@tamba.org.uk

Book Talk: Towards a Positive Future

See http://www.wordswell.co.uk/conference/ for information on a two day conference for professionals and parents of children with special educational needs on 14/15 October 2011 at the Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury, Berkshire when the new book edited by Janet O’Keefe will be launched featuring stories, ideas and inspiration from children with special eduicational needs, their families and professionals.

Brian Keenan

Let me explain how I came up with the name.  To be fair, I didn’t come up with the name. Brian Keenan did. 

In April of 1986 Brian Keenan was an unknown university teacher from Belfast until he was seized by Muslim gunmen in Beirut, Lebanon and became their hostage for nearly 5 years.

I met Brian in Henley in 1997 and wrote to him asking him to name the building I was constructing to work from. This is the letter he wrote in return:

“I thought a lot about this. So for what it is worth, here it is. I focussed on the notion of a language therapist being a kind of WORD smith – like a blacksmith! For some reason the wooden building and the work being done there made me think of a NUT. But the Nuthouse would be entirely inappropriate!!! My wife, who is a physiotherapist suggested “awakenings” as you awaken up the lost but residual capacity in people. I thought “The Wakenings” might be a good name for the place but it’s hardly a corporate term. – Awakenings or Wakenings might be more suitable. But still that didn’t suit my own “draw” on things. I went back to my original thought about blacksmiths, and foundries and workshops. I liked the term “Smithy” – a place where new forms are created. But I also liked the notion of a well, a permanent place of substance – we draw from the well, water, life perhaps meaning. I thought of something like “Holywell” being the well of nourishment and Holy, meaning to make whole. So it became “The Holywell Clinic”. Still I wasn’t sure and juggled again in my Blacksmith’s forge and finally came up with “WORDSWELL”. It has a plethora of associations for me too long for me to elaborate, but that’s what I resolved on. It may not be up your street but it seems to me to have a corporate and personal ring to it. It also “fixes” exactly what you do – I think!”

Thank you Brian.