Improving lives

The Government has launched a Green Paper, 'Improving Lives': a consultation on disability, health and work. They are seeking views from all sections of the community eg. employers, health care professionals, family as well as those living with long-term health conditions, in order to better understand the range of conditions and the circumstances faced by this group. The consultation is now open until Friday 17th February 2017.

Conference: Building Parental Confidence and Enabling SEND Success

Birmingham City Council's SEND service will be hosting a one day conference on 29th June. Attendees can expect to :

• Hear from the leading experts in the field. 
• Discover how effective parental engagement can have a dramatic impact upon pupil attainment in a very short period of time; for all groups of pupils, including those children considered ‘hard to reach,’ SEND pupils and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. 
• Find out how schools can best move forwards to build parental confidence and bring about success for all pupils, including those with SEND.  Find out more

CareKnowledge

CareKnowledge has recently been added to our collection of online resources. It is an extensive source of both up-to-date and archived material in health and social care including topics such as adult and child protection, serious case reviews and mental health. Updated daily, the service supports practitioners and managers in these areas to help inform on key developments. The site also offers opinion, analysis and research via blogs, briefings and special reports that help to put complex issues into context. Access CareKnowledge via the E-Resources link in the Library portal. 

CareKnowledge includes the following journals and magazines:

Housing Care and Support

International Journal of Leadership in Public Services

Journal of Adult Protection

Journal of Childrens Services

Journal of Family Health

Journal of Integrated Care

Learning Disability Today

Mental Health Review Journal

Mental Health Today

Mental Health Training Education and Practice

Quality in Ageing and Older Adults

Tizard Learning Disability Review

Working with Older People

Ready for work....

A number of SEN resources are available for young people requiring support to help them into work: as part of their Preparation for Adulthood programme, 'Preparing for Adulthood' have published two new case studies to support young people with mental health issues. 

Supported internships are study programmes that take place in both work and college so that learners receive practical hands-on experience; useful information on supported internships, who offers these programmes, setting them up and funding issues are provided in this factsheet. The number of study programmes available to 16-25 year old students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are becoming more widely available; further information on study programmes can be found here.

From the DfE, the latest SEN statistics and analysis have been published on local authorities’ progress in transferring to the new system of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.

Latest Reports: Sexual Abuse

An inspection report prepared by Ofsted, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Care Quality Commission, has found that young people at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre in Northamptonshire have suffered degrading treatment and racist abuse at the hands of prison officers. Meanwhile, figures obtained by the BBC from 106 councils show that there have been 4,748 reports of sexual abuse against disabled adults in the past 2 years. The NSPCC has warned these figures could be the 'visible peak' of a much bigger problem affecting disabled children and young people as well as adults. 

The Children's Commissioner's inquiry into child sexual abuse in the family environment, is running a survey for adult survivors of child sexual abuse to share their experiences; the aim is to better understand how to help children and prevent abuse in the future. To help young people keep themselves safe from child sexual exploitation, Barnardo's Cymru in conjunction with the Welsh Government has launched a bilingual guide. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has updated 'Physical Signs of Child Sexual Abuse', otherwise known as the Purple Book, with three new chapters - the first update since 2008.

SEND Resources

If you are looking for statutory SEND guidance for schools, colleges or children's services, you will find all current documentation on this page. Alongside the SEND Code of Practice, there are supporting guides for teaching and learning, disabled children and a number of documents providing research and statistics.

A recent study published in the Review of Educational Research, examines predictors of success for students with disabilities in relation to their education, employment, and independent living. The extensive research gathered data on 16,957 individuals from 35 sources published between 1984 and 2010. 

For those of you who may be interested in working in Special Needs, this presentation outlines the role of a SEN consultant with useful examples on the types of support they provide.