SEND Learning Resources for IW School Staff

We are hoping to raise enough money to be able to send every school on the IW resources we consider essential.

Children with additional needs and their families often feel misunderstood by school staff and other professionals. These misunderstandings mean that school is more difficult for everyone; the school staff, the parents, and most importantly of all, the children.

I am a multi-neurodivergent mum to 3 wonderful neurodivergent kids, and we live on the Isle of Wight, where we are part of a community of SEND parents.

If i had a penny every time myself, or one of my parent friends, wished professionals working with our children had better understanding of our children, their behaviour, how they communicate, and most importantly, their needs and how to meet them, then I wouldn't need to be making a GoFundMe page to raise some money, and lots of kids on the Island would be happier, more self-assured more able to fulfil their unique potential.

There are 48 schools on the Island, each with committed staff working very hard, often in difficult conditions and with very limited resources, to meet the needs of hundreds of individual, unique children. In every single classroom, there will be autistic kids, kids with ADHD, dyslexic and dyspraxic kids, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, as well as kids with a multitude of other different needs and challenges. I truly do not know how teachers do it - must be some sort of witchery!

Most school staff will have very little training on supporting children with additional needs, despite their presence in every class room. This causes unnecessary challenges for both staff and ALL children at school, and ultimately, children who's needs are not met will be harmed as a result. It's not fair on anyone, and it's not acceptable.

What can we do about this?

As a community of parents, staff, friends, neighbours and generally decent people, we can try to help school staff to understand and support our children better, share our knowledge, and make sure resources, knowledge and insights are easily accessible and available to anyone who works with kids and wants to know how to support them better.

We hope to put together resource parcels to send to every school on the Island, with an open letter inviting schools to share our resources among staff, and invite an open conversation between professionals, parents/carers and children around supporting each other better. So far, we think these parcels will include:

1) An open letter - the whys!

2) A couple of books chosen by the community - books that we've read and have changed the way we understand and support our kids - that we wish other people understood and practiced too. This is what we need the £££ for.

3) A list of further resources (books, webinars, support groups, visuals eg: from Neurowild) - do you have suggestions to add?

4) Maybe some sweet treats as a thank you to school staff.

5) We would very much like to hear from you if you have suggestions re important things to add. What do you wish school staff understood about your child?

The books we think we could add so far are as follows, but please feel free to make suggestions:

Can't Not Won't - A Story About a Child Who Couldn't Go To School

Collaborative Approaches to Learning for Pupils With PDA

Inclusive Education For Autistic Children

I know time are really difficult, and i wouldn't be asking for your donations if i didn't think this was something really important, where we could potentially make a big positive difference.

We have a high proportion of SEND kids on the Island. So many of these children struggle at school because they have needs that are not understood; it's one of the reasons the IW has one of the highest proportion of home-schooled children in the UK. I believe this project could be a way of increasing understanding, starting conversations and making a real difference to those children and their families, to school staff, and to other children at school and their families, too. It feels like a small way of making a big difference in a circumstance that often feels difficult to impact.

If you have read this, thank you! If you have a spare fiver to donate to this project, thank you! If you could share with your friends, families, communities - thank you!

I will be posting updates on the progress of this project, and asking for your input and suggestions regarding parcel contents and the Open Letter, on these facebook pages/groups:

Sen Peer Support Group IW

Sen Peer Support IW Page

Send National Crisis IW

If anyone knows book suppliers that might do us a deal on 96+ books, please get in touch!

If we reach our goal, all help sorting and delivering parcels gratefully received!

Please share across Island Networks and on Social Media!

Lorry loads of thanks :)