Managing Unsolicited Parenting Advice As a new parent, you’ll experience the highs of joy and wonder along with the lows of challenges—including coping with unsolicited parenting advice. This comprehensive guide provides pro tips to help you evaluate advice objectively, set clear boundaries, and gain confidence in your parenting instincts. As you embark on this incredible … Read more
Positive Parenting Buffers Young People Against the Impacts of Stress The intricate relationship between family dynamics and child development is a topic of increasing interest in the scientific community. A wealth of research is now dedicated to understanding how stress and adversities faced in early life can impact brain development, leading to cognitive, emotional, and … Read more
Choosing a Nursery For Child Choosing the ideal nursery for your little one is a crucial decision in your child’s early education journey. As a parent, you want to feel confident that your chosen nursery will provide a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment for your child. With numerous options available, it can be overwhelming to … Read more
Attention-Seeking Behaviour or Connection Seeking? When it comes to understanding the social and emotional development of young children, attachment theory has long been a cornerstone of both research and practice. Developed by British psychologist John Bowlby in the mid-20th century, the theory posits that the quality of the early relationships between children and their primary … Read more
Positive Parenting Using Connection & Trust We all know that raising kids can be a rollercoaster ride, filled with ups and downs. It’s a rewarding journey, but it can also be challenging. The concept of positive parenting emphasizes building strong connections with our children based on mutual respect, empathy, and effective communication. It’s about creating … Read more
Parenting Quotes Raising children is brilliant, bonkers and beautiful all at once. Some days feel like a dream come true, other days a total nightmare – but mostly it’s somewhere in between. Regardless, parenting creates memories you’ll treasure forever. These parenting quotes start to sum up how we feel about raising our children. It can … Read more
Parenting Activities for All Ages Having children of different ages is wonderful in many ways, as they can learn from each other and form close bonds. It can present some ummm… challenges when trying to find activity ideas that suit everyone. As a parent, you want to make sure each child feels included and engaged, … Read more
The letter below was written by a parent of an autistic child who read one of our recent posts on the importance of co-regulation. Too often our schools can be aversive places for children. As parents and teachers, as humans, we want our children to be happy and fulfilled at school. It should be a … Read more
Our Favourite Books For Play-based Learning As parents, we all want to ensure that our children are learning and growing in the best possible way. Using play as a way to promote learning is not only effective, but it’s also super fun! Children get to learn new skills, express their creativity, and make new friends … Read more
The Benefits of Messy Play Messy play is an essential part of childhood that encourages creativity, exploration, and effective engagement in learning. As parents, we might be tempted to keep our children clean, tidy and presentable, but there is a world of benefits to embracing the mess. From fostering cognitive development to nurturing social skills, messy play has … Read more
Sensory Play Activities: Jelly Play Who doesn’t love sensory play to keep their children occupied, off screens and having fun? We have been trying out a range of sensory play activities this year as with 5 children in the house days out can quickly get expensive. This year we have had a few behavioural challenges … Read more
Shopping for good-quality educational toys can be difficult. There are so many to choose from and the quality varies hugely. We have 5 children between us so have got a pretty good idea of what they have enjoyed at different ages. Working in A special school I am also always on the lookout for toys … Read more
The Best Tactile/Touch and Feel Books for Babies. Our youngest has always been into books, having a grandma who used to run a bookshop can’t have hurt. Being the youngest of five has some benefits when it comes to reading material. We have a lot. Annoyingly we did get rid our some of our books … Read more
This is a record of an #SENexchange online discussion on Making Schools Listen: Amplifying Parent Voice in Education. This aligns with value 5 of the School of Joy Approach – community and coproduction. A few years ago I co-wrote a post with Claire Ryan on school/parent partnership. I wrote it from the perspective of the … Read more
Learning Through Play Together: SEN Siblings 100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play: Fun Activities for Young Children with SEN by Georgina Durrant was released in June 2021. This book* builds on the success of Georgina’s website The SEN Resources Blog. In the book Georgina shares 100 activities that are designed to provide inclusive … Read more
Poppy is our 5th and youngest. We had passed on most of the old baby toys we had as the others grew up and moved past this stage. So we had to find some new toys for her to play with. These 5 are her favourite toys. The ones she will now reach for and … Read more
All children tend to display oppositional behaviour at times. After 13 years working with children with Autism, ADHD, ODD and other needs I have seen a range of reasons for opposition. With my own children I can identify factors that can lead to oppositional behaviour. This doesn’t make it easier to deal with, and often … Read more
This will be an ongoing post where I upload the scavenger hunt AAC communication boards and other activity sheets I make. I hope you find these useful and please share if you like them. We also have a post outlining 150 sensory learning activities you may be interested in. All the boards are fully editable … Read more
Waiting: Strategies for use at home & school Waiting can be a challenge for many children. As a teacher and a parent, I have had to find ways to teach children to wait for a whole range of things. Throughout the day in the SEN classroom, there are natural lulls in planned activity. This may … Read more
Free, Simple Sensory Activities For EYFS or SEN There are many options for embedding effective sensory learning curriculums for children who cannot access worksheets and online teaching resources. Sensory learners need sensory learning ideas. Preferably simple and free ones. This list of 150 (ish) ideas should give you some ideas to try at home, EYFS … Read more
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