Monthly Archives: February 2016

Guest Blog – Introducing Perianne Walters

Installations

Perianne

Hi my name is Perianne! I’m an autistic adult with a 4 year old autistic son.

I wasn’t diagnosed with autism until I was 11 and I had major problems throughout my school years, but eventually I found my way into a special needs school where they helped me to understand more about having autism and ways of coping with the outside world.

I met my husband at 18 was married at 20 and had Edwin my son that same year. Unfortunately there were complications with Edwin’s birth and I was left in extreme pain and unable to walk since. There are a lot of things I can’t do for my son but I found setting up sensory activities such as coloured rice beans or pasta helps us to interact and him to calm down. Edwin has sensory problems and is a sensory seeker that just means he will seek out different kinds of sensory input witch we give him though sensory play. Edwin also has a home sensory room where he goes to calm down with sensory toys, lights and a large bubble tube it really helps him to relax before bed and sleep better.

 

I have been running a Facebook group for the past two years called Special needs and sensory play ideas – you can find it at https://www.facebook.com/groups/300929950082444/. The group has almost 12,000 members and is one of the main special needs play groups on Facebook. It has helped me a lot to be in contact with people online as I don’t get out of the house much anymore. I spend a lot of time helping parents, childminders, teachers, and carers of special needs children have a better understanding of special needs. I have a unique insight in to the mind of the child and that helps me to help others avoid the kind of struggle I went though in my school years.

My group has recently opened a website http://specialneedsandsensoryplayideas.com/ to try help more people with ideas and reviews of sensory toys and equipment. I do have a Facebook page where I just post day to day what Edwin been doing mostly sensory play related activities.sensory boxes,light box play and sensory trays. https://www.facebook.com/edwinssensoryworld/

I’m going to be working with Rompa to share some parents perspective on their products and I look forward to sharing this with you 🙂

The Future Of Special Needs & Disabilities Conference

Installations

Rompa and Winslow will be attending the ‘Future of Special Needs & Disabilities Conference’ at the University of Salford tomorrow the 4th February 2016.

Children with a special educational need or disability (SEND) make up a significant proportion of the UK’s education system. The Department for Education found that in England alone almost 20% were categorised as SEND. Those who work with an individual who has a SEND have recently seen dramatic changes in their day to day work due to the introduction of the Children and Families Act 2014. The act replaced SEN statements with more all-encompassing Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and introduced a new code of practice that all authorities working with SEND individuals are bound by. There is further reform on the horizon, with a review currently taking place on reforming how SEND students are assessed in examinations and the best methods of monitoring SEND educational providers.

Bringing together representatives from across education, health, local and central government, delegates attending The Future of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Conference will benefit from a review of progress on SEND from an array of different viewpoints, and explore the impact of the Children and Families Act on services. It will also provide an opportunity to learn from case studies on initial outcomes and strategies for embedding effective practice to ensure successful SEND provision in the future.

Find out more and book your place: http://www.salford.ac.uk/onecpd/courses/the-future-of-special-educational-needs-and-disabilities-conference