Little Loves Wellbeing - Danielle Brown Kelly

24/02/2026

23/02/2026

The White Paper talks far more about prevention than about crisis recovery.
There is very little detailed discussion about children already out of education, children’s whose placements have broken down, children in prolonged EBSA, children recorded as EHE following trauma, or families stuck waiting for placements or tribunals.
The reform is forward-looking, not crisis-focused.

It’s mostly about fixing the front end of the system, it doesn’t offer a clear structural answer for the children who are already outside the system.
That gap still exists!

23/02/2026

I’ve taken some time to read through the Government’s announcement on SEND reform and the £4 billion investment linked to the Schools White Paper. I wanted to share a balanced summary because there’s a lot of anxiety right now, and understandably so.
I’ve written and tried to break it down as simple as I can and without bringing in my own bias (that’s a hard one).

📄What this White Paper is-
It’s a policy document outlining the Government’s plans and proposals for education and SEND reform.
It explains the direction of travel the Government wants to take for the coming years.

📄It is important to note:
The White Paper sets out the Government’s reform proposals. Some elements will move through consultation and legislative processes before implementation.
Details such as accountability arrangements, thresholds, and enforcement pathways are not finalised yet, the government is in consultation and co-creation mode, and there will be further engagement before implementation.
Nothing in it has yet changed statutory SEND rights or law, such as statutory rights under the Children and Families Act 2014 or SEND Code of Practice.

📄They are announcing:
£4 billion over three years to transform SEND support as part of the Schools White Paper (“Every Child Achieving and Thriving”) -aimed at making mainstream schools more inclusive.

📄Within that:
£1.6 billion – “Inclusive Mainstream Fund”
* Extra money for early years settings, schools and colleges
* For small group interventions, early support, adaptive teaching
1.8 billion – “Experts at Hand”
* Councils commission specialists (educational psychologists, speech & language therapists, OTs etc.)
* Schools can access them even if a child does NOT have an EHCP
* Special schools provide outreach and short-term placements
* Claim: average secondary school gets the equivalent of 160 extra specialist days per year
£200 million SEND outreach via Family Hubs
£200 million to help local authorities “transform” their SEND systems
£200 million teacher training:
* All teachers trained to support SEND
* New requirement for SEND training
60,000 new SEND places
* Including special and alternative provision places
* Backed by £3.7 billion capital investment

📄 What the Government says it wants to do:
The government wants to Invest £1.6bn so mainstream settings can provide earlier, small-group and targeted support.
It’s wants to create an “Experts at Hand” service (£1.8bn) so schools can access specialists like educational psychologists and speech and language therapists without a child needing an EHCP first. It wants to train all teachers to better support SEND and increase SEND places and reduce long journeys to specialist settings.
The government wants to reduce the “fight” families often face. They want more support delivered earlier in mainstream settings. They want less reliance on EHCPs as the gateway to support.
They want schools to access specialists without parents needing to secure a statutory plan first and they want to shift the system from reactive (EHCP after crisis) to preventative (intervention earlier). Which could mean more early interventions in mainstream schools, more in-school therapy access, fewer children needing to travel long distances to special schools, potential pressure to reduce EHCP growth (though they haven’t explicitly said they are removing them).

📄In principle:
Earlier support and better access to specialists sound positive. Many parents have said help comes too late and only after a battle. If mainstream schools are properly resourced and supported, that could make a real difference.
However, there are still important questions:
* Will EHCP legal protections remain exactly as they are?
* Will thresholds for plans change?
* How will accountability work if support is school-led rather than plan-led?
* How will this interact with existing local authority funding pressures and workforce shortages?
* Will this strengthen statutory rights?
* Will it shift support from legally enforceable to locally managed?

At this stage, nothing about existing EHCPs or current legal protections has changed. We are at the proposal stage, not the law-changing stage.

📄Why people are divided:
Some people have hopeful interpretations around early intervention funding, specialist access without EHCPs, mainstream inclusion focus and a focus on inclusion and reducing barriers.
Whereas others see the potential dilution of EHCP rights, they have concerns about potential movement toward non-statutory inclusion or support plans in place of statutory plans, they see there’s a risk that support becomes discretionary or locally determined, rather than statutory, and they’re unclear how accountability and legal enforceability will ultimately work.

Both reactions are understandable and
It’s possible to hold two things at once-Hope that earlier, properly funded support could improve experiences for families and caution about how statutory rights and enforceability will be protected.

For right now though, we have to remember that reform of this scale will take years to fully implement. In the meantime, Local Authorities continue to operate under existing statutory duties.

23/02/2026

This evening

6:30-8
Meeting ID: 936 742 756 852 4
Passcode: sv6pH3

THIS EVENING FOR SWINDON FAMILIES

23/02/2026

I’ve seen some comments and posts of parent panicking about the Schools White Paper, and honestly, I understand why.
Most of us are anxious.
But in some of the comments I’m seeing, there’s also a bit of misunderstanding about what this actually means right now.
The publication of a White Paper does not itself change existing SEND law, that only happens if future legislation (a Bill) is introduced and passes through Parliament.

A White Paper is a policy document and
It sets out proposals and intentions, it’s not legislation.

For the law to change, the government would need to draft a Bill and introduce it to Parliament. It would then go through multiple readings and debates in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, with opportunities for amendments along the way. The Bill would need to be voted on and passed by both Houses before receiving Royal Assent. Only then would legal change happen, and even after that, implementation takes time.
That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t worry, or be concerned about what’s being proposed. I’m am deeply concerned and anxious. There’s a lot of uncertainty, and when it comes to our children, even the possibility of change feels frightening. But it’s important to recognise that we’re at the proposal stage and not the law-changing stage, so there’s no immediate change to the support you currently have in place. Nothing about current EHCPs or legal protections has changed at this current stage.

22/02/2026

Hi everyone

I wanted to share the next steps in my Safer Access to Education proposal.
As formal responses from leadership are still pending, we will now move forward by convening a cross-sector collaborative forum to develop practical, structured recommendations, which will then be formally presented for adoption and engagement.

Our approach will be to build what we can, document what we cannot and then present both.

We are bringing together cross-sector expertise to co-develop practical, realistic proposals that protect children who cannot safely access education.

Some solutions can begin immediately and do not require statutory sign-off, including:
Local business work experience and structured home education days
Community-based learning spaces
Peer support networks
Home education meet infrastructure
Certificate and recognition schemes
Shared resource banks
Professional peer advisory groups
Voluntary safeguarding consultation circles
Evidence templates for parents
Graduated response guidance guides

-Some of which some of you have kindly already offered support for and are willing to action promptly

We can begin creating infrastructure around the gap while continuing to advocate for structural change.
Local leadership will be invited to review, engage with, and formally consider the outcomes of this work.

Since putting the call out, the following individuals and professionals have come forward to be involved:

Parents & Lived Experience:
* SEND parents ~ 46
* Home educating parents ~ 11
* Parents of excluded children ~ 19
* Families currently navigating EOTAS packages ~ 15

Health & NHS Professionals:
* NHS staff ~ 6
* Social care / Social workers ~ 5
* GP ~ 1
* Social prescriber ~ 1

Education Professionals (Current & Former):
* SEND teachers ~ 5
* Teachers ~ 1
* Former teachers ~ 9
* Former SEND teachers ~ 7
* SENCOs ~ 2
* Senior TA (SEND school) ~ 1
* Specialist TAs ~ 3
* 1:1 support staff ~ 2
* Youth Worker ~ 3
* Outreach teacher ~ 1
* Pastoral practitioner ~ 1
* Alternative Provision workers ~ 6
* Tutors ~ 3
* Nursery owner ~ 1
* Former EHCP coordinator ~ 2
* Former specialist transport PAs ~ 2

Local Authority & SEND Sector:
* Local Authority staff ~ 3
* Professionals working in SEND outside education ~ 7
* Legal adviser ~ 1
* SEND charity representative ~ 1
* Head of Safeguarding ~ 1

Wider Professional Insight:
* Criminal justice worker ~ 1
* Studying SEND at university ~ 1
* Master’s qualification in SEND ~ 1

169 individuals. This is cross-sector expertise, lived experience, and frontline insight representing education, health, safeguarding, legal, community and lived-experience voices, the very sectors required to design meaningful change.

If I have missed anyone, please know it is not intentional. Keeping up with messages across both my business and personal pages has been challenging.
Some of you haven’t disclosed your sector so if it’s missing from the list above, please pop me a message.

If you would like to ensure you are included in the working group, please email:
daniellebrownkelly@gmail.com

22/02/2026

I’m looking forward to attending this Tuesday.
Learning, connecting and no doubt being absolutely inspired .

There are still 19 tickets left.
Look at these fantastic speakers!

I'm looking forward to travelling up to Wiltshire for A-Fest at The Springfields Academy on Tuesday.

There's a fantastic range of speakers including Teo Byrne of NDwise Hub, Jess Garner of GROVE - Online Community for Autistic Young People, Jodie Clarke, Children's Well-being Practitioner & Autism Specialist, Amanda Hind Autism Training and Consultancy, Pete Wharmby, Autistic Author, Dean Beadle Speaker, Angela Kingdon and more.

And the chance to finally meet Jill Holly - NeuroDiversity University who's also going along to listen to the presentations.

There are still a few spaces available.

22/02/2026

What you may see with proprioception delays in a child…

Kids who haven’t developed their proprioception skills or if they have proprioceptive dysfunction, may have trouble with simple tasks as well as learning.

Functional skills like:

🛠Buttoning clothes
🛠Opening lids and jars
🛠Turning on a faucet
🛠Pushing a door open
🛠Putting on socks

…can be difficult for children if they don’t have a strong proprioceptive system.

The child app
ears to lack muscle tone and struggle with skills that are often age-appropriate.

Proprioceptive dysfunction can also impact a child’s learning ability in the classroom. A child who has an immature proprioceptive system may:

🏃🏽Display sensory seeking behavior
🏃🏽Applies too much pressure to their pencil
🏃🏽Trouble with personal boundaries
🏃🏽Has ADHD-like behaviors
🏃🏽Trouble focusing and remembering what tasks they should be doing

To find out if your child or students may have trouble with proprioception and to get some activities that can help, click the link here:

🔗https://ilslearningcorner.com/2016-04-proprioceptive-dysfunction-causes-sensory-seeking-and-sensory-avoiding-behavior/?utm_source=Google%20Ads&utm_medium=Test2&utm_campaign=Test3

22/02/2026

Did you know that a large number of our community were first given a fibromyalgia diagnosis before later being diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos ( ) or hypermobility spectrum disorder ( )?
For many, the pain and other symptoms were real but the explanation wasn’t quite right.

Years later, the pieces finally fit.

Was fibromyalgia your first diagnosis too?
How long did it take before or was recognised?

Drop a comment below or share your story as you’re not alone.

22/02/2026

Autism is an Information Processing Difference

In autism, this processing is somewhat impaired by poorly developed neuro-pathways between the brain centers. Consequently, these weak connections (wiring) between the different brain centers interfere with simultaneous communication between the various centers. These weak neuro-connections are due to both underdeveloped, long-range connections between the brain centers, and in some cases, an over-abundance of poorly developed short-range wiring within individual brain centers.

Figure 2.3 Autistic processing differences partly due to poorly developed neuro-connections.

The weak wiring (long-range connections) between the brain centers interferes with the rapid integration of the different centers. There is also evidence suggesting that the short-range connections within some brain centers are too dense, often overwhelming the centers with too much information to process. In both instances, the transmission of communication between the brain centers is weak and poorly integrated. As we will see later, this lack of well-integrated processing is responsible for many of the social, communicative, and emotional challenges experienced in autism. For now, let’s focus on two primary challenges this processing difference presents

1. Difficulty rapidly processing multiple information simultaneously. Simply speaking, the brain centers have difficulty simultaneously communicating with each other. Since most of our dynamic world requires us to integrate and process multiple brain centers simultaneously, the autistic brain is at a disadvantage.

2. Delayed Processing. This inability to rapidly integrate multiple information simultaneously requires more time to sort out and process the abundance of information sequentially, rather than simultaneously. Instead of the brain processing this information simultaneously, it must consciously process the information sequentially, serially piecing the information together. Depending on the impairment of wiring and/or the amount of information bombarding the nervous system, this delay can take anywhere between 10 seconds to hours. I have had some autistics tell me that sometimes it takes days for some information to get integrated and processed.

How processing differences affect socializing

Let’s look at an example of how important our rapid processing of multiple information plays in our neurotypical (NT) daily living. The simple act of relating with another person requires multi-tasking an abundance of information and simultaneous communication between many brain centers. Our ability to rapidly process multiple information simultaneously is what allows us to relate effectively within our neurotypical world. To appreciate this rapid, integrated processing, let’s look at the multiple information that is required when interacting with another person.

1. While we are listening to what the other person is saying, we are simultaneously reading their body language, facial expressions, and non-verbal communication to understand their thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and intentions. What are they thinking, how are they feeling, what is their perspectives and most importantly, what are their intentions? All this information needs to be processed, assessed, and integrated while simultaneously listening to what they are saying.

2. We also interpret what they are saying based on the social context that brings us together and our past experiences with that person. What situation are we in, what is the purpose of the interaction, what social rules apply to this situation, and what experiences have I had with this person? We are subconsciously assimilating all this information with what we remember from the past and what we anticipate in the future. This information is also being simultaneously integrated with the information in step one, all while we are attending to what the person is saying.

3. While we are listening to what they tell us, we are also formulating what we want to communicate back. Based on what they say and what we infer they mean (from steps 1 and 2), we are formulating how we will respond.

4. When it is our turn to talk while concentrating on what we are saying, we are also simultaneously interpreting their body language to read if they are attentive, interested, and understanding what we mean. Do they understand me? Are they interested in what I am saying? Am I offending them?

5. This rapid processing, assimilating information and adjusting our reactions, helps us stay coordinated in this back and forth, reciprocal interaction. It allows us to navigate flexibly through this complex dance of relating with another. Constantly reading, assimilating, and adjusting to a flux of dynamic information and open-ended communication.

6. All this processing also incorporates intuitive rules of engagement that allow us to initiate, maintain, and repair breakdowns in communication, shift gears, and flexibly navigate through ongoing conversation.

It sounds exhausting, doesn’t it! It certainly would be if we had to process all this information at a conscious level by “figuring it out.” Instead, we are processing most of this information subconsciously and intuitively with minimal effort. We typically listen to what they are saying while processing the rest intuitively and subconsciously. This allows us to interact smoothly with minimal effort. As we will see shortly, for autistic people, they cannot rapidly integrate and process all this multiple information simultaneously to read the thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and intentions of others. They miss out on most of the information that is needed to relate smoothly.

When looking at this example of social relating and all the different information that must be processed simultaneously, it is not hard to see why relating is so difficult for autistic people. They cannot simultaneously integrate the reading of body language, facial expressions, social rules of the situational context, past experiences with the person and infer the thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and intentions of others. They are left guessing at what is expected and often out of sync with those who they are relating with.

This article can be found in the brown book, “The Autism Discussion Page on stress, anxiety, shutdowns, and meltdowns”

https://www.amazon.com/Autism-Discussion-Anxiety-Shutdowns-Meltdowns/dp/178592804X/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=bill+nason&qid=1553451610&s=gateway&sr=8-3

21/02/2026

💙 What a Fantastic Start to Our Men’s Mental Health Group! 💙
We’re so pleased to share that our very first Men’s Mental Health Social Group was a real success last Friday, with a great turnout and a brilliant atmosphere throughout the evening.

It was fantastic to see so many men come together to share food, conversation, in a relaxed and welcoming space. There was a friendly vibe, honest discussion, and most importantly, the reminder that no one has to face things alone.

A huge thank you to Kell’s Kitchen for providing another delicious meal. The lasagna went down an absolute treat! 🍝👏 Great food always helps bring people together. Also, thanks to Lee, Steve and Voytek for running the event

This group is all about tackling loneliness and creating a safe space where men can talk openly (or just come along for good company).

The positive feedback from the night shows just how needed this space is in our community.

We’re already looking forward to next month’s session!

If you’d like to join us, we meet the 2nd Friday of every month. Next meeting is Friday 13th March. You’ll be very welcome 💙

21/02/2026

Genuinely loved doing this, but now it’s posted I can’t listen. I want to throw my phone out the window and hide.
Or report your video and have Facebook take it down 😆

I don’t think before I speak and I can already imagine how chaotic this is, and it was morning so pre ADHD meds.

Behind a keyboard me and speaking out loud me are not the same person 😅

Very honoured to have been able to spend time with the inspiring Danielle Brown-Kelly. Over the past few years, Danielle has been supporting a growing number of families in Swindon whose children cannot safely access school due to unmet SEND needs, trauma, severe anxiety, autistic burnout and mental...