Connected - Parent's Support Group for Autistic Teenagers

01/09/2025

Just some of my thoughts on Back to School.

01/09/2025

What a complete load of rubbish !! 😡😡
What about the cost in damage to our kids ?? You can’t put a figure on the cost of damage that school has and is doing ! Maybe I can ! take £100 x100 divide by 6 + 30178 take 12,567 x 30986 oh and you’ve hit a complete made up number like they have !!

This back-to-school season, we’re driving up attendance in schools.

Our research shows the stark reality: the first weeks of term are critical to ensuring good attendance. Missing school regularly adds up — persistently absent pupils could earn £10,000 less on average by age 28 compared to those with near-perfect attendance.

But we're already turning the tide through our Plan for Change. We've achieved 5 million more days in the classroom last year - protecting over £2 billion in pupils' future earnings.
From this term, 800 schools and 600,000 pupils will benefit from new RISE Attendance and Behaviour Hubs, sharing proven strategies from schools that have successfully improved attendance and behaviour.

Find out more about how we're improving attendance here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2025/08/why-school-attendance-matters-and-what-were-doing-to-improve-it/

30/08/2025

It’s that time of year that brings dread it’s ‘back to school’ this week. Here are some wise words from Missing The Mark.

27/08/2025

We've updated our 'Back to school' online hub with new resources for this year 👇

If you're a parent or carer of a child with SEND, our hub is full of useful legal guides and resources to help you navigate the start of a new school year. From what to do if your child doesn't have a school place, to transport and exclusions, we cover a range of topics all in one easy place.

🔗 Explore the hub here: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/pages/category/back-to-school-hub

Plus, join our free 'Back to school' webinar this Wednesday (27 August). Places are still available, or you can request the recording if you can't make it live: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/join-our-free-webinar-back-to-school

27/08/2025

Calling all SEN professionals 📢

Join us for one of our upcoming SEND law training sessions in September. Our training is delivered by a member of our legal team and aims to support your work with families of children and young people with SEND.

Find out more and book your place: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/Pages/Category/training

27/08/2025

Did you know Warwickshire County Council offers free Independent Travel Training (ITT) to young people aged 11-25 years with an Education, Health and Care Plan?

ITT offers one-to-one, practical support for young people with SEND who are eligible for home to school transport assistance. The training aims to give the young person the skills and confidence to travel independently to their education, work or training placement using public transport within Warwickshire and is tailored to meet their individual needs.

The free training offers:

- 1:1 personalised travel trainer support
- Road and personal safety skills
- Journey planning
- Emergency strategies around travel

Find out more by reading the latest ITT newsletter - link below in comments ⬇

26/08/2025

Do you need help with the start of school around the corner ?

It is many years since school broke down but I won't forget what that felt like.
Perhaps I should of been ready, prepared after the years of struggling.
I did know that summer before that I had a very anxious child,
I knew we were on a knife edge.
But I also knew they wanted it to work, wanted the shared experience of their friends.
So we kept going, I went with what they wanted.
Should I have pulled the plug? Could I have pulled the plug?
If I knew what I know now what would I have done I differently?

Join me this evening when I will be talking about The Transition to Secondary School.
We will talk through how best to support and what our options are if it doesn't go to plan.
The session is for any family at any stage of this journey, whether you are about to start a new school in September, or planning for further ahead, or already facing the return to secondary school for another year and worried how it is all going.

Tonight 7.30pm (recorded tickets with every purchase)

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/transition-to-secondary-school-tickets-1529838661619?aff=oddtdtcreator

21/08/2025

Best of luck to everyone getting their GCSE results today ! 🤞🏻

14/08/2025

Good luck to all those getting A’level results today and all the emotions that will bring. X

13/08/2025

Join us on Wednesday 27 August for our FREE 'Back to school' webinar. We'll be explaining what the law and guidance says about common issues, including:

🔷 Children without a school place
🔶 Anxiety and medical conditions affecting school attendance
🔷 How your nursery, school or college should help

Spaces are limited, so book your place here: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/join-our-free-webinar-back-to-school

If you can't attend on the day, you can also request a copy of the webinar recording via the link ⬆️

11/08/2025

‼️Our next FACEBOOK Q&A MESSENGER SESSION is on the 22nd August‼️
GET YOUR SEN QUESTIONS ANSWERED!
Friday 22nd August 2025 from 7-9pm
Do you have a SEN question❓or need some signposting? Then please join us and send a message to our page.
Please do not post questions anywhere else as they will not be answered.
Use this link to directly send us your message between 7-9pm - m.me/260229284113396

11/08/2025

I totally agree with this as a parent of a neurodivergent child there is a lot of self blame (let alone the external blame we receive) from - is it our fault they are autistic? To, it’s my fault they won’t eat more things? I SHOULDN’T have pushed them to attend school ? I SHOULD have pushed for them to attend school ? There is no right or wrong - I always tell my group don’t try parent like those around you , parent the way which is best for your family’s survival. Just give yourself permission to do it your way and forgive yourself for when we get it wrong as everyone does. And praise yourself when you get it right ! 🥰

So much of what we do as parents is made harder because we criticise ourselves for it.

We spend hours lying with our children to help them sleep – and part of us thinks that this must be because we’ve done it all wrong, and failed to put a proper ‘sleep routine’ in place.

We learn to cook food exactly as they like it, and then think to ourselves that their ‘fussy eating’ is clearly because we’ve ‘spoilt them’.

We play video games with them, and feel guilty because we ‘should’ be reading books and playing board games together.

We help them manage difficult social situations, and worry that if we’d done our job better they wouldn’t even arise.

We are constantly on alert, helping them to manage their emotions – and a little voice in our heads says ‘helicopter parent’ and ‘maybe your anxiety is making them anxious?’.

It means that we undermine ourselves constantly. We put in hour after hour, and won’t allow ourselves to feel good about our effort because we think that a ‘better parent’ wouldn’t have to.

It’s not true. Parenting is often hard, repetitive, emotionally draining work, and that doesn’t mean that you’re doing it wrong. Let’s give ourselves permission to feel good about working so hard.

There’s no need to make life any more difficult than it already is.