PS SEND Advocate & Consultancy

18/09/2026

This!! You are entitled to request an occupational therapy assessment as part of a needs assessment or reassessment of needs if your child has identified barriers with regard to co-ordination or sensory difficulties which is set out in Regulation 6(1)(h) of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014

Dyspraxia or Developmental Coordination Disorder can effect many aspects of children accessing education including planning, organising, executive function, motor both gross and fine, and is interrelated to sensory seeking behaviour through movement, such as spinning, rocking, hopping, bouncing, as your child attempts to over compensate for underlying balance difficulties

16/09/2026

12/09/2026

families. Will you share the map and petition to save SEND legal rights in your local community groups and ask people to sign? Children can sign too.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/764268

09/09/2026

👏🏻 it’s a start

New SEND school hubs are being created

01/09/2026

Worth a share indeed

31/08/2026

I believe that the Government’s proposed SEND reforms could limit EHCPs, weaken legal rights, replace individual plans with packages, reduce appeals, and remove school choice. In my view, children could be left without the support they need as a result.

30/08/2026

Congratulations to Powerful Voices Ltd for this wonderful partnership
Much needed expansion of independent children’s therapy services in Northampton - we’ll be sure to signpost your way

Best of luck with your new venture ✨

🎉 EXCITING NEWS! 🎉

We’re absolutely delighted to share that a new Occupational Therapy Clinic is coming to Northampton! 💜

In collaboration with Powerful Voices Ltd, we’ll be bringing specialist Occupational Therapy clinic and support to The Communication Hub, 37A York Road, Northampton, NN1 5QJ.

This collaboration is all about creating a supportive, inclusive space where children and families can be heard, understood and empowered. 🌟

We’re so excited about what this partnership will bring and the opportunity to make a real difference to children, young people and their families across Northampton and beyond.

💜 Everyone has a voice. Everyone deserves to be heard. Everyone deserves to achieve!

📍 The Communication Hub
37A York Road, Northampton, NN1 5QJ

📩 Get in touch to find out more!

19/08/2026

Thank you for sharing The Contented Child, Child Wellbeing Consultancy very poignant at this time of year

My own son asked yesterday the question; when do I go back to school? 💔 3 weeks to go my love, 3 weeks, it gets earlier every year. The worry seeds are already sown, transition playing on his mind and deep routed anxiety already bubbling

For those who endure the same story, I hope this helps.

For those who are noticing some possible withdrawal, additional fatigue or some challenging behaviour and wondering the route cause, this may be your answer

Anxiety can be easily missed and often portrays and presents in many other ways

Finding support and having gentle open conversations over the coming weeks with your children about the new school year, changes they may face and any other challenges they may need to overcome can help stop the spiral

School anxiety can be easy to miss — especially when a child is still getting through the school gates each day.

They may complain of tummy aches or headaches, struggle with sleep, become increasingly distressed on Sunday evenings, need constant reassurance or unravel once they get home. Sometimes they can tell us exactly what is worrying them. Sometimes they simply know that school feels too much.

This post focuses specifically on school anxiety in children who are still attending school.

You will see EBSA — Emotionally Based School Avoidance and EBSNA — Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance mentioned because school anxiety can sometimes develop to the point where attendance becomes affected. But they are not the focus of this post and should not be used interchangeably with school anxiety.

The important message is that we do not need to wait until a child can no longer attend before we become curious about what is making school difficult.

Early understanding gives us an opportunity to identify the individual triggers, reduce unnecessary pressure and help home and school put support in place before anxiety becomes more deeply established.

I have also created a BiteSize Guide to School Anxiety with more information and practical support. Please see the visual for instructions on how to request a copy.

This week, my focus on this page will be school anxiety - follow for more content.

16/08/2026

A child can have perfectly healthy eyesight and still find the visual world exhausting.

Losing their place on a page. Mixing up similar letters, shapes or symbols. Feeling overwhelmed by busy worksheets. Struggling to copy from the board, understand diagrams, complete puzzles or organise work on a page.

These can be signs of visual processing difficulties — when the brain has trouble receiving, organising or making sense of visual information. It is not laziness, carelessness or a lack of intelligence.

Small changes can make a huge difference: less clutter, clearer print, one step at a time, key information highlighted, verbal explanations and extra time to scan and process.

When a child avoids reading, writing, maths or classroom tasks, look beyond “they need to try harder.” They may be trying incredibly hard already.

FREE VISUAL PROCESSING DIFFICULTIES IN CHILDREN HANDOUT

LIKE the photo and comment "VISUAL" and we will send you a message with a link to a free PDF of this resource.