Mrs Kalisz - Independent SEND Consultant

Some days at work feel exactly like this: 🪲 💩 🧶
I am a small beetle pushing a massive, heavy ball of 💩 up a very steep hill.
Inside that ball are the "not-so-good" moments that every SEND professional and parent knows too well:
💩 vague wording and unlawful clauses
💩 never-ending amendments to drafts/ working documents
💩 teaching professionals how to do their job
💩 navigating unrealistic expectations of families
💩 containing distress, anxiety and rage

Some days, this ball feels so heavy that I want to abandon it in the middle of the road and escape to the mountains or somewhere tropical forever! 🏔️🏝️ To keep pushing, I have to remember my "why".

💡 My "why" has nothing to do with paperwork. 📝📄
🧶 I push this ball, because there is a Child at the end of it.
🧶 I push it, when I think of the child who, after years of masking, finally receives support that understands their internal working model.
🧶 I push it, because with robustly worded Section F, parents can finally stop being system guards and go back to just being parents. 🛡️💓
🧶 I push it to stop the suffering, hidden behind every "wait-and-see" delay or a vague report, with precisely targeted legal bullets.

When the day feels heavy, I remind myself that I am facilitating an encounter between the law and the heart. ⚖️❤️ With my team, we're no strangers to hard work, always ready to put our backs into it, because we know that beneath the layers of systemic chaos, there is a child who deserves to be truly seen.

What is the "why" that keeps you pushing? Share your reason for fighting in the comments - let’s remind each other why this matters. 👇

Something is brewing... Can you guess what? 🕵️‍♀️✨

I’m finally pulling back the curtain on a project I’ve been building for months: EHCP 360.

In the SEND world, we often see things in fragments:
🏫 Schools see the classroom;
👩🏼‍💼LAs see the budget;
👫 Parents see the struggle.
🌉 EHCP 360 is designed to bridge those gaps, offering a bespoke, 360-degree training for professionals and parents who want to master the process from every angle.

What is EHCP 360? ⭕
It’s a deep-dive training program (delivered in small, high-impact Zoom groups) that turns the "obstacle course" of SEND law into a clear roadmap.

The Core Modules:
1️⃣ The Route: Mastering the EHCNA and defeating the two first obstacles (Refusal to Assess & Refusal to Issue).
2️⃣ The Document: A section-by-section masterclass (A-K) on drafting legally robust, enforceable plans.
3️⃣ The Reality: Navigating Annual Reviews, Appeals, and what to do when the LA misses their statutory duties.
Each module has an optional practical component to it! This means that you can have a go at all things you're learning about!

Why train with me? 🛡️
I don't just "teach" the law. I live it as a:
✅ Qualified Teacher who knows how classrooms actually breathe.
✅ Postgraduate-level Psychologist (MSc), Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner and trainee Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist.
✅ Parent who has fought these battles at the kitchen table.
✅ Consultant representing 85+ families at any given time.

Coming later in 2026! 🗓️
It’s not on the market yet, but it’s coming soon. This will be a bespoke experience limited to 15 participants per cohort to keep it interactive and high-value.

Want to be the first to know when doors open?
Drop a "360" in the comments, and I’ll make sure you’re on the VIP list for the full brochure! 👇

The case I am currently challenging illustrates a dangerous trend of watering down in the SEND system. We are looking at a highly vulnerable, traumatised child whose life story has left them so dysregulated that a school day - requests from teachers, sudden changes, social friction - are virtually impossible to manage. To keep him in school and prevent a total breakdown of his stability, he needs long-term psychotherapy delivered by an ACP-accredited child psychotherapist AND a sensory attachment intervention. And there is evidence to support that.

The LA, though, has a different view:
❌ The LA’s Educational Psychologist rejected specialist psychotherapy, as "this might limit schools' capacity to offer a placement". Instead, they proposed "long-term emotional support" from pastoral staff or an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA).
❌ They refused to include sensory attachment intervention, until it was 'confirmed' by an Occupational Therapist.

My clients and I do not agree 🛡️ This unsavoury swap cannot stand because:
🎯 Provision is based on need, not capacity. If a child needs specialist psychotherapy to access education, the LA has a statutory duty to secure it. Capacity is an administrative hurdle, not a legal excuse.
🎯 Pastoral care is not clinical intervention. While ELSAs are wonderful support for general school-day worries, they are not trained or qualified to treat deep-seated, debilitating trauma or complex attachment issues. Substituting specialist psychotherapy with pastoral support is like offering a sticky plaster for appendicitis.
🎯 A child psychotherapist is a qualified professional who understands sensory and physiological mechanisms of a child’s nervous system that affect attachment, and can identify the need for brainstem-calming activities and co-regulation. There is no need of a second opinion to confirm that a child is in distress.

Have you seen provision in your child's EHCP watered down? Or have you been told to wait for another report while your child struggled? Let’s talk about how to challenge the "swap and deflect" tactic in the comments. 👇

The 'Plague' has been defeated! 🛡️✨

The calamine lotion has been put away, the suitcases are unpacked, and we are all back in the office!

This week starts with some truly good news:
Baseline Health Reached: Our team has returned to full health, and from today, we are working from the office in a full capacity.
💪 Mission Accomplished: I have officially returned from my business trip to Poland, caught up on some much-needed sleep, and I’m back in the game.
🗓 Business as Usual: You can now contact us as usual, without the "Bare Minimum" delays.
💝 A Huge Thank You: Your patience over the last two weeks has been incredible. While my trip was planned, chickenpox certainly wasn't! Thank you for all the 'get/stay well' wishes that we received plenty of! A special shoutout to Luiza and Natalia, who worked reduced hours from home throughout the ordeal to keep the gears turning.

We are back to firing those "legal bullets" and facilitating the encounters between law and heart that your children deserve. Let’s get back to work!

And may you all have a productive, enjoyable week! ☕

💍 Silver Jubilee: 25 Years of the ultimate ‘Mrs Kalisz’ Project! ✨

Today marks exactly a quarter-century since Aggie and I said "I do". 👰🤵 2001 feels like a different galaxy, but that was the year our most important collaboration launched: Project Family. I’ve officially been Mrs Kalisz ever since. Through global shifts and personal growth, Team Kalisz has only grown stronger. Swipe to see us back in 2001 - the faces have changed, but we’re still playing for the same team! 📸🕰️

🎉 Celebrating in the shadow of the ‘Plague’... 🦠☕
Our ambitious anniversary plans were met with a very unwelcome guest: Chickenpox. Life (and the "latest intern") wrote its own script this year:
🤒 Daughter #1 as our Index Case is still bravely handling isolation.
😷 Daughter #2 is off to 🇨🇳 China on March 24th ✈️, so she is avoiding the family home like the plague! 🌏

🥳 💻 So, our 25th anniversary is going... online! There will be 🎂 cake (via no-contact delivery for the kids), fiber-optic emotions, and plenty of laughter. We’re leaning into the superpower we learn from the SEND children we support every day: the art of adaptation. 🛡️✨

🎁 TIME FOR A GUESSING GAME! 🕵️‍♀️💬
How well do you know us? Tell us in the comments 👇:
1️⃣ What did the kids give Karolina and Aggie for their Silver Anniversary?
2️⃣ What did Karolina and Aggie give each other?
(Hint: It’s NOT calamine lotion! 🧴)

The most accurate (or hilariously creative) answers will get an anniversary heart from the team! 💝

💫 A secret ingredient that makes ordinary miracles possible ✨

Last week I sat in a review meeting for a 12-year-old boy. He is in a mainstream secondary school, a typical chaos. By all signs, the school's opinion and my own legal analysis, this placement shouldn't work for him and he shouldn’t be there at all.

And yet... since September, something miraculous has happened. He isn’t just "getting by":
🌟 He’s learning two foreign languages (and is already at GCSE level).
🎸 He’s playing an instrument.
🎤 He’s stood in front of his peers, confidently presenting his work to the class.
🏠 He belongs.

As I was trying to figure out what secret ingredient was responsible for this relative success, I witnessed something profound. As the Resource Base Manager spoke, I didn't hear a "case description". She was describing a person she genuinely likes, with
💓 An authentic curiosity of his world.
💓 A passion for understanding his unique perspective.
💓 An absolute delight in his company.
💓 A deep, unconditional appreciation of him as a PERSON.

Because she truly cares for him, her attunement is world-class. She isn't trying to meet a target; she is meeting a human being.

I found out that this secret ingredient was Love. ❤️

While we fight for the specific hours, lawful wording and robust Section F, we must never forget that for a child in a difficult environment, being truly loved is the most powerful provision there is. 🛡️

Does your child’s team see a "case" or a "person"? There is no substitute for the love-based thinking in a broken system. Let’s celebrate the professionals who bring the heart back to the EHCP in the comments. 👇

Temporary Staffing 'Plague'! 🦠☕

We have a new (and very unwelcome) intern in the office: Chickenpox.

Natalia is currently at home recovering, and because the rest of our team includes those who are immunocompromised or living with high-risk individuals, we are playing it safe. 🛡️

What this means for the next week: We are officially switching to "Bare Minimum Mode." 📉
⚖️ Statutory Deadlines come first: If your case has a legal cutoff this week, we are on it. No exceptions.
📩 Everything else is on a slight pause: We appreciate your patience as we manage these short-term "staffing wrinkles."

We’re all scrubbing our hands, staying positive, and focusing on the critical wins. We’ll be back to full power as soon as the "plague" passes! 🧼✨

Thank you for being part of our supportive community.

Ever been told your child doesn't have "Special Educational Needs" (SEN) because they aren't "behind enough" or don't have a diagnosis yet? If so, you’ve been lied to.

The law is clear, but the system often relies on parents not knowing their rights. Under the Children and Families Act 2014, the legal tests for SEN are straightforward:
🎓 Learning Difficulty: Does your child have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others their age?
♿ Disability: Do they have a physical or mental impairment that has a "substantial and long-term adverse effect" on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities?
🚧 The Barrier: Does that disability prevent or hinder them from using facilities generally provided for others in mainstream schools?

In practice, this means a child has SEN if they:
✅ Are not progressing as expected.
✅ Are on a part-time timetable.
✅ 'Present as disabled' even without a formal diagnosis (rare diseases, genetic syndromes, or long waits for neurodevelopmental assessments).
✅ Differ in any way from their typically developing peers.
If your child meets these criteria and requires provision that is additional to or different from what their peers receive, they have Special Educational Needs. Knowledge is your power. This is the first step toward securing an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA).

Is your school or LA telling you that you "have to wait for a diagnosis" first? Tell me their favourite excuse in the comments and I’ll tell you the legal rebuttal. 👇

And here it is! the long awaited document "Every Child Achieving and Thriving" has been published. You can read it here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6996ee6a047739fe61889e05/Every_child_achieving_and_thriving_web_accessible_version.pdf

It's the news of the day, so you probably understand I haven't had a chance to read it yet, especially that I am in the tribunal hearing today. That's why I won't be publishing any additional comments on the SEND White Paper today.

As you look through it, you'll likely come across stuff that feels confusing, unclear, and – above all – anxiety-provoking. Please keep in mind the 3 things that really matter now:
❗any new law that comes into force must not work backwards (what's been given, has been given)
❗whatever your child is currently entitled to won't be taken away just now, just because someone published something somewhere
❗you're not alone

More from me tomorrow. I'll try to put something sensible together (no clue whether it will be a live broadcast or anything else) to explain the content of this document to parents in really simple terms, in order for us all to prepare for what lies ahead. Hopefully, clarity will remove anxiety in this case, too!

If you have any questions about the SEND white paper/ SEND reform overall, please post them below. It will help me prepare the content for tomorrow!

I don't usually post unplanned stuff, but today deserves an exception because I read this news:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2d041wl6po

🤯 I'm not buying into this "having one's right to support reviewed" after primary school narrative. Children without limbs won't grow new limbs; blind children won't suddenly be able to see; deaf children won't suddenly be able to hear; autistic children won't suddenly turn neurotypical just because they completed their primary education. The fact is that the primary to secondary transition is a culture shock for a child without SEND, and our children with SEND tend to get lost, become invisible in mainstream secondary settings, with their rate of progress slowing down.

If this is how it's supposed to work, I'm afraid the entire reform is aimed at reducing the number of learners with EHCP in older age groups... The system has, once again, decided to sacrifice those whose voices - historically, culturally, etc. - tend to be least heard. It will create an identical havoc as there already is with PIP overhaul, where people lose their entitlement to PIP, based on absolutely nonsensical arguments that are difficult to refute and/or take a long time to disprove. They lose money but also lose equal opportunities (e.g. I've always considered PIP to make up for the pay gap between able-bodied and disabled workers). 🤬

I am finding the quote "ISP drawn up by the school (...) will have some kind of legal status" quite unsettling. Some kind probably means the "best endeavours duty." If that is the case, anyone with even a GCSE-level knowledge of law will effectively talk themselves out of any alleged negligence. 🤬

Since this is what's in stock for us, what can you do today?

If your child with SEND doesn't yet have an EHCP, request an EHC needs assessment now! If your child has already been a part of the SEND system in its 'EHCP leg' when the reform comes into effect, they'll have a better chance for some protection, at least for the next key stage, as the law does not work backwards.

Natalia from my team writes very thorough, effective EHCNA requests. I always review them before we send them out.
📌 Contact us at [email protected]
📌 Send all the documentary evidence you have that supports your child's needs.

💪 Let's get this sorted before the system goes into a state of the SEND reform-induced madness!

Pupils' SEND support to be reviewed after primary, leaked plans suggest Leaks suggest plans for a complete redesign of special educational needs and disabilities support in schools.