The SEND Dynamic Services
Our aim is that parents of children with SEND will be empowered to understand their children’s rights and how to navigate the SEND education, health, and care system.
Here are the services we offer to help you on your SEND journey.
Free bookable 30-minute advice appointments
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For parents based in Derby and surrounding areas.
Our Advisors can offer information, signposting, and advice through short bookable appointments by phone or in-person, about a range of topics such as:
- Applying for an EHC needs assessment
- Preparing for EHCP Annual Reviews
- Home to school transport
- Requesting changes to EHCP’s
- Key stage phase transfers
- What you can do if the EHCP is not being delivered
- What you can do if the Local Authority makes a decision that you don’t agree with
Ask the Specialist - Social Care Advice
Independent Social Worker Maria Hargreaves
Free bookable 30-minute general next steps advice appointments with a SEND practitioner. Ask an experienced independent social worker on matters relating to social care including mental capacity, best interest decisions and preparing for adulthood.
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Book an appointment with Maria, a qualified Social Worker with in-depth knowledge of social care for children and adults.
Maria can offer information and general advice across a range of topics, including:
- How to request statutory support for children, young adults and carers.
- Why social care needs and provision should be included in EHC plans.
- How individuals aged 16 or older can receive support with decision-making should there be doubts over their ability to do so, including the process and its significance.
- Key considerations when a young person is preparing for adulthood.
- Managing finances as an adult, including an overview of Deputyships, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Appointeeships – how they differ and when each might be necessary.
- The distinction between supported living and residential care, and the advantages and disadvantages.
- What Deprivation of Liberty means, when it might apply, and the process for authorising such arrangements for individuals aged 16 and older.
To ensure you get the most from your appointment, please complete the enquiry form as fully as possible.
To find out more about Maria’s experience and services, please visit her website: Imarasocialwork.com
Senior Lecturer in Social Work & Registered Social Worker Michael Balkow
Free bookable 30-minute general next steps advice appointments with a SEND practitioner. Ask an experienced registered social worker on matters relating to social care including complex health conditions, transgender and mental health in children and young people.
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Book an appointment with Michael, a Senior Lecturer in Social Work and an award winning Registered Social Worker with Social Care England, with an in-depth knowledge of social care.
Michael can offer information and general social care advice across a range of topics, including:
- Children with complex needs, profound and multiple disabilities, including life-limiting conditions and palliative care.
- Transgender children
- Children’s mental health
To ensure you get the most from your appointment, please complete the enquiry form as fully as possible.
Ask the Specialist - Clinical Psychology Advice
Dr Kathryn Whyte Specialist Clinical Psychologist
Free bookable appointments with a SEND practitioner. Ask an experienced Specialist Clinical Psychologist advice on matters relating to care experienced children and young people’s mental health including specialist advice around Developmental Trauma and/or Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD).
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Book an appointment with Dr Kathryn, an Independent Specialist Clinical Psychologist who has 25 years post qualifying experience of working with children, young people, and families.
Dr Kathryn can offer information and general advice across a range of topics including:
- Understanding emotional and mental health challenges in care experienced children and young people
- Developmental Trauma and loss in care experienced children and young people
- Understanding and responding to Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD) in care experienced children and young people
- Navigating the Adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF)
Ask the Specialist - SEND Legal Rights & Options
Education Solicitor – Qaisar Sheikh
The free online consultations are for parents to obtain information about their rights and the options open to them to help them to understand what they can do next.
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Qaisar is a Partner at Winckworth Sherwood, with considerable expertise in education, public and discrimination law, having acted in a broad range of legal matters, many complex and involving young people with significant special educational needs. In 2023, Qaisar won the prestigious Law Society Legal Hero award for his far-reaching work securing education, health and social care support for children and young people with additional needs. Prior to this, he won the widely respected Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year award in 2022 (Public Law category).
Qaisar has also been nationally ranked in Chambers and Partners since 2020 and currently sits in Band 1 for Education, with only a small number of other solicitors. Chambers describes him as “very highly regarded in the field for his broad practice” and who frequently assists with “appeals to the SEND Tribunal”. His strengths noted include – “a strategic decision-maker”, “an incredible tactician”, “very calm under pressure”, “extremely skilled at working with vulnerable clients” and refers to him as “one of those individuals who you would put right at the top of the tree”.
He has acted in several reported cases that have brought about further judicial guidance and legal precedence in areas of SEN and discrimination. Before joining Winckworth Sherwood, he served as Head of Education Law at Coram for several years, leading a team of 13 to 15 caseworkers focused on addressing legal issues faced by children and young people) (https://wslaw.co.uk/people/qaisar-sheikh/).
Free Legal Surgeries
If you need legal advice about appealing at Tribunal, we have a regular legal clinic held in Derby with free one-off consultations with a SEN Solicitor who will give you initial next steps advice on your situation. Provided in partnership with our SEND hero solicitors.
Please complete the enquiry form to tell us about your situation and tick the option for legal clinic.
Free Legal Surgery Enquiry Form
To speak to a SEN Solicitor, please complete the online enquiry form and tell us a bit about your situation.
Practical Help
Support with SEND Paperwork
There is a lot of paperwork involved in getting an EHCP. This can be overwhelming to manage alongside the day-to-day responsibilities of caring for children with additional needs. We can help you with practical administrative tasks such as writing EHC needs assessment requests, checking draft EHC plans, and writing complaint letters to the Local Authority about non-compliance on EHCP related matters.
Support In Meetings
If sometimes you feel like your voice is not being heard in meetings with school or other professionals, we can go along with you to provide support and take notes.
We would normally make a charge (click here for pricing) for this support but if you will struggle to pay, please check out our discretionary free support arrangements here.
Webinars
Our webinars aim to provide practical tips and strategies to make everyday life easier for parents whilst navigating the education, health, and care system. We offer information on SEN law covering EHC plans but also provide guidance for common daily challenges, such as tackling sleep problems, managing anxiety, finding a balance when parenting multiple children each with different or complex needs, hints on how to manage challenging behaviour and using low arousal approaches.
The webinars on offer include general information about the topic but we aim for parents to go away with practical solutions to address their own set of unique circumstances.
Please get in touch for more information about webinars.
Looking After You Too
This is easier said than done. Finding the time to prioritise your own health and mental health needs as a parent is hard, but as a parent of children with additional needs or disabilities, it can be virtually impossible. Whether you are battle scarred from fighting the system, or still in the middle of the overwhelm, if you feel you have hit a wall, and it is all just too much, we are here for you. We are offering a safe space for parents to access a free 8-week skills-based programme with therapy content and a peer support group held in Derby and facilitated by a qualified psychotherapist/counsellor.
Find time to look after you, too.
You can download an accessible bitesize recorded version of our Looking After You Too course content for free here.
Download Looking After You Too Course
Fill in the form below to download the course.
Looking After Us Together
Looking After US Together is a weekly skills-based mental health and well-being programme for parents and children who are neurodivergent. This is delivered by a neurodivergent psychotherapist and offers an opportunity for parents and children to attend together to think about mental health and well being through a neurodivergent lens.
You can download an accessible bitesize recorded version of our Looking After Us Together course content for free here
Download Looking After Us Together Course
Fill in the form below to download the course.
Looking After Us Too Report
Our recent survey report, Looking After US Too – Health Inequalities for Parents of Autistic Children & Young People is available for download.
The survey shows that parents of autistic children living in Derby and Derbyshire are experiencing excessive, sometimes traumatic levels of stress, that is having an adverse impact on their physical and mental health. Many feel isolated and broken. Parents have multiple mental and physical health conditions that are exacerbated and/or caused by stress. It is our hope that all who read this report will gain a deeper understanding of the health inequalities faced by parents of autistic children and young people, and that those in positions of influence consider the lived experiences of the parent participants and seek to change the status quo.
If this type of support would be helpful, please register your interest here to receive further details.