How's work going? Oh great, thanks for asking. Always good to have your ICB name-checked in an article about how everything is falling apart at the seams. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

It’s time to fix the SEND system. Because there’s nothing ‘special’ about an education that works for all of us. Today parents are taking the #FightForOrdinary to Parliament.

If you are still on X you are supporting this.

PARACETAMOL DOES NOT CAUSE AUTISM! Nobody should have to be "dissuaded" that this is not a thing!

New analysis of NHS data reveals regional inequality in autism diagnosis waiting times, with children in the North of England waiting up to 3 years longer than those in the South. The new report is the first to be released as part of @childofthenorth.bsky.social #ChildrenFirst campaign.

The autism assessment and support crisis is worsening. Urgent reform is needed to prevent thousands of autistic children experiencing lifelong adverse outcomes. Join our campaign to put #ChildrenFirst and call on the government to build a country that works for all children and young people.

Vaccines don’t cause autism. Tylenol (acetaminophen) doesn’t cause autism. Miniscule trace pesticide residues don’t cause autism. Aluminum doesn’t cause autism. Fluoride doesn’t cause autism. The biggest predictor of autism? Genetics. And we recognize autism better today. 1/

This is really quite something

I hate this more than I can possibly tell you. Nobody should be this enthusiastic about bunting when they are actively demonising entire swathes of humanity to appease actual racists who think flags are more important than people. Genuinely toe-curling how desperate it is.

"The autism is such a tremendous horror show"

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

This is the crux of the lie: “women are at risk from *these* men.” In reality, women are at risk from any demographic of men. You don’t need to look at a small boat to find a rapist or wife beater. Just walk into your local pub or shop. The issue with male violence is men - not race.

What an absolute bin fire this whole thing is. Months now of uncertainty and poor staff morale with no end in sight. As I read this from my holiday sunbed I am seriously considering just not coming back at all.

I like that if you search bsky for "bronze" and "tibia" you get lots of people praising Lucy Bronze for being hard as nails and then if you go back far enough you get some posts about archaeology

We're #hiring! Are you a passionate expert in #SEND system, driven to create a world where every child and young person matters? Join NDTi as our new Development Lead - Children & Young People. Apply by 18 Aug www.ndti.org.uk/about-us/ndt... #JobAlert #JobOpportunity#Leadership #Inclusion

The North East Child Poverty Action Plan has been launched by @kimmcguinness.bsky.social. The plan sets out activity that addresses three key priorities and will be delivered with partners based on local strengths and needs. Read it here: www.northeast-ca.gov.uk/child-povert...

This is an absolutely fascinating account of the trial in this tragic case.

This is an eye-opener. There has been talk of using "the Portsmouth model" within my own ICB. This article shows how carefully we need to understand these tools before rushing to implement what seems like an easy solution to a problem.

News today shows the complaints upheld against Gregg Wallace, from 2006 to 2024. That from the new report by Banijay, the production company. These are not autism characteristics. I think we need to be continually clear about this.

Obsessed by how awkward this is

I am so happy that this has been written, but desperately sad we have go to this point. We need to define when a Special school is full. Until that happens it will be hard to resist legally compelled overcrowding, & educational quality & pupil & staff safety will continue to to be put at risk.

The mental gymnastics people are doing to excuse Gregg Wallace from all wrongdoing are quite something

New government data on the impact of the two child limit: 469,780 households now affected, with 1,665,540 children in those households Almost 40,000 more children affected since last year It's a child poverty machine & it will cost us all more in the long term - get rid of it

The traumatic experience of tribunals for EHCPs is often told from the parents' perspective - for good reasons - but looking at it from the school perspective tells us a huge amount about the disaster of the current system. Excellent piece from @ellencph.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

Welcome to the Tyne and Wear Metro, currently hotter than the earth's core, have a pleasant journey.

Alarming, considering they want more children with SEND in mainstream, and without EHCPs. 🤔#SaveOurChildrensRights

“One reason SEND reform is so fraught is that parents with experience of fighting for the crucial [EHC] plans... are already highly politicized. They have fought the system before — and they know the law inside out”  You betcha! #saveourchildrensrights politi.co/44mnMxC

Yeah, this is not it, thanks. Separate units with a set number of places would still need to have access to that support managed, whether they are within a mainstream school or not. How would it be decided which children would benefit from the provision? You would still need to assess need anyway.

This is exactly it. There's no point going "well what if nobody needed an EHCP, wouldn't that be great" if you don't have a coherent and feasible plan for what to replace them with. How would they ration access to SEND units within mainstream schools for example? You'd still need SOMETHING.

If they thought the disability welfare issue went badly for them, wait until this hits the fan.

Big news: Guardian story and multi-signatory letter about fears about how the govt will follow the disability benefits fiasco: with drastic moves on the educational rights of children & young people with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities 1/2 www.theguardian.com/education/20...

NEW POST: Join our joint campaign to #SaveOurChildrensRights. We've launched in @theguardian.com with a letter cosigned by 100 SEND charities & groups, academics, disability campaigners & celebrities, incl Chris Packham and Christine McGuinness www.specialneedsjungle.com/s...

“We present the UK as a case study of systemic educational failure. We explore internal mechanisms as neuro-normative epistemic injustices which create the conditions for school anxiety. We bring together holistic insight grounded in diverse lived experiences…” journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Behaviour change is often overrated as the ultimate solution to improve health because without social, economic & structural environments that facilitate rather than obstruct healthy choices, behaviour change remains a privilege reserved for those who have the resources to remove the obstructions.

The level of digital and health literacy required to enable the general public to do everything they are proposing the NHS app be used for will be a serious limiting factor on how successful this element of the plan will be. Only those most able will benefit from it, creating greater inequality.

Some light bedtime reading

100% THIS:"While a neighbourhood health service and expanded use of digital technologies are critical for re-imagining our health service in 2025, the plan will ultimately fail if it doesn’t also do enough to tackle the factors that lead to poor health and demand for health care in the first place."

"If the mainstream system was significantly improved" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this response.

Big push towards Neighbourhood Health happening as the NHS evolves, with one of its "three shifts" focusing on hospital to community. We are talking about Neighbourhood MDTs for CYP changing how children with complex needs can receive more community-based care in our next Huddle webinar 👇

All this invites a whole lot of questions we frequently miss. Bear with me as this becomes a thread: 1. What do we mean by 'mental health provision'? Might seem obvious but varies wildly in and between institutions. Can span triaging to NHS services, preventing serious harms, or a wellbeing webinar

I'm looking for some #ActuallyAutistic #uni students in the UK, for my MSc dissertation. You'll find or create images representing your experiences of identity development at #university. You can share ideas anonymously with other students via Discord. More info here bit.ly/3FuX2l5. Thank you!

Schools and the like, here is a little more detail about the #TaskmasterClub100

The fact that this isn't surprising doesn't make it any less shameful that as a country we still aren't even close to getting a handle on child poverty. So much hand-wringing over winter fuel allowance yet we have under-5s not even reaching a good level of physical, cognitive and social development.

Children in England’s most deprived areas ‘less likely to achieve development goals by age five’

Well this couldn’t have come at a better time www.bbc.com/news/article...

I get the need for defence, I really do, but telling people whose lives are already difficult that they are probably going to get harder because of a hypothetical future conflict we might need submarines for is going to be a harder sell than Starmer thinks it is. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

If you have an interest in child health and cross-sector collaboration with a focus on inequalities, come and join us over at @everychildnenc.bsky.social as we attempt to rebuild our old Twitter following (with the disclaimer that I am the one responsible for doing it so please give it a share!).

I didn't know this about Luis Enrique's daughter - glad he has had this win tonight (whatever you might think of the match itself!) #ChampionsLeague

There’s a lot to not like about this final, but that is a lovely gesture from PSG fans

NEW POST: While the government wants more children in mainstream “special” provision, our king of data, @captaink77.bsky.social uncovers a curious truth—resource bases and units seem to vanish almost as often as they're created www.specialneedsjungle.com/v...