Special Needs Jungle, In Conversation

SNJ's Tania and Renata chat to newly-retired Director of the Council for Disabled Children about her career, her biggest achievements and who her favourite SEND minister has been...

Vocal coach and celebrity, Carrie Grant MBE is well known for having a diverse family. Along with her husband, singer, David Grant, she has four neurodivergent, mixed race children, several of whom also identify as transgender. Two are also up and coming actors, including in the series, Hollyoaks. In an interesting and entertaining episode of SNJ in Conversation, Carrie discusses these intersections with Tania Tirraoro and Renata Blower, and the difficulties they have encountered along the way.

SNJ's Renata Blower and Tania Tirraoro discuss aspects of the SEND Review Green Paper with Minister for Children & Families, Will Quince MP. 

We covered a range of issues, including plans for mandatory mediation, ringfencing schools' SEND budgets, teacher training for SEND and much more over 45 minutes of in-depth conversation. 

On this episode of SNJ in Conversation, Tania Tirraoro & Matt Keer chat to Nick Whittaker, Ofsted HM Inspector and its specialist SEND Adviser, about how Ofsted is supporting & evaluating SEND provision during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Part Two SNJ in Conversation: SEND law now and EOTAS. Specialist SEN lawyers Hayley Mason and Nicole Lee talking to Tania Tirraoro about what parents should be expecting from their child's school for their support right now. And why Education Other Than at School or EOTAS shouldn't be confused with Home Education.  

SNJ in Conversation: SEND law now and EOTAS, with specialist lawyers Hayley Mason and Nicole Lee talking to Tania Tirraoro. 

What's happening with SEND Law right now? And why if you're thinking of educating your disabled child yourself, you mustn't confuse Education Other than at School (EOTAS) with Home Education. This is part one of a two-part episode.

Tania and Renata chat to Anne Heavey, specialist curriculum lead for the online Oak Academy resource bank, developed to support children during lockdown and now backed by the Department for Education. Anne is also the director of Whole School SEND and is working to make sure Oak has more to offer to children and young people with SEND for the year ahead. 

SNJ's Renata Blower talks to our assistant editor, and former headteacher, Marguerite Haye, and to Venessa Bobb, SEND parent and advocate about their experiences as black women and parents of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. The discussion ranges from disproportionality of black children and exclusion, intersectionality in SEND and how to change things for the better.

Tania and Renata from SNJ chat with Dame Christine Lenehan, Director of the Council for Disabled Children about children's social care, what the pandemic has revealed, and what needs to change. 

Teenage autistic author and neurodiversity advocate, Siena Castellon chats with Tania and Renata from Special Needs Jungle about her new book The Spectrum Girl's Survival Guide: How to Grow Up Awesome and Autistic, life in lockdown and how she's working out a new future post-pandemic. 

SNJ's Renata Blower & Tania Tirraoro in Conversation with Child & Adolescent Mental Health Counsellor, Angela Kelly. Angela is a parent of two children with autism and a qualified child and adolescent mental health counsellor. She's also Special Needs Jungle's Mental Health Editor. 

We discuss at the issues sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown on the mental health of disabled children. Many children are experiencing increased anxiety and uncertainty about the future, while for others, not having to go to school during lockdown has taken away the very thing that caused their anxiety in the first place. 

In this enlightening and engaging conversation, Angela, Renata and Tania answer some of the questions sent in by SNJ readers and discuss their own experiences during the crisis.