Do you think you may have a child with Special Needs but nobody seems to be listening to you?

I have a friend who has just written her first blog about her gorgeous, handsome, sweetest little boy who also has a very different side to him, as he rarely sleeps, scratches, punches and swears and obsesses about his socks. He is six and so far no one has been listening to his Mum who knows that something is not right.

This is A Mum’s Instinct blog and I hope that if you find yourself in this situation the Parent Partnership Services my be able to help you.

Parent Partnership Services (PPS) are statutory services offering information advice and support to parents and carers of children and young people with special educational needs (SEN). PPS are also able to put parents in touch with other local and national organisations.

PPS have a role in making sure that parents’ views are heard and understood and that these views inform local policy and practice.

PPS are based with a voluntary organisation, with the Local Authority (LA) or Children’s Trust.

All Parent Partnership Services, wherever they are based, are at‘arm’s length’ from the LA and the services they provide are confidential and impartial. Recent Government guidelines on this can be found here:

Parent Partnership Services – increasing parental confidence

The services offered by individual PPS will vary but all will be able to provide information and advice about:

• How special educational needs are identified and assessed by schools and the local authority
• Who parents can talk to in a school or LA about their concerns
• The SEN Code of Practice, the statutory assessment process and statements
• Parents/carers rights and responsibilities
• Meetings and reviews about a child’s needs
• How progress is monitored and reviewed
• What parents can do if they are not happy with a decision made about their child’s SEN

Each PPS develops its own local aims based on national guidelines:

• PPS are free, impartial local services
• PPS work directly with parents and carers of children and young people with SEN
• PPS provide confidential information advice and support
• PPS work in partnership with parents/carers, schools, the local authority and other agencies
• PPS support parents to inform and influence local policy and practice
• PPS enable parents and carers to make informed choices and decisions with confidence