Questionnaire for parents about dealing with bullying

January 28, 2016 Morag Steven Articles & Reports

The Scottish Government is updating the National Approach to Anti-Bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People. The purpose of this is to help adults who are in contact with children and young people to prevent and deal with bullying in similar ways.

The Scottish Government is consulting with children and young people and their parents as part of the process of updating the National Approach. A short questionnaire has been devised to gather the views of parents about anti-bullying.

Complete the questionnaire here. Please note the closing date is Friday 19th February 2016.

Articles & Reports

Researching the information needs of families with disabled children in Scotland

Image December 1, 2015 Morag Steven

Contact a Family Scotland has received a small grant from the Scottish Government to establish the information needs of parents and carers of children with disabilities. It has been suggested that while there is a lot of information out there, parents and carers are still unsure of who to turn to for accurate information.

Contact a Family Scotland has devised a short survey to find out what the information needs are and how to improve information services for families with disabled children.

Complete the survey here. The survey is open until 31 January 2016.

Articles & Reports

New report about children in Scotland requiring palliative care (ChiSP study)

Gallery November 25, 2015 Morag Steven

This important report (October 2015) sets out the findings from an investigation into the numbers of children and young people with life-limiting conditions in Scotland. It also provides evidence about these children’s and their families’ support needs. Based on their findings, the research team makes ten recommendations about palliative care services.

Read the full report here.

Common Ground Mediation goes international

November 19, 2015 Morag Steven Information

In October 2015 CADRE (Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education) held their sixth national symposium in Eugene, Oregon. The title of the symposium was ‘The Evolving Landscape in Special Education Dispute Resolution’. Mediation was introduced into the US education system in 1997 through IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and this year nearly 300 delegates from across US attended the symposium.

Information about all the speakers and sessions is available here.
Session 8.5 is the Common Ground Mediation presentation ‘The Tartan Connection’.

ASN mediation feature in Times Educational Supplement Scotland

November 19, 2015 Morag Steven Articles & Reports

This article which appeared in TESS in August 2015 gives an excellent overview of ASN mediation in Scotland, including interviews with a parent and an ASL manager. The article poses the question: independent mediators have been resolving additional support for learning disputes for a decade, but with demand for their services rising and budgets falling, can they keep up?

Read the full article here.

Concerns expressed about the education of children with ASL needs

August 26, 2015 Morag Steven Information

Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has recently written to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning to raise concerns about the education of children with additional support for learning (ASL) needs.

Follow this link to read the letter.

fSDC Parent Participation Project – Survey Findings

August 6, 2015 Morag Steven Articles & Reports

In 2014 fSDC (for Scotland’s Disabled Children) in partnership with Children in Scotland launched a survey of parent carers to learn more about their experiences of family life and bringing up a child with a disability.

Key findings from the research have been collated in a recent newsletter. Over 250 parents participated in the survey.

Read the newsletter here.

Kidz Scotland Event 17th September 2015

July 19, 2015 Morag Steven Resources

Kidz Scotland is one of the largest FREE events dedicated to children and young adults with disabilities and additional needs, their families, carers and all the people who support them. There will be over 100 exhibitors offering advice and information about a whole range of topics including mobility aids, access to sport and leisure, funding for equipment – and much more.

This year’s event takes place on Thursday 17th September at the Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh.

Download a visitor’s free entry ticket and see more information here.

Young Talk – Peer Mediators in Scotland Getting Together

July 14, 2015 Morag Steven Articles & Reports

Primary school artwork describing peer mediation and its rules — Peer Mediation Poster

The Scottish Mediation Network recently launched a pilot project called Young Talk – a network for peer mediators in Scotland. The purpose of Young Talk is to support peer mediation in schools and youth organisations, as a method of preventative and restorative conflict resolution. Peer mediation allows children and young people to deal positively with conflict among their peers, on their own terms.

More information about the launch of Young Talk here

Or email Roxan Nazifishirayi, the Peer Mediation Network Coordinator at SMN

A framework for all staff working with people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, their families and carers

April 25, 2015 Morag Steven Resources

The NHS Education for Scotland Autism Training Framework ‘Optimising Outcomes’ is available online.
The purpose of this document is to help organisations identify the levels of knowledge and skill their staff require in order to meet the needs of people with autism spectrum conditions and their families and carers, and to identify staff training needs that support the delivery of national guidelines. It should also help individual staff members to understand the values underpinning the Scottish Strategy for Autism.

Download the framework here

Values and principles intrinsic to the framework:
To facilitate staff to be able to provide a service to individuals, their families and carers that values their rights to:

Independence
Being viewed and treated as individuals
Being treated fairly
Having access to services that will support them in realising their potential and promote wellbeing
Make choices
Respect and dignity
Respect for privacy and confidentiality
Treatment being compassionate and non-judgemental

Enquiries: