Information from Special Needs Jungle.com
Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week 2022 is supporting the theme of ‘Growing Together’. The aim is to help and support children to understand and learn from previous experiences that they are able to grow both emotionally and mentally and that difficult experiences do not have to define their future.
There is a range of resources to access on Children’s Mental Health Awareness website. There are some really interesting videos from celebrities, musicians and sports personalities, sharing their journeys to adulthood. Check out the one by Andy Lewis MBE as he mentions briefly how his ADHD impacted his growth.
What about disabled children?
While I think Place2Be encompassed a wide range of growth stories, most of these are more relatable for non-disabled children and the impact on disabled children has been overlooked (remember that around 20% of children in mainstream education have an additional learning need)
Also, we want to acknowledge that both the overall goals and the challenges SEND children face every day are often very different to their non-disabled peers. Whilst their peers may be contending with anxiety over a sleepover or trying a new vegetable, SEND children are mostly contending with an ableist, judgemental and oppressive society.
Read more on this from Special Needs Jungle.com