“Why do we need to move around to learn?” The brain may not have evolved to learn while sitting still. The short answer is: movement helps the brain learn.

Heavy Work is like giving the nervous system a "reset" through purposeful muscle activity. In the context of dysregulation, heavy work for SEN children refers to activities that require the muscles.

I overheard a teacher describing a situation involving her pupils, social media, and bullying. Teachers play a big part in safeguarding children in their care. The parents of these children wanted the teacher to sort out the bullying. She said she talked to all the children concerned, but what else could she do? What should she do?

SEND lessons for England. There are many strengths in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system; however, many countries achieve better outcomes. England could adopt several successful practices.

School refusal is usually due to Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) or School Distress. These terms recognise that most children are not refusing school out of defiance

Extra time is given to ensure that the exam measures the student's understanding of the subject rather than the effects of sensory challenges.

Supporting someone with alexithymia often involves helping them navigate emotions in ways that don't rely solely on emotional insight or emotional language.

Alexithymia is a personality trait (not a mental illness by itself) that involves difficulty identifying, understanding, and describing one's own emotions.

Employment discrimination against individuals with autism and disability employment rights in the UK is a significant issue, despite legal protections and increasing awareness.

When children experience big emotions, they don’t automatically know how to manage them. Emotional regulation develops over time, in stages, with support.

Art isn’t just about making something that looks nice—it’s about giving shape to things that are often hard to say out loud—allowing a person to express themselves.

Identifying emotions with the Zone of Regulation Zones of Regulation is a structured framework (often used in schools and with neurodivergent learners) that helps people identify and label their emotional state. This is an educational framework to create awareness of our emotions and build ways to manage them - self-regulate. This was developed by Occupational Therapist Leah Kuypers and introduced in 2011. It can be used in schools and at home. At its core, it breaks feelin

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic mental health condition marked by intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviours or mental acts (compulsions) performed to relieve distress.

AuDHD is an informal term people use to describe someone who is both autistic and has ADHD at the same time. It’s not an official medical diagnosis.

Sensory Processing Disorder SPD isn’t about the senses being “broken”. It’s about the brain having difficulty filtering and organising input in a way that feels manageable.

Feeling overwhelmed means you feel like too much is happening at once, and it’s more than you feel able to handle right now. It’s a mix of emotional, mental, and sometimes physical pressure.

Social anxiety is basically your nervous system going into overprotective mode in social situations. You’re not broken—your brain is just being a little too loud.

Here’s a practical, up-to-date list of technology and apps that are commonly used to support someone with dysgraphia — focusing on tools that reduce the physical demand

An Occupational therapy Assessment is essential to support Autism. Along with the diagnosis pathway, an Occupational Therapist (OT) can empower an autistic child