SEND Advocacy Blog

Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is a profile on the autism spectrum where a child experiences extreme anxiety when faced with everyday demands and expectations. Unlike typical demand avoidance, PDA-driven behaviour is rooted in anxiety rather than defiance. Understanding PDA can make a significant difference to how parents and schools support a child effectively.

Flow is the state of being completely absorbed in an activity, where time seems to disappear and effort feels effortless. For neurodivergent children, accessing flow can be both more intense and more difficult than for their neurotypical peers. Understanding what triggers flow, and what blocks it, can help parents and educators create the right conditions for learning and wellbeing.

Stimming, short for self-stimulatory behaviour, refers to repetitive movements or sounds that many children with autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions use to regulate their sensory experience or emotions. Rather than something to be stopped, stimming often serves an important purpose. This post explains what it is and how parents can respond in a supportive, informed way.

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, or RSD, describes an intense and often overwhelming emotional response to perceived criticism, failure or rejection. It is strongly associated with ADHD and can have a significant impact on a child's self-esteem, relationships and school experience. Understanding RSD helps parents and educators respond with empathy rather than frustration.

Masking refers to the conscious or unconscious process by which neurodivergent individuals hide or suppress their natural traits in order to appear more neurotypical. While it can help a child manage social situations in the short term, long-term masking is exhausting and can be harmful to mental health. This post helps parents recognise masking and understand its real impact.

An invisible disability is a condition that has a substantial effect on a person's daily life but is not outwardly visible to others. For children with SEND, this often means their needs are misunderstood, minimised or overlooked entirely. This post helps parents understand the term, why recognition matters and how to advocate for a child whose needs are not always easy for others to see.

Misophonia is a condition where specific sounds trigger intense emotional or physical reactions, often including anger, anxiety or disgust. For children with SEND, it can make everyday environments like classrooms or dining halls extremely difficult to manage. This post helps parents understand what misophonia is, how it presents and what reasonable adjustments can help.

Special Educational Provision refers to the educational support that is additional to, or different from, what is normally available to children of the same age in a mainstream setting. Understanding exactly what counts as SEP is important for parents, because it determines what a local authority is legally required to secure for your child through an EHC Plan.

Special Educational Needs is the term used in England to describe a learning difficulty or disability that requires additional or different educational support compared to children of the same age. Knowing exactly what SEN means, and what it does not mean, helps parents understand their child's rights and navigate the system with more confidence.

Autistic burnout is a state of physical and mental exhaustion that occurs when an autistic person has been masking, coping or trying to meet neurotypical expectations for an extended period. It is different from ordinary tiredness and can have a serious impact on a child's ability to function at school and at home. This post helps parents recognise the signs and understand what their child might need to recover.

Friendships can be one of the most complex and rewarding areas of life for children with SEND. Social interaction requires skills that many neurodivergent children find genuinely difficult, and that difficulty is often misunderstood by schools and peers alike. This post looks at how parents can support their child to build and maintain meaningful friendships.

Access arrangements are formal adjustments made to exams and assessments for students who have a learning difficulty, disability or medical condition that puts them at a disadvantage in standard exam conditions. They are not an unfair advantage but a way of ensuring a level playing field. This post explains what is available, who qualifies and how to make sure your child gets the support they are entitled to.

Sensory Processing Disorder describes a condition where the brain has difficulty receiving and responding to information that comes in through the senses. For children with SEND, this can mean everyday sensory experiences such as noise, light, texture or movement become overwhelming or, in some cases, barely noticeable at all. Understanding SPD helps parents and schools create environments where a child can actually learn.

Dyscalculia is a specific learning difficulty that affects a person's ability to understand and work with numbers. Often described as the maths equivalent of dyslexia, it is more than just struggling with arithmetic. For children with SEND, dyscalculia can affect everyday tasks, confidence and academic progress. This post helps parents understand what it looks like and what support is available.

Autism, or Autism Spectrum Condition, is a lifelong neurodevelopmental difference that affects how a person experiences and interacts with the world around them. It is not an illness and it is not something to be fixed. Understanding autism properly helps parents advocate more effectively for their child and work with schools to put the right support in place from an early stage.

Tourette's Syndrome is a neurological condition characterised by repetitive, involuntary movements and vocalisations known as tics. It is often misunderstood and can be difficult for children to manage at school without the right awareness and support in place. This post helps parents understand what Tourette's Syndrome is, how it affects children and what schools should be doing to help.

Neurodiversity is a term used to describe the natural variation in how human brains work and process information. It encompasses conditions including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and more. Rather than viewing these differences as deficits, the neurodiversity movement recognises them as part of normal human variation. Understanding this concept helps parents and educators approach SEND from a more positive and informed perspective.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects attention, impulse control and activity levels. It presents differently in different children and is often misunderstood as naughtiness or lack of effort. For parents navigating the SEND system, understanding ADHD properly is a crucial first step towards getting the right diagnosis, support and provision in place.

A blog post on Dysgraphia for parents and carers of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities ("SEND")

A blog post on situational mutism for parents and carers.