Reblogged from violetsdiary:

It is a non-profit making community interest company that works with pro surfers and volunteers to inspire and motivate young people who, for different reasons, are experiencing difficulties in their lives.

The charity’s clients include children and young people with mental health difficulties, emotional problems or learning disabilities – as well as those who are simply under lots of stress due to extraordinary circumstances. Its unique 1:1 surfing courses are delivered with support from a fantastic team of dedicated volunteers, who provide motivation, support and encouragement.

The Wave Project is evidence-based, and works with mental health professionals and psychologists to refer clients, and independently evaluate its projects to ensure that they provide lasting and meaningful benefits for its clients.

The surfing projects are all about creating a positive vibe. They are designed to bring clients out of their comfort zone and get them focused. But they also provide an opportunity to give them a fun experience, meet new people and get lots of encouragement.

The Wave Project believes that mental health should not come with a price tag. That’s why all of its projects are free of charge to clients. The charity raises the funds needed to deliver the courses for the young people and use professional services to take referrals. Its funding comes through direct fundraising, grants, trust funding and personal donations. Its backers include the NHS, BBC Children In Need and Cornwall Council.

The charity also depends heavily on its dedicated volunteers who give up their time to support its work with vulnerable young people.

‘They are all amazing beyond words,’ said Project Co-ordinator Joe Taylor. ‘Without them, we simply couldn’t deliver our activities to the standards we have set.’

The charity also recently launched The Wave Project Surf Club. Some of the children who had previously taken part in one of the courses enjoyed surfing so much that they were inspired to set up the club to provide them with ongoing access to the sport.

Joe, who founded the charity, said: ‘This club is the first to be run by and for children who have suffered from difficulties in their lives, and I am lost in admiration for the young people who have taken part.

‘Their ability to confront the difficulties facing their lives and respond in a positive way by launching their own surf club is a statement of how much young people can do.’

The Wave Project only takes referrals from people working in professional services or charities, such as psychiatrists, psychotherapists, counsellors, youth workers, charity organisers and SENCOs; that is how they know that the young people they work with have a genuine need. The charity is always keen to talk to professionals who work with vulnerable children and young people, so please contact Joe for a chat if you would like to refer a client. Alternatively, do so direct through the website using the simple referral form, and someone will call you back. All information about clients is of course managed in the strictest confidence, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Volunteers also being sought to take part in the projects. For more information about these opportunities, please email info@waveproject.co.uk. For further information, please contact Joe Taylor on 07584 124873. More information about the Wave Project can be found at www.waveproject.co.uk.

It was a really interesting and exhilarating day, hearing from other organisations such as Bee For Battens, a charity set up by a family who are dealing with the loss of one child and the illness of another with Batten’s Disease. As is so often the case, such terrible adversity and tragedy prompts some people not to hide away but to reach out and help others in a similar position.

We hear so often today about greedy bankers, self-interested politicians and welfare cuts to the most vulnerable.  We hear nowhere near enough about people who, despite their own difficulties, put their energies into offering care and support to those in need. These are the inspirational people that newspapers should highlight on a daily basis – it would, I believe, have a positive effect on the nation as a whole.

And so… I’ve been busy, but not too busy for the ever-popular Friday round-up. Please do read my post about launching DysNet and another inspirational person, Geoff Adams-Spink, if you missed it earlier in the week. Enjoy the sun!

• Autism Journal: The impact of child problem behaviors of children with ASD on parent mental health
•  The Guardian: Academies’ refusal to admit pupils with special needs prompts legal battles
• MedPage Today:  Half of Autism Diagnoses Made at School Age
• MedPage Today: Sleep Apnea Hurts Kids’ Brain Function
•  Disability Rights UK: Our reponse responds to Department for Education’s publication of Support and aspiration
• Express: Teachers ‘use special needs’ to boost score Note: misleading headline – the SEN expert actually speaks some sense
• Guardian: Children with special needs deserve better than a rush to reform
• NewsTrack: Oxytocin improves brain function in autistic kids
• Special Needs Jungle: Launching DysNet – and how the right education helped one man make a difference, despite disability 
• Daily Mail: Why are doctors still not warning about the ‘new Thalidomide’?  Follow @Emma4oacs for raise awareness
• Special Needs Jungle: Don’t Forget: Still time to enter the draw to WIN a FREE ticket for #autism treatment: Floortime workshop! 
• BritMums: Great monthly special needs blog round up
• Nina Lemon:  Raising Cariad: A parent’s view of the SEN announcement this week 
• A Boy with Aspergers: SEN Reform Aspirations – You Decide!  A nice blog from the lovely @Clairelouise82
• DfE: SEN offer for parents.A YouTube Video by Sarah Teather
• Ed Yourself: My response to DfE document also signposting to DfE consultation on changes to funding inc SEN funding

DysNet is the brainchild of a dear friend of mine, Geoff Adams-Spink, about whom I’ve written on this blog before. It’s aimed at bringing together people around the world affected by dysmelia (congenital limb differences) to share information, knowledge and resources. Today, Geoff writes about his life for Special Needs Jungle and demonstrates that, with the right support and education, it is entirely possible to live a rich, rewarding and independent life.

From Small Beginnings

First let me declare an interest: Tania Tirraoro the award-finalist writer who hosts this blog is a good friend and a professional contact.  She and I trained together as journalists on the South Cornish coast way back in 1988.  Back then, Tania was vivacious, tenacious and keen to get on.  More than two decades later, absolutely nothing has changed.  Or has it?

Bringing up two boys with Asperger’s has directed her considerable energies into the field of special needs education.  As someone who spent most of his childhood at special boarding schools, she has asked me to share a few thoughts about my experiences and about the current debate about special schools vs. inclusive education.

Geoff Adams-Spink

I was born half a century ago with disabilities caused by the morning sickness drug, thalidomide.  The drug left me with extremely short arms, flipper-like hands and very limited vision in the one eye that I have – the other is completely absent.

Back then, children with physical disabilities were destined for special schools – mainstream either wasn’t geared up or wasn’t prepared to gear up to support us.  My parents were told in no uncertain terms that my safety couldn’t be guaranteed if I attended the same local schools that had served my two sisters and my brother perfectly well.

So, aged five, I was packed off to Penhurst school in Oxfordshire which was run by NCH – now NCH, Action for Children.  I recently revisited the place and found it transformed.  It no longer supports children with the sort of disabilities I have.  All of the students have profound and multiple learning disabilities or PMLD.  The 26 children require intensive support from the 150 or so staff.  The cost of a place there can only be guessed at.

And this has set me thinking about the current debate about special needs vs. inclusive education.  It seems to me entirely ridiculous that anyone should assume that one approach should be adopted exclusively.  If we are, in the words of a former Secretary of State for Education to “respond to the needs of the child” there is surely room for a mixed economy.  Plenty of children – myself included – would probably manage perfectly well in mainstream education with a few minor adjustments.  Others would be left in the margins and need the specialist support of staff who know how to encourage children with different needs to achieve their potential.

This is not simply about physical compared with learning disabilities: two children with, superficially, the same level of impairment could well require different responses from the system.  My nephew, for example, has Asperger’s and managed quite well in mainstream education.  But he has the benefit of supportive parents who have equipped him with the knowledge to know how to regulate his behaviour and manage his condition.  He’s also a big strapping lad who has no shortage of confidence.  Another child with the same level of Asperger’s may well struggle in the same environment.

Is there life after special education?  You bet!  I out-grew Penhurst quite quickly and was sent to another boarding school aged eight.  This establishment had an approach that – at the time – was quite revolutionary: that disabled children (the majority were vision impaired though some had physical disabilities as well) should be encouraged to acquire certificated qualifications.  I left the place after nine years with eight O-Levels and went on to study for A-Levels at an FE college and then on to university.

So how have mine and Tania Tirraoro’s paths crossed again?  Tania is now an expert in the use of social media.  After 22 years working as a BBC journalist, I am now Chairman of a European organisation that represents people with limb difference.  We have an ambitious project to create a global network of those affected by dysmelia (as limb difference is officially known) and to link this network with a knowledge base and another network of dysmelia experts.  Spreading the word using social media is a no-brainer.  And our choice of Tania to establish our social media networks to help us achieve our goal was equally simple.

On Monday May 21, Tania is helping us to launch DysNet – an online community that will help people to conduct conversations in five languages. We’ll have a knowledge-sharing website and a secure community forum on RareConnect, run by EURORDIS & NORD, the world’s leading rare disease organisations.

I wonder whether, when my distraught mother left me at Penhurst for the first time, she had any idea that her son would get so much from his special education.

DysNet Website  | DysNet Twitter | DysNet Facebook | DysNet G+

Then, the detailed response to the SEN Green Paper came. I was called up by Christine Alsford from Meridian TV, my ITV region and they came over and spoke to me about it, even filming Son2 in his bright blue BodySox.  (See post below with the footage).

On Wednesday, I went to an EHCP meeting for the Surrey pathfinder where, after the government announcement the previous day, there was understandably something of a sense of urgency and alarm at the accelerated deadline. The new lead, Susie Campbell, however, appears more than up to the task. Actually, I think she’s fab.

And so, understandably, this week’s stories are mostly about the Next Steps document and the response to it – all worth reading to see different perspectives.

And if you missed my guest post about Floortime for autism – there’s a free parent ticket and a cut price professional ticket for a June workshop on offer – check out the post below.

• NAS: NAS response to SEN Green Paper: Don’t let children without statements fall through the gaps
• Dyslexia Action: Response to SEN Reform proposals ow.ly/aYSSy
• Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability: How much does intellectual disability really cost? First estimates for Australia
• Seventh Voice Blog: Standing Up For Special Needs Children
• BBC: Special needs budgets: Your views from BBCwebsite
• Special Needs Jungle: SEN – The Next Steps – My views & Meridian Tonight feature
• Surrey & Hants News: Inspired mum in the spotlight with blogging awards acclaim.
• Developmental Neurorehabilitation: From my perspective – Perceived participation in mainstream schools in students with autism spectrum conditions 
• Special Needs Jungle: The benefits of ‘Floortime’ for autism - and win tickets to a Floortime workshop! 
• John Bald Blog: Parents to control SEN budgets – a great idea – John Bald telling it like it is on SEN 
• Daily Telegraph: Thousands to be struck off special needs list-
• Disability Scoop: Path To Adulthood Rocky For Most With Autism, Study Finds
• The Guardian: Autism causes profound problems. Why are doctors reluctant to diagnose?
• Special Needs Jungle: Special Needs Jungle in the Daily Telegraph. What I really think about parenting and SEN 
• Daily Telegraph: Can 20 per cent of schoolchildren really have special needs? –  – Special Needs Jungle in the DT today!