Welcome to March’s Membership Focus

Westart this month by thanking youfor completing the latest membership survey. We plan to publish the results very soon. This month’sbig announcement is that the nasen Awards 2023 haveofficially launched!Eachyear we receive inspirationalsubmissions from people nominating organisations and individualswho champion those within the SEND sector. Nominations arenow officially open,somakesureyou submit your nomineestousatthe following link: www.nasen.org.uk/awards

We wouldalso like to remind allmembers aboutour onlinebankofresources. Enjoya rangeofwebcasts,webinars, guides andtoolkitstohelpyou support andchampion children and young people with SENDand learning differences. Youcan access themonlinehere: https://www.nasen.org.uk/resources

Thank youtothose of youwho joined the Twilight Talk with Phonak on supporting young people with hearing lossinthe classroom.Keepyour eyes on our social media channels fordetails ofthe next free session or on the website here: www.nasen.org.uk/news/twilight-talks www.nasen.org.uk/nasenlive-2023

If youenjoyed the Twilight Talk, the recordingisavailable on thewebsite to share with colleagues,and nasenLive is notfar away.Ifyou have booked your ticketwewillbedelighted to see you. If youhaven’tmanaged to purchase your ticket just yet, there’sstill time to grab one forjust£99.Enjoya varietyofCPD seminars from sector-leadingspeakers, as well as afullSENDexhibition.

If youhaveany further membership queries, pleasedonot hesitate to contact the membership teamdirectly at membership@nasen.org.uk

Kind Regards, The Membership Team

Research project

Thearticle on identifyingSENDinthe early yearswas muchappreciated by myselfand my husband. Despite bothbeing teachers in secondarysettings, we hadnot thoroughly understood the importanceofearly identification until we had our son. What we appreciated as being an individual trajectory quicklybecame something that nursery flagged,and theypersuaded us to haveearly assessments.

Their intervention and understanding of SEN in the early yearswas definitely key in providing himwith the foundations necessarytomake progress.

Your article reminded us of the need fortrained personnel and howbeneficialthis canbe.

Parent, Huddersfield

Editor: It sounds like the provision your son received was an example of how crucial stafftraining in early years is, and how much of an impact this can have on futuredevelopment and support. We have recently developed aprogramme to supportkey workers in these settings, it is currently apilot and, following this stage, we hope to roll it outtoenable moreearly years professionals to have the training to support morefamilies like yours.

Neurodiversity in higher education

Thankyou for thearticle on neurodiversity in higher education. So muchofthe news and focus is placed on supportatthe earliest opportunity that it can feel that those of us achieving highly areconsequently notgiven supportfor thetransition to university.I was oneofthe luckyones, andmyuniversitywas proactive in engaging with measanautistic student. Theyprovidedmewith many bespoke opportunitiestovisitand acquaint myself with the universitybuildingsand people, adaily self-check-insystemvia an app that ensured someonewould contact me if therewas an issue, and aplace to call for achatorsupport if Ineededit. It is great to see this featured and Ihope more HE institutions move forwardwith the supportI was given. Teaching assistant, London

Editor: How fantastic that you were able to succeed in universitywith that supportand we agree that it would be great if this was the normal way of working, not just for students with neurodiversity but for all students. We know that the transition to universitycan sometimes have anegative effect on students and it would be great for the supportoffered to be universal. We also wanted to show the positive side of focusing on people’s strengths to enable them to live their best lives. Some neurodivergent learners thrive at universityasthey get to focus solely on the interests that they arepassionate about and if they can be supported to overcome the barriers, they can go on to achieve well in their field.