C.E. Jottings

Just want to draw your attention to the #LBBill Facebook page.

Just want to draw your attention to the #LBBill Facebook page. "This group, ‪#‎LBBill‬ was set up as a meeting space to discuss plans to turn the idea of a Bill that has a statutory assumption that a person lives in their own home (of their choice) into a reality. The idea for a Bill came from the remarkable success and energy of the ‪#‎justiceforlb‬ campaign. The Bill aims to shift the power into the hands of the disabled person... Read more →

"I cannot endorse a program on my Facebook page that does not have research to back it up."

Odd little turn of events. I got deleted. Along with Molly Brown and her Mum. "I cannot endorse a program on my Facebook page that does not have research to back it up." So said Diane Jordan on her Facebook page "Special Kids, Special Teachers, Special Hearts" - "A place to share ideas on special education I gathered over the years from working with amazing people, my own experience and reading. Join the discussion." Except that Diane doesn't really want... Read more →

Sometimes it’s just easier to bash a Tory than pause to think about a very difficult question.

Sometimes it’s just easier to bash a Tory than pause to think about a very difficult question. The writer of the following article is the father of a disabled young woman, as I am, and he raises some of these very difficult questions. Like the writer, I, too, was perturbed at the line taken by the Leader of the Labour Party at Prime Minister’s Questions. “When my daughter leaves school in two years' time, I will be delighted if Ed... Read more →

Scope-Netbuddy merger

Well, I hadn't heard of it, so perhaps you haven't either. "Earlier this year, Netbuddy – the online community .... for parents of disabled children – became part of the national charity Scope. The idea was to create a new online community for parents of children with a wide range of impairments, and disabled people who want to connect with others too. "Our new online community has now launched, and it brings together the best of Scope’s existing forums with... Read more →

Brain plasticity and pedagogy - not yet a new science of learning?

A posting on Facebook by Andrew Sutton and Comments that followed prompted the following loose thoughts. As an account of the functioning of the brain, neuroplasticity demolishes two strong and long-held learning and teaching positions: that, with ageing, the brain somehow seized up and that certain children were born ‘ineducable’. As illustrations, the former is neatly expressed in the saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and the latter in the persistence in the UK until the early... Read more →

Labour's pre-manifesto, inclusion & the Children and Families Act

The Children and Families Act was widely reported to have broad cross-party support as it made its journey through Parliament. Somewhat surprising (and disappointing, if I read it correctly) then to see a major principle of the Act potentially undermined in Labour's pre-manifesto. The following comes from a recent weekly briefing prepared for Action Cerebral Palsy by the Whitehouse Consultancy, just before the Party confrence. The issue included the following: Labour publishes pre-manifesto The Labour Party has published (but not... Read more →