Advice & Training for Parents

Support for parents of children with additional needs

Parenting Teenagers with Additional Needs through Transition to Adult Services

Led by 2 qualified facilitators with a wealth of personal & professional experience

• Download leaflet (pdf, 120k)

KIDS East HUB and KIDS West HUB

The KIDS HUB services are new information and support services for parents and carers of disabled children and young people across Hertfordshire. The services aim to provide a “one-stop-shop” for parents to help them find the information they need..

• Download leaflet (pdf, 120k)

Extra money if you have a child with a disability

This factsheet tells you about the benefits that you might be able to claim for a disabled child and for yourself if you are looking after a disabled child.

Section 1 gives information about the main benefits you can claim if your child lives at home. Section 2 looks at what happens to benefits if you child is away from home, for example, in hospital or being ‘looked after’ by the local authority.

• Download worksheet (pdf, 120k)

Early Years Workshop for children with special needs and/or a disability (SEND)

Do you have a child aged 0-5 years with special educational needs and/or a disability (SEND)? Do you want to find out what support may be available for your child?
Do you want to find out what support may be available for you?
Do you need help finding the right early years setting for your child?

• Download flyer (pdf, 120k)

Early Support

Early Support is for families with disabled children under five and anyone who regularly works with them. There is a wide range of people using Early Support, including;

• families with young babies leaving hospital with medical and support needs
• older children where the need for extra help becomes clear only in the second or third year of life
• children who have obvious and multiple significant factors affecting development and learning
• children who have less obvious difficulties. 

Early Support website can be accessed at
 www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/earlysupport

Have you heard of the Early Support Family File, it helps families?

• Share information about themselves
• Keep track of multiple contacts
• Discuss priorities and then make a plan with everyone who is involved with their child.

If you have a young child with a disability and you have not received a family pack and would like one of our workers to introduce you to Early Support please call your local Children’s Centre.

For more information and a range of resources please visit the Department of Educations website on
www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/sen/earlysupport

The difference Early Support makes to families

"Our youngest son, A, is almost three but is profoundly autistic .... I had heard about [Early Support] and thank goodness I listened to their advice because what a huge difference having C as our key worker has made to our lives. C explained the scheme to me and introduced the Family File. The book on autism alone was worth its weight in gold, it was so user-friendly and contained all the advice and information that we had been lacking before. I could phone C if I needed help or a shoulder to cry on."

"Early Support was the only relevant, practical help we received before our son was diagnosed with Autism. It has empowered us as a family and provided us with good information and advice. The burden of having to coordinate everything ourselves was lifted while our full involvement was maintained. Information about our child was shared with all the professionals involved and this meant we did not have to repeat our story over and over again"

(Quotes are taken from The Department of Educations Website)

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