Young people
“…People spoke to me about what my interests are, and they listened…They spoke to me beforehand about what I can do, what I can’t do, and yeah, that’s really positive”
Parent carers
“…What I’ve found helpful, we’ve had to have some really difficult conversations, not just with the hospital, the consultant, but with school as well…but they made them easy, they made it easy for me to say to them what I was going to say [for example sensitive family issues]…you can’t put a price on that…”
Care
“We’ve got a learning disabilities partnership group that has its own website and actually they do co-production in a way that is led by them as well as being asked to”
Is valued…
- When people listen, communicate and take action as a result***
- Communication between schools and wider LA services
- When there is an appreciation people like to receive information in different ways, for example work in Health*
- The idea behind the EHC Hub
Young people value it when adults get to know them, listen to them and respond to their needs. It also makes a difference to parent/carers to be listened to as people feel heard and validated, especially when there is flexibility and processes are in place to support communication, and there are follow-up actions that happen.
In Health, autism diagnosis letters are being revamped based on feedback from families. Speech and language therapy has undergone a transformation as part of which schools and families will have direct access to therapists through drop-ins and link therapists.
It is felt that the EHC Hub is a good idea but there is acknowledgement there is more work to do.
Needs to be better…
- No response or not feeling heard ***
- The option of communicating with a person rather than being signposted to a website **
- Accessibility of communication
- Different language and vocabulary from different services, for example around transitions*
- Anxiety about sharing positive news **
- Information sharing *
- Care in use of language*
Parent carers, and some practitioners, told us that improving communication needs to be a priority.
As indicated in Welcome and Care, language used in communications can have a powerful and sometimes negative impact. The accessibility of
communication needs to be addressed.
The EHC Hub, for example, is not accessible for all.
It is felt that information sharing between the local authority SEND team and schools, and between some teams and schools, could be improved.
Comments added at the Cornerstones event
- Communication between schools, parent carers and wider LA services needs to be better, perhaps through multi-disciplinary team (MDT) workers and the Communications team ***
- All children and young people’s services need to be joined up *
- Communication within teams, services, LA and across partner agencies *
- It can feel impossible to communicate with DCC
- It is important to manage or agree expectations for a response
- What does the EHC Hub mean? Is it the automated system?
- The importance of caseworkers (key workers)
- Use simple language that cares
- Believe parent/carers when they express concerns instead of leaving it until it is too late and higher services (social workers) have to get involved)
- Communication on school transport – please let families know earlier to allow time for training (for example, on seizures or epilepsy) and preparation
“Tell me what is happening!”