Special Educational Needs Success

A Liverpool City Council team has become the 1st of its kind in the country to receive national recognition for the level of support it provides for children with autism. The Council's Special Educational Needs Inclusion Support Service (SENISS) has become the only outreach service to achieve:- 'Autism Accreditation' with 'Advanced Status' from the National Autistic Society.

The accreditation was set up to improve the support available to autistic people both in the UK and across the globe. To receive the accolade, organisations must prove that they have achieved the society's 'standard of excellence' through a programme of self examination and development.

In making the award, the National Autistic Society highlighted SENISS's work in:- 'delivering consistent and highly effective support to autistic people across Liverpool' and 'establishing positive relationships with families and professionals.' The team was also praised for offering high-quality training courses to families and professionals and involving them in the future plans for autism support across the City.

Jonny Knowles, who is the Accreditation Advisor for The National Autistic Society, said:- "Being autistic means you feel, hear and see things in a different, often in a more intense way to others, and may struggle in certain social situations. Autism accreditation highlights good autism practice and we are very pleased to celebrate SENISS's achievement. We believe it will inspire other organisations to improve the way they support autistic people."

SENISS exists to provide quality support to pupils with special educational needs in order to promote their inclusion within mainstream Schools and nurseries to enable them to achieve their full potential. The SENISS Team consists of 12 specialist advisory teachers and 2 Autism Spectrum Disorder trainers.

The Specialist Advisory Teachers work across the:- private, voluntary and independent Nursery sector, Primary and Secondary Schools. The service provides support for pupils through:- observation, consultation, teaching, assessment and training. The ASD trainers work specifically to support families. SENISS is also involved in the strategic planning for autism provision across Liverpool.

Liverpool City Council's Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr Barbara Murray, said:- "In Liverpool, we believe that it is critical that children with autistic spectrum disorder and their families have the right system of support in place. Not only does this help the child cope with the unique aspects of their condition, but it also provides parents with the support they need to face the challenges of raising a child with autism. We are immensely proud of the work of the SENISS team and this recognition is well deserved. It is clear they have helped to provide support, reassurance and a better quality of life for children and families living with autism across Liverpool."

In a recent survey of people who use the service conducted by the National Autistic Society as part of the accreditation process, it was revealed that:-

► 100% of the pupils believed that the support they were given was good and that staff listen to how they want to be helped.

► 100% of returns stated that:- "staff's understanding of their child's needs is good or always good."

Some of the typical comments from professionals, such as teachers, who work with the team included:- "SENISS professionals are fully committed to the children, families and co-professionals and other service providers they work with. The child/young person is at the heart of all they do. Their advice and support is invaluable to our School. The service provided by the professional to our School has consistently been of a high standard. The advice and support offered takes the child's individual needs into account and is very practical. The staff value the professionalism and quality of the professional.  SENNIS provide an outstanding service. As an experienced reception teacher, within a mainstream setting, we are under constant and increasing pressure to support and teach children that would previously have been placed in Units or Special Schools. Without SENNIS support we would not be able to meet some of the children's needs. They have a wealth of subject specialism to draw on and offer practical and realistic resources, support and diagnosis of children's complex needs. SENNIS also provide support and feedback to parents often having difficult conversations around children's needs. We always feel much supported by the specialist teachers from SENISS. The strategies and techniques they suggest have been very useful to support our children to make progress."

Just under ½ of the Northern population don't visit the dentist, new findings uncover

NEW statistical findings, released in December 2018, have uncovered that 44% of Northern Brits haven't seen a dentist in the last 24 months, despite being encouraged to visit once a year. The North of England set the record for most dental attendances across the country, but data STILL shows that 43.9% did not see a dentist in the last 24 months. As many as 12.7 million scale and polishes are performed every year, and the out of ALL paying adults, 60% of their treatments are classed as urgent due to poor dental hygiene.  With dental care at its most accessible, and with technologies making it all the more beneficial, you'd think that dental attendances would be through the roof. New findings from research led by the Online Pharmacy, Chemist 4 U, have unveiled however that this is far from the case. With UK dental attendances only growing by 20% in the past 40 years.  44% of adults in the North of the UK are recorded as having no NHS dental attendance over the past 24 months, meaning only 1 in 2 Brits over the age of 18 are visiting a dentist regularly, despite it being recommended that adults should visit 1 at least once a year.  London was ranked the worst for dental attendances, with a massive 55.7% having seen no dentist, within the last 24 months, the highest figure by far in the country. The North West displayed the most dental checkup records, but the figure still only sits at 56.1% of total attendances.

Therefore, it's unsurprising that over the last 12 months, 39.2 million orthodontic treatments were given to paying adults, and as much as 60% of those were classified as urgent. The scale and polish;- which removes the unhealthy build up of plaque and tartar, was found to be the most commonly issued dental treatment, with 12.7 million treatments given every single year. And according to the study, just 17% of adults were found to have entirely healthy periodontal tissues (gums) that displayed no signs of disease whatsoever.  Strangely, it would seem that our jobs affect our likelihood of experiencing dental problems, too. 27% of those from routine and manual backgrounds tend to experience tooth decay, while only 19% in managerial and professional jobs do.

Dr Anjali Patel, a UK dentist shares her thoughts on the nation's alarming dental hygiene:- "the dental attendance figures are disappointing, and unfortunately the number of adults in the UK who are showing signs of gum disease is sizable. I think there are a few reasons for these statistics, 1 of them being that there seems to be a stigma around the dentist. A lot of people feel anxious about visiting, and that's perfectly normal; but there's nothing to be worried about. We'll never perform a treatment without explaining it 1st and asking for your consent, and in most cases, forms of pain relief can be issued by ourselves; making treatments entirely painless.  There's also a lot of misconceptions around the practice of brushing our teeth, which could explain why the scale and polish treatment occurs so often in dental practices. You should be brushing for at least 2 minutes a day, at least twice a day, and you should be changing your toothbrush at least once every 3 months. I think this is a big one, as changing toothbrushes is something people often seem to forget, but that is incredibly important. I'd always recommend picking up a few while shopping, that way when it's time to change you always have 1 to hand."

This data was uncovered by Chemist 4 U and is compiled of industry research.