Catch the livestream Wednesday 30th March 6pm - Thursday 6pm at https://twitch.tv/JohnSReid.

Many years ago I adopted a baby who needed a home. We thought we were prepared for everything that life could throw at us, but I didn't anticipate what potential impact his possible needs would have on his life.

10 years later our family was struggling. He had been excluded from his special needs school. He had no educational support and we as a family struggled to cope. Despite begging for help to the local authority, council and support services we felt ignored and abandoned. My own mental health took a tumble as I struggled to keep our lives held together balancing working and caring non-stop. 

I took a trip to visit one of SOS!SENs walk-in support clinics. It was a relief to speak to someone who could help us work within the system to get the help that we needed. When we needed their help at a panel meeting to put our case across our advisor joined us and was instrumental in getting things back on track.

It was a horrific year for us, and thanks to SOS!SEN's support we were put on the right track for having the contacts and help we needed. Now our son is in a full-time school and I'm able to work. It's not easy, but it's something that resembles a life again.

As a family, I know that we're not alone. I also know that as my wife is a teacher, we even had an advantage to access the support we needed. Yet the system was impenetrable and almost uncaring.

The work SOS!SEN is invaluable to many families with children that need help. At a time when the needs of families is at its highest, it's important to keep supporting the children and families. Without organisations like SOS!SEN, I fear that too many families will needlessly go without the care and support that we felt.

If you can, please please support the stream and SOS!SEN.

A few words from SOS!SEN:

This is an appeal on behalf of the trustees of SOS Special Educational Needs. As you are probably aware, we help parents and carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities to obtain the right support and education for their children. We operate a free telephone helpline and walk-in SEN advice centres. Our Charity is in desperate need of funds to continue the work that we do. We have been forced to close our charity shop due to the restrictions put in place by the government aimed at preventing the spread of Coronavirus. This puts us in a very difficult financial position as our charity is heavily reliant on the income generated by the shop. We do not receive any grants or sponsorship and all our income comes from donations and a limited number of fundraising events all of which have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely.