Support increased for SEND families in West Sussex as summer holidays begin
They're providing extra clubs and activities with demand for support expected to spike over the next six weeks.
West Sussex County Council says they've upped funding for support for families with SEND children this summer.
They're providing extra clubs and activities as part of their 'Short Breaks' scheme - with demand for support expected to spike over the next six weeks.
The service provides the likes of youth clubs, accessible sports activities and family activities for young people up between 0 and 18 receiving PIP or DLA.
Michael Rhodes-Kubiak, their SEND Commissioning Manager, told us about the extra challenges SEND families may face: "For families with children with additional needs, those children will often not have the peer contact that their neurotypical siblings would have.
"Sometimes, because there's additional needs, there may be additional sort of challenges for carers looking after them.
"They may need to sort of carefully plan activities, some of for some of the children they may have sort of additional health needs that require specialist intervention or training.
"It may make it more difficult for family members or friends to look after those children."
He advised parents needing support to look at their Local Offer, where they can find information and advice - including on activities available via Short Breaks.
He added: "We've also got an excellent disability register that parents of children with additional needs can sign up to.
"We produce regular newsletters that signposts them to activities and information around West Sussex and wider.
"If you register, families can sign up for what they call a Max card, which offers that family discounts at some local and national attractions." Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.