Kim White started the SEND Sisterhood because she was tired.
Tired of the forms and assessments, the fighting to get her autistic son who has muscular dystrophy and epilepsy the help he needs and having to explain her son’s needs to people who she said ‘don’t quite get it’.
The Coventry mum said the Sisterhood – which meets once a month – is not a support group as such, but somewhere parents can gather and offload with a coffee and slice of cake.
“After speaking to lots of parents, they all felt the same – exhausted, not sleeping well, not eating well, not really taking care of themselves,” White said. “So the SEND Sisterhood stems from that.”
White, from Wyken, runs the 90 minute sessions at the Stoke Heath Community Centre – which she manages – after spending 18 months setting up the building to make sure there is wheelchair access to both the main rooms and the garden.
Government data suggests that there are 1,428 children under five in Coventry, external that are categorised as having special educational needs (SEN), a figure slightly higher than the national average for England.
The figures also suggest that within the same cohort, 398 children have been granted a Education and Health Care plan, external (EHCP) – just under the national average.