The study, for Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, highlighted disabled pupils being excluded from school sports and “stared at in public”.

According to a story in The Scotsman newspaper, they had “lower expectations” for achieving educational qualifications and faced a lack of job and career opportunities when they left school.

Co-authors Professor Kirsten Stalker, of the Glasgow School of Social Work, and Dr Lio Moscardini, from the University of Strathclyde, said disabled children were also “made to feel different in negative ways” while learning and playing at school.

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Where
Limelight Childcare Galashiels 12-1pm for Bal-A-Vis-X demonstration, followed by 2 hours at Mike’s Military Mayhem.

When
Sunday, 3rd June, 2012

Bring
Your child or children. Mike’s Military Mayhem will provide juice and water, fruit and some Haribo energy sweets, each child will leave with a certificate and lots of smiles.

Only 20 places available!

We hope this special  fun day will give you an insight to this enlightening programme which will be available in Scotland for the first time on 22-24th June 2012. Bill Hubert the developer of the Bal-A-Vis-X programme is coming from the USA to train parents, teachers and health professionals. On completion of this 3 day training you are then ready to start working with your own children/students.

Please sign up for the fun day by sending an email with Bal-a-Vis-X in the subject field, indicating who you would like to secure places for, along with a contact telephone number to: admin@afasicscotland.org.uk

Campaign group Parenting Across Scotland, a partnership of high-profile charities who offer support to children and families, argue that too many mums and dads still struggle to find the help they need.

In response, they have launched a series of proposals on how to make improvements, according to The Daily Record.

Project manager Clare Simpson said: “Most parents do a great job by themselves, but all families need help from time to time and some need real support at times of crisis.

“We have a lot of work to do to get it right from the start for every family in Scotland and give all families the support they deserve.

“If the Scottish Government are serious about making ­Scotland the best place in the world to bring up children, they need to invest in mainstream support for families to ensure the National Parenting Strategy is something that really makes a difference to all of Scotland’s families.”

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HMRC will stop working tax credit for most couples with children who do not work at least 24 hours a week between them, from 6 April 2012.

Families in receipt of Carers Allowance must contact HMRC before 6 April 2012.

Carers Scotland  is warning families that if they do not do this, their WTC can be stopped and they will have to submit a new claim.

More details here

The recent study, conducted by Queen Margaret University and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), identified a “huge unmet need”, with few offenders receiving adequate help to improve their communication skills – skills which could “better equip individuals to live more successfully and prevent a return to criminal activity”.

It was the most comprehensive study of speech and language therapy within Scotland’s criminal justice system, according to a story in The Scotsman.

Around 60 per cent of young people in contact with youth justice services have speech, language and communication needs.

The aim of the study was to support the campaign to improve speech, language and communication services within the Scottish justice system. It also helped to identify the type and scale of the current service provision within the system and where service improvements could be made.

It is called ‘Listening to Children and Young People with Speech, Language and Communication Needs,’ and £1.50 from each sale, goes to Afasic to help its work supporting children with speech and language difficulties and their parents.

This book focuses on the challenges in listening to children and young people with SLCN and offers expert insight from researchers, speech and language therapists and social workers from a diversity of disciplines such as health, education and social care.

It also provides a range of creative techniques and solutions for listening to children and young people.

Among the 52 contributors are; The Communication Trust’s Professional Director Wendy Lee, Hazel Roddam PhD, Chair of Council at the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and Chris Markham PhD, a senior lecturer from University of Portsmouth.

Although experts acknowledge the benefits of consulting children with SLCN, very little has previously been written about the challenges involved in the process.

Personal perspectives are also provided by Abigail Beverly, a young person who grew up with SLCN and graduated from Central St Martin’s in London , and Robbie Simons, a student with Asperger’s Syndrome.

Linda Lascelles, Chief Executive Officer at Afasic, said: “We’re delighted to have contributed to this book and that the authors have decided to give all the royalties to Afasic.

This will go towards our work in helping children who have a speech and language impairment. Too often this group of children is invisible. If we are to understand what they want from services and how they can best be tailored to meet their needs, it is crucial for us to listeand consult with them.”

The book is available to order from publisher JR Press priced at £19.99 (not including postage and packing).

The Doran Review is holding consultations across the country, asking parents, carers and support groups how the system can be improved.

It will then make recommendations based on its consultations, to the Scottish Government in June 2012

These consultation events will gather the views of both families and parent support groups on the key issues;

● how satisfied you are with the processes to identify your child’s care, health and learning needs

● how well informed you feel about schools and services that could help your child

● how well your child’s nursery or school  and other services such as health and Social Work are meeting his or her needs

● how well supported you and your child feel when he/she is preparing to leave and settling in to a new school or leaving school to go on to adult service.

The consultation is free to attend. Here is a list of dates and locations: 22nd March, 12 noon to 3pm, Aberdeen Thistle Altens Hotel; 27th March, 9.30am to 1pm, Edinburgh Hilton Grosvenor Hotel; 29th March, 9.30am to 1pm, Glasgow Hilton Grosvenor Hotel.

The events are open to parents, carers and support groups from across Scotland who have an interest in the provision of education for children and young people with complex additional support needs.

Book online at www.childreninscotland.org.uk or by phone on 0131 222 2446

According to the National Literacy Trust’s Words for Life campaign, 29% of parents polled think that someone else plays a more important role in their child’s reading, writing and speech development.

Learning at home has the biggest influence on the achievement of children and is a far more accurate predictor of a child’s success than the family’s income.

However, the new research with UK parents found  that nearly a third (29%) felt the most important influence on their children’s communication and language skills lay with someone else.

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Thousands of sick and disabled Scots and their families will lose out under UK Government benefit reforms, according to new figures published by Citizens Advice Scotland.

 The Herald details a report by the agency which  reveals the likely impact of transferring tens of thousands of Scots claimants off incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance and on to the new Employment and Support Allowance.

ESA, introduced in 2008, had until recently only been offered to new claimants. However, in April 2011, the Department for Work and Pensions began ‘migrating’ existing claimants of the old benefits on to the new allowance.

Around 170,000 Scots are now being assessed at the rate of 1000 a week, and will have their sickness benefits reassessed by 2014. However, many have already been told they are not eligible for ESA.

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Its workshop is fully accessible and applications are particularly welcomed from artists who have a disability.

The successful artists will have access to workshop space and production facilities five days a week (Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays) for a full calendar month.

This is not private space so there will be the opportunity to interact with Project Ability’s staff, tutors, artists and visitors to the workshop.

The residencies will be offered to artists who can successfully demonstrate how they will use the time and resources to develop their artistic practice.

There is also the opportunity to submit work to a group exhibition in the gallery in January 2013.

Applications must contain 4 images of your work, preferably emailed or on a disc, an artist statement, a work plan and your preferred calendar month from April 2012 through to September 2012.

For details on how to apply, visit the Project Ability website. If you need any more assistance with the application process and please contact Elisabeth Gibson director@project-ability.co.uk

Deadline for applications is 2nd March 2012.