We know that many of our wonderful community members are so understanding of why we run SEND-only sessions, but we thought it might be worth explaining some of the differences and why we think it is so important to provide our SEND-only sessions.
First and foremost, our SEND sessions create spaces which are entirely inclusive and which have our young people at the heart of all of our decisions. We think about how many places we can comfortably and safely allocate and all activities are carefully planned to maximise sensory enjoyment and minimise sensory disruption.
We risk assess based on our knowledge of who is attending and adapt activities, layout and provision based on our attendees. We do this before every session but also dynamically during sessions.
Our SEND sessions are staffed with our trained and knowledgeable SEND team – and whilst all of our team have SEND training and awareness, we ensure that we have extra staff to support during these sessions, whether this be mini-short breaks, sensory support, cost of living support, SEND signposting or parental wellbeing support.
A second, but no less important benefit of our SEND sessions is that they create a space where young people can be entirely themselves. An important effect of this is that parents and carers can attend without fear of stigma or judgement. Whether it’s wonderfully loud vocalisations, beautifully noticeable stimming or behaviours which may draw a raised eyebrow in non-SEND sessions, at Ruby’s, we won’t bat an eyelash. We understand that these behaviours communicate – whether it is happiness, sadness, excitement or discomfort and our only goal is to try to understand and to support the young person and their adults and to make sure everyone is safe. We hope that this mea
ns that our SEND parents and carers also feel safe, seen and welcomed.
You may wonder why we aren’t able to have non-SEND attendees at our SEND sessions. For example, this summer we are running SEND-only sessions at Congleton paddling pool on a Wednesday morning. We will often have families attend who haven’t booked and who don’t have diagnosed or emerging SEND-needs. Whilst we absolutely hate turning anyone away and feel the disappointment of these families deeply, we know how vital these sessions are for our SEND families so that they can feel physically and emotionally safe and have a truly inclusive space. Because of this, it’s important that the numbers are at a safe level and the families know that they are in a place where people understand their additional needs.
For many of our families, they can count the number of places they can visit on one hand. A trip to the park is out of the question without military level planning and two adults to one child. Going into town may result in an emotional meltdown which can quickly turn physical and mean that the child is not safe. Trips may have to be abandoned and many SEND families have an “exit” plan where food, drink and entry fees are abandoned at a moment’s notice. Other SEND-sessions may be at times which are not so popular, such as late on a Sunday evening or once a month, or early morning, but this can often mean that they aren’t accessible for our SEND families.
That’s why Ruby’s and our SEND-only sessions are a lifeline for some of our members. We provide affordable, inclusive and welcoming sessions at convenient times and open up the world a little when it can often feel very closed.
We thank all of our community for the support that you give our SEND families. And to all of our SEND-members, we see you and we’ve got you! 💖