The amazing thing about Helen is that even when I don’t think I’m going to be able to do anything she makes it fun and possible.
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DEXTER, aged 12
As a former secondary school teacher I recognise that my 8-year old twins are – in different ways – exactly the kind of children who can easily fall through the cracks in a busy and complex school. I feel that we met Helen at just the right moment in the children’s lives, and I am indescribably grateful.
Our twins’ needs are not severe; or at least they are not for now: they are well-behaved and reasonably diligent, and in a class with 4 children with EHCPs I am deeply sympathetic to the teachers who have to support all thirty kids. Having said that neither has been thriving. In the case of our son, Helen has helped us to see that his difficulties lie, at least in part, in processing speed differences. He was not helped by a late diagnosis of an eye problem and at eight was just beginning to lose confidence. Helen is helping him – and perhaps more importantly us – to help him find ways of learning which suit him better.
As she and her peers grow up, our daughter seem increasingly different in her emotional regulation and increasingly aware of this. Helen is helping her both to understand the way she relates to people and to learn, in the way she needs, how to relate to others.
Our daughter may sit on the autistic spectrum and Helen has been invaluable in helping us tease out whether going down the diagnostic route could be helpful (we’ve decided it will be!). Autism, as I have now learned, tends to present very differently in girls and neither we nor the school would ever have considered it without Helen’s guidance. Irrespective of whether our daughter meets the diagnostic criteria, Helen has helped us to see that she certainly has traits and that with or without a diagnosis she and those around her will need to help her understand the way she is and help her in those situations she finds hardest. As Helen has pointed out diagnosis is the beginning not the end – the important thing is to meet the needs of each individual child; not always easy in a busy family life or a large school.
For both our children the work Helen does with them individually is amazing. They open up and respond to her in a way which I find wonderful. She structures the sessions completely differently for each child and thinks about both what they will enjoy and what will best serve them. I honestly think our daughter just thinks Helen is really a friend, whilst our son is thrilled that Helen helps him with his homework.
But the most important thing about the arrangement we have with Helen is the work she does with my husband and me. In a sense the sessions with the children are her way to gather insight into their strengths and challenges and the way they feel about different aspects of their life and learning. Helen is then able to coach my husband and I both about techniques/routines we can use and approaches to take with the school. I don’t know that we are very good students, but she is gentle and thoughtful and able to process that my husband and I have slightly different assumptions about parenting and to help us take the good in both.
I feel very well-equipped in talking to the school because Helen has helped me do it in a way which is useful for them rather than demanding. (She’s also given me the confidence to do it at all.)
I feel that we found Helen at just the right time. Our son has just begun to articulate feelings of stupidity in relationship to others in the class and Helen uses the strength of his interests in history, chess and the outside world and helps him see spelling/timestable recitation are essential skills – but not very important measures of intelligence. I believe the confidence he is gaining will be crucial to his having a successful and happy life in school.
I feel my husband and I not only understand our children better, but each other and the approaches we take. Having Helen coach us about the more challenging behavioural moments gives us a real opportunity to focus and think strategically about what we are doing well and less well, rather than just muddling along. Helen is incredibly flexible in the way she works. She even offered to do a session with my mum and our au pair to help them understand how better to support the twins.
If you are lucky enough to work with Helen I cannot tell you how quickly you should jump at the chance!
I ought to add that Helen’s written reports are always to the most extraordinarily high standard. They are invaluable in feeding back and consolidating what we have learned and really useful to share with teachers and others.
In short Helen is incredible and if every family could have a Helen the world would be a much better place!
Katie W, Parent
I worked with Helen for almost four years whilst I was teaching at Weeth School. Helen is an incredibly inspiring person. She has endless patience, experience, and knowledge on all things SEN. When asking Helen for help she listens intently, empathises and understands. Having taught in a specialist school, Helen appreciates both the variety of needs you are presenting her with but also the classroom environment and their limitations. Helen’s ideas and strategies are grounded in classroom practice and she makes teachers feel empowered to make a real difference for the children in class.
Kate Malnick, Primary School Teacher
I have taught a wide range of challenging children with complex needs, a few with diagnosed needs and many of them with developmental, social and emotional problems. I spoke to Helen a lot! She did not just offer advice on how to help specific children, but also supported and suggested ways I could develop my teaching strategies, learning environments and the way I communicated with the entire class. In previous settings other professionals have offered me strategies that are almost impossible to implement properly due to time, space, class dynamics and staffing limitations. This is where Helen excels. Helen’s ideas are realistic and achievable but with remarkable results and success. Helen looks beyond the individual child and their specific need or behaviour. She considers everyone in the class, staff included, and maximises the impact of her support way beyond the individual, in a way that can be quickly and easily implemented with uttermost impact. I developed and grew so much as a teacher when working with her. I changed the way I thought about behaviour and SEN and have learnt how to create a truly inclusive environment that supports the whole child. Her knowledge and support made an immeasurable difference to so many of the children in our care.
During CPD sessions with Helen, I learnt more than I could have imagined. She has a catalogue of experience and shares her knowledge in such a way that you end the session not only more knowledgeable but confident and excited about how to start implementing your own ideas for the best interests of your children. This has also extended out to parents who she works with, they become empowered, assertive and positive and can see how small changes can make such an enormous difference for the whole family.
I cannot recommend working with Helen enough. She will upskill both teachers and TA’s getting them to think critically and creatively about how they can better support the children themselves.
My son (now 15) was diagnosed with dyslexia in year 7. He had been tested for dyslexia in primary school and the screen tests had not picked up on it. He then went on and struggled through his sats, and went on again to become distressed trying to read and keep up in secondary school. At this point I decided to have an educational psychologist assess him, who found he had a significant learning difficult, and at the same time quite an unusual profile, which time has shown makes it hard for teachers to recognise/acknowledge and understand his difficulties. He is now in year 10 and I have spent nearly 3 years trying to support my son through communicating his difficulties and needs to the school but with varying reactions and support. As the work became more challenging, so he found it harder to focus, concentrate and achieve. His teachers had higher expectations than he was able for which left him feeling despondent and frustrated. On the other hand there are teachers that really seemed to understand his needs and how to support him.
Kate E, Parent
I met Helen having been recommended by a friend. We first met and chatted about my son and the difficulties he was having and hence myself also. Her immediate understanding and empathy was such a comfort, but tied in with a professional and knowledgable approach as to how to move forward was at the same time reassuring and positive. She took time to listen and asked questions to get as best an idea of our situation. She looked at his educational report and his school learning passport and looked at what the school was doing to support him, comparing it to what was actually happening, and looked at areas which perhaps had been overlooked and could have better plans and support in place. Helens knowledge and experience is phenomenal and she is enthusiastic and thorough in her approach. She looked at research and papers to back up what we were asking of the school so as to reduce their work load, but to help achieve what we were aiming for. It struck me that where I might have become emotional and frustrated with the school and possibly unrealistic in what I was asking of the them, she found ways to ease their load, but also achieve the help and support my son needed.
I couldn’t recommend Helen more highly and already after one meeting and a few emails feel more positive and optimistic about the future. I have also communicated our thoughts and actions to my son. He feels reassured and supported as at times at school he has felt misunderstood and judged for things out of his control.
My wife and I have struggled with settling our son into mainstream education and for last couple of years have at times felt completely lost, not knowing where to go for help. Having tried the obvious ‘normal’ places for help such as the school, council, friends and family and the internet we couldn’t get the specific help that we needed to not only help our son but also to guide us through the incredibly difficult system which is alien to me as a parent. This is especially concerning when I know the importance of supporting my child in these early and critical stages of his development, but am limited by my knowledge of the system and ignorant of the wonderful insights and tools that could be available if only I was made aware of them.
Mike R, Parent
My wife and I are friends with Helen and her family, and have reached out for her support on many occasions during the last 2 years when we’ve been through two school appeals, countless meetings with the school, and when needing supporting for our child due to bullying, socialisation and mental wellbeing.
The advice Helen has given us and the strategies to help our child cope, develop and grow have been invaluable. She listens to our specific concerns and issues and offers bespoke support tailored to us individuals and as a family, making us aware of tools we can use, resources we can find and, more than this, helps us as parents to understand how to navigate the school system and to understand our child and their needs more acutely. On a personal level she makes us feel like we’re doing the right things as parents, reassured and much more positive and informed. It has led directly to our child being much happier with a hugely positive benefit to his mental health and happiness within school.
I couldn’t imagine not having Helen’s support, and it worries me to think that most parents would be stuck by themselves trying to navigate from the outside of the system. I would love to think that Helen would be able to bring her tremendous knowledge and focussed expertise into schools where other parents and children like us can benefit from her priceless support and advice.
As a parent, what you offer in your written format is just what you want to hear. ‘Someone to hold my hand, ‘check in on me and help you ‘feel empowered’. I can honestly say that everything you have hope to offer mentioned on the website I have felt I have received. Firstly you listened and made me feel comfortable and understood the challenges we may have been having at home and at school and gave me strategies to help move forward. It is very re-assuring that you have so much experience with the school system and can help navigate through future challenges.
Louise M, Parent