Activities, Services, Toys, Products and Holidays for Children with Special Needs

For cerebal palsy children and associated disabilities. The centre provides pre-school education for children 0-5 years. We belong to scope's network of schools for parents using methods inspired by those of the Peto Institute in Hungary. Programmes are designed to stimulate and awaken the child's senses and encourage self awareness through activities which are fun for both parent and child.

Established for nine years, Toybox offers a professional tailor made service to all our clients. We provide permanent staff for families, nurseries, playschemes and schools, covering Sussex, Surrey and South London as well as having an established emergency staff team for staff sickness and holidays. Overseas positions with families and Mark Warner are available for permanent and temporary assignments. Applicants are personally interviewed, police checked through CRB and all references checked before being sent out on assignments.

A member of the Federation of Small Businesses, Care Standards and Best Bear, we pride ourselves in the quality of our service.

All consultants are trained professionals and most are qualified Nursery Nurse or carers.

Please call:
(01883) 722322 for Sussex, Surrey and London areas.
(020) 8686 1766 for South London area.

CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY FOR BABIES AND CHILDREN

Does your baby or child suffer:

• Crying, Irritability
• Feeding Difficulties
• Sickness, Colic
• Sleep Disturbance
• Infections
• Ear Infections
• Asthma
• Sinus and Adenoidal Problems
• Behaviour Problems
• Hearing Difficulties
• Headaches and Pains
• And More.

Craniosacral Therapy helps the body's inherent healing ability to release stresses and strains, caused by enormous forces the baby is subjected to during the birth process. It will help the system to resolve the problem and work in a more balanced way.

For further information please call the number above.

Drug free, natural and non-invasive treatment of development and learning problems, including:

• Dyslexia
• Dysphasia
• Dyspraxia
• Hyperactivity
• Panic Attacks

The David Mulhall Centre was opened in 1995 and has since successfully treated thousands of children and adults. Please phone, write or e-mail for an initial consultation.

E-Mail: [email protected]

The Council for Disabled Children (CDC) is the umbrella body for the disabled children’s sector in England, with links to the other UK nations.

We are not resourced to provide advice or support directly to families with disabled children or children with SEN. We signpost families on to relevant organisations. Visit our website for information on national policy that impacts upon disabled children and children with special educational needs (SEN) and their families as well as details of organisations that provide advice and support.

Grooms Holidays provide the opportunities for people with disabilities to go on vacation with friends and family to accessible locations at affordable rates and enjoy a memorable holiday.

Discover new places, new faces in beautiful Britain. With its golden beaches, rocky shores and lush, green countryside there’s sure to be somewhere just right for you. What takes your fancy? We offer a select choice of hotels and self-catering accommodation around the UK. There are a variety of attractive coastal and countryside holiday choices to suit different tastes. We have personally selected the accommodation for its suitability to provide the facilities needed and access for those with various degrees of disability.

Grooms Holidays is part of John Grooms charity, the UK’s largest provider of accessible holiday properties.

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.groomsholidays.org.uk

Provision of riding lessons for disabled people of all ages and standards. Open seven days a week. Fun and physiotherapy combined.

Hope is a unique non-denominational charity for children. The Hope Centre for Cognitive Education is dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of learning potential using the methodology of Professor Feuerstein. The Centre helps students with a variety of learning and developmental difficulties ranging from bright under-achievers to those with complex needs including autistic spectrum disorders, ADHD, Downs Syndrome.

The methods include Feuerstein’s Instrumental Enrichment programme (IE) a structured thinking skills programme taught individually or in groups and is designed to complement and underpin a regular school curriculum and Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) which develops the learner’s cognitive functions. Mediated Learning involves the child as an active participant in the learning process, making the child consciously aware of how he is thinking. The Centre works as a multi-disciplinary team and actively encourage parents to become mediators with their own children and are invited to participate in teaching sessions.

The college holds a free weekly clinic for children treating many conditions including: asthma, eczema, hyperactivity and weight problems.

For those families seeking help and advice regarding children's behavioural and emotional problems. The approach taken is to examine parents childhood experiences and their own parenting practices, their own emotions and expectations of their child with a view to making adjustments to the way they deal with their child.

37 years experience of clinical psychology with children and parents including 32 years within the NHS. Face to face one hour appointments in London and Bristol.

Please contact us on the above number.

Since 1977, the Peter Le Marchant Trust has provided day trips and longer holidays for disabled and seriously ill people of all disabilities and all ages on specially designed canal boats. Over half our passengers are aged under eighteen.

From April to October inclusive, “Symphony” takes 26 people on day trips (including weekends), “Serenade” takes 10 people on 3/4 night holidays, and narrowboat “Melody” is available for weekly hire by a family or group with at least one disabled member. Charges are kept to a minimum so as not to exclude any groups. The remainder is raised in donations.

Child Educational Assessments - Comprehensive Written Reports - Dyslexia Diagnosis & Coaching - Private Tutorials for Maths, English, SATs and GCSE. Ages 4 - 16 year olds.

Pure Living Collection is an online store that sells a fabulous range of luxurious duvets, pillows, mattress protectors and associated bedding products. This website offers invaluable advice on the most appropriate bedding available for children.

Children just love the feel of the soft light-weight, hypoallergenic Spundown Duvets. Mums love them too, for this is the award winning duvet that just loves to be washed, time and time again. For summer the 3.0 tog Pure Cotton Duvet is a popular choice of children’s duvet as it will help your child maintain a regular temperature on warm summer nights.

The polyester hollow-fibre filling of the Anti Allergy Duvets and Pillows contain material in which house dust mites cannot live, thus playing a major role in helping to relieve allergies caused by them. Alternatively, the Anti Allergy Duvet, Pillow and Mattress Protectors all provide an effective barrier between your child and the dust mites and their allergens.

Pure Living Collection also offers some pillows with slightly less filling and therefore perfect for smaller shoulders, whilst waterproof mattress protectors offer their mattresses protection against those all too common accidents and spills.

Web: www.purelivingcollection.com

We are a full time Martial Arts school catering for all ages from 5 years old teaching Taekwondo and kickboxing. The smaller childrens classes are called Little Ninjas, we also provide a special needs class on Saturdays.

Children's martial arts classes in Gravesend and Maidstone

Web: www.t-k-d.co.uk

Retired teacher offers private or paired tuition for children aged 4-11. Preparation for SATS and selective tests. Special programmes for specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia or dyspraxia using tapes and varied educational materials.

Gentle support encourages confidence and steady progression. Being a qualified teacher, counsellor and psychodynamic psychologist Sylvia Knight offers understanding therapy and a way forward for all members of families under stress, often marked by children's difficulties at school. Poor results, bullying and absenteeism may follow moving home, bereavement or relationship problems.

E-Mail: [email protected]

Is your child/adult learner struggling with spelling and related skills?
Is your child/adult learner underachieving or is possibly dyslexic?
Do you want to see him/her succeed NOW?

RwRR can help you. RwRR (Read it wRite it Remember it) is a unique multisensory STRATEGY, which deals with common areas of failure regarding spelling and related skills and due to its flexible nature it can be tailor-made to individual, group or class needs with little or no preparation.

Our selection of workbooks, flashcards and guides give parents and teachers the tools to help learners acquire the necessary skills for confident spelling. This will in turn help with better long and short-term memory, better concentration, improved self-esteem and encourages independent learning.

Visit our website today and discover an exciting way forward and one you will want to tell others about!

Mobile: 07752 599968
Email: [email protected]

Gymnastics for all from 18 months to adult in the Luton & Bedfordshire areas. All abilities welcome.

British Gymnastics Association qualified coaches in General Gymnastics, Pre-School, Sports Acrobatics and Special Needs. We also run daily Playgym sessions for preschoolers, Classes for Home Educated Children and also have the only dedicated Youth Fitness Gym in the county.

Email: [email protected]

Special Kids in the UK offers an online support forum, regular newsletters and offers to parents/families of children with a special need and/or disability. We also has a wide range of information available on our site around the subject of respite, services, education and more.

What makes us unique is that we parents/carers of children with special needs ourselves. Understanding the difficulties and emotions involved with a child of any age with special needs is something we can all associate with. In addition friendship, support and practical hints and tips are a major feature of our organisation.

For more information visit our website:

Web: www.specialkidsintheuk.org
Email: [email protected]

Accessible holidays for disabled people and families in Brittany, France. We can provide accessible accommodation, transport and a support service. We try to make your holiday as "hassle free" as possible. From self catering to luxury hotels we can offer you confidence with accessibility. Contact us for more information.

MOVE is a national charity working with severely disabled children in a Programme designed to increase their mobility and therefore their independence.

MOVE combines therapy and education in a programme which helps children work towards goals that they really want to achieve, which can range from learning to hold their head up by themselves to learning the skills needed to play football with their friends using a pacer. MOVE is unique in that no child is too disabled to use it and works with the child’s parents, teachers and therapists to teach them skills which are then practised in everyday life, enabling parents to be involved in key decision making and instrumental in their child’s development.

Visit our website or call us on 020 7407 5344 to find out more information, speak to a specialist or a parent of a child already on the programme or to visit a school using MOVE.

Email: [email protected]

The Osteopathic Centre for Children is a registered charity committed to the osteopathy care of children.

At the OCC clinic in London, babies and children come for treatment with such diverse conditions as asthma, cerebral palsy, colic, Down's syndrome, eczema, sleeplessness and the more common childhood ailments. Pregnant and post-partum women are also cared for.

The OCC is further committed to research into the effectiveness of osteopathy, and the raising of public awareness that osteopathy is for children first. More than 25,000 treatments are given at the clinic in London every year and no child is ever turned away for want of a family's ability to pay.

London Clinic
Osteopathic Centre for Children
15a Woodbridge Street, London EC1R 0ND
Tel:(020) 7490 5510

Manchester Clinic
Osteopathic Centre for Children
Phoenix Mill, Piercy Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 7HY
Tel: (0161) 277 9911

I am a fully qualified homeopath, registered with the Society of Homeopaths.

Homeopathy is a tried & trusted system of medicine - effective, non-toxic, with no side effects. Treatment is suitable during pregnancy and for the youngest of babies.

I have successfully dealt with a wide range of common childhood problems,.

For example:

• Sleep difficulties
• Gastric Reflux
• Colic
• Bed Wetting
• Behavioural Problems
• Morning Sickness
• Delayed Development
• Glue Ear
• Asthma
• Eczema
• Need for repeated antibiotics

Please call for free, no obligation information and advice.

(Prices for children - £35 first appt, £25 thereafter, cost of remedies is included)

SenseToys offers practical information and an interesting range of toys and activities for pre-school children and particularly for children with special educational needs – all based on first hand experience!

The emphasis of our resources to promote the acquisition of language through play for both verbal and non-verbal children.

SenseToys was set up by parents of two children with special needs, one with a language delay and one with autism. The carefully selected range of resources aim at helping children acquire language through play by helping to make learning fun and rewarding. Even the most ordinary toys can help your child if you know how to use them effectively.

The range includes thick wooden jigsaws with simple non-stylised pieces, lovely fabric beanie bags to teach shapes and colours, threading activities with large holes and chunky pieces, cause and effect toys and a great selection of tactile and sensory balls for lots of squishy bouncy fun. We also now include basic games and actvities to help with alphabet, counting and language concepts such as prepositions, opposites, small medium and large and we have a new range of toys to facilitate construction play.

Tel: 0845 257 0849 for a catalogue
Web: www.sensetoys.com

Brainwave is an independent Charity based in Bridgwater, providing developmental therapy for children who have both physical and cognitive disabilities, whether caused by brain injury,genetic abnormality, or accident.

A programme of physical and cognitive exercises is designed by the therapy team according to each child’s very specific needs. These exercises are taught to the child’s parents and carers who carry out the programme in the comfort and familiarity of the family home; through which 80% of children make measurable improvements and some achieve a degree of independence far beyond their families’ expectations.

1500 children have benefited from the Brainwave Programme since the Charity was established in 1982.

Email: [email protected]

SNAP! Childcare places specialist nannies and carers for babies, children and young adults who have additional needs. We offer a friendly, but professional service, both to individual families and organisations.

We offer a nationwide service, providing experienced and qualified nannies, carers and enablers for children and young adults who may have a range of special needs from a mild learning disability to profound and multiple disabilities and their siblings!

Our carers have a wide range of experience, including Makaton & British Sign language, Conductive Education, speech, occupational and physio therapy. We deal with live-in, daily, permanent and temporary positions. All nannies and carers are carefully vetted and personally interviewed. At least two references are verbally verified and an Enhanced Police Check is required (SNAP Childcare is a Registered Body with the Criminal Records Bureau).

Please log onto our website for full details.

Web: www.snapchildcare.co.uk

Whizz-Kidz is a national charity that improves the quality of life of disabled children and young people up to 18 by providing them with customised mobility equipment such as powered wheelchairs.

We also offer wheelchair skills training, advice and information and campaign to raise awareness of disabled young people's needs. Many of those we help become members of our Kidz Board, acting as our ambassadors and getting involved in projects and events.

Through this support Whizz-Kidz has given nearly 4,000 disabled children and young people the chance to enjoy an independent life at home, at school and at play.

Web: www.whizz-kidz.org.uk

Please visit the website or contact the Centre for further information.

We teach the safest method of riding horses. Our speciality is to one tuition for all ages starting from 4 years. We are BHS and ABRS approved.

Group lessons and Private Group lessons, ‘Ride With Your Mind’ Coaching and exam training. We also work with special needs individually, offer tutoring in caring of your animal and we are a Pony club centre.

Russell’s Livery offers full facilities. We can look after your horse or pony for you.

Epona Trust is a non-profit making organisation that re-habilitates horses and ponies. Horses and ponies available for loan.

Sports academy with football coaching run by fully qualified football coach. Coaching given to children aged 8-18 years every Monday from 5pm - 6.30pm. Caters for special needs.

Established for over 20 years TFH are providers of carefully selected fun products designed to help you or those in your care enjoy life, and achieve more. Positive experiences unlock potential and so our "toys" will lead to functional as well as emotional benefits including:

• Controlled sensory input stimulates exploration of the environment.
• Practicing fine and gross-motor movement develops and retains skills.
• Responsive equipment aids self-awareness, a stepping-stone towards responsibility.
• Positioning devices and swings help coordination, confidence and self-regulation.
• Participation in turn-taking games encourages socialization.
• Interactive Equipment empowers the user, leading to independence.

Order our free colour catalogue or visit our website to stimulate your imagination, begin programs, or reinforce encouraged behaviours, there is a lot that we can achieve…while having Fun.

Email: [email protected]

I have run my massage company for over 13years and am a qualified infant massage Instructor.

I run workshops for both parents and carers teaching the wonderful art of massage in a beautiful environment in Muswell Hill, North London. Massaging your baby can promote a feeling of wellbeing therefore resulting in restful sleep... a happy baby and parent!

I arrange home visits to groups and couples and am based in North London. Call me on the above number or email for further information and next workshop dates.

The New Eccles Hall School is set in beautiful grounds in rural Norfolk near the Cambridgeshire and Suffolk borders. We are a mainstream, independent school with Nursery, Junior and Secondary departments and we have day pupils and weekly boarders.

Our Individual Tuition Unit provides strong support for pupils with special educational needs and we have many years' experience in helping with dyslexia, dyspraxia, aspergers, Specific Learning Difficulties and Communication Difficulties.

Web: www.neweccleshall.com

BIBIC exists to maximise the potential of children with conditions affecting their social, sensory communication, motor and learning abilities by teaching parents exercises and techniques which can help improve the quality of life for the whole family. A doctor and an interdisciplinary team address issues such as behaviour problems, understanding, mobility, speech and communication. Methods are compatible with school and serve to increase learning opportunities for children with problems.

Web: www.bibic.org.uk

The Disability Martial Arts Association was sent up in January 2007 We are a wide supporting network for people with disabilities and their families who are or who wish to be involved in martial arts.

We have set up a data base of Martial Arts Academy’s School’s and Club’s in the UK that will teach people with all types of disabilities.

Martial arts classes for children and adults with disabilities

The main services provided by Surrey County Arts are:

• Music Lessons on a wide range of instruments and voice
• Workshops and Residential courses
• Music Therapy and teaching support for Special Needs
• Classroom support related to national curriculum, GCSE and 'A' Level
• Surrey County Youth Theatre
• Dance and Drama opportunities.

And more …. Log onto the website for full details.

Web: www.surreycountyarts.org.uk

Break provides a range of specialist care service for children and young people in need. This includes fully supported holidays and respite care for children with learning disabilities, including those with high level needs and behavioural difficulties. While on holiday at Break, guests enjoy a full range of activities and daily outings, all supported by a skilled and professional staff team. There is a soft play room, sensory room, heated swimming pool and each bedroom has it’s own wash basin and tv/video for guests.

Break also has adapted self-catering chalets which provide a low cost base for a wonderful family holiday in Norfolk.

Please call us for more details – and you can enjoy a holiday to remember with Break.