Frequently asked questions

No. Many families come to me while waiting for assessment, before any referral, or when a diagnosis doesn’t seem to explain the whole picture. I work from your child’s needs, whether or not they have a diagnosis.

A short call so you can tell me briefly what’s happening, and I can tell you whether one of my services is likely to be useful, which one, or whether another professional would be better placed to help. It’s for checking which service suits you, rather than detailed SEND advice.

After booking, I’ll ask for a short summary: your child’s age and school stage, the main concern and what you’d most like to come away with. For The SEND Surgery, you can send one or two key documents if they’re central to your question. Please don’t send anything until I’ve explained how to share it securely.

The SEND Surgery is a focused one-hour consultation, so it doesn’t include significant reading time beforehand. If you’d like me to read several reports or a larger bundle, the EHCP / Document Clarity Review or Assessment & Report Review is the right service. That way the reading time is properly covered and the fee is agreed in advance.

Consultations are held online by video call, so you can join from home. Specialist assessments are arranged individually.

Yes. Consultations are online, so I can work with families across England. My advice is based on the SEND system in England.

I read every message personally and aim to reply within a few working days. Because I also work in senior education leadership, The SEND Practice is deliberately small, and there is no emergency service.

No. Autism diagnosis is made by appropriately qualified clinical teams. What I can do is help you understand your child’s needs in school, what support should look like, and what an existing autism assessment means educationally.

No, and I don’t give advice about medication. I can help with the educational side of ADHD: executive functioning, regulation, reasonable adjustments and provision.

Not yet. I am working towards the Assessment Practising Certificate (APC), and full diagnostic dyslexia assessment will be available once it has been awarded. In the meantime, I offer the Specialist Learning Profile, which is not a diagnostic assessment.

An educational and psychometric assessment that I carry out myself, looking at areas such as literacy, attainment, working memory and processing. It identifies patterns of strength and difficulty and gives educational recommendations, with a written report. The tests I use depend on the question we’re trying to answer. It is not a diagnosis of dyslexia.

In an Assessment & Report Review I read assessments that other professionals have already carried out, such as an Educational Psychology, autism, ADHD, speech and language or OT report, and explain what they mean for school. In a Specialist Learning Profile I assess your child myself.

Yes. The EHCP / Document Clarity Review looks at whether the plan accurately describes your child, whether needs and provision connect, whether the provision is clear and whether it could work in practice. This is educational consultancy, not legal advice.

Yes. Annual Review Preparation helps you work out priorities, outcomes, provision and questions before the meeting. Meeting attendance isn’t included.

Yes, from an educational point of view: whether to request one, what evidence matters, how to describe needs and current provision, and why existing SEN Support may not be enough. I can’t guarantee that an assessment will be agreed, and I don’t provide legal representation.

Yes. I can help you organise reports, identify key evidence and priorities, prepare questions and work out which professional is best placed to answer each one.

Yes, and it’s one of the most common reasons parents book The SEND Surgery. Often the most useful outcome is turning a long list of concerns into a few clear questions.

Yes. This is at the heart of what I do. I look at whether the support matches the need, whether it is specific, frequent and consistent enough, and whether anyone is measuring its impact.

That may be true from where they’re standing. The useful next step is usually to get specific: what exactly is being done, for which need, how often, and what difference it has made. I can help you prepare those questions in a constructive way.

Yes. I can help you understand whether an intervention targets the right need, whether its frequency and intensity are sufficient, how it is reviewed and when intervention alone isn’t enough. I don’t sell intervention programmes.

Occasionally, by prior agreement and subject to availability. Because I work full time, meeting attendance isn’t a routine service. Where it is offered, the guide rate is £110 per hour, with substantial preparation charged separately. I don’t provide routine representation or advocacy.

Yes, with your consent. I won’t discuss your child with school without it. Please note that I don’t contact or chase schools on a family’s behalf unless that has been agreed as part of the work.

Yes. I can help you think through the barriers to attendance, including anxiety, autism, ADHD, sensory needs, sleep and health, and what reasonable adjustments, reintegration or school–home planning might help. I understand this area professionally and as a parent.

I can help you understand what Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS) means, why it may be raised, what educational evidence may be relevant and what appropriate provision might need to include. I don’t determine legal entitlement or give legal advice.

I can help you organise educational evidence and find clear, practical examples of functional impact. Most families use The SEND Surgery for this. It’s evidence-organisation support, not welfare-rights advice, and I can’t guarantee an award.

No. For advice on benefits entitlement or appeals, please contact a welfare-rights service such as Citizens Advice.

No. The SEND Practice provides educational SEND consultancy. I don’t give legal advice or provide SEND Tribunal representation. If you need either, please speak to a SEND solicitor or a specialist legal advice service.

The SEND Practice is primarily an independent consultancy and specialist assessment service. Specialist teaching may occasionally be available where it forms part of an agreed intervention, but general tutoring is not a core service.

No. Bespoke GCSE Revision Planning is for neurodivergent students who struggle to organise revision. I build a personalised, low-cognitive-load revision system around their subjects, exam boards, gaps and SEND profile. I don’t provide ongoing weekly tutoring or subject teaching.

Yes. A limited number of reduced-fee and pro bono appointments are offered at my discretion and subject to availability. See Community Access.

A small amount of capacity kept for families experiencing genuine financial difficulty. You can contact me confidentially, and you won’t be asked for intrusive financial evidence.