Ensuring that children and young people with complex needs are enabled by professionals to make their own decisions and lead independent lives is crucial and at the centre of the SEND reforms and good practice. This guide is indispensable for any professionals working with children, young people and families in navigating policy and practice in this complex area. It also supports developing practice around ensuring that parents are kept fully involved and support the process. There are few more knowledgeable experts on both the law and the practice in this area and this should be required reading for professional development for anyone working in this field. Brian Lamb, Visiting Professor of SEND, Derby University, Chair of Achievement for All With the rise in mental health issues and subsequent awareness in children and young people - particularly those with special educational needs, this book couldn''t have come soon enough! As health and education professionals we must be made more aware of the impact a lack of independent and well supported decision making can have on a child and young person''s feeling of mental well-being and belonging. As an SLT promoting joint decision making with parents and children and young people through a health coaching approach, this book will be invaluable in complimenting your rationale, planning and execution of child centred intervention and get you thinking about the ways you can support the children and families you work with in a more holistic approach to gain the results that are collectively strived for Hana L Haziem (BA/PGCert), Service Manager, Children''s Speech and Language Therapy, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust. As a QTVI, and Sensory Service Manager, I found this book extremely useful and thought provoking, and recommend it to all specialist professionals working with CYP with SEND, and their families. It provides a direct link between the legislative framework of the SEND CoP and EHCP''s, and the importance of empowering CYP to make their own decisions, whilst supporting parents to encourage and allow them to become independent in their decision making, as far as possible.

The book has a useful framework for how to teach decision making skills from the earliest years, and the approach will be easily embedded into a professional''s armoury. Anne Lomas, Head of Sensory and PD Services (retired) This book shines a light on an overlooked area and appeals to a wide range of professionals working within the education sector. The book explores how to support children and young people to develop their decision-making skills, providing the reader with examples of practical applications along the way. Dr Suzanne Devereux, Nicola Blackwell and Katherine Lucor, West Sussex Educational Psychology service Increasingly occupational therapists are contributing to Education Health Care Plans to support children and young adults maximise their learning and development. Therapists must juggle busy case work and their continuous professional development requirements related to keeping up to date with clinical evidence. This can result in limited capacity to research legislation and government guidance related to EHCPs. This book brings together the key relevant legislation in an accessible format for health professionals working into education and provides the reader with essential information around the legal framework.The author discusses in detail the challenges of enabling children and young people develop decision making skills.

The topic will stimulate occupational therapists to consider how hey can enable this skill development when working with children and setting treatment goals and planning programmes. The book contains varied and interesting case studies which give practical examples on how to support choice and provide opportunities to develop essential decision making skills. The book will be a valuable resource for therapists. Jane Oxnard Jay, Occupational Therapist.