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More free guides and toolkits
Something does not add up, but you cannot quite explain why
You may be seeing difficult school mornings, after-school meltdowns, shutdowns, anxiety, friendship problems, sensory overload, behaviour changes or a growing gap between what school sees and what happens at home.
The Parent Pattern Snapshot helps you gather those pieces in one place.
It is not a diagnosis tool and it is not a behaviour chart.
It is designed to help you notice what keeps happening, when it happens, what may be increasing the difficulty, what appears to help, and what questions may be useful to ask next.
What you will get
A clearer picture of what is happening
Prompts to spot when and where difficulties show up
Space to compare what school sees with what happens at home
Clues to possible triggers, demands and pressure points
A simple way to record what helps and what makes things harder
Questions to take into conversations with school, the SENCo or your GP
A final “What do I need to ask next?” section to help you move from noticing to action
Who is it for?
This guide may be useful if:
you know something is not quite right but cannot clearly explain the pattern
school says your child is fine, but home sees something very different
you are preparing to speak to a teacher, SENCo, GP or other professional
your child is struggling with school, behaviour, emotions, learning, friendships or sensory demands
you are waiting for assessment and want to start gathering useful information now
you do not yet know whether ADHD, autism, dyslexia, anxiety, sensory differences or another SEND need may be involved
What this guide is not
The Parent Pattern Snapshot does not diagnose ADHD, autism, dyslexia or any other condition.
It does not replace professional assessment, medical advice or school-based support.
Its purpose is simpler and more practical:
to help you notice patterns clearly enough to have better conversations and ask better questions.
How to use it
Complete it over several days rather than trying to remember everything at once.
Look for repetition.
Notice what happens before the difficulty, what your child does, what happens afterwards, and whether the same triggers or demands keep appearing.
Then use the final page to prepare for your next conversation with school, the SENCo, GP or another professional.
FREE
School says your child is settled, coping or doing fine.
But at home, you are seeing exhaustion, tears, shutdowns, irritability, anxiety, explosive behaviour or a child who needs hours to recover from the school day.
Both experiences can be real.
This free 20-page ADHD and SEND parent toolkit helps you move beyond vague descriptions and record what is happening in a calm, useful and manageable way.
Across five school days, you will record brief observations about:
What happened before, during and after the difficulty.
What your child said or communicated.
How long recovery took.
What became difficult at home.
What support your child needed.
What appeared to help.
What was different on easier days.
The toolkit then helps you look across the five days, identify recurring patterns and prepare a clearer conversation with school.
By the end of the toolkit, you will have:
A completed five-day observation record.
Two or three clear examples to share.
A one-page summary of your concerns.
Your child’s views, where they are comfortable sharing them.
Questions to ask their teacher or SENCo.
A ready-to-personalise school email.
A record of any agreed actions and review arrangements.
You do not need a diagnosis to use this toolkit.
You also do not need to prove that school is wrong. The purpose is to help home and school build a fuller picture of your child’s needs and decide what should happen next.
Format: Free 20-page digital Word document
Suitable for: Parents and carers of children with ADHD, autism or other SEND, including children without a diagnosis
UK focus: School guidance and terminology relate primarily to England
FREE
You have explained your concerns to school. Everyone has listened. Then the conversation ends with:
“We’ll monitor it.”
But what will be monitored? What support will happen now? Who is responsible, and when will it be reviewed?
Beyond “We’ll Monitor It” is a free 20-page ADHD and SEND parent toolkit designed to turn vague school conversations into clear, recorded next steps.
It helps you:
Choose up to three priorities.
Explain the difficulty and its impact on your child.
Prepare clear questions for the teacher or SENCo.
Record what support was requested and agreed.
Identify who is responsible for each action.
Flag questions that still need answering.
Request a start date and review date.
Send a clear follow-up email after the meeting.
Check whether the agreed support happened and helped.
By the end, you will have a practical one-page meeting record showing what was discussed, what was agreed, who will act and what happens next.
Suitable for parents of children with ADHD, autism or other SEND, including children without a diagnosis.
Format: Free 20-page digital toolkit
UK focus: School terminology and SEND guidance relate primarily to England
Created by: Janine M. Nesbitt, ADHD in Practice
FREE
Product description:
For parents of primary-age children (roughly four to eleven) whose mornings have become a battle, and who may already be facing a fine for it.
This isn't a guide about getting your child to try harder. It starts from a simple idea: children do well if they can, and if they're not managing to get through that door, something specific is making it impossible, not a lack of willingness.
Inside: what the attendance and fines data actually says about children with SEN, why the primary years look different (drop-off dynamics, sensory overwhelm, the timing of SEN Support and EHC assessments), the signs worth naming to your child's school, how to open a meeting and get it properly documented, with a ready-to-use actions table and follow-up email script, and what to know if a penalty notice arrives.
Why not book a free 15-minute call or an in-depth focused call see below.
When School Feels Impossible: Primary School Guide (Ages 4–11)
Is your primary school child struggling to go to school, becoming distressed in the mornings or having meltdowns after school?
School avoidance and emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA) can begin in primary school. What looks like reluctance, difficult behaviour or refusal may be a sign that your child is overwhelmed, anxious or struggling with demands they cannot yet explain.
Our FREE When School Feels Impossible: Primary School Guide helps parents understand what may be happening beneath the behaviour, recognise early warning signs and take practical steps to support their child.
Discover how to approach conversations with school, explore possible triggers and begin working towards a supportive, realistic plan without blame or unnecessary pressure.
If your child is in Reception to Year 6, download the free Primary School Guide for practical advice, reassurance and a clearer way forward.
How I can help you and your family
Choose support for you, your school conversations or your child. You have to start somewhere. Start with a free 15 minute call.
A calm, no-pressure conversation giving you time to explain what is happening and work out what your next step could be.
This call is for parents, grandparents and carers of children with any diagnosed or suspected SEND—not only ADHD.
Your child may be experiencing difficulties connected with autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, anxiety, sensory needs, communication, learning, school attendance, emotional regulation or executive functioning. They may have several overlapping needs, or no diagnosis at all.
Children’s needs rarely arrive in neat, separate boxes. ADHD may overlap with autism, dyslexia, anxiety or sensory differences. A dyslexic child may also experience frustration, emotional overwhelm, shutdowns or meltdowns when learning demands repeatedly exceed the support available.
This is not a sales call. There is no hard pitch, no awkward pressure and absolutely no “book before midnight” nonsense.
During the call, we can talk about your main concern which could be:
what is worrying you most right now;
what is happening at home, at school or both;
the difficulties or patterns you have noticed;
whether learning needs, masking, anxiety, sensory overload or emotional regulation may be part of the picture;
questions you may need to ask school, your GP, CAMHS or an assessment service;
which SEND, NHS or school-support pathway may be worth exploring;
whether ADHD in Practice is the right fit for your family.
Your child may already have a diagnosis, be waiting for an assessment or simply have you thinking, “Something isn’t adding up.”
You do not need to arrive knowing the correct terminology. You do not need to decide whether it is ADHD, autism, dyslexia or something else before speaking to me.
Just tell me what is happening. We can begin there.
BOOK A FREE 15-MINUTE CALL
Not sure what kind of help you need yet?
Start with a free 15-minute introductory call.
Tell me what is happening, what you are worried about and where you feel stuck. I’ll help you work out whether one of my services is the right next step for your family.
Already know the problem you need help with?
Book a Focused Parent Session.
This is a 60-minute session for one clearly defined issue. We focus on the problem in front of you, work through what may be happening and identify practical next steps you can actually use.
£135 | 60 minutes | One issue | Clear next steps
Sometimes you do not need a full review of everything.
You may have one problem that keeps circling in your head.
Perhaps mornings are becoming impossible.
Perhaps your child is falling apart after school.
Perhaps school keeps saying they are fine.
Perhaps you have a meeting coming up and you are not sure what to ask for.
Perhaps you are stuck between “wait and see” and “something needs to change”.
The Focused Parent Session is designed for exactly that.
This is a practical 60-minute session centred on one clearly defined issue. Zoom or telephone call.
We will look at what is happening, what may be underneath it, what has already been tried and what would be most useful to do next.
This is not a full document review, EHCP review or wider case analysis.
It is a focused space to stop going round in circles and work out the next sensible step.
This may be right for you if...
You are dealing with one main concern and need help thinking it through.
That might be school morning distress, after-school dysregulation, masking, friendship difficulties, a difficult school conversation, reduced attendance, behaviour that does not make sense or simply not knowing what to do next.
You may already have spoken to school and still feel unclear.
You may have received lots of advice but no actual plan.
Or you may simply need an experienced outside view to help you separate what matters now from everything else competing for your attention.
What the session includes
Before the session, you will be asked to identify the one issue you most want help with and provide a short summary of what has been happening.
During the session we will explore the pattern, identify what may be contributing to the difficulty and look at what is realistic for home and school.
The focus is practical.
Not pages of theory.
Not another list of things you “should” be doing.
We will work towards a small number of useful next steps that fit your child and your situation.
After the session, you will receive a brief written action summary so you are not left trying to remember everything we discussed.
You will leave with
A clearer understanding of what may be happening.
A better idea of what needs attention first.
A small number of practical next steps.
Clearer wording for what to say or ask if school is involved.
And, importantly, less of that feeling of:
“I know something is not right, but I do not know what to do with it.”
This session is not designed for
Extensive document review.
EHCP evidence analysis.
Appeal preparation.
Complex multi-agency cases.
Or situations where several issues need to be worked through in depth.
If your situation is broader or more complex, the full Parent Clarity Consultation is likely to be the better fit.
Focused Parent Session
60 minutes
£135
Includes a brief written action summary after the session.
One issue.
One clear focus.
One practical way forward.
Online parent support across the UK, school and EHCP guidance focuses on England.