Thank you for signing up.
Your download is ready
For parents of secondary-age children (roughly eleven to sixteen) whose attendance has become a daily struggle, a source of fines, or both.
Secondary school changes the shape of the problem. There's rarely one teacher who really knows your child any more, and a struggling teenager has far more room to hide it than a struggling six-year-old does, right up until they can't.
Inside: what the attendance and fines data actually says about children with SEN, why the secondary years look different (masking, subject-hopping, GCSE pressure, part-time timetables), the signs worth naming to the school, how to open a meeting and get it properly documented, with a ready-to-use actions table and follow-up emails.
Still unsure what to do next?
Read below, book an introductory call or a more focused call to talk through one concern.
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.
Practical guidance for UK parents and carers
I have created another free guide for parents/c arers to download and use. When a child is struggling to attend school, the problem is rarely solved by simply telling them they must go in.
School anxiety can appear as tears, anger, shutdown, physical symptoms, sleepless nights, difficult mornings or complete refusal. Some children manage to enter school and appear fine, only to fall apart when they return home.
This practical guide helps you look beyond the behaviour, identify what may be making school feel unsafe or overwhelming and take clear, manageable action.
Inside the guide
You will find:
Signs of school anxiety across different ages
Possible reasons behind distress and non-attendance
Questions to help you identify patterns and pressure points
Practical steps for difficult mornings and recovery after school
Ways to listen without turning every conversation into an interrogation
Reasonable adjustments that may reduce anxiety in school
Parent-teacher conversation scripts
Questions to ask the teacher, SENCo or pastoral team
Space to record concerns, agreed actions and review dates
Guidance on what to do when support is vague or progress stalls
This guide will help you
Describe what is happening clearly
Separate anxiety from assumptions about behaviour
Gather useful information from home and school
Prepare for a constructive school meeting
Ask for specific support rather than being told to wait and see
Keep your child’s experience at the centre of decisions
Who is it for?
This guide is for parents and carers of children and young people experiencing anxiety connected with school, including those with ADHD, autism, SEND, EBSA or no diagnosis at all.
You do not need to wait for a diagnosis before discussing your child’s needs or asking school what support can be put in place.
What this guide is not
This is practical general guidance, not individual legal advice, a diagnosis or a treatment plan. The conversation scripts are examples to adapt to your child, school and circumstances.
Education systems and legal duties differ across the UK. Year groups and statutory references within the guide follow England unless stated otherwise.
Free download
Download the guide, choose the section that matches what is happening now and begin with one action. You do not need to solve everything in one meeting.
Something feels different, but you cannot quite put it into words. Perhaps communication is tricky, everyday routines feel overwhelming, or nursery has raised a concern. You do not need all the answers—or a paperwork folder with its own postcode—to take the next step.
This warm, practical guide helps you explore your child’s strengths and emerging needs without jumping to a diagnosis. Written for parents and carers in England, it covers communication, attention, play, sensory experiences and everyday development.
Inside, you’ll find:
Reassurance and clear guidance on what to notice.
Examples that help you put concerns into words.
Conversation prompts for nursery and health appointments.
An explanation of local authority differences and England’s national SEND Code of Practice.
A printable strengths-and-needs profile.
A simple observation sheet.
An appointment preparation worksheet.
Links to trusted information and further support.
Suitable for families with children from birth to starting school, including those exploring possible ADHD, autism/ASC or other special educational needs and disabilities.
Format: 16-page downloadable PDF.
Please note: This guide provides general information. It is not a diagnostic tool or personalised medical or legal advice.
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
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
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.
A practical UK checklist to help parents gather clear, real-life evidence before a school meeting, referral or ADHD assessment. Record patterns, impact, support needs and what helps across home, school and daily life. This is not a symptom quiz and cannot diagnose ADHD.
What to do while the diagnosis takes its sweet time — practical steps for getting your child support now, label or no label.
Right now, well over 800,000 people in England are waiting for an NHS ADHD assessment. Children's waits typically run from six months to three years; for adults it can stretch to two, five, even ten years in some areas. Somewhere in that number is you, checking the post and your phone what number are you now? chasing the SENCO, googling symptoms at 11pm, and being told to "wait and see."
Here's the thing nobody tells you: your child doesn't need a diagnosis to get support. They need it today, and the label if and when it arrives can catch up later.
What's inside
How to get your child support at home and at school before any diagnosis exists label or no label
What "Right to Choose" is, and how it can shorten the wait
Scripts for talking to schools, GPs, and SENCOs without a diagnosis in hand
How to build a paper trail that actually helps your case
What changes once the assessment happens and what stays the same either way
A reminder, in writing, that you're not overreacting and you're not alone
Who it's for
Parents and carers in the UK who suspect ADHD in their child (or themselves), who've been referred or are about to be, and who are tired of being told there's nothing to do until the letter arrives.
Credibility line
Written by ADHD in Practice Janine Nesbitt honest, neuroaffirming support for ADHD families, without the jargon or the guilt.
Has school said, “We’ll monitor it,” without explaining what will be monitored, what support will happen or when anyone will review it?
The free “We’ll Monitor It” Parent Response Sheet helps UK parents, grandparents and carers turn a vague promise into a practical, reviewable plan.
Created for families navigating ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, anxiety, sensory needs, emotional regulation, attendance difficulties and wider SEND concerns.
The resource includes:
a school-meeting preparation sheet;
questions to ask before the meeting ends;
an actions and responsibilities record;
space to record support and adjustments;
a review-date planner;
child-voice prompts;
home and school evidence logs;
follow-up email wording;
guidance about what to do if concerns continue.
Your child does not need a diagnosis before you can raise concerns or ask school to respond to identified needs.
Free download • UK-focused • Practical and easy to use
The exact words to use when you walk into that meeting, so you leave with a plan instead of a "we'll monitor it."
You've got the diagnosis. Now you need the school to actually do something with it. This is the word-for-word script for the support meeting: what to say, what to ask for, and how to handle "he seems fine in class" without losing your thread or your nerve.
Free example.
This guide is written for UK parents navigating the NHS ADHD assessment pathway. Everything in here is grounded in UK government guidance, the SEND Code of Practice 2015, and the Children and Families Act 2014.
ADHD and the School Day: What It Really Costs Your Child Aged 6–8 Your child comes home and falls apart. School says they're fine. You know something is wrong. Both of you are seeing something real. This guide draws on four voices —
Barkley's neuroscience, Dr Daniel Weisberg's UK clinical expertise, Hester Grainger's lived experience.
A reset plan for parents whose child holds it together at school and explodes at home. If your child walks out of school looking “fine” and falls apart over shoes, snacks, homework, noise, questions or the wrong cup, this guide gives you a calm starting point for the first 30 minutes after school.
Inside, you’ll get: what to do before pickup.
This guide covers the middle of primary school, roughly Year 4 to Year 5. It picks up where the early-years guide left off, because ADHD does not stay still. It changes shape as the demands change, and the demands change a great deal around now. Where a point rests on research, you will find a short note showing where it comes from.
What it looks like. At this age, ADHD often looks like the child who can't sit on the carpet, blurts out, bounces off the walls, or melts down over small things. Or the quiet one who drifts off and gets missed. It gets called naughty, immature or "a handful." It's usually none of those.
What it feels like. Inside, it's a brain with everything turned up at once and no off switch. Big feelings that arrive fast and hard. Knowing the rule but not being able to do it in the moment. Working twice as hard as everyone else, and still being told to try harder.
That gap, between how it looks and how it feels, is where so many little ones get missed.
The 3:45pm Survival Guide is a practical, no-nonsense resource for parents of children with ADHD who seem to hold it together all day at school and then fall apart the moment they get home.
When friendships get complicated, feelings get big, and you don't know what to do next.
A FREE 21-page friendship and feelings guide for girls aged 10–13
One day, they're best friends. The next day, someone isn't speaking, the group chat goes quiet, or she's left out at lunchtime.
For some girls, particularly those with ADHD, friendship difficulties can feel overwhelming.
What looks like a small disagreement to an adult can leave a girl questioning herself, replaying conversations, worrying about rejection or dreading school the next morning.
The Friendship Fallout Decoder helps girls make sense of what happened, understand how they feel and work out what to do next.
Created by Janine M Nesbitt, an experienced SEND specialist and former SENCo with over 34 years in education, this practical, reassuring guide combines relatable friendship situations, emotional literacy activities and straightforward strategies that girls can use in everyday life.
What's inside this free guide?
Across 21 thoughtfully designed pages, girls can explore:
Friendship fallouts: Understanding disagreements, misunderstandings and changing friendships.
Big feelings: Recognising disappointment, jealousy, anger, embarrassment and rejection.
Facts or worries? Learning to separate what actually happened from what they think might have happened.
Group chats and social pressures: Navigating messages, exclusion and the feeling of being left out.
Healthy friendships and boundaries: Understanding kindness, respect and when a friendship doesn't feel right.
Finding the right words: Practical phrases for difficult conversations, asking questions and repairing friendships.
When to ask for help: Recognising bullying, repeated exclusion or situations that feel unsafe.
Five ready-to-use scripts: Helping girls reach out to a trusted adult when it feels difficult to talk about what is happening.
There is also guidance to help parents and carers respond with understanding rather than rushing to fix everything.
Who is it for?
This guide is designed for girls aged 10–13, particularly those who:
Find friendships confusing or emotionally exhausting.
Worry about being left out or losing friends.
Replay conversations and wonder what they've done wrong.
Struggle to explain how they feel.
Find it difficult to speak up or set boundaries.
Need reassurance that they are not alone.
It may be particularly helpful for girls with ADHD, but a diagnosis isn't needed. Friendship difficulties and big emotions can affect anyone.
Why I've made it free
Friendships are an important part of growing up. They help children develop confidence, identity and a sense of belonging.
But when friendships become difficult, children don't always have the words or emotional tools to explain what they're experiencing.
After more than 34 years working in education, I believe girls deserve practical, age-appropriate support that helps them feel heard, understood and more confident.
Parents deserve that support too.
That's why I've made this comprehensive 21-page guide available completely free.
Because every girl deserves to feel that she belongs, without having to change who she is.
Download your free copy
21 pages | Printable PDF | Ages 10–13 | Completely FREE
A guide girls can explore independently, share with a trusted adult or work through together with a parent or carer.
If you need more help see below.