In this issue:

	Children First for Health
	Christmas Wishes from SNAP!
	Sing & Sign
	NAS 'Make school make sense'
	First Aid For Nannies & Carers
	Free Cinema Pass
	New Working Families Guide
	Xmas Card Competition
	Child Directed Play Sequences

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this newsletter.

If you would like to send an article relating to special needs for the next issue, just send an e-mail or call 020 7729 2200

SNAP Childcare
91-93 Great Eastern St
London EC2A 3HZ

All the staff at SNAP would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy, healthy New Year!

We loved this website..

Children First for Health (CFfH) is the UK's leading online child-centred health and hospital resource, supporting teenagers, children and their families and carers. It was initially set up by Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) to provide comprehensive age-appropriate health information from medical experts and paediatricians. The website also works across the NHS to support the Government's public health agenda in offering engaging health information to people involved in the care of children.

The website is packed with parent, teenager and child-friendly information broken down into age-specific areas, covering health in the broadest sense from bullying through to a stay in hospital. Children's own experiences are included, fostering a supportive, safe environment where they can find:

· Quality, regularly reviewed health information
· Engaging information about children's hospitals and what to expect
· A safe forum for young people to share their own experiences
· The latest news, features and public health campaigns
· Replies to wide-ranging health problems from UK medical experts
· TV video diaries of young people's experiences of being in hospital

What does CFfH offer carers?

CFfH has a special section for families, with a dedicated 'Dear Doc' facility that provides up-to-date replies to website queries from patients, families and carers on wide-ranging topics related to children's health and development. The section provides advice for parents related to their child coming into hospital for the first time. The website also boasts fun and interactive Juniors and Tots areas, packed with entertaining and educational games and story boards, that parents and carers can enjoy showing kids.

What does CFfH offer teenagers?

Teenagers are particularly hard to engage in health issues. CFfH has demonstrated real success in engaging with teenagers, through developing gender specific areas providing advice ranging from puberty and sexual health and addiction to body problems and relationships. It also has a great new Your Views section for teens to have their say (without having to reveal their identity), on all sorts of issues about hospital, health or life.

What does CFfH offer Kids?

The Kids section of the website is embarking on a major redesign after children were widely consulted on their ideas for improving the kids section. The new site will go live this August and will feature lots of new sections, with fresh new content, interactive elements and fun illustrations. You might also want to check out the kid's new resident tour-guide, Pat the Therapy Dog, who will be on hand to guide children around the kids section of the site.

www.childrenfirst.nhs.uk/kids

Sing and Sign - the revolutionary programme which teaches "baby signing" the fun way has arrived at Stratford upon Avon!

A baby music group with a difference!
Sing and Sign baby signing classes are full of music and fun, ingeniously combining action songs and nursery rhymes with gestures derived from sign language. Hearing babies from as young as 6 months old, can use these gestures to communicate with their parents BEFORE speech. This is the exciting phenomenon known as 'baby signing' and Sing and Sign is the UK's most popular baby signing programme. Classes run in over 80 venues across Britain including selected Mothercare stores and are now available locally!

Sing and Sign classes are being brought to Stratford upon Avon by local mum and experienced baby signer Pippa Jenkins. "I have had wonderful experiences with baby signing with my daughter who first signed "hot" to tell me I was holding the hairdryer too close to her head! She soon picked up many signs that helped put a stop to her tantrums as she could tell me what she wanted at last! It also gave her language development a boost

and many of her first words were words we signed". Signing with hearing babies is the hot new parenting topic. It has been shown to boost babies speech and language development, lessen frustration (for both baby and parent!), expand vocabulary and even increase IQ.

Signing babies don't need to cry for what they want. Be it a drink, their blanket or their teddy, they can ask for what they want using a simple sign. Musical activities have of course long been recognised as bringing great developmental benefit.

The unique curriculum of Sing and Sign brings all these elements into play to create a wonderful learning environment for parents to enrich their babies' language skills. There is expert advice on hand from the teacher, and support and feedback from other parents.

For more details contact Pippa Jenkins on Tel: 01789 415591


E-mail : pippajenkins@singandsign.co.uk

or visit: www.singandsign.com

The National Autistic Society (NAS) Conference & Event Department are running conferences throughout Britain to run alongside the current Education campaign.

The "make school make sense" campaign has three main aims, these being; Policy change, Campaign engagement and involvement and finally, raising awareness of autism and the NAS vision for educational provision within the general public.

This one-day conference will aim to explore the issues surrounding the subject matter, highlighting some common difficulties that arise and offering suggestions on potential ways forward to best meet the support needs of children and adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorders in this area.

It will aim to cover issues within the "make school make sense" campaign and consider the issues experienced within the educational system from the viewpoint of an individual with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The conference speakers will give an insight into their
experiences and explore ways of recognising and meeting the ever changing and varied needs of children and young people with an autistic spectrum disorder in their time in education.

Speakers include:

Aid Training offers a first aid course designed specifically for nannies and carers. Delivered by paediatric specialists it includes both theory and practical sessions and meets the criteria required by the Childcare Approval Scheme.

This one day (6 hour) course is available at various venues and dates. The syllabus includes:

First Aid Priorities/ Dealing with an Emergency
Resuscitation (CPR) – Child and Baby
Bleeding and Shock
Choking
Anaphylaxis
Burns & Scalds


Click here to see the
Aid Training Website or call on:
08700 780 531

Anyone in receipt of disability living allowance or attendance allowance is entitled to a Cinema Exhibitors' Association Card which allows one carer free entrance to a cinema when accompanying someone with additional needs.

The Card Network
The Technology Centre
Rossmore Business Park
Ellesmere Port Cheshire. CH65 3EN

Tel: 0845 123 1295
Fax: 0845 123 1296

Minicom / Text phone:
0845 123 1297

Cinema Exhibitors' Association

Subscribe to SIGNMatters today!

SIGNMatters is the leading monthly magazine for the British Sign Language community. Every month the magazine is packed with news stories from around the world, interviews with Deaf people, features on topics of interest to the Deaf and Sign Language community, theatre and website reviews, word searches, letter codes and many more.

We have columnists from the CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults) and Usher communities as well as articles by Deaf Sign Language users. BDA developments are reported on, and any other developments in the Sign Language community.

In keeping with the visual nature of the Sign Language community, SIGNMatters is glossy, colourful and very visual. If you want to keep up with the British Sign Language community, SIGNMatters is the way to go!

Don’t miss out on your copy of SIGNMatters:

See:
signcommunity.org.uk

Working Families have written a new book about how real families have succeeded in combining paid work and caring for their disabled children. It includes interviews with actual families who share their experiences.

Make it work for you! is available to parents at a special price of £5.50 - post free. (Usual price is £15.50).

Copies can be ordered by post, phone or on their website:

www.workingfamilies.org.uk

1-3 Berry Street. London EC1V 0AA.

E-mail: office@workingfamilies.org.uk
Tel: 020 7253 7243
Fax: 020 7253 6253

The website also has details of additional books and lots of advise and information for working families.

This years NAS Christmas card competition was won by Amy Brosnan with 'Rudolph's brother Ross' (see below).

The competition is open to to children and adults who are in the autistic spectrum to design a Christmas card for next year. The winning design will be on sale through the NAS and the winner will also receive 100 cards of their own design.

For full details including an entry form, click on the the NAS Logo below to be taken to their website:

Mira is an experienced Communication & Play Facilitator who provides private child directed play sequences developing communication.

The sessions aim to develop and provide the tools needed by the child to expand and navigate through their environment, with an ability to communicate their experience to others. By drawing on the most valuable aspects of different approaches and personal creativity, I engage with each individual in a unique way, placing their expression at the centre of the relationship.
All sessions are home visits (London).

Contact Mira on Tel: 079 7184 2341 or Email: childdirected@googlemail.com