Louise Rogers

What Parents Say About School Can't — School Can’t Australia In October 2024, Kara Weaving and Kirsten Blaess partnered with School Can’t Australia to conduct a qualitative study, exploring practices families find effective or ineffective in supportin...

What Parents Say About School Can't - The Report is Out

We recruited families from School Can't Australia's parent/carer peer community, to participate in a research project, collating narratives of School Can't, what works and what doesn't.

www.schoolcantaustralia.com.au/sca-articles...

“Spoiled” autistic child would rather not be in constant sensory hell An “overly pampered” autistic child would prefer to not feel like everything is perpetually flashing, screeching and smacking her directly in the brain, sources have confirmed.  Six-year-old Mary Walk...

Six-year-old Mary Walker, who flies into inexplicable rages when everything in her immediate environment goes bleepy bloopy bleep blorp, has reportedly been called “a spoiled brat” by helpful well-wishers.

School Can’t Australia’s Lived Experience Panel — School Can’t Australia On 19th November 2024, School Can’t Australia and Tandem hosted a Lived Experience Panel. 200 people attended. The recording of this event can be found here . Host: Natasha Siryj, Board memb...

School Can’t Australia’s Lived Experience Panel, recorded on November 19th, 2024, is now available to watch on our website.

www.schoolcantaustralia.com.au/resources-ar...

What can educators do to help stem drop in school attendance rates? - EducationDaily A new report by the Productivity Commission this week has revealed more children are missing school than a decade ago.

Excellent article featuring interview with Dr Tom Brunzell from Berry Street
educationdaily.au/general/prim...

#5 - Home Education: Busting Myths and Misunderstandings with Pavlina McMaster The School Can't Experience · Episode

Apple Podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/5...

YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-8U...

Find the Home Education Network at home-ed.vic.edu.au

YouTube video by Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education Battle Fatigue: The Fight for Inclusive Education with Dr. Priya Lalvani

"The irony of segregating children in order to allow them to belong is absurd." - Dr. Priya Lalvani

youtu.be/X5lgZERePTg?...

#5 - Home Education: Busting Myths and Misunderstandings with Pavlina McMaster The School Can't Experience · Episode

Our next episode of The School Can't Experience is out now!!!

This weeks' episode is entitled "Home Education: Busting Myths and Misunderstandings' with Pavlina McMaster from the Home Education Network.

Spotify:
open.spotify.com/episode/2yHa...

The School Can't Experience For parents and caregivers of young people who struggle to attend school, and related education and health professionals. We share experiences and insights into what is going on for our young people a...

The School Can't Experience Podcast is LIVE. We're very happy to be able to share with you the first 4 episode.

Buzzsprout (Links to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and many other platforms):
schoolcantexperience.buzzsprout.com/2447546/follow

YouTube:
www.youtube.com/@TheSchoolCa...

Study uncovers disparity between how textbooks and self-advocates discuss autism A study reveals a disconnect between how undergraduate adapted physical education textbooks and autistic self-advocates discuss autism, highlighting the need to revise educational materials to better ...

Textbooks tend to describe autism negatively, which is NOT GREAT as these books "often play a large part in shaping the perspectives & knowledge of future educators & practitioners." Time to re-evaluate such materials & create more inclusive, supportive environments.

www.ualberta.ca/en/folio/202...

School can’t, not school refusal — School Can’t Australia Media coverage of families caring for children or young people experiencing school attendance difficulties. Push to change lens from willful behaviour issue to mental health issue. School system inc...

Find our January 2025 media releases here:

Back to school distress for School Can't families, &
School Can't Australia Frequently Asked Questions

www.schoolcantaustralia.com.au/media

School Can't Australia on LinkedIn: Safety at school is important and it’s much more than soft-fall mulch… Safety at school is important and it’s much more than soft-fall mulch. Students (especially those who have a disability) can often feel very vulnerable and…

What does it mean to feel safe at school?

www.linkedin.com/posts/school...

What does it mean to feel safe at school?

(SCA FB link)

www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1...

May 2025 bring a kinder, more compassionate world. Stay curious! To borrow a phrase from Dr. Greene, "People do well when they can".

Gingerbread Panopticon

Not in the UK, but being a carer to my son, who was not able to attend school, and was on a partial timetable before that, is the reason I had to give up my casual job and set aside my goal to be a classroom music teacher.

Physical health challenges in neurodivergent children and young people : My College Jane Green MBE FCCT, Founder and Chair of SEDSConnective    Introduction As a former assistant headteacher who focused on supporting students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), I ...

my.chartered.college/research-hub...
We’ve been informed this work is already making a huge difference for neurodivergent students! #CharteredColl
#Autism #ADHD #dyspraxia #TS #SEND #hypermobility

This link should work

Happens in Australia too.

If you're unable to take a paid job and earn superannuation due to the time and energy constraints of caring, then our social care systems should provide a liveable income, so that families don't fall into poverty.

Btw - Not too keen on the term special needs. Special makes them sound like extra, but what if the premise was that all needs should be met? To make an accommodation is to correct an error of omission.

Can I just stare at that please and be mesmerised! Sigh.

Accommodations reduce stress load. Each problem solved is one less stressor.

Image Credit: The Chronically Resilient OT

Sometimes we can be clever about accommodation design and proactively cater to everyone.

Image Credit: Michael Giangreco

Sometimes we can use an accommodation to support one person.

Image Credit: @flyingmouse365

We can't address all difficulties, all at the same time.

Image Credit: Milani Creative

When difficulties compound, so do feelings. They become much harder to sort out and unpack.

Image Credit: Grant Snider, Incidental Comics

Behaviour Management practice is adult behaviour. Our practices are our behaviours.

Image Credit: @tomgauld.bsky.social

Image Credit: Milani Creative

The way out of this is to change our adult practices. To be proactive and curious, to listen and to collaborate. It is not to double down and do more of the same.

When we ignore children's difficulties the difficulties compound and become much harder to address.

When children's difficulties are routinely ignored, they lose faith in themselves and the adults around them. They don't learn how to ask for help or to use their social networks to get through a hard time.