Nikita Hayden

The Research Spotlight for August shines on work by @samanthaflynn.bsky.social , @nikitahayden.bsky.social , @nikmanktelow.bsky.social and team.

Using digital Talking Mats they gathered the views of children using an online reading intervention.
Use the QR code to read more

Last chance to sign up to this event tomorrow – looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Flyer for an event as follows: Siblings, Disability and Care: Anthropological and Co-Created Perspectives. Co-Creation During Times of Transition. This online event builds an understanding of the impact of major life transitions on sibling relationships – particularly the emotional, social and caregiving dynamics involved. We will look at mutual care relationships as a form of access intimacy, activist affordances, and worldmaking between disabled and non-disabled siblings. We will discuss possible directions for future research as well as recommendations for service providers, decision makers, parents and others to contribute to building sustainable, inclusive support systems and better overall outcomes. This project is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The event is on Wednesday 25th June 2025 at 6-7.30pm BST and 1-2.30. Email n.hayden@sheffield.ac.uk for information on signing up.

Please do join our online event next on 25th June: 'Siblings, Disability and Care: Anthropological and Co-Created Perspectives'. With @pblock8.bsky.social Helen Ries Dima Kassem @nikitahayden.bsky.social @tomjryan99.bsky.social
Programme here: tinyurl.com/mr2ejrt7
Sign up here: tinyurl.com/mra86v38

We’ve just published a paper in Tizard Learning Disability Review about engaging children with developmental disabilities in online data collection procedures: www.emerald.com/insight/cont... @nikitahayden.bsky.social @nikmanktelow.bsky.social

We were talking about this earlier this week and I think we will be – email siblingstudies-network@york.ac.uk to let us know you're interested in a recording

Programme: 2pm-2.10pm – Introduction, welcome. 2.10pm-3.10pm – Session 1: Relational Dynamics. - Aersheng Haidabieke, Fudan University, China. The associations between sibling bullying and peer bullying among adolescents: The moderating role of gender - Derek Morgan, University of Missouri, U.S.A. Sibling Problem Solving as a Mediator of Emerging Adult and Adolescent Sibling Closeness and Later Social Motivations - Mel Hall, Manchester Metropolitan University, U.K. ‘We were in the same boat and now we’re not’: sibling relationships and inherited variants of dementia 3.10pm-3.20pm – Break. 3.20pm-4.20pm – Session 2: Hidden, Missing and Absent. - What Impact can a School Have on Siblings of Children with SEND and why is this Important? Emma Bennett, Joshua Garrett-Smith and Lynne Wainwright - Willow Dene School, The Compass Partnership of Schools and Kings College London University, U.K. -A Psychologist, a Sociologist and a Poet Walk into a Café: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Care-Experienced Young People’s Views of their Sibling Data Katie Cebula, Christina McMellon , Thomas Bartlett, Craig Houston, and Kate Richardson - University of Edinburgh, Performance Poet and Stand Up for Siblings, U.K. -Speaking the unspeakable. On grief and sibling suicide. Laura Towers, University of Manchester, U.K. 4.20pm-4.30pm – Break. 4,30pm-5.30pm – Session 3: Stories & Narratives. -Siblinghood and Learning Disability: The Role of Normative Expectations in Sibling Narratives Tom Ryan, University of Sheffield, U.K -‘Go to the Moon’: Re-Enacting and Re-Inscribing Neurodiverse Sibling Relationships in The Glass Menagerie and Other Plays Emma Ettinger, University of Glasgow, U.K. -Family Resilience in Sibling Transition: A Longitudinal Study of Mother-Child Dyads in China Xiwen Fu and Yining Shi, University of Cambridge, U.K. 5.30pm-5.40pm – Discussion period. 5.50pm-6.00pm – Closing remarks.

Programme: 2pm-2.10pm – Introduction, welcome. 2.10pm-3.10pm – Session 1: Relational Dynamics. - Aersheng Haidabieke, Fudan University, China. The associations between sibling bullying and peer bullying among adolescents: The moderating role of gender - Derek Morgan, University of Missouri, U.S.A. Sibling Problem Solving as a Mediator of Emerging Adult and Adolescent Sibling Closeness and Later Social Motivations - Mel Hall, Manchester Metropolitan University, U.K. ‘We were in the same boat and now we’re not’: sibling relationships and inherited variants of dementia 3.10pm-3.20pm – Break. 3.20pm-4.20pm – Session 2: Hidden, Missing and Absent. - What Impact can a School Have on Siblings of Children with SEND and why is this Important? Emma Bennett, Joshua Garrett-Smith and Lynne Wainwright - Willow Dene School, The Compass Partnership of Schools and Kings College London University, U.K. -A Psychologist, a Sociologist and a Poet Walk into a Café: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Care-Experienced Young People’s Views of their Sibling Data Katie Cebula, Christina McMellon , Thomas Bartlett, Craig Houston, and Kate Richardson - University of Edinburgh, Performance Poet and Stand Up for Siblings, U.K. -Speaking the unspeakable. On grief and sibling suicide. Laura Towers, University of Manchester, U.K. 4.20pm-4.30pm – Break. 4,30pm-5.30pm – Session 3: Stories & Narratives. -Siblinghood and Learning Disability: The Role of Normative Expectations in Sibling Narratives Tom Ryan, University of Sheffield, U.K -‘Go to the Moon’: Re-Enacting and Re-Inscribing Neurodiverse Sibling Relationships in The Glass Menagerie and Other Plays Emma Ettinger, University of Glasgow, U.K. -Family Resilience in Sibling Transition: A Longitudinal Study of Mother-Child Dyads in China Xiwen Fu and Yining Shi, University of Cambridge, U.K. 5.30pm-5.40pm – Discussion period. 5.50pm-6.00pm – Closing remarks.

Programme: 2pm-2.10pm – Introduction, welcome. 2.10pm-3.10pm – Session 1: Relational Dynamics. - Aersheng Haidabieke, Fudan University, China. The associations between sibling bullying and peer bullying among adolescents: The moderating role of gender - Derek Morgan, University of Missouri, U.S.A. Sibling Problem Solving as a Mediator of Emerging Adult and Adolescent Sibling Closeness and Later Social Motivations - Mel Hall, Manchester Metropolitan University, U.K. ‘We were in the same boat and now we’re not’: sibling relationships and inherited variants of dementia 3.10pm-3.20pm – Break. 3.20pm-4.20pm – Session 2: Hidden, Missing and Absent. - What Impact can a School Have on Siblings of Children with SEND and why is this Important? Emma Bennett, Joshua Garrett-Smith and Lynne Wainwright - Willow Dene School, The Compass Partnership of Schools and Kings College London University, U.K. -A Psychologist, a Sociologist and a Poet Walk into a Café: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Care-Experienced Young People’s Views of their Sibling Data Katie Cebula, Christina McMellon , Thomas Bartlett, Craig Houston, and Kate Richardson - University of Edinburgh, Performance Poet and Stand Up for Siblings, U.K. -Speaking the unspeakable. On grief and sibling suicide. Laura Towers, University of Manchester, U.K. 4.20pm-4.30pm – Break. 4,30pm-5.30pm – Session 3: Stories & Narratives. -Siblinghood and Learning Disability: The Role of Normative Expectations in Sibling Narratives Tom Ryan, University of Sheffield, U.K -‘Go to the Moon’: Re-Enacting and Re-Inscribing Neurodiverse Sibling Relationships in The Glass Menagerie and Other Plays Emma Ettinger, University of Glasgow, U.K. -Family Resilience in Sibling Transition: A Longitudinal Study of Mother-Child Dyads in China Xiwen Fu and Yining Shi, University of Cambridge, U.K. 5.30pm-5.40pm – Discussion period. 5.50pm-6.00pm – Closing remarks.

Our next Sibling Studies Network colloquium is this Thursday, kicking off at 2pm GMT. We have an exciting lineup of talks from across the humanities and the social sciences (see images for agenda). Tickets here www.tickettailor.com/events/sibli...

Thanks Tom. We hope it’s useful to you!

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Our Talking Mats paper, published earlier this year, is currently free to access. Download it here –
@talkingmats.bsky.social
@sallyboa.bsky.social
@sarahhayward.bsky.social
@loiscameron.bsky.social
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3233/...

I’m glad it spoke to you

Thanks Saba ☺️

Congrats to all involved in a book that seems to do something different. Not only as it's so collaborative but because it looks at issues starved of airtime, like supporting autistic people's siblings. And makes a distinction between autism and mental health; #autism isn't a #mentalhealth problem.

Thanks for inviting us Georgia. I feel in very good company - the chapter authors and editors are people I really look up to ☺️

The cover of the following book: Improving Mental Health Therapies for Autistic Children and Young People Promoting Self-agency, Curiosity and Collaboration

A photo of a book’s contents page showing a chapter entitled ‘Working with siblings of autistic CYP’

Lovely to have received a copy of this terrific book. It was great to contribute a chapter with Clare from @sibs-uk.bsky.social. Thanks to the editors @jopavlopoulou.bsky.social @lauramaycrane.bsky.social Russell Hurn and Damian Milton

'Sibling relationships are, in most cases, the longest relationship people will have in their lives'.

For anyone keen on a whole family approach to care, on groups overlooked in research and how a sibling/family carer experience shapes us (positively and negatively).

#LearningDisability #siblings

Thanks Angela - that’s great

Thanks for reposting it - yeah I completely agree

An important change of focus in research with family members. IMO as suggested family outcomes are mediated by service and social barriers, not the individual characteristics of the family member with ID

Extract from an academic paper: 'Second, these observations highlight that the experiences of siblings and families of disabled people are not merely psychological or familial, they are political, cultural and ideological. Importantly, it seemed that what many of these siblings wanted others to understand, was that one of the most challenging aspects of having a sibling with developmental disabilities, was the way that their disabled sibling was treated in the community, by services and by society, rather than about the characteristics, behaviours or support needs of the person with developmental disabilities themselves.'

What is most interesting about this paper (IMO) is its focus on the more structural experiences of siblings. We noticed a tension or conflict at the boundary between siblings' immediate familial experiences and their experiences with their wider family, community and society

Siblings wrote about their mental health and wellbeing; sibling relationships; intra-familial experiences; caring experiences; experiences accessing support services; community experiences; and views on the discrimination and ableism that their disabled siblings experienced

We drew on qualitative data from 456 adult siblings to explore sibling experiences. We drew on the Siblings Embedded Systems Framework (Kovshoff et al., 2017) to contextualise our findings

“I Would Not Change [My] Sibling for the World, Maybe the World Can Change for My Sibling”: The Experiences of Adult Siblings of People With Developmental Disabilities The sibling relationship is complex, unique and important. When one sibling has a developmental disability, siblings can be important sources of care, support, advocacy and friendship for one another...

New paper🚨 “I Would Not Change [My] Sibling for the World, Maybe the World Can Change for My Sibling”: The Experiences of Adult Siblings of People With Developmental Disabilities. Authors - Liz Moran-Morbey, Chloe Blackwell, Tom Ryan, and myself onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Thanks Lois!

No there seems to be a mass exodus from over there

You’re ahead of the curve @loiscameron.bsky.social - hopefully there will be enough people here eventually to start a TM starter pack