News

end of grant report, Positive Family Connections, University of Warwick

Kids love to read books where they can identify with the characters in the story. Our postal lending library has a ...

Celebrating Progress in Neurodevelopmental Research

Cerebra Network, CNND, Research project

Over the past four years, Cerebra has proudly supported the Cerebra Network for Neurodevelopmental Disorders (CNND), a collaborative initiative spanning ...

Celebrating Progress in Family Support Research

Over the past three years, Cerebra has proudly funded a pioneering research program at the University of Warwick, focused on ...

Celebrating Progress in Prenatal Brain Health Research

foetal medicine, premature birth, University of Barcelona

Over the past three years, Cerebra has proudly funded a pioneering research programme at Barcelona's Clinical and Research Centre of ...

Preventing Neonatal Brain Injury and Childhood Disability

neonatal brain injuries, premature birth, University of Leeds

From 2020 to 2024, Cerebra supported a research initiative at the University of Leeds aimed at preventing neonatal brain injuries, ...

Cerebral palsy and medical negligence: your questions answered

Cerebral Palsy, Leigh Day, Medical negligence, solicitors

Can cerebral palsy be caused by medical negligence? Medical negligence in cerebral palsy claims usually arises if there is a ...

Urgent Call for Action: Support Disabled Children’s Right to Dignified, Accessible Continence Care

bladder and bowel dysfunction, Continence, disabled children, human rights, petition, Template Letter | 9 Comments

Our groundbreaking new report reveals a shocking failure by health and social care bodies across England, Wales, and Scotland to ...

Book review: Developing Ellie

Book Review, Library, Periventricular Leukomalacia, postal lending library

I really enjoyed reading this one, it's so full of hope and positivity. This is a really special autobiography. I ...

Sleep Anxiety: how our Sleep Service helped

Sleep Advice Service, Sleep anxiety

Nine-year-old Elsie was struggling with anxiety at night which was affecting her sleep and having a knock on effect at ...

A selection of toys available from cerebra's lending library

Toys for Maddie and books for Mum

Book Library, Library Service, sensory toys

Zoe introduces us to her daughter Maddie and explains how our Library Service has helped them both. "Maddie loves to ...

Our Scoot Horse brings joy and laughter

cerebra innovation centre, portfolio, scoot horse

“Our daughter is 6 years old. She has Cerebral Palsy and loves movement - swings, scooter boards, her specialist bike. ...

Inaccessible, unacceptable and unaccountable: the provision of paediatric continence supplies in England, Wales and Scotland.

Continence, LEAP project, Legal Rights Service, Luke Clements, Professor Luke Clements

Charities issue an urgent call for action, following the publication of a major new research report into the provision of ...

Law Commission Consultation Response

disabled children, Law Commission, social care law

Our response to the Law Commission's consultation on disabled children's social care law can be found here. The Law Commission ...

New Children’s Books in the Library

ADHD, Book Library, Cerebral Palsy, Library Service, postal lending library

Our lending library is open to the parent/carers of children aged 16 and under with neurological conditions anywhere in the ...

Sleep for the whole family

night waking, Sleep Advice Service

"Our 5 year old son Oliver loves his food and the Cars films - he is obsessed with Lightning McQueen. ...

Thinking about legal advice for your child’s brain condition? Here’s what you need to know

Bolt Burdon Kemp, Compensation, financial support, legal advice, legal rights, medical costs

If your child has a brain condition, you might be wondering whether to seek legal advice. Understandably, many parents feel ...

Easy to access specialist books

Book Library, Library Service

Emma introduces us to her son Henry, their family life together and explains how our postal lending library is ideal ...

A treasure chest of resources in our library

Book Library, Library Service

George is 7 years old. He is a whirlwind of happiness, he always has a smile on his face and ...

Our specialist book library provides knowledge and confidence

Book Library, specialist books

“My son is a four-year-old non-verbal child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and challenges related to restricted eating. As he ...

Help to explain your child’s condition

Book Library, Dyspraxia

“Our son is a wonderful energetic and cheerful child. He loves dancing, unicorns and Korean pop music as well as ...

New Guide to Co-Production in Research Launched

co-producing research, family carers, University of Warwick

A new guide to co-production in research had been launched by Warwick University. It focuses on co-producing research with family ...

Digital Wellbeing Interventions for Family Carers: A Systematic Review

digital interventions, family carers, systematic review, University of Warwick

A University of Warwick team has carried out a piece of research to review all the current academic research on ...

Claiming for holidays and recreational activities as part of a clinical negligence claim

accessible holidays, adapted services, CL Medilaw, clinical negligence claim, Compensation

Taking a break from the stresses of daily life is essential for every family, but for families with a child ...

Books in Cerebra’s Library on Special Educational Needs and Disability

disabilities, Library, SEN

3rd December is National Day of Person's with Disabilities. Here's a list of some of the relevant titles that are ...

Books in the Library for Carers

carers, caring, Library

We have lots of books in our Library that aim to provide information and support to carers. Our Librarian Jan ...

Self-injury in children with intellectual disability

parent guides, PEACE, Self Injury

We are delighted to publish our new comprehensive guide for parents on ‘Self-injury in children with intellectual disability’ in partnership ...

Understanding and reducing sleep problems for children with a genetic syndrome webinar review

Cerebra Network, research, Sleep

A recording of the webinar is now available if you’d like to catch up in full. Introduction Professor Caroline Richards ...

Tailored Sleep Interventions in Neurodevelopmental Conditions

Aston University, sleep research

Dr Georgie Agar Last year we reported that researchers at Aston University were working in partnership with Cerebra to understand ...

Expert Sleep Advice for Autism and ADHD

Sleep Advice Service

We recently heard from a family who got in touch to tell us how our Sleep Advice Service was able ...

New Books in our Library this October

cerebra innovation centre, CIC, fish tank

Sensory Processing Disorder L7042: Understanding Your Child’s Sensory Signals 4th Edition by Angie Voss ADHD L7043: ADHD Figuring it out ...

Navigating Life After a Brain Injury: The Power of Rehabilitation and Collaboration

equipment, Irwin Mitchell, Quality of Life, Rehabilitation

Equipment and Rehabilitation: Enhancing Quality of Life Access to the right equipment and rehabilitation can significantly improve quality of life ...

Fish Tank Fun For Arthur

Our Innovation Centre designs and builds innovative, bespoke products to help disabled children discover and engage with the world around ...

Securing Direct Payments To Transform A Family’s Life

direct payments, Legal Rights Service | 2 Comments

Direct Payments are intended to give families more control over the care and support services their children need and are ...

Developing The Next Generation Of Researchers – Daniel Sutherland

Positive Family Connections, University of Warwick | 1 Comment

"My name is Daniel Sutherland, and I have spent the last three years completing a PhD funded by Cerebra and ...

Floating Music Stations Are A Hit

cerebra innovation centre, CIC, Floating Music Station

At the Cerebra Innovation Centre (CIC) we respond to requests from parents, therapists and school teachers to invent new products ...

Law Commission seeks views on disabled children’s social care law

Consultation, Law Commission, LEaP, Social Care, social services

The Law Commission has published an important consultation paper on disabled children’s social care law in England. The Commission has ...

MumFighter – Partnership brings powerful story to the stage

MumFighter | 8 Comments

We are proud to have partnered with theatre company Grand Ambition to bring a play with a powerful message to ...

Books in the Library on Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy, Library

Our Librarian Jan takes a look at all of the books in our Library on Cerebral Palsy this World Cerebral ...

Project breaking barriers to media content creation

content creation, Cowshed, Stori Lab

A project has been awarded funding to begin development of tools to make media content production more accessible to everyone ...

Introducing Stori Lab

stories, survey

We’re excited to launch Stori Lab, an innovative project in partnership with Cowshed and Media Cymru, focused on empowering young ...

New sensory items for our lending library

sensory toys, toy library

We have recently purchased some new sensory items for our lending library. Sensory issues are common in children with neurodiverse ...

Book review: I’ve Got You!

Book Review, Library | 1 Comment

Sometimes books just say it all! And this one does that perfectly. It’s written for children trying to figure out ...

Surfing USA!

cerebra innovation centre, surfboard

Brandon Klein, a student from New York, wanted to transform the surfing experience for disabled people. Earlier this month he ...

Our Library Service Bringing Happiness

Library Service

Vicky is mum to eight-year-old twins Isaac and Enoch, who both have disabilities. The boys love football and vehicles, reading, ...

Our Library Brings Mum And Daughter Time

Library Service, postal lending library, toy library

Three year old Alexandra likes jumping about, climbing as high as she can, going to the zoo and her iPad. ...

Sensory Engagement For Luca

sensory toys, toy library

Luca playing with a yellow sensory ball Our Toy Library has a variety of sensory toys for all sorts of ...

Celebrating 15 Years of the GoTo Seat

cerebra innovation centre, CIC, GoTo Seat, leckey

We celebrate the 15 years of the GoTo seat with Dawn, whose request to our Innovation Centre led to the ...

‘The BEST day ever’: Harry and Tommy smash the Superheroes Tri

Cerebral Palsy, fundraising, Superheroes Tri

On a sunny Saturday in August, our Superhero Harry (aka Phoenix Fire) and his brother Tommy (Super-Farmer-Ted) completed the epic ...

happy disabled boy painting with his family

RCPCH refuses to withdraw its 2021 Fabricated or induced illness (FII) guidance

fabricated or induced illness, FII, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Systems Generated Trauma | 1 Comment

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health refuses to withdraw its 2021 guidance concerning Fabricated or induced illness (FII) by ...

Systems Generated Trauma Survey

FII, survey, Systems Generated Trauma, University of Leeds | 9 Comments

Trauma related practice’ is a phrase increasingly used by public bodies to convey their awareness that many of those with ...

What is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral Palsy, Fletchers Group, legal rights

Cerebral palsy is a medical condition resulting in disorders of movement because of an injury to the brain. It is ...

Louise and Fabs run 10k in the Festival of Inclusivity

fundraising

A huge thank you to Louise Astill and Fabienne Cuthbert, from Fieldfisher for taking part in the Parallel Festival of ...

Building practical solutions for traumatised families

LEaP, social welfare system, Systems Generated Trauma, Trauma related practice, University of Leeds School of Law | 12 Comments

On 9th July 2024 we jointly held a conference at the University of Leeds, School of Law to explore practical ...

New CEO For Cerebra

Chief Executive

Jess Camburn is currently the Chief Executive and founder of Elrha, a global organisation that finds solutions to complex humanitarian ...

Our Library Service Helps Mum Feel Less Isolated

Book Library, Library Service

"Archie's favourite things are people, music and sport. If he could choose how to spend a day, he would go ...

Seminar Review – To Mortality And Beyond

CIDD, Seminar Review, University of Warwick

For the June CIDD seminar, we heard from Professor Stuart Todd - Professor in Intellectual Disability research at the University ...

Cerebra library a child holding some books from the library.

New Books in the Library

Earlier in the year we decided to replace some of our older children’s books with more recent ones and they ...

Free webinar: Understanding and reducing sleep problems for children with genetic syndromes.

Free lunchtime webinar: Thursday 26th September 12.30pm-2.00pm Sleep problems present a significant challenge for parents and carers of children with ...

boy in a wheelchair with a carer stood behind him

Improving The Health And Wellbeing Of People With Intellectual Disabilities

CIDD, Seminar Review

Professor Cairns is Director of the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory, and Professor of Health and Neurodevelopmental Conditions in the School ...

Introducing our new Chair of Trustees

Chair of Trustees, Charlotte Geeves

‘I am honoured and delighted to have taken up the post of Chair at Cerebra. It’s a real privilege to ...

Book review: Jayben and the Golden Torch by Thomas Leeds

Book Review, Library

I have just been on an adventure with Jayben. Where do people go when they have a seizure? Jayben goes ...

Helping Rajesh Get To School Safely

Legal Rights Service, school transport

Meera contacted our Legal Rights Service for help to get school transport for her 5 year old son, Rajesh. Rajesh ...

Help To Navigate Social Care

fabricated or induced illness, Legal Rights Service, Social Care

John Furlong from our Legal Rights Service explains how we guided and supported Sarah through the complex and traumatic process ...

School transport, Cerebra help with families of children with brain conditions.

Securing School Transport For Grace

LEAP project, Legal Rights Service, school transport

Our Legal Rights Service provides families of children with brain conditions with help when facing difficulties accessing support services they ...

Social Care and Parent Carer’s Needs Assessment

LEaP, Legal Rights Service, Social care needs assessments

Our Legal Rights Service provides families of children with brain conditions with help when facing difficulties accessing support services they ...

Updated school transport guidance and the impact on disabled children

Department for Education, school transport

This article was co-written by Cerebra, IPSEA, SOS!SEN and Contact. We’ve previously expressed concerns about the Department for Education’s revised ...

Our Book Library Makes A Big Difference

books, Library

"I wanted to share my experience of using Cerebra Library and the awesome impact it has had on my family’s ...

Toys To Entertain Asiya

Library, toy library | 1 Comment

"Asiya enjoys watching things moving around her and doesn't like the quiet. She enjoys watching other people especially children making ...

Skylar Steps Up to the Challenge!

fundraising

11 year-old Skylar is taking on a 125,000 steps challenge throughout May. Her Dad, Mark, told us all about why ...

Your experiences matter

PhD student Louise would like to interview parents who have experience of looking after a child with an acquired brain ...

Cerebra toy library a child playing with colourful toys.

7 questions to ask when choosing a solicitor for your child’s compensation claim

BBK, Compensation, legal advice

Cerebra understands that as a parent or carer of a disabled child you might need to seek legal advice for ...

Diagnostic Overshadowing Webinar Review

Diagnostic overshadowing, Dr Jo Moss, Webinar Review

A recording of the webinar is now available at the end of this article if you’d like to catch up ...

63.1 miles and still smiling!

London Landmarks Half Marathon, Ultra Marathon

In February, we shared the news that Cerebra supporter, James Atkinson, had set himself the almighty challenge of running his ...

Cerebra Impact Report 2023

impact report

Each year we publish an Impact Report outlining the progress we have made towards achieving our vision of giving every ...

Nominate a Young Person for the Child of Wales Awards 2024

Wales

The awards will recognise and celebrate children and young people who face hardships and challenges every day. Individuals who are ...

Embracing Complexity: Top 10 Priorities for Research on Neurodivergence

Neurodivergence, research

Embrace Complex coalition carried out the Research Priority Setting to identify what areas of research are the most important to ...

Traumatic Brain Injuries in Children: Causes and Prevention

Irvings Law, TBI, traumatic brain injury

What is a Traumatic Brain Injury? Traumatic brain injury (‘TBI’) is an injury to the head caused externally by a ...

Practical, Helpful And Effective Support From Our Sleep Service

Sleep Advice Service

“Our daughter Verity is 11 years old. Verity absolutely loves to read and to write her own stories too. She ...

Does your young boy with cerebral palsy want to be an actor?

Cerebral Palsy

'Happy Snaps' is inspired by the writer's brother's real life story. He grew up with cerebral palsy and spent his ...

Research Journeys: Breaking down barriers: Access for all

"In identifying the barriers to disability rights implementation we can begin to understand why and how some services are accessible ...

Cerebra library a child reading books from the library.

Our postal library is as popular as ever!

Pos Fam, Positive Family Connections

We have added over 90 new books to the library over the last year on subjects such as autism, PDA, ...

Positive Family Connections Report

Our partnership with Centre for Research in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (CIDD) at the University of Warwick focusses on family ...

Fidgeting Fun For Faith

Fidget Kit, Sensory Seeking, toy library

Mum Louise introduces us to her daughter Faith and explains how borrowing a Fidget Kit from our Toy Library has ...

Research Into Sibling Relationships

1000 Families study, Siblings, University of Warwick

The Cerebra 1000 Families Study is exploring the experiences of families who live with a child with a learning disability ...

Intrauterine Growth Restriction and neurological injury by Amy Milner

CL Medilaw, intrauterine growth restriction | 1 Comment

Intrauterine growth restriction – what is it? Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), also called fetal growth restriction (FGR), occurs when a ...

A response to the consultation: Reviews of Education, Health and Care plans: proposed timescales

EHC plans, LEaP, legal rights

Response to the government's consultation to increase the time a local authority has to issue draft amendments to an EHC ...

Working Together to Safeguard Children: Changes to Statutory Guidance

LEAP project, safeguarding

Response to the government's consultation proposing changes to Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance which concluded on 6 September 2023. ...

Double the Fun for our Next Cerebra Superhero!

fundraising, James Atkinson, London Landmarks Half Marathon, Ultra Marathon

We're very excited to welcome James to Team Cerebra! James will be taking on two running challenges to raise money ...

Legal help Cerebra charity for children brain conditions.

A look at the quality of decision making by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

LEaP, legal entitlements and problem-solving project, ombudsman | 1 Comment

In December 2023 the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman published its annual report. A section on internal reviews (1) ...

Written evidence submitted by the Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving (LEaP) Project, Cerebra

Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving Project, LEaP

We have published our evidence to The Education Committee, which is assessing the current system of children's social care in ...

Dr Hayley Crawford

Dr Hayley Crawford is an Associate Professor at Warwick Medical School and network lead for the Cerebra Network. Alongside Dr ...

Professor Caroline Richards

Professor Caroline Richards, Professor of Neurodevelopmental Conditions, is a Clinical Psychologist and researcher at the University of Birmingham. Caroline leads ...

Dr Jane Waite

Dr Jane Waite is a Senior Lecturer at Aston University and a Clinical Psychologist. As a co-lead for the Cerebra ...

Dr Jo Moss

Disabled Facilities Grant, levelling up | 2 Comments

Dr Jo Moss is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey. Jo leads the Cerebra Network research in autism, ...

Have You Applied for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) for your Disabled Child?

This is your chance to feed back your experience of applying for a Disabled Facilities Grant to the government because ...

Cerebra Sleep Project Study

research, Sleep

What is the Cerebra Sleep Project looking at? The study is looking at how sleep difficulties and daytime behaviours interact ...

What commonly goes wrong to cause types of birth injury and why?

Cerebral Palsy, Fletchers Solicitors, Legal Entitlements, legal rights

Birth injury statistics Giving birth is not easy and can be a traumatic experience for all, even if things go ...

Podcasts for Family Carers

Challenging Behaviour, Challenging behaviour foundation, family carers, podcast

If, as a carer you sometimes feel lonely, isolated and that nobody else in the world is going through what ...

SNAP Cymru presents: From SEN To ALN

ALN, Education, SEN

From SEN To ALN - Tuesday 23rd January 2024 from 7:00pm until 9:00pm A FREE online event for professionals, parents ...

a young boy sat at a desk looking at an iPad

SNAP Cymru presents: Mind the Gap!

ALN, Education, SEN

Mind The Gap - Wednesday 17th January 2024 from 6:00pm until 9:00pm A FREE online event for professionals, parents and ...

Working with families to find sleep solutions

night waking, Sleep Advice Service | 2 Comments

Sami explains how his family were able to adapt suggestions from one of our Sleep Practitioners leading to a better ...

Support and understanding from our Sleep Advice Service

Sleep, Sleep Advice Service

Emma introduces us to her son Arthur and explains how our Sleep Advice Service was such a support. Tell us ...

Without Cerebra’s Sleep Service I don’t know where we’d be

Sleep Advice Service, sleep routine

"Without the help of Cerebra’s Sleep Service I don't know where we would be. As a family we were all ...

Family Trauma: A Broken Care System

Care system, Challenging Behaviour, legal rights, research, University of Leeds School of Law | 2 Comments

The University of Kent's Tizard Centre has been collaborating with the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, which provides support to families who ...

New Library Books this November

fabricated or induced illness, LEAP project, University of Leeds School of Law | 11 Comments

New Books in the Library - November 2023 L7001 - What Works for Autistic Children by Dr Luke Beardon L7002 ...

The feasibility and effectiveness of tailored behavioural sleep interventions for children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Aston University, research, sleep research, study

Researchers at Aston University are working in partnership with Cerebra to understand how practical and effective behavioural sleep interventions are ...

Fabricated or Induced Illness Research Report

The findings of a major research project concerning FII have been published today. This research report considers the prevalence and ...

Falling to sleep alone and waking in the night

night waking, Sleep Advice Service, sleeping alone

Mum Gabby got in touch to tell us how her three year old son Theodore was not only struggling to ...

Specific phobia in children with learning disabilities

CEDAR Seminar Series, CIDD, University of Warwick | 2 Comments

In this seminar, Professor Kylie Gray presented the findings of the study titled “Specific phobia in children with learning disabilities ...

New Sleep Training Course for Professionals

Sleep Advice Service, Sleep Training for Professionals

We are delighted to announce that we will be holding a pilot of our brand new Cerebra Professionals Sleep Training ...

Our Sleep Service provides a listening ear alongside practical guidance

Library Service, sleep advice, Sleep Advice Service

"Logan came to live with us when he was 2 years and 9 months old. He was diagnosed with autism ...

Lifestyle interventions during pregnancy improves child neurodevelopment

Pre-natal care, pregnancy, University of Barcelona

Structured interventions during pregnancy, such as those centred on a Mediterranean diet or mindfulness-based stress reduction, can improve child neurodevelopment ...

The Mediterranean diet and maternal stress reduction during pregnancy improve infant neurodevelopment

Barcelona, Mediterranean diet, pregnancy

Interventions based on the Mediterranean diet or mindfulness to reduce stress during pregnancy improve the neurodevelopment of children in the ...

Buttons and Bubbles: Representation through Imagination

buttons and bubbles, Inclusion

"About a year ago, I had an idea to set up a company and to create a whole brand representing ...

School Transport: what will the Department for Education’s updated guidance mean for disabled children and their families?

legal rights, school transport

In June 2023, the Department for Education published the long awaited revised school transport guidance, Travel to school for children ...

Free webinar: Diagnostic overshadowing

Autism, Challenging Behaviour, Diagnostic overshadowing, webinar

Free webinar: Tuesday 21st November 6.00pm-7.30pm Diagnostic overshadowing presents a significant challenge for parents and carers of children with intellectual ...

Having Fun With Our UV Fun Tub!

postal lending library, sensory toys, toy library

Mum Koral introduces us to her daughter Evangelina and explains why our Library Service has made such a difference to ...

Making the call

Bolt Burdon Kemp, Legal Entitlements, legal rights

Reasons to seek legal advice about a potential claim for compensation for a child with a brain injury or condition ...

Autistica is building the Autistica Neurodiversity Employers Index (NDEI)

Autistica, Inclusion, Neurodiversity

Autistica are looking for 200 companies who want to review their neurodiversity inclusion practices. You may already be actively championing ...

Free Wills Month – What does it mean?

Free Wills, Legacy

Free Wills Month occurs every March and October where participating solicitors will be offering people 55 of over the chance ...

Independence for Arlo

cerebra innovation centre, Design

Two year old Arlo likes going on walks, playing with his blocks and reading books. He is a happy little ...

Case Management following an acquired brain injury

case management, Irvings Law, Legal Entitlements, legal rights

What is case management? Paediatric Case Management is the planning and coordination of therapeutic, medical, and social care to promote ...

Finding Calm At Bedtime

night waking, Settling to sleep, Sleep Advice Service

Four-year-old B has sensory issues as well as developmental issues, particularly around communication. It was taking B a long time ...

Books in the Library on Sleep

Library, Sleep, Sleeptember

Here's a list of our library books about sleep available to borrow this Sleeptember L6325 – Sleep Disturbances in Children ...

Toys For Harley To Discover

Library Service, sensory toys, toy library

Mum Lisa got in touch with our Toy Library in the hope of finding some toys that her son Harley ...

Amelie Is Going Places On Her New Skateboard

cerebra innovation centre, CIC

Six-year-old Amelie is a bubbly and happy little girl. She loves playing outside and worships her little brother, Arthur. They ...

An Adapted Camera For Budding Photographer Archer

camera, cerebra innovation centre, Design

Mum Amanda explains how our Innovation Centre were able to cleverly adapt a camera so that her son could enjoy ...

Rhys Makes A Splash With Our Innovative Paddle Board

cerebra innovation centre, CIC, paddle board, surfing

Teenager Rhys has a rare, progressive genetic condition which affects his extremities and his physical strength. While he has tried ...

Helping The Whole Family To Play Together

Library Service, sensory toys

Our son Sam has Angelman Syndrome and needs assistance with all aspects of life. He is developmentally delayed, non-verbal, has ...

Our Toy Library Brings Excitement And Wonder

legal rights, University of Leeds School of Law | 1 Comment

Mum Victoria tells us their story: Can you tell us a little about your family? Our twins Charlie and Daisy ...

Have your say: Reforms to Assessment and Safeguarding procedures

A strong sense of despair and hopelessness comes over me whenever I am asked to respond to (yet another) Government ...

Brain injury after severe illness and sepsis

brain injury, CL Medilaw, sepsis

Childhood viral and bacterial illnesses are common, and usually are easily treated. Sometimes, however, if the symptoms are left too ...

Is all this research actually doing anything?

research, University of Warwick

This post is a summary of the conversation between the researchers and two undergraduate interns hosted by the Centre for ...

Videos of our Annual Conference are online!

conference, research

On 14th June 2023, we hosted our in-person conference in Birdcage Walk, Westminster. The conference theme was Barriers to Breakthroughs: ...

Books in the Library on Pathological Demand Avoidance

Autism, Library, Pathological Demand Avoidance, PDA, postal lending library

The library has been getting a lot of requests to borrow books on Pathological Demand Avoidance in recent months, so ...

Exploring the Benefits of Lifestyle Interventions in Pregnancy

fetal medicine, University of Barcelona

Pregnancy is a critical period where the health and wellbeing of both the mother and the developing baby are of ...

Covid 19 and Digital Inclusion

CEDAR, CEDAR Seminar Series

This seminar, delivered by Dr. Sue Caton, explores the findings of the study titled "Coronavirus and People with Learning Disabilities ...

Cerebra and the University of Leeds Continence Survey 2023

Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving Project, survey

Cerebra has frequently received reports from families who have encountered difficulties when trying to access continence supplies for their disabled ...

Breaking Waves and Breaking Barriers

Cerebra recently helped a New York schoolboy to build one of the first custom adaptable surfboards in the United States! ...

Hospital Saturday Fund donates to Cerebra at 150th anniversary event

fundraising, hospital Saturday Fund

Huge thanks to The Hospital Saturday Fund for their wonderful gift of £4,500 as part of their 150th anniversary celebrations ...

BBK’s Free ENS Legal Clinic

legal rights, Legal Social and Financial

BBK’s specialist Child Brain Injury solicitors are launching a dedicated and free of charge legal Clinic for parents of babies ...

We’ve just added some new items to our e-library!

borrowbox, e-books, Library

Our BorrowBox library has a selection of e-books and a-audiobooks that parent/carers can borrow to read or listen to and ...

Advice, Support and Information – A Family Story

postal lending library, Sleep Advice Service

“Our son J is three years old. He’s a little firecracker with a vibrant personality and he loves to play ...

Struggling To Get To Sleep With Tourette Syndrome

Settling to sleep, Sleep Advice Service, Tourette Syndrome

Our Sleep Advice Service is there to help your child - and you - get a good night's sleep. In ...

We’ve just added new books to the Library!

Legal Rights Service, school transport

New books in the library from May 2023 L6977- Sensory Parenting for Sensory Children by Tanya van Dalen L6978- For ...

Advice On Accessing School Transport

Our Legal Rights Service was recently able to help a family to access school transport for their daughter. Mum D ...

Dealing With Nightmares

Getting to sleep, Nightmares, Sleep Advice Service

“Our son is 11 years old and has Asperger's syndrome. He is an animal lover and seems to know everything ...

A Good Night’s Sleep Has Transformed Our Family Life

Sleep Advice Service, Sleep Practitioner | 2 Comments

“Annabelle loves being active - running, jumping, climbing, swinging etc. She also loves water, whether it be in a bath ...

Update to our Postal Library List

Library, postal library

We have made some improvements to our library book list. We have made it easier for you to see which ...

New switch toys in the Cerebra toy library.

Our Library Boosts A Family’s Wellbeing

postal lending library, sensory toys, toy library

"Four year old L is an active child who loves trying to climb on things and people (with a bit ...

Introducing Wizzybug – the fun way to get around for children with physical disabilities

Cerebral Palsy, CL Medilaw, Designability, Wizzybug

The Wizzybug is an innovative powered wheelchair modelled on the ‘Little Tikes’ car, aimed at younger children with limited mobility ...

England: Important Consultation for Disabled Children and Young People

Consultation, England, Social Care | 3 Comments

The Government is carrying out a consultation on its vision of how to reform children’s social care in England. This ...

Wales: Implementation of the ALN Act Extended Until August 2025

ALN, Wales

On March 20 2023, Jeremy Miles MS, Minister for Education and Welsh Language, issued a written statement announcing that the ...

What is HIE and how is it linked to Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral Palsy, CL Medilaw, HIE

What is hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)? Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy, otherwise known as “HIE”, is a technical term describing brain damage caused ...

Meet our Cerebra Superhero Runners

fundraising, LLHM, Running

These amazing Cerebra Superheroes tell us all about why they are running the 2023 London Landmarks Half Marathon for us ...

Helping Lu and her parents with those sleepless nights

Lu is 3 years and 8 months old and we recently had the pleasure of helping her and parents, Katherine ...

Seminar Review – Stigma and People with a Learning Disability

CEDAR, CEDAR Seminar Series, University of Warwick

The first CEDAR seminar of 2023 was by Katrina Scior, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Stigma Studies at University College ...

Book review: Proud to Be Differently Me

Book Review, Library | 1 Comment

Proud to Be Differently Me written and illustrated by Nazryn Nock Rainbow bear loves to play games and dance and sing, ...

Raising vital funds with ‘Givto’

fundraising, Givto

Back in September 2022 we were thrilled to feature on Givto, a new charity donation service, and raise vital funds. ...

Bertie Learns How To Sleep On His Own

Sleep Advice Service, sleeping alone

Mum Chante got in touch with our Sleep Advice Service for some help with her son’s separation anxiety and nightmares ...

Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving Project Conference

Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving Project, University of Leeds School of Law

On 18 October 2022, the University of Leeds School of Law hosted the Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving Project Conference: ...

Accessing School Transport for Disabled Children – Progress

LEaP, school transport, University of Leeds School of Law

Local authorities have a duty to make travel arrangements for all eligible children. Cases referred to our Legal Entitlements and ...

Practical approaches to resolving commonly occurring health and social care difficulties

Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving Project, LEaP, legal rights, University of Leeds School of Law

John Furlong and Derek Tilley work within our Legal Entitlements and Problem-solving Project. They help families to understand what their ...

Digital Wellbeing Interventions For Family Carers

CEDAR, family carers, systematic review, University of Warwick, wellbeing

Joanna Griffin, project lead, family carer and Assistant Professor, CEDAR, introduces a new systematic review of digital wellbeing interventions for ...

Stacey’s Global Adventure Challenge for Cerebra

Cambodia, enable law, fundraising, trek

Superstar fundraiser, Stacey Bryant from Enable Law recently took on an epic challenge for Cerebra - trekking 90km over 5 ...

Jingle All The Way!

Christmas, Music Therapy, Sensory Drum

We were delighted to provide our friends at Chiltern Music Therapy with one of our specially made sensory drums. And ...

Cerebra webinar review – Fathers of disabled children: supporting their wellbeing

father, University of Warwick, webinar | 1 Comment

Led by Dr Emma Langley (Assistant Professor, University of Warwick), alongside members of the Fathers Active In Research (FAIR) group ...

group of young children dressed as superheroes

Thanks for helping us reach our Big Give Christmas Challenge goal!

We just want to say thank you so much to everyone who supported us and contributed towards our Big Give ...

Extending the Precision Teaching Framework

CEDAR, CEDAR Seminar Series

Athanasios (Thanos) Vostanis, Lecturer in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities at the University of Kent, opened the November CEDAR seminar series ...

Aquatic therapy – the benefits of water-based therapies for children living with disabilities

Aquatic, CL Medilaw, physiotherapy

Laura Cook at CL Medilaw and Dr Heather Epps, Physiotherapist and Director of Aquaepps and Lymden Hydrotherapy and Physiotherapy (LHAP) ...

Making a Noise!

CIC, Sensory Drum

Mum Emese told us that they lost most of her daughter's toys to smoke damage during a house fire earlier ...

New Titles in our BorrowBox Library

ebooks, Library

We've got four new eBooks available free for a limited time in our BorrowBox library! The Reading Agency have recently ...

Our Engage to Change Champion!

Award, Engage to Change, postal lending library | 1 Comment

Ffion joined us as a Library Assistant through the Engage to Change Project. We are thrilled that Ffion's enthusiam, passion ...

Getting Direct Payments For 1:1 Support

direct payments, LEAP project, Legal Rights Service

Ben* is 6 years old and has autism, ADHD and epilepsy. His parents have to work long hours and need ...

Protecting vulnerable children during the cost of living crisis

BBK, cost of living, legal rights

Now is the winter of our discontent. Historically, winter has evoked different reactions in all of us - some of ...

Welsh Government Publishes ALN Guidance for Parents and Carers

ALN, SEN, Wales

In September 2021, as part of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) reform the Welsh Government began the phased transfer from ...

An early Christmas present for Henry

Cerebral Palsy, CIC

You may well remember, back in the spring, we told you all about Henry and the super-lightweight crutches our Innovation ...

Our Sensory Drums hit all the right notes!

CIC, Sensory Drum

Our Sensory Drums are wooden crafted with patterned sides that allow children to combine different touches and sounds. There's a ...

Mayson Can Play With Toys He Likes

LEAP project, Parent Blame, Professor Luke Clements, University of Leeds School of Law | 5 Comments

Our son Mayson is two years old. Mayson had a bleed on the brain and as a result had a stroke. ...

Challenging Parent Carer Blame

Disabled children and their families are one of the most severely disadvantaged groups in the UK. A major research report ...

How I overcame my disability to achieve a dream

Paddy, stories

I’m Paddy. I’m 25 and I’m from a small village in the countryside near Brighton. I was born with a ...

1000 Families Study: Relationships And Wellbeing

1000 Families study, University of Warwick | 1 Comment

Caitlin Williams is a Cerebra funded PhD student at the University of Warwick. Her first PhD study used data from ...

1000 Families Study – Latest News

1000 Families study, University of Warwick

The aim of the 1000 Families Study is to explore the wellbeing of children with learning disability, siblings, caregivers, and ...

Advocating For Disability Rights

Student Stories, University of Leeds School of Law

Ketevan Khomeriki gives a fascinating insight into her work as a disability rights advocate in Georgia. She explains how being ...

Positive Family Connections – Latest News

Positive Family Connections, University of Warwick

Positive Family Connections is a new online 6 week programme for families who have a child with additional developmental needs ...

Look at our new selection of library books!

postal lending library, sensory suitcase, sensory toys

These new books are available to borrow from our library now. Here's the full list: C0425 - People an interactive ...

‘Doodle the Poodle’s Big Day Out’ by Melissa Cassidy

Library

A colourful picture book that young children will enjoy. Doodle the Poodle goes out for a walk to his local ...

Elijah Explains How Cerebra Helped Him To Find Toys He Enjoys

Hi, my name is Elijah. I am 3 years old. I have Down syndrome and have an extra chromosome - ...

Books For Mum And Toys For Thomas

information, postal lending library, sensory toys | 1 Comment

"My son Thomas is 4 years old. He was diagnosed autistic around his 3rd birthday. Thomas also has sensory processing ...

Older disabled child in wheelchair with mother.

How a Claimant’s Solicitor and Court of Protection Deputies Work Together to Provide a Holistic Approach to Clients

brain injury, deputy, Pryers

At Pryers Solicitors, as medical negligence and personal injury specialists, we unfortunately see many clients who have suffered some form ...

Book Review: ‘Employing Care Staff in Your Home’ by Cecily Lalloo

Book Review, care, Library | 1 Comment

Amongst the scariest challenges of caring for your disabled child at home is employing people to help you. Yes you ...

What does anxiety look like?

Anxiety, CEDAR Seminar Series

Dr Hayley Crawford began the June CEDAR seminar by highlighting that autistic people and people with intellectual disabilities are at ...

A response to the SEND Review: Right support, right place, right time.

1 Comment

This is our response to the SEND Review: Right support, right place, right time. This response is prepared on behalf ...

How rehabilitation and support can help a child with an acquired brain injury to flourish and reach their potential

BBK, legal rights, Rehabilitation

My team and I are both proud and privileged to act for the most amazing, brave and courageous clients - children ...

Dr Caitlin Murray – The Importance Of Family Research

My name is Dr Caitlin Murray and I am a Research Fellow in CEDAR at the University of Warwick. I ...

Dr Joanna Griffin – Involving Family Carers in Research

My name is Dr Joanna Griffin and I am a parent carer, Counselling Psychologist, and an Assistant Professor in CEDAR, ...

Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving (LEaP) Project Cerebra

Dr Paul Thompson – Applying Statistical Methodology To Real World Problems

My name is Dr Paul Thompson, and I am a Research Fellow in Applied Statistics in CEDAR at the University ...

Dr Samantha Flynn – Research That Has Positive Impact For People With Learning Disabilities

legal rights, mental health

My name is Dr Samantha Flynn and I am an Assistant Professor in CEDAR at the University of Warwick. I ...

Cerebra and the University of Leeds FII (Fabricated or Induced Illness) Survey

fabricated or induced illness, legal rights, survey | 17 Comments

Cerebra has become increasingly concerned over recent years with an apparent rise in reports from families with disabled children which ...

Draft Mental Health Bill published: Here’s a Potential Health Warning

The Government published the long awaited Draft Mental Health Bill on 27 June 2022 which applies to England and Wales. ...

Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions-research work

The Health, Healthcare And Wellbeing Of Adults With Intellectual Disabilities

CEDAR Seminar Series, Health and Wellbeing

Tammy Rutter The dedication of Professor Mary McCarron and her team to inclusive research which brings about meaningful change for ...

Cerebra Annual Conference

conference, research | 8 Comments

Wednesday 14th June 2023, 9.30 - 16:30 One Birdcage Walk, Westminster, London, SW1H 9JJ This one-day conference will host talks ...

New Books for Adults in our Library

Library, postal lending library, postal library | 2 Comments

We have a range of new books aimed at adults that you can now borrow from our postal library. L6929 ...

New Books in our Library for Children

Library, postal lending library | 2 Comments

We have some new children's books available for you to borrow from our library: C0396 - Thriving with ADHD: workbook ...

‘The Autistic Side of Love’ by Samuel Turner

Library, postal library, Samuel Turner | 2 Comments

We are so thrilled that Samuel Turner has added to his achievements by writing a book. Samuel has volunteered for ...

Superhero fundraiser completes epic 360-mile cycle challenge for Cerebra in just 3 days!

challenge, cycle, fundraising

You will recall earlier in 2022 we introduced Swifty, from PCB Radio based in Worcester, who called us up to ...

PVL and the link to Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy, CL Medilaw, PVL

PVL - what is it? Periventricular Leukomalacia, commonly referred to as PVL, is a form of injury to the white ...

Acquired Brain Injury and Litigation

brain injury, enable law, legal rights

Common causes of brain injury Sometimes a child sustains a brain injury at birth or because of a medical reason, ...

Introducing Cerebra PhD Student Lauren Jenner

Cerebra Network, PhD Students, University of Surrey

Lauren Jenner is a PhD student at the University of Surrey using novel methodologies to understand social abilities and autism ...

School attendance in children with neurodevelopmental conditions one year after COVID-19

CEDAR Seminar Series, Covid-19

Emma Taylor Associate Professor Dr Vaso Totsika opened her CEDAR Seminar Series talk by explaining how, before COVID-19, rates of ...

Giving You The Information Your Family Needs

postal lending library

"My daughter is nearly 12 years old and we suspect she may have autism. We have just completed documentation for ...

Cerebra what we do the charity for children with brain conditions.

Our response to the publication of The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England

Parent Blame, Social Care

In a sense, Josh MacAlister’s independent review of children’s social care was always going to disappoint. Billed as a “wide-ranging, ...

Wales: update on the transition from the SEN to the ALN system

SEN, Wales, Welsh Government

The Welsh Government has recently issued two written ministerial statements updating the phased transition from the special education needs (SEN) ...

Disabled Children and the Equality Act 2010: What teachers need to know and what schools need to do

Council for Disabled Children, equality act, webinar

Schools have a range of duties under the Equality Act 2010: to staff, as employees; to parents and others, where ...

New report launched: Investing in early intervention

Early Intervention, learning disabilities, report

Too often children with learning disabilities and their families are unable to access the early years support and services they ...

Loneliness and Parent Carer Mental Health

Joanna Griffin, loneliness, mental health | 3 Comments

In addition to the Covid pandemic, there is another pandemic that has gained greater prominence lately; that of loneliness. It is ...

A Parent Carer Perspective Of Loneliness

Emotional Mental Health, loneliness, story | 9 Comments

When our son was born back in 2006, we envisaged a similar parental journey to that of our two older ...

Understanding atypical patterns of autism in individuals with genetic syndromes associated with intellectual disability

autism research, CEDAR Seminar Series | 2 Comments

Dr Jo Moss, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Surrey, opened the February CEDAR seminar by sharing a story ...

Introducing Cerebra PhD Student Rory O’Sullivan

Cerebra Network, PhD Students

Rory O’Sullivan is a PhD student at the University of Birmingham. As part of The Cerebra Network he is leading ...

So Many Books And Toys – It’s Amazing!

books, postal lending library

“Ezra has global development delay and is on the pathway to an Autism diagnosis. Ezra struggles with social, communication difficulties ...

Our Toy Library Brings Fun Right To Your Door!

“Evan will be 5 in May and has been receiving toys on loan since 2018 when he was around 1 ...

How Our Library Helped Joe

Positive Families, take part in research, University of Warwick

Joe's mum Sophie explains how our free book and toy library have improved her family's life. "Joe is 4, he's ...

Something Super-Light and Super-Strong for Superstar, Henry!

Cerebral Palsy, CIC

Henry, from Midsomer Norton in Somerset is 9 and a ¼ although, as a massive Harry Potter fan, he will ...

Emma, Joshua And The Challenges Of Epilepsy

epilepsy, family story | 6 Comments

Joshua had a stroke at birth and as a result suffered ‘devastating brain damage’. When we finally got home from ...

Recommendations for Books on Autism in the Library

Autism, Library, postal lending library, world autism day

If I’m asked by parents which books do I think they should read to start with, I suggest one of ...

Little boy looking through books, borrow ebooks from Cerebra.

Epilepsy Books in the Library

epilepsy, Library, purple day

Books in the library on Epilepsy for parent carers Complex Childhood Epilepsy a Parents Handbook by Nina Solomon Published 2010 ...

a Cerebra Superhero running the London Landmarks Half Marathon

Introducing some of our Superhero runners

LLHM, Running

Get to know our runners and a bit more about why they chose to run for us Sam Hitchcock I’m ...

Book Review: ‘Hydrocephalus: What I Wish I’d Known’ by Harry’s HAT

Book Review, Harry's HAT, hydrocephalus, Library

When you get a diagnosis, you can feel like you’re the only family going through it. How great to find ...

Introducing Cerebra PhD Student Jessica Mingins

Aston University, Cerebra Network, PhD Students | 2 Comments

Jessica Mingins is a PhD student at Aston University, her Cerebra funded research is improving our understanding and assessment of ...

Positive Family Connections – Take Part

We are inviting family carers of a child with a learning disability, autism, or both aged 8-13 years to take ...

Lifestyle Interventions in Pregnancy

pregnancy, research study, University of Barcelona

Most women thinking about having a baby know that they need to make lifestyle changes before and while they are ...

The long road ahead for Cerebra Superhero fundraiser

cycling, fundraising | 14 Comments

On Friday 20th May 2022, PCB Radio DJ, Chris ‘Swifty’ Morgan will be cycling the whole of the A38 for ...

Positive Family Connections

Joanna Griffin, Positive Family Connections, University of Warwick

Joanna Griffin, parent carer, counselling psychologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick discusses the value of co-production and ...

Playing with your child for research

research study, take part in research, Watch Me Play

Watch Me Play! involves the parent watching their child play for about 20 minutes a couple of times a week. ...

Property ownership and Children – recognising the financial investment of others

enable law, Personal Injury, Property

Introduction The legal ownership of the 'Family Home' of a Child who has received a Personal Injury award can sometimes ...

Caitlin Williams – 1000 Families Study

1000 Families study, PhD Students, University of Warwick | 1 Comment

My name is Caitlin Williams and I’m a second year PhD student at the University of Warwick. My PhD research ...

Transitioning from School to Further Education

adulthood, Cerebral Palsy, further education, Lisa Swales, Transition

Moving from a school setting into further education is a difficult decision for any young person. However, for people with ...

Helping Lucian with sleepless nights and his sensory needs

Library, sensory toys, Sleep | 2 Comments

7-year-old Lucian is a happy and bubbly young boy who gets on so well with others and loves being outdoors. ...

Mediterranean diet or mindfulness during pregnancy reduces by one third the risk of a low birth weight baby

pregnancy, University of Barcelona

A clinical trial for pregnant women at high risk of a low birth weight baby demonstrates for the first time ...

Happy 20th Birthday Cerebra!

Birthday, Chris Jones | 1 Comment

“I have many different emotions when I let it sink in that we are celebrating Cerebra’s 20th birthday. No different ...

Variety, Smiles And Fun With Our Toy Library

assistive technology, CL Medilaw

Sarah explains how our toy library has helped her daughter Betsy to have fun and variety in her life. “Betsy ...

Assistive Technology – enhancing independence for children living with brain conditions

“For people without disabilities, technology makes things easier. For people with disabilities, technology makes things possible.” IBM Training Manual, 1991. ...

Prematurity

premature birth, Prematurity, University of Leeds

For most mothers pregnancy is a safe and straightforward process but for 1 in 5 unexpected complications can occur and ...

Daniel Sutherland – Positive Family Connections

Cerebra PhD, Positive Family Connections, University of Warwick | 1 Comment

My name is Daniel Sutherland, and I am doing a PhD at the University of Warwick funded by Cerebra. My ...

a mother holding her child on a space hopper

Cerebra will be delivering our Accessing Public Services Toolkit Workshop

legal rights, Public Services Toolkit, workshop

We're delighted to announces that Cerebra will be delivering our Accessing Public Services Toolkit Workshop on Monday 13th December 2021. ...

Educational Tribunal Appeals in Wales: Which website do I need – SENTW or ETW?

additional learning needs, Education, Wales

On 1 September 2021 the law about children with learning difficulties and disabilities living in Wales changed as the old special ...

School And Mental Health – Survey

mental health, Rare Genetic Conditions, school experience, survey | 2 Comments

Our PhD student Lowri O'Donovan has put together a survey for parents of children with rare genetic conditions. Working with ...

A Model For Early Years Family Intervention Supports

Parent Blame | 4 Comments

A model for Early Years family intervention supports for children with global developmental delay/ emerging learning disabilities in Wales: professional ...

Sleeping, Playing and Learning

Library, postal lending library, Sleep | 1 Comment

David is almost two years old and is a happy little boy who loves books, toy trains and going on ...

Planning your Child’s Future: Transitioning from Child to Adult

Children's Act, Future Planning, Hyphen Law

Planning your Child’s Future: Transitioning from Child to Adult The days are long, but the years are short. Words that ...

Watch Me Play!

research study, take part in research

Are you interested in taking part in a Watch Me Play! study? Watch Me Play! is a programme for parents ...

Louise takes on Marathon Challenge for Cerebra

CL Medilaw, fundraise, London marathon

Louise Astill, a solicitor from CL Medilaw, a firm specialising in medical negligence and serious injuries, is gearing up to ...

Back to Basics: Parent Child Relationships in Families with Children who have Typical and Atypical Development

CEDAR, CEDAR Seminar Series

Professor Carlo Schuengel opened his CEDAR seminar series talk by reflecting on the pandemic and what a special time it ...

Teddy is Going Places with his Oxy-gem!

CIC, Innovation centre, oxy-gem

Teddy was born healthy and well, although he suffered with what we thought was terrible reflux. When he was a ...

Cerebra awarded Association of Medical Research Charities membership

AMRC, medical research, research

Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) - Cerebra Membership The Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) is a membership organisation ...

Wales: Code of Practice on the Delivery of Autism Services

Autism, Wales, Welsh Government | 1 Comment

The Welsh Government has issued a Code of Practice on the Delivery of Autism Services (CoP) and accompanying supporting guidance ...

Transition to Employment Toolkit for Autistic Young People

Autism, employment

Ambitious about Autism have launched a new toolkit to support autistic young people moving into the workplace. The organisation explains ...

Wales: Changes to the Transfer Timetable for Moving from the Special Educational System to the New Additional Learning Needs System

ALN, SEN, Wales | 1 Comment

On 14 July 2021, Jeremy Miles, Minister for Education and the Welsh Language issued a written statement explaining that the ...

England Publishes a New National Strategy for Autistic Children, Young People and Adults

Autism, England | 2 Comments

On 21 July 2021 the government published a new national strategy for improving the lives of autistic people and their ...

Extended Powers SEND Tribunal National Trial to Continue

Education, EHCP, SEND

On 20 July 2021, the Department for Education confirmed the extended powers given to the special educational needs and disability ...

Institutionalising Parent-carer Blame

LEaP, Professor Luke Clements, University of Leeds School of Law | 25 Comments

Disabled children and their families are one of the most severely disadvantaged groups in the UK. A major research report ...

Welcome To Our Newest Recruit

Library

We are delighted to welcome Ffion Parsons as the newest member of our team. Ffion, from Carmarthen, has joined us ...

‘Day by Day’ by Joanna Griffin – Book Review

'Day by Day', Book Review, Library

‘Day by Day: emotional wellbeing in parents of disabled children’ If you're struggling with the emotional turmoil of being the ...

Can an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) help my child after a brain injury?

Birchall Blackburn Law, Education Health & Care Plan, EHCP

Can an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) help my child after a brain injury? If your child has a ...

A Second Chance

ABI, epilepsy | 1 Comment

We recently had the pleasure of being contacted by Joey, a 16-year-old from Northern Ireland whose life was turned upside ...

Try Before You Buy With Our Sensory Toy Library

Library, sensory toys | 5 Comments

Our specialist postal library contains a wide range of books for both adults and children and a selection of toys ...

Pobl Trust Fund Innovation Centre Materials

cerebra innovation centre, CIC, Pobl group

Pobl Trust is the registered charity of Pobl Group – a not-for-profit based in Newport which is aiming to make ...

“My cheeks get red and my brain gets scared” – learning about anxiety in children with autism

Autism, autism research, CEDAR Seminar Series

Associate Professor, Dawn Adams, began her CEDAR Seminar Series talk by highlighting her research focus on autism and anxiety and ...

Cerebra Network Launch a Success

Cerebra Network, research

The Cerebra Network recently held a virtual event to celebrate the launch of their new dynamic network of researchers. The ...

Design to Change Competition Winners

Bolt Burdon Kemp, cerebra innovation centre, CIC, innovation

Bolt Burdon Kemp have announced the winners of their Design the Change competition. The competition, which is now in its ...

Cerebra Network Launch Event

Cerebra Network, research | 4 Comments

The Cerebra Network will expand upon the work of the Cerebra Centre, which was led by Professor Chris Oliver and ...

Early therapeutic intervention for acquired brain injury

BBK, brain injury, Intervention, Parents

Many parents feel frightened and overwhelmed when they learn that their baby has sustained an irreversible brain injury. They are ...

Going the Extra Mile for Cerebra!

fundraising, half marathon, Running

The London Landmarks Half Marathon takes place on 1st August and we caught up with one of our superhero runners, ...

Charlie with his certificate from Cerebra

Charlie Is Flavour Of The Month

Bake sale, fundraising

Charlie Nine year old Charlie from Surrey decided to put his baking skills to the test in order to help ...

YouTube Sensation Becomes Cerebra Ambassador

Ambassadors, Emily Nicole

We are delighted to announce that YouTube sensation, Emily Nicole Roberts has become a Cerebra Ambassador. Emily, 22 from South ...

Sensory Pod Chairs Project Underway Thanks To Nationwide Donation

CIC, donation, innovation, Nationwide | 4 Comments

We would like to say a huge thanks to Nationwide and particularly their team at the Rotherham branch for their ...

Disabled Facilities Grants – One Family’s Story

Disabled Facilities Grant, LEaP, Luke Clements | 16 Comments

One mum tells us why her autistic son belongs at home and how a Disabled Facilities Grant made it possible. ...

The Hidden Face of Autism

Autism, autism research, CEDAR Seminar Series | 1 Comment

Wenyuan Liu Professor Mandy opened the seminar with some general thoughts about autism, particularly the history and changes in how ...

Having to be your child’s voice when you don’t know what questions to ask

Client Journey, enable law

Enable Law take a look at having to be your child's voice when you don't know what questions to ask. ...

Sleep Advice: Chronotherapy and Phased Advancement

chronotherapy, Phased Advancement, sleep service | 2 Comments

Sarah got in touch with our Sleep Service at a point when she felt that her family had run out ...

Wales: Additional Learning Needs Code and Regulations Approved

additional learning needs, Education, Wales

The SEN/ALN forms passed a new milestone when the ALN Code and regulations were approved by the Senedd on 23 March. ...

Our Knowledge Transfer Project (Mental Health) Identified As Good Practice

Cardiff University, KTP, mental health

Genetic Alliance UK has published the final report on the Cross Party Group on Rare, Genetic & Undiagnosed Conditions highlighting ...

Law Students Investigate Social Needs Assessments

LEAP project, Social care needs assessments, Student Project, University of Leeds School of Law | 2 Comments

The Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving (LEaP) project is innovative and helps families of children with brain conditions cope with ...

A History of Controversies over the treatment of autism with behavioural therapies

Autism, autism research, CEDAR Seminar Series

Nikita Hayden Milana Aronov opened her CEDAR Seminar Series talk by highlighting how relatively under-explored autism is in the humanities. ...

A unique set of wheels for 3-year-old Henry

1 Comment

A bike trailer created by our Innovation Centre at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) has given a young ...

Preventing Pregnancy Complications #IWD21

#IWD21, International Women's Day, pregnancy, University of Barcelona, University of Leeds

At the University of Barcelona we meet two Elisenda’s whose work tries to identify deviations in foetal brain development as ...

Championing Mental Health #IWD21

#IWD21, Cardiff University, International Women's Day, KTP, mental health

Research shows that children with rare genetic disorders often struggle with their mental health. Yet families have trouble finding helpful ...

Cerebra Women Making A Difference #IWD21

#IWD21, CNND, International Women's Day

As part of our International Women’s Day campaign we are catching up with some of the women researchers that are ...

Growing up with CP – Becoming a Youtube Sensation!

blog, Cerebral Palsy, Emily Nicole, youtube | 2 Comments

Growing up, Emily never felt as though any of the people she saw in the media represented her and knew ...

This Is Our Family

Ambassadors | 1 Comment

Earlier this year Sky Atlantic broadcast the documentary ‘This Is Our Family’ which took three years to film and followed ...

LEaP Project Recognises Exceptional Contribution Of Students

LEAP project, University of Leeds School of Law

The Caroline Gooding Memorial Lecture is an annual event in memory of Caroline Gooding’s pivotal role in conceptualising a rights-based ...

COVID-19 Guide for Carers and Family Supporting Adults and Children with Learning Disabilities

Autism, learning disabilities, Parent Guide

The Social Care Institute for Excellence has produced a new guide to help family members and carers living with and ...

Libby is going places with her new Walker!

cerebra innovation centre, CIC, Innovation centre, walker

We wanted to share some wonderful footage of Libby receiving a surprise gift from our Innovation Centre! At just 18 ...

Learning at Home with our Library

Library, lockdown, postal lending library

Cerebra’s postal library service is still open during the lockdown. While the kids are at home and you are home ...

Practical Tips for Effectively Accessing Public Services for your Disabled Child

John Furlong, LEAP project, Legal Entitlements

Unfortunately many families struggle to access the education, social and health services for their children that they are legally entitled ...

Public Health Wales looking for Two Patient and Public Involvement Members

research, take part in research

Public Health Wales are looking for two Patient and Public Involvement members for a research project briefly outlined below: Public ...

Clinical Criteria For Diagnosing Autism Inadequate For People With Genetic Conditions, Research Suggests

Autism, Cardiff University, Genetic Conditions, research

People with certain genetic conditions are likely to have significant symptoms of autism, even if they do not meet all ...

Christmas Sleep Tips

Christmas, Sleep, sleep tips

During the Christmas break the change in routine and dark, colder nights can often make sleep difficult. It can be ...

An Update On Judith And Rose’s Sleep Story

Sleep, sleep service, story

Earlier this year Judith got in touch to tell us how our Sleep Service had given her the advice and ...

Our Fundraisers And Supporters Rise To The Challenge

Call centre

There's no doubt that we would be unable to continue our vital work to help families discover a better life ...

Update on the powers of a property and financial affairs Deputy

Financial Law, mental capacity

A recent case in the Court of Protection[i] has given property and financial affairs Deputies clarity about the extent of ...

Our Research Helps Families To Get A Good Night’s Sleep

CNND, Sleep, UCL

We know that sleep affects every single aspect of our waking lives – our mood, behaviour, physical and mental well-being, ...

Barney’s Christmas-a-thon

Christmas-a-thon, fundraising | 1 Comment

Seven year old Barney is doing something amazing this Christmas – a Christmas-a-thon! What’s a Christmas-a-thon you ask? During December, ...

Brain injury at birth guide for parents

legal advice, Leigh Day, premature birth

Being a new parent involves a huge learning curve but when you are told something is wrong with your baby ...

England: Updated Guidance for Opening of Special Schools

Coronavirus, Government guidance, special schools

The guidance for the full opening of special schools and other specialist settings was updated on 20 November. The update ...

Useful Resources from the Council for Disabled Children

Coronavirus, Council for Disabled Children, Luke Clements

Amongst the many useful resources parents of disabled children can find on the Council for Disabled Children’s (CDC) website we ...

Wales: Update on the Additional Learning Needs System

additional learning needs, Wales, Welsh Government

The Welsh Government issued the following update below on 25 November: The Senedd yesterday approved the ‘Draft: Additional Learning Needs ...

Our new look Oxygems are ready to roll!

Oxygem | 2 Comments

Cerebra’s Oxygems, designed and built by our Innovation Centre, have made a big difference to the lives of children all ...

A Fond Farewell To Anthea

We've said a fond farewell to one of Cerebra's longest serving members of staff – Anthea Wright who retired last ...

Embracing Complexity Through Art And Science

Cardiff University, mental health

Dr Sam Chawner from Cardiff University has teamed up with Phenotypica, an art and science initiative by scientist Ben Murray ...

Mental Capacity – Trustee, Attorney, Appointee or Deputy?

appointee, attorney, deputy, enable law, Law, mental capacity, trustee | 1 Comment

If you're the parent or guardian of a child that is expected to lack capacity as an adult, it can ...

Useful Children and Young People Mental Health Resources

CAMHS, Law, mental health

Navigating the children and young people’s mental health system can be very daunting but the following resources could be very ...

Mental Health Support For You And Your Family

mental health, support services

Whether it’s being able to spot the signs of anxiety and pain in a child with complex needs or looking ...

Books on Mental Health in our Library

Mental Health Library books for Adults A Practical Guide to Mental Health Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder by ...

Improving Mental Health Support in Schools for Children With Rare Conditions

infographic, Lowri, mental health

Lowri is our Knowledge Transfer Project Mental Health Research Associate. She explains about a visual map that was created following ...

England: New and Updated Government Covid-19 Guidance

Coronavirus, England, Guidance

Since the start of the epidemic the Government has produced a significant amount of guidance for schools, social services and ...

Wales: Consultation on the Delivery of Autism Services

Autism, Wales, Welsh Government

The Welsh Government has launched a consultation on a code of practice dedicated to the delivery of autism services in ...

England: New and Updated Government Covid-19 Guidance

Coronavirus, England, Guidance

Since the start of the epidemic the Government has produced a significant amount of guidance for schools, social services and ...

England: New and Updated Government Covid-19 Guidance

Coronavirus, England

Since the start of the epidemic the Government has produced a significant amount of guidance for schools, social services and ...

Wales: ALN Code Delayed

ALN, Wales, Welsh Government

As part of the Welsh Government’s ongoing special educational needs reform which resulted in the passing of the Additional Learning ...

Wales: School Transport Review Extended to 0-4 Year-Olds and Mileage Thresholds

legal rights, school transport, Wales | 2 Comments

Local authorities in Wales must make free travel arrangements for eligible children of compulsory school age, that is to say ...

Top 5 Tips to Help you Become a Savvy Stepper

campaign, challenge, fundraising, step up, steps

We recently launched our new campaign where we're asking you to Step Up for Cerebra. As part of the challenge, ...

Loneliness When Parenting a Child with Complex Needs

App, Friendili

Mum Jessica Barker explains how her family experience led her to develop a friend finding app for parents and carers ...

England: New and Updated Government Covid-19 Guidance

Coronavirus, England, Government guidance

Since the start of the epidemic the Government has produced a significant amount of guidance for schools, social services and ...

Mental Health and Wellbeing Toolkit for Primary Schools

mental health, signpost, wellbeing

As schools prepare for children and young people to return in September, supporting and prioritising mental health and wellbeing will ...

Legal and financial help Cerebra charity for children brain conditions.

The Lessons We’ve Learned From Covid

Covid-19, LEaP, Legal Rights Service

Our Legal Rights Service provides families of children with brain conditions with help when facing difficulties accessing support services they ...

Two Covid-19 Research Projects Looking For Families To Take Part

Coronavirus, support, survey

Two organisations are looking for your opinions about support during lockdown. The National Children’s Bureau are looking for families, including ...

little girl wearing a bright coloured visor

Keeping Children With Brain Conditions Safe

CIC, Visors

We are working on a special project to keep children safe as schools get set to re-open. Our Swansea based ...

England: Additional Transport Guidance to Educational settings from the Autumn Term

legal rights, school transport

The Government published additional guidance on 11 August regarding transport to schools and other educational settings which comes into force ...

England: New and Updated Government Covid-19 Guidance

government, Guidance

Since the start of the epidemic the Government has produced a significant amount of guidance for schools, social services and ...

Learning Your Child Has Cerebral Palsy – What Next?

Bolt Burdon Kemp, Cerebral Palsy

Through years of representing inspirational children with brain injuries and working with their amazing families, I understand that in the ...

Appeal To Parent Support Groups To Participate In Our Children’s Services Assessment Survey

LEAP project, parent support group, survey | 2 Comments

Cerebra’s Legal Entitlement and Problem-solving Project (LEaP) is carrying out a research project with Professor Luke Clements, Cerebra Professor of ...

Getting Back To Normal At Our Library

books, Library, postal lending library

We are pleased to announce that our postal book library has reopened. As usual, you can borrow two books at ...

Unlawful restrictions on the rights of disabled children with autism to social care needs assessments

Autism, LEaP, University of Leeds School of Law | 2 Comments

Autism is classed as a disability and all children with disabilities have a right to an assessment of their needs. ...

41 Local Authorities are unlawfully discriminating against autistic children

Autism, Press Release | 6 Comments

According to a report published today by Disability Law Service, Leeds University, Cerebra and the BBC, at least 41 Councils ...

Child Mental Health: Resources To Help Young People

Anxiety, Depression, mental health, stress

The Coronavirus pandemic has caused significant and sudden change to our daily lives. Statistics show that this has caused a ...

Autism: A Lack of Social Care Support

Autism, Social Care, Yorkshire

We recently published a post asking families in the Yorkshire area to get in contact if their child with autism ...

Welsh Government Seeks Your Views On How Wales Should Develop Post-Covid

Coronavirus, Covid-19, Wales, Welsh Government

The Welsh Government has launched a national conversation with the people of Wales on how it “should support future post-Covid ...

Ice-cream Delight For Carmela

cerebra innovation centre

Enjoying an ice cream on a hot summer day is something most of us take for granted. For six year ...

Department for Education to reintroduce full Education, Health and Care Plan Support

Department for Education, EHCP

In May, the Government implemented temporary law changes regarding Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) as a result of the ...

SEN Tribunal in Wales issues directions on electronic submission of paperwork

special educational needs, Wales

The Special Educational Needs Tribunal for Wales (SENTW) is continuing to hear cases during the coronavirus pandemic but in virtual ...

Follow-up: Your experiences of Obtaining a Parent Carer Needs Assessment

LEaP, LEAP project, Parent carers needs assessment | 2 Comments

Last month we published an article where our LEaP Project asked you for your personal experiences of obtaining a Parent ...

Our Legal Rights Service Helps Family With Parent Carer Needs Assessment

Legal Rights Service, PCNA

Elena got in touch with our Legal Rights Service after her local authority (LA) repeatedly refused to undertake a standalone ...

Cerebra Funding for The Cerebra Network for Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, funding, research | 7 Comments

We are delighted to announce £829,000 of funding for the Cerebra Network for Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Tracy Elliott, Head of Research ...

Autism and Lack of Social Care Support – Can You Help?

Autism, LEAP project, legal rights

Our Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving Project (LEaP) is looking for a family in the Yorkshire area to be interviewed ...

smiling little boy who got a good night's sleep thanks to the cerebra sleep service

Bedtime Settling and Night Time Waking

night waking, settling, Sleep, sleep service

Cathy and her family were all struggling with the impact of her son's inability to settle at bedtime and his ...

Cerebra’s Innovation Centre supplies child friendly visors to schools

CIC, Covid-19, Face Visors | 6 Comments

Lock down has meant that our Innovation Centre staff have been unable to work on their regular projects so they ...

Education - Cerebra charity for children with brain conditions

Update on Schools in England and Wales

Education, England, Wales

The Government has removed plans for primary school children in England to return to school before the end of the ...

Cerebra Family Research Group End Of Grant Report

1000 Families study, Cerebra Family Research Group, Professor Richard Hastings, University of Warwick

The Cerebra Family Research Group has released its End of Grant Report outlining the focus of their work well as ...

University of Leeds LEaP students and staff.

Delivering Legal Rights End of Grant Report

Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving Project, Professor Luke Clements, University of Leeds School of Law

The School of Law at the University of Leeds has published its end of grant report summarising the achievements of ...

How a Brain Injury can Affect your Child’s Education

brain injury, Education

Laxmi Patel, Partner and Head of Education at Boyes Turner takes a look at how a brain injury can affect ...

Guidance in England for Returning to School

England, legal rights, school

The following information relates to England only. It does not apply to Wales. In England, the Prime Minister has announced ...

School Friends Hit the Road in Aid of Families and Carers

Cerebral Palsy, Enna Thea, fundraising, Iris

It was around five years ago when we first met Enna Thea and her mum, Catherine when they contacted our ...

little girl in shopping trolley give as you shop

Open Letter To Supermarkets

lockdown, open letter, supermarkets

We know that supermarkets are doing their best to keep the public safe during this really difficult time. But we’re ...

Sleep advice service emotional and mental health Cerebra.

Double Success For Deborah

Kaileigh, legal advice, Sleep, sleep advice

Kaileigh, who is one of our Sleep Practitioners recently helped Deborah and her daughter Olivia who was experiencing anxiety at ...

500 Face Visors for Care Homes

CIC, Face Visors

Our Innovation Centre team have been pulling out all the stops to help support frontline workers during the Coronavirus outbreak. ...

Samuel Turner collecting a cheque from Co Op

Mental Health Awareness Week – Kindness Matters

kindness, mental health, Samuel Turner

Samuel Turner is a young man with a passion for supporting Cerebra. His achievements are all the more remarkable as ...

Lowri on Mental Health Awareness Week

Lowri, mental health, Mental health awareness

This week we celebrate Mental Health Awareness week, the theme of which this year, is Kindness. What is Kindness? Kindness ...

Parent Carers Needs Assessments

Legal Entitlements, Parent carers needs assessment | 3 Comments

Our Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving (LEaP) Project has received a request from a parent explaining that her local authority has ...

‘Vulnerable’ Does Not Mean ‘at Risk of Harm’

Coronavirus | 2 Comments

Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, we have heard people who are more likely to be ‘at risk’ by ...

Guidance for Councils and Care Providers During the Coronavirus Crisis

Coronavirus, Social Care

Back in March, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) suspended all casework activity that demands information from, or ...

Legal Team Shortlisted for Prestigious Award

Award, Law, legal, Legal Entitlements

Supported by the Attorney General, the LawWorks awards celebrate the best pro bono activities undertaken by law students and law ...

One Family’s Experience of a ‘Child in Need’ Assessment

child in need assessment, Legal Entitlements

In England and Wales, local authorities are under a duty to assess the social care needs of children who meet ...

Children’s Services Duties ‘Relaxed’ in England but not in Wales

children's services, legal rights

England A new set of regulations came into force in England on Friday 23 April which have controversially relaxed some ...

Face Mask Update From CIC

cerebra innovation centre, CIC, Coronavirus

"Hi Everyone, I hope you are all well and still coping with the lockdown! I will freely admit, it has ...

Welsh Government Issues New Guidance

Coronavirus, Welsh Government

On 21 April the Welsh Government issued new guidance on how children’s services should operate during the Covid-19 outbreak. The ...

Direct Payments and Prepaid Cards Success for LEaP Project

direct payments, LEaP, LEAP project, prepaid cards

Sophie, our LEaP Project co-ordinator, explains how we helped families with disabled children in one particular English local authority. The ...

Do Something Fun and out of the Ordinary – Join the 2.6 Challenge!

2.6 challenge, fundraising

Cerebra, like many charities across the country, have had to put a lot of fundraising plans on hold and with ...

New Items Available from our BorrowBox Library

borrowbox, digital library, Library

As we aren’t able to send books out at the moment, we have just added lots of new titles to ...

Disabled Facilities Grant Ruling

Disabled Facilities Grant, housing | 1 Comment

In a judgment released on 2 April 2020, the High Court ruled that when processing an application for a disabled ...

Cerebra funded research at the University of Birmingham

Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders. University of Birmingham.

The Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders (CCND) is headed by Professor Chris Oliver and is based in the School of ...

Let’s get Artistic Together!

art, Coronavirus, together

It’s a very difficult and uncertain time at the moment. The Coronavirus pandemic has effected all of us in some ...

How our Sleep Service helps – Judith’s story

Getting to sleep, Sleep, sleep advice, sleep service

Our family “Our fifteen year old daughter, Rose, has an underdeveloped cerebellum. This affects her muscle coordination, which in turn ...

Legal Handbook for Families Launched

legal, Legal Entitlements, Professor Luke Clements

Legal Action Group has published its 3rd edition of Disabled Children: A legal handbook and is currently offering a 20% ...

Change in Lock Down Exercise Guidance for People With Health Conditions

Coronavirus, legislation

On 23 March 2020 the Prime Minister announced that all citizens were only allowed to leave where they were living ...

CIC Helps Create Protective Equipment for NHS Staff

cerebra innovation centre, CIC, Coronavirus, Innovation centre, UWTSD

Hi Cerebra family! I do hope you have all been coping well during lock down. I can tell you, in ...

We Back Campaign for Coronavirus Act Review

Coronavirus, coronavirus act

The Coronavirus Act 2020 worryingly relieves local authorities in England and Wales of their duties to provide crucial care and ...

Factsheet: Complaints, Public Bodies and Government Guidance

Complaints, Factsheet, Guidance, Public Bodies

The law that parents of disabled children and their supporters may have to deal with can be very complicated. We ...

Sources of Free e-books and audiobooks

digital library, ebooks, Library

Cerebra’s digital library focuses on neurological conditions, but there are plenty of other ways to get free e-books and audiobooks ...

Coronavirus Act: an Overview for England and Wales

Coronavirus, England, legal, Wales

By now you will probably be aware of the Coronavirus Act 2020 (The Act) and its potential impact on social ...

Changes to our Library Service

Coronavirus, Covid-19, Suspended Service

Sadly, due to the current situation we have had to suspend the book and toy library for the time-being. We ...

dr ross head works from home with his pet chickens

Lockdown Lowdown from CIC

blog

Okay, so here I go with my first ever blog - and what a time to start! So, we all ...

Getting school transport for your disabled child

LEaP, parent guides, school transport, template letters

In October 2019, Margaret contacted our LEaP Project to thank us for the information within our to School Transport Guide ...

Cerebra and COVID-19

Coronavirus, Covid-19, Statement

Despite the disruption caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic we would like to reassure you that Cerebra is still operational ...

Personal Independence Payments (PIP) Signposting

Benefits, Personal Independence Payments, PIP

Disability Living Allowance for people aged 16-64 has been replaced by Personal Independence Payments (PIP). This means that if your ...

Helping Layla get a good night’s sleep

Sleep, sleep service | 1 Comment

Because of her condition, Layla is also unable to communicate so she can’t explain how she is feeling or tell ...

An ‘Awesome and Wobbly’ time in aid of Cerebra

Awesome and Wobbly, comedy, fundraising, Leigh Day

On Tuesday 3 March, Leigh Day organised ‘Awesome and Wobbly’ - an incredible evening of music and comedy, all in ...

New campaign to recruit Everyday Superheroes

Everyday Superheroes, fundraising, Rockadove

More than 500,000 children in the UK have a brain condition, such as autism, and fight challenges every day when ...

New books in our library

cerebra innovation centre, CIC, fish tank, Innovation centre

We have received £1000 to spend on specialist books for our postal lending library. This was kindly donated to us ...

Join our Project Advisory Group

knowledge transfer project, KTP, mental health, project advisory group | 3 Comments

Join our Project Advisory Group to help us improve mental health services for children with rare genetic developmental conditions. Background ...

Great Feedback for our CIC Fish Tank

Our Innovation Centre (CIC) were extremely busy before Christmas getting some of their sensory fish tanks out to lucky families. ...

New Mythbusters Available Now

mythbusters | 2 Comments

We have a a new range of factsheets called mythbusters available to download now. These aim to dispel common misconceptions ...

Lloyd Morgan of Rockadove and Ross Head from CIC

Rockadove Help us with Video Campaign

campaign, cerebra innovation centre, Rockadove, video

We are delighted to have been named the winners of the inaugural Third Sector prize which is a partnership between ...

An Introduction to Sophie and Legal Entitlements

Law, LEaP, LEAP project, Legal Entitlements, legal rights | 2 Comments

Sophie after running the Cardiff Half Marathon Hi- I’m Sophie and I’m the Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving (LEaP) Project ...

Lisa on Becoming a Family Research Ambassador

family research project, Lisa Reakes, toolkit

Lisa is one of our Family Research Ambassadors. She explains why she got involved and what she does as part ...

Books in the Library About Giving Birth to a Child with a Disability

Library, postal lending library, pregnancy | 2 Comments

General books L6316 Celebrating and Caring for your Baby with Special Needs: uplifting tips and advice to help you through ...

Born too soon: Claire’s Story

premature, premature birth

We were going home to enjoy Christmas. I couldn't have imagined for a second what was about to happen... Claire ...

Implementation of the Welsh SEN/ALN Reform Postponed

SEN

Kirsty Williams, Minister for Education, has issued a written statement postponing the roll out of the new special educational needs ...

Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving Conference

We are holding a conference on "Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving for Disabled People, their Families and Carers". 19 November ...

Local Government Ombudsman Report on SEND in England

report, SEND, survey

In a new report released on 04 October and called Not going to plan? – Education, Health and Care plans ...

Joshua’s Transition Part 4 – Direct Payments

direct payments, Joshua, Transition, transition to adult services | 1 Comment

This is part 4 in a series of articles that Emma has written for us. You can also read her ...

Home to School Travel and Transport Guidance Consultation -England

LEaP, LEAP project

Cerebra’s Legal Entitlement and Problem-solving (LEaP) Project, led by Luke Clements the Cerebra Professor of Law and Social Justice at ...

Wales International Film Festival

Samuel Turner, Wales International Film Festival

Samuel Turner is a young man with a passion – for supporting us and for making films. He is thrilled ...

Ruling the World!

cerebra innovation centre, CIC, ruler | 4 Comments

Ross Head from our Innovation Centre tells us of the team’s latest design to help children ‘rule’ the world! Whilst ...

What’s your Experience of Community Physical Participation?

Cardiff University, research

Hello. My name is Karen Visser. I am a physiotherapist, PhD student and Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University. You can ...

School Transport for Nat

LEaP, LEAP project, legal entitlements and problem-solving project, school transport

Our Legal Entitlements and Problem-solving (LEaP) Project helped Nat get transport to school and as a thank you he has ...

LEaP Project Helps Family to get a Continence Assessment at Home

Continence, LEaP, LEAP project, legal entitlements and problem-solving project

Earlier this year, our Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving (LEaP) Project supported a family who had been told that their son’s ...

Building a Better Bedtime Routine

My daughter Avleen was born prematurely at 28 weeks but is now five years old. She was diagnosed with Autism ...

Our Innovation Centre help Harry to throw a ball for his dog

Cerebral Palsy, Motor Skills | 2 Comments

Cerebra Innovation Centre, with help from ATiC – the University’s integrated research centre – developed the tennis ball shooter for ...

New books in the library

Library

Check out the new books we have in our library. If you are not already a member you can borrow ...

A Helmet for Imogen

helmet, Horse riding, RDA

The new helmet being developed by CIC and UWTSD has been made to measure by using high tech equipment to ...

School, bullying and mental health

Bullying, mental health, Rare Genetic Conditions, school

School. Some of us fondly remember our days in school as ‘some of the best days of our lives’. School ...

Accessing Public Services in Scotland Toolkit Workshop

Accessing Public Services Toolkit, Problem-Solving Toolkit Workshops, workshops

Scots law provides powerful rights to education and support from other services, but this alone isn't enough. The law can ...

Embracing Complexity, Cerebra the charity for families of children with brain conditions

The Embracing Complexity Coalition launches

Embracing Complexity Coalition

We have joined leading UK Neurodevelopmental and Mental Health Charities to Launch The ‘Embracing Complexity Coalition’ The Embracing Complexity Coalition ...

Jigsaw, Cerebra the charity for families of children with brain conditions

SEND funding in England: the Government needs your views!

England, funding, SEND

Last week the Department for Education (DfE) in England made a call for evidence about SEND funding. As many of ...

CIC develop new sensory fish tank

CIC, fish tank | 3 Comments

CIC have developed a great new sensory fish tank. Fish are a great addition to a sensory experience, but are susceptible ...

Mair Elliott, Cerebra the charity for families of children with brain conditions

The long-term effects of unreliable, inconsistent support in CAMHS

Mair Elliott, mental health | 8 Comments

Unreliable and inconsistent support from CAMHS "When we discuss the high staff turnover, lack of reliable support, and other issues ...

Specsavers and Imogen at the top of Pen y Fan

Specsavers donates almost £20,000

fundraising, Specsavers

Staff at Specsavers opticians have helped donate nearly £20,000 to us, following a year of fundraising. 39 Specsavers stores across ...

Joshua’s Transition: Part 3

Emma and Joshua, family story, Transition | 2 Comments

Emma tells us about the challenges of transitioning from child to adult services. You can read part one here and part ...

We won! Innovation Centre success

CIC, St David Awards | 2 Comments

The Cerebra Innovation Centre (CIC), a partnership between Cerebra and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), has won ...

Have you been told that your child is too young to have a continence assessment?

Continence, LEaP, legal entitlements and problem-solving project, Template Letter

Has your local continence team told you that your child isn’t old enough to have a continence assessment? Our new ...

Christine Bunting takes on her biggest challenge yet as she prepares to trek to Mount Everest Base Camp

base camp, Christine Bunting, Hyphen Law, Mount Everest

Christine Bunting, a lawyer from specialist Court of Protection law firm Hyphen Law, is about to take on the biggest ...

Amelie gets transport to school, with help from our LEaP Project

LEaP, legal entitlements and problem-solving project, school transport | 1 Comment

Karen, who lives in Surrey, contacted our LEaP Project in January for help with a school transport problem. Her daughter, ...

Cerebra Innovation Centre shortlisted for a St David Award

CIC, St David Awards | 2 Comments

The Cerebra Innovation Centre (CIC), a partnership between Cerebra and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), has been ...

Joshua's Transition to Adulthood with help from Cerebra.

Joshua’s Transition: Part 2

Emma and Joshua, family story, Transition

Emma tells us about the challenges of transitioning from child to adult services. You can read part one here. It ...

Meet our new Sleep Practitioners

Sleep

We're thrilled to introduce you to the two newest members of our sleep team, Carwyn Tywyn and Claire Cox. Carwyn ...

Has your child been refused a continence assessment at home?

Continence, LEaP, LEAP project, legal entitlements and problem-solving project | 8 Comments

Has your local continence team told you that they can only assess your child at a school/hospital, rather than at ...

Designing a better future for children with brain conditions with help from South Wales Freemasons

CIC, South Wales Freemasons, Swansea

Our Innovation Centre and the work they do to help children take part in and enjoy life alongside their ...

Samuel discovers freedom with his Oxy-gem

CIC, Oxygem, Oxygen trolley | 2 Comments

Samuel's mum Joceline recently contacted our Innovation Centre. As a member of a parent group on Facebook, she had seen ...

Can you guess our most popular post from 2018?

Cerebra to benefit from Co-op Community Fund

Co-op community fund, Sleep

Vanessa with Dylan, Ryan and Taran This year we have been chosen to benefit from the Co-op Local Community Fund. ...

Cerebra and Cardiff University collaborate to advance support available to families

Cardiff University, mental health, Rare Genetic Conditions | 2 Comments

Hello, I’m Lowri and I’m really happy to be joining Cerebra to work on an exciting and new Welsh Government ...

Joshua’s Transition Part 1

Emma and Joshua, Transition

Emma tells us about the period of transition that her son, 17 year-old Joshua is about to face and the ...

Imogen draws our Christmas raffle winners

Christmas raffle, Imogen, raffle

We held our Christmas raffle draw on Wednesday 19th December and had a very special guest do the honours. Seven ...

The twelve days of Christmas with our Innovation Centre

CIC, Design, innovation, Products, surfboard | 6 Comments

Christmas is a time for joy and for making dreams come true. At our Innovation Centre we believe that all children ...

Is your child getting unsuitable continence products?

Continence, LEaP, legal entitlements and problem-solving project, template letters | 8 Comments

Have you been told that your child can’t have the type of continence product that she needs? Are you ...

That dog has got a beard!

ADHD, Autism, children's books, postal lending library

We've got a great new children's book in our library that explores the consequences of being different. 'That dog has got ...

Accessing Public Services Workshops

accessing public services, toolkit, workshops | 2 Comments

Are you interested in hosting a workshop to help families access services for their disabled children? We are taking bookings ...

Making dreams come true this #GivingTuesday

#GivingTuesday, CIC, Giving Tuesday, Imogen

#Giving Tuesday is on November 27th and this year we’re celebrating the amazing work our Innovation Centre do to help ...

Soaring high

3 Comments

Our Innovation Centre are proud to make products that help disabled children to enjoy and experience life alongside their ...

CIC come up with clever 3D printed solution

3D printer, CIC, Innovation centre, wheelchair

The Cerebra Innovation Centre (CIC) were recently asked for help with a small project, which really emphasises the usefulness of ...

Book reviews

Book reviews, Library | 1 Comment

Our librarian Jan reviews two new books you can borrow from our postal lending library. ‘There are Things I ...

An introduction to us

Emma and Joshua, family story | 6 Comments

My name is Emma and I am married to Michael – it is our 23rd wedding anniversary today – and ...

Child with brain condition on a adapted surfboard.

Cerebra surfboard goes global

surfboard | 7 Comments

The team at CIC designed the surfboard in partnership with Roger Cooper for children with limited mobility and brain conditions. It ...

Alex rides the waves

CIC, Innovation centre, surf, surfboard, The Wave Project | 6 Comments

The team at the Cerebra Innovation Centre are dedicated to designing and making bespoke products that enrich a child’s life, ...

Special Educational Needs reform in Wales

additional learning needs, ALN, SEN, SEN Reform, special educational needs

The special educational needs (SEN) reforms in Wales are now a little under a year away from their introduction. The ...

Our LEaP Project helps change the Welsh Government’s guidance on continence products

Continence, LEaP, legal entitlements and problem-solving project, template letters | 2 Comments

Have you been told that you can’t have more than 4 continence products a day, even if your child needs ...

Improving the mental health of children with brain conditions

ADHD, Autism, Cardiff University, KTP, mental health, Schizophrenia

We are launching a new project to help families of children with brain conditions access timely and appropriate mental ...

What can I do if my child needs me to be there in order for them to sleep?

gradual withdrawal, Sleep, Sleep Guide

For some children, falling asleep without an adult with them seems impossible. Perhaps your child is used to you ...

Caldicot girl with cerebral palsy climbs South Wales’ highest peak

Imogen, Pen y fan, Specsavers

Six year old Imogen Ashwell-Lewis, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth, reached the top of South Wales’ highest ...

Joint Statement on PenCRU by Cerebra and University of Exeter Medical School

The following joint statement concerns termination of funding from the charity Cerebra for the Academic Chair and PenCRU childhood disability ...

Support in the Early Years Survey

Autism, Early Years Survey, survey, University of Warwick | 1 Comment

We are working with the Family Research Group at the University of Warwick, as well as with Mencap, Ambitious about ...

Get a good night’s sleep with help from our library

Book list, Library, sensory toys, Sleep, video

Join our librarian Jan (and teddy) as she talks through the different books and sensory equipment we have in our ...

Partnership pioneers better support services

Cardiff Unversity, KTP

We have forged a partnership with Cardiff University to improve services for families of children with debilitating brain disorders. The ...

Understanding and reducing sleep disorders in children with development delay

Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Sleep Project

The Sleep Project at the Cerebra Centre for Neurological Disorders at Birmingham University is studying sleep in children with neurological conditions. ...

Difficulty settling at night

Laura MacDonald, Sleep, Sleep Practitioner

One of our Sleep Practitioners recently helped a family who were struggling to get their daughter to bed, and to ...

Object of comfort helps Poppy sleep

Kaileigh Wilson, object of comfort, Sleep

Mum Rachel contacted our Sleep Service to get some advice about daughter Poppy who was having a number of sleep ...

My child just won’t go to sleep

gradual withdrawal, Graduated Extinction, Sleep, Sleep Guide, sleep service

This article takes a look at what you can do if your child just won't go to sleep. It's taken ...

Cara smashes duathlon challenge

ambassador, Cara Readle, cycle, duathlon, run

One of our Ambassadors, Cara Readle, recently completed a duathlon and raised over £500 for Cerebra! This was a particular ...

Innovation Centre’s spinning pod a big hit with Curtis

CIC, spinning pod | 8 Comments

Louise recently contacted our Innovation Centre after seeing a post on our Facebook page about the spinning pod chairs that ...

Engage to Change

Engage to Change, placement

We're delighted to welcome Kyle Davies to our team following his Engage to Change placement with us. We were ...

We have a new Chair of Trustees

Chair of Trustees, David Rose, Sean Taggart, trustees

We are pleased to announce that Sean Taggart will be joining the Board of Trustees on the 1st of ...

Jonas enjoys sensory toys from our library

holidays, travel insurance

Jonas' parents recently contacted our postal lending library to borrow some sensory lights. Mum Jolanta and dad Andrej told us ...

Summer Reading

Book list, Library

Are you looking for ways to entertain the children this summer? Did you know that you can borrow children's books ...

Handy tips for summer holiday sleep

Sleep, Tips | 3 Comments

During the summer holidays the change in routine and light, warmer nights can often make sleep difficult. It can be ...

Travel insurance covering children with disabilities

At this time of year, one of the questions coming in to our helpline is about travel insurance that ...

Cara to take on duathlon challenge

ambassador, Cara Readle, duathlon, run

Swansea born actress Cara Readle, famous for her role in ‘The Story of Tracy Beaker’, will be taking on a ...

Epilepsy and getting a better night’s sleep

epilepsy, Sleep, sleep service

Louise recently contacted our Sleep Service for some advice to help 9-year-old Jonah get a good night’s sleep. Jonah has ...

Delivering legal rights through practical problem solving

LEaP, legal entitlements and problem-solving project, University of Leeds

In this article we explain our Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving (LEaP) Project with the Centre for Law and Social Justice, the ...

The accessibility of Disabled Facilities Grant application forms

Disabled Facilities grants application forms, LEaP, LEAP project, legal entitlements and problem-solving project, Professor Luke Clements, University of Leeds | 2 Comments

A survey has found that about half of local authorities in England do not make application forms freely available ...

Disability related expenditure and pets care costs

disability expenditure, LEaP, LEAP project, legal entitlements and problem-solving project, pet care costs, pets | 3 Comments

A survey has found that many disabled people are unable to afford to keep a pet dog or cat ...

Knowledge Transfer Partnership success!

Cardiff Unversity, CNVs, KTP, mental health

We are delighted to announce that we have been successful in our Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) bid with the Institute ...

Effective interventions for long term change

Cerebra centre, Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders

At the Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Conditions, University of Birmingham, the aim is to identify the causes of the most pressing ...

Our innovation team design the Boccia ramp of the future

Boccia

The CIC team have been working hard to create a high tech Boccia Ramp. Boccia is a ball sport, similar to ...

Ask, Listen, Do

Ask listen do, Autism, NHS England | 5 Comments

Do you care for a child or young person with a learning disability, autism or both? Have you ever raised ...

Innovation Centre help Livia gain independence

CIC, Innovation centre | 2 Comments

Mum Alanah recently approached our Innovation Centre with a challenge that would help maintain her daughter's independence while keeping the ...

Six year-old Jake-Junior to run for Cerebra

5K, Birmingham, fun run, Jake-Junior, run

When Jake -Junior cheered his dad from the side-lines as he completed the London Marathon, there was only one thing ...

BorrowBox is here!

audiobooks, borrowbox, ebooks, Library

We are so pleased to offer a new service in our library. You can now borrow ebooks and audiobooks from ...

Arctic Ride Alaska!

arctic rider

This summer Cerebra Ambassador Gordon Stuart will attempt his latest epic charity motorbike challenge. He will have just 12 days ...

Tiny hats for tiny babies

hats, premature babies | 44 Comments

One of our dedicated fundraisers, Sam Elliott, has just knitted 39 baby hats for premature babies on the Neonatal Ward ...

Independence for Myles with our Oxygem

CIC, Oxygem

Our creative team of designers at our Innovation Centre and our Oxygem recently helped Myles to become more independent. Myles' mum ...

Preventing neonatal brain injury and childhood disability

pregnancy, premature birth, University of Leeds

The main objective of the Cerebra Perinatal Research Centre at the University of Leeds is to make a difference in ...

Parents, researchers and charities join forces to create new resource for parents of children with learning disabilities.

ESRC, families, Warwick University, well-being | 1 Comment

The University of Warwick, Mencap, Cerebra, and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation have teamed up with parents of children with learning ...

Team Imogen smash the Swansea triathlon

CIC, team Imogen, Triathlon

The 2018 UWTSD Swansea Triathlon has come and gone for another year, but for Team Imogen this has been an ...

How to look after yourself

children's mental health, mental health, wellbeing | 2 Comments

We know from research that parents of children with a learning disability can be twice as likely to experience high ...

Autism and mental health – one family’s journey

Autism, mental health | 6 Comments

"My daughter, Mair, is autistic with severe and enduring mental health difficulties. She was diagnosed with autism 6 years ago ...

Working to improve children’s mental health

Cardiff University, children's mental health, mental health

We are working on a joint funding bid with the Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University for ...

Samuel cheers buddy to marathon glory!

Dustin Erhardt, London marathon

On Sunday 22nd April, American Dustin Erhardt ran the London Marathon for his buddy Samuel and to raise money us. ...

Running, cycling and donuts!

CIC, Innovation centre, Swansea, Swansea tri

The Cerebra Innovation Team are officially 5 weeks away from competing in the Swansea Triathlon 2018, with Captain Imogen to ...

Understanding and Reducing Sleep Disorders in Children with Developmental Delay

Birmingham, Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Sleep | 4 Comments

Dr Caroline Richards and Professor Chris Oliver from the Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders talk about the Sleep Project which ...

Accessing Public Services Workshops for Professionals

Accessing Public Services Toolkit, LEaP, toolkit

Following on from the huge success of our Accessing Public Services Workshops, we are launching sessions specifically for professionals. The ...

Captain Imogen and her brave triathlon crew!

CIC, Innovation centre, Triathlon

The Cerebra Innovation Centre design team will be embarking on a triathlon adventure this year with their very own triathlon ...

Improving the well-being of young children with learning disabilities: A Parent’s Guide

learning disabilities, Parent Guide, University of Warwick | 8 Comments

We're looking for people to take a look at a brand new booklet on improving the well-being of young children ...

New Books on Autism in the Library

Autism, Book list, Library | 2 Comments

We have had a lot of requests to borrow books explaining autism recently, so we have purchased some brand ...

Countdown to Marathon Glory!

Dustin Erhardt, London marathon

American Dustin Erhardt is making his final preparations for this year's London Marathon on 22nd April. Everyone at Cerebra will ...

Delivering legal rights through practical problem-solving

Accessing Public Services Toolkit, LEaP, LEAP project, legal entitlements and problem-solving project, Luke Clements, school transport, services, short breaks, therapy legal

In this article we take a look at our Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving (LEaP) Project - why we started it, ...

Fetal Medicine Barcelona – University of Barcelona

Barecelona, fetal medicine | 1 Comment

Why our research is important for families? We are a research group focused on Fetal Medicine. Our main goal over ...

Ollie’s Story

Ollie Taylor, Sian Taylor, Wolf Hirschhorn Syndrome | 1 Comment

We are extremely excited to have been named Specsavers' charity of the year for Wales this year. As part of ...

Imogen’s Story

Catherine Ashwell-Lewis, CIC, Imogen Ashwell-Lewis

We are extremely excited to have been named Specsavers' charity of the year for Wales this year. As part of ...

Ryan’s story

Down's syndrome, Ryan Hooper, Specsavers, Vanessa Hooper | 1 Comment

We are extremely excited to have been named Specsavers' charity of the year for Wales this year. As part of ...

Specsavers Name Cerebra as their Charity of the Year for Wales

families, partnership, Specsavers | 1 Comment

Specsavers has donated £10,000 to Cerebra to mark the start of a year-long fundraising partnership. The optician's 39 stores across ...

Why Our Research is Important – Cerebra Family Research Group

CEDAR, research, University of Warwick

Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR) University of Warwick Cerebra Family Research Group “Strengthening families” Why our research ...

Samuel is our Star Volunteer!

Samuel Turner, volunteer | 1 Comment

In 2017 we welcomed Samuel Turner to team Cerebra as a volunteer and Samuel, his family and friend Angel Jolly ...

New Toys for Our Postal Lending Library