Parent Guides

We publish a series of guides and factsheets to help families of children with brain conditions with common problems they may be facing. We offer comprehensive, up-to-date advice and research-driven strategies to help you deal with a wide range of issues.

Cerebra, for children with brain conditions our toy library for borrowing toys.

Parent Guides

We publish a series of guides and factsheets to help families of children with brain conditions with common problems they may be facing. We offer comprehensive, up-to-date advice and research-driven strategies to help you deal with a wide range of issues.

From physical and mental health, dealing with social services, financial and legal affairs and education, all our guides offer expert advice on issues we know you may be facing.

  • A-Z of All Parent Guides
  • Education
  • Emotional and Mental Health
  • Finding Information
  • Legal Social and Financial
  • Physical Wellbeing
Accessing Public Services in Scotland - A problem-solving toolkit - Cerebra - children with brain conditions.

Accessing Public Services in Scotland

The Accessing Public Services Toolkit supports children with brain conditions in Scotland and their carers in accessing the health, social care and education support services they are entitled to.

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Accessing Public Services Toolkit

The Accessing Public Services Toolkit supports children with brain conditions and their carers in accessing the health, social care and education support services they are entitled to.

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Accessing Services Mythbuster

Many people who work for public bodies and many parents of disabled children misunderstand the law. This factsheet identifies and busts a number of the common myths around accessing services.

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After diagnosis: what now?

This factsheet has been prepared as a starting point for parents of children that have just been diagnosed with a brain condition. It aims to provide an overview of the resources and information they need to get advice, help and support for their family.

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Anxiety: A guide for parents.

Anxiety

This guide describes common signs of anxiety and informs you on how to spots signs of anxiety in children with intellectual disability. It also details specific anxiety disorders.

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Assessment of Continence Needs

This factsheet identifies and busts five myths around continence services support and assessments.

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Autism assessments and diagnosis in England

This factsheet aims to provide information and useful resources to parents in England who suspect that their child may have autism. It explains how to obtain an autism assessment, highlights the importance of a timely diagnosis and what support you and your child may be entitled to if a diagnosis is made.

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Autism assessments and diagnosis in Wales

This factsheet aims to provide information and useful resources to parents in Wales who suspect their child may have autism. It explains how to obtain an autism assessment, highlights the importance of a timely diagnosis and what support you and your child may be entitled to if a diagnosis is made.

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Be Well Checklist cover

Be Well Checklist

The Be-Well Checklist can help parents, carers and professionals to reduce challenging behaviour and improve the wellbeing of people with severe learning disability and complex needs. The Be-Well Checklist can be used by parents, carers and professionals when they are trying to work out why someone is showing a behaviour or might be distressed, angry, upset or appear to have very low mood.

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Factsheet - Carers Assessments in England - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Carers’ Assessments in England

This factsheet provides an overview of carers’ assessments for parents and carers of disabled children living in England.

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Factsheet - Carers Assessment in Wales - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Carers’ Assessments in Wales

This factsheet provides an overview of carers’ assessments for parents and carers of disabled children living in Wales.

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Child Disability Payment Scotland

Our guide takes you through the CDP claim form page by page, explaining what information is required and giving you tips on how to complete each section. This guide is for Scotland only.

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Cognitive Difference: Cognitive Inflexibility and Impulsivity

This guide provides an overview of cognitive difference, particularly how cognitive inflexibility and impulsivity might present themselves in children with intellectual disabilities. It also offers potential support strategies for parents for difficult behaviours that may arise from cognitive difference.

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Communication with Children with Severe or Profound Intellectual Disabilities

This guide has been developed to help family carers of children with severe to profound intellectual disabilities to understand more about communication challenges and to suggest helpful strategies to improve communication.

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Complaints, Public Bodies and Government Guidance-England

This factsheet provides information on current government guidance relevant to disabled children living in England.

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Decision making, confidentiality and sharing infromation - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Decision Making, Confidentiality and Sharing Information

This guide provides an overview of the law regarding decision making, confidentiality and the sharing of information for parents of disabled children and young people.

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Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

Our guide takes you through each question on the DLA form, giving you explanations of what they mean and tips on how to answer them. This guide is for England and Wales only.

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DLA mythbuster

Disability Living Allowance Mythbuster

This factsheet identifies and busts eight myths around claiming Disability Living Allowance.

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Disability Services in England cover

Disability Services in England Mythbuster

This factsheet identifies and busts five myths around disability services support in England.

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Disability Services in Wales cover

Disability Services in Wales Mythbuster

This factsheet identifies and busts five myths around disability services support in Wales.

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Disabled Facilities Grants - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Disabled Facilities Grants

This factsheet gives a short overview of Disabled Facilities Grants for disabled children in England and Wales.

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Education in England - A guide for parents - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions.

Education in England

This guide to education is for parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabled children living in England.

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Education in Wales

This guide to education is for parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabled children living in Wales.

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Emotional Outbursts

This guide provides an overview of emotional outbursts and potential support strategies for parents of children with intellectual disability.

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Finding and Appraising Information and evidence on the Internet - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Finding and Appraising Information and Evidence on the Internet

This guide suggests how to search the Internet efficiently and how to appraise the huge amount of information which is freely available.

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Finding and Appraising Legal Help - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Finding and Assessing Sources of Legal Help

Finding and instructing a solicitor for legal help can be one of the more daunting prospects for families and carers of children with a disability. This guide helps make that process as straightforward as possible.

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FLACC Pain Scale Infographic

This infographic explains how to use the FLACC Pain Scale. This is a system that can help parents and professionals assess pain levels in children who have limited or no expressive communication.

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Getting support to stay in work and to take breaks from your caring responsibilities in England

This factsheet explains what to do if you need help to care for a disabled child so that you can work or have a break form your caring responsibilities.

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Getting support to stay in work and to take breaks from your caring responsibilities in Wales

This factsheet explains what to do if you need help to care for a disabled child so that you can work or have a break from your caring responsibilities.

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how to complain about social services in england

How to Complain About Social Services in England

We know from our work on the LEaP Project that parents sometimes face problems in getting the right social care support for their disabled children. So what can you do if you’re not happy? Make a complaint. Use this guide to find out more.

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Information and support for parents of a child recently diagnosed with a genetic condition

Understanding your child’s diagnosis can help you better identify their individual needs and get support. We’ve put together some suggestions about where you can access information and support in the community.

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Learning Disabilities, Autism and Internet Safety - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Learning Disabilities, Autism and Internet Safety

This guide outlines some suggestions to help parents limit the risk of their child having negative experiences online and understand what action can be taken if they do.

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Looking after your own wellbeing as a parent/carer of a child with a brain condition

Looking after your own wellbeing is one of the most important things you can do for the wellbeing of the whole family. You are the most important person in your child’s life, championing their wellbeing needs every day. For this to be sustainable, it’s really important that you find ways look after your own wellbeing needs too.

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Factsheet - Managing Challenging Behaviour - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Managing Challenging Behaviour

This factsheet is for parents, carers, teachers and professionals offering help on how to understand and manage different types of challenging behaviour.

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Mental Health in Children with Rare Genetic Conditions

This toolkit is for parents and carers of children with a rare genetic condition, particularly those known to be associated with neurodevelopmental and mental health conditions (for example, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disability, anxiety and/or depression). The aim of this toolkit is to inform parents about mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions in children with rare […]

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Money Matters - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Money Matters

This guide is for parents of disabled children who want to know what financial help may be available to them. It also outlines arrangements that may need to be put in place to manage their children’s finances as they get older.

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My Wellbeing Plan

This personal wellbeing plan can be completed while reading our wellbeing guide. It will help you document and action some changes that you think are likely to benefit you.

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Pain - Guide for Parents - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Pain

This guide outlines the importance of managing pain and will help the parents of children with severe intellectual and/or communication difficulties understand when their child is in pain.

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Parental Responsibility and Disabled Children

This factsheet looks at some of the key points regarding parental responsibility and disabled children in England and Wales.

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Practical Tips for Effectively Accessing Public Services for your Child

It is unfortunately the case that many families struggle to access the education, social and health services for their children that they are legally entitled to. Here are some ways that may be helpful for parents in effectively achieving their goals.

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Guide to Research about brain conditions - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Research About Childhood Brain Conditions

This guide is an overview of current research into childhood brain conditions and the research process. It also helps you evaluate the quality of research and information available. 

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School Transport England - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions.

School Transport in England

This guide explains the legal duties on local authorities to provide free school transport for disabled children in England.

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School transport in England mythbuster

School Transport in England Mythbuster

This factsheet identifies and busts four myths around school transport in England.

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School Transport Wales - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

School Transport in Wales

This guide explains the legal duties on local authorities to provide free school transport for disabled children in Wales.

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School Transport in Wales mythbuster

School Transport in Wales Mythbuster

This factsheet busts four myths around accessing school transport in Wales.

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FactSheet - Self injurious behaviour in children with intellectual disability

Self-Injurious Behaviour in Children with Intellectual Disability

This factsheet has been written to help parents and carers of children with an intellectual disability to understand what self-injury is, what the causes are and which interventions are effective.

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Sensory Processing

Sensory processing refers to how people experience, interpret and use their senses to guide their day-to-day behaviour. This guide will outline the most common sensory processing difficulties people can experience, as well as providing an overview of sensory assessments and interventions and strategies for sensory processing difficulties.

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Sensory Processing Hints and Tips: General Information

This factsheet identifies some general strategies to consider for reducing sensory overload for your child.

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Sensory Processing Hints and Tips: Hyper-reactivity

If your child has hyper-reactivity they will experience too much stimulation from incoming sensory information. This factsheet suggests some strategies that may be helpful.

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Sensory Processing Hints and Tips: Hypo-reactivity

If your child has hypo-reactivity they may not respond to stimulation around them. This factsheet suggests some strategies that may be helpful.

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Sensory Processing Hints and Tips: Sensory Seeking

This factsheet suggests some strategies that may be helpful if your child is sensory seeking. This is when people seek out certain sensory experiences.

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Sleep - A guide for parents - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Sleep

This guide has been developed to help parents understand sleep problems in children with intellectual disability and offers advice on how to improve sleep in all children.

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Sleep Cards - Cerebra for children wi.th brain conditions

Sleep Cards

Our Sleep Cards offer different approaches to help you tackle some of the most common sleep problems experienced.

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Sleep mythbuster

Sleep Mythbuster

This factsheet busts six myths around sleep and sleep problems in children with a brain condition.

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Sleep Tips Booklet - Cerebra charity for children with brain conditions

Sleep Tips

Our illustrated booklet introduces and explains different techniques for tackling common sleep problems.

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Social Care in England - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Social Care in England

This guide has been prepared for parents of disabled children in England who want to know how to get help for their child’s social care needs.

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Social Care in Wales - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Social Care in Wales

This guide has been prepared for parents of disabled children in Wales who want to know how to get help for their child’s social care needs.

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Toilet Training - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions.

Toilet Training

All children are different and toileting problems can have a number of different issues. This guide covers a range of potential causes and suggests a range of approaches that may help.

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Factsheet - Transition to Adulthood in England - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Transition to Adulthood in England

This factsheet highlights the importance of transition to adulthood in the lives of children with learning difficulties in England.

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Factsheet - Transition to Adulthood in Wales - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

Transition to Adulthood in Wales

This factsheet highlights the importance of transition to adulthood in the lives of children with learning difficulties in Wales.

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Transition, transport and travel support to education and training for young people with EHC plans

Many young people with a disability or special educational needs (SEN) aren’t independent travellers and understanding what their rights are with regard to transport if they move on to education and training after compulsory schooling can be very confusing. The purpose of this factsheet is to look at what the law and government guidance say about transporting young people to their place of education or training.

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Weighted Blankets for Sleep Difficulties in Children with Neurodevelopmental Conditions

The aim of this factsheet is to briefly summarise current scientific research about whether weighted blankets improve sleep in children with neurodevelopmental conditions. This factsheet is not intended to replace the advice of expert clinicians, but we hope that this summary of evidence will help parents and carers who are considering whether a weighted blanket […]

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Factsheet - What to do if your child isn’t getting the social care support s/he needs- Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions.

What to Do if Your Child Isn’t Getting the Social Care Support S/he Needs

This factsheet explains what you can do if you’ve been assessed by social services, but still aren’t getting the support you need.

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Factsheet - Child’s Care package is Reduced - Cerebra the charity for children with brain conditions

What to Do if Your Child’s Care Package is Reduced

This factsheet explains what can you do if you are unhappy with the way a local authority has changed or reduced your child’s care package.

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Template Letters

Finding the right words when writing to official bodies can be difficult. We’ve created a series of template letters to make it less daunting for you if you need to write to your local council, social services or health body. Our template letters contain legal information and where necessary we have different templates for England, Wales and Scotland.

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Count Me In Lottery

Taking part in our ‘Count Me In’ Lottery is a wonderful way to make a real difference to children with brain conditions and their families. It also means you are in with a chance to win our big weekly prize.

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