Programme of additional support initiatives for Children and Young People with Special Education Needs and Disabilities
Issue date: 1/2/2023
Funding locations: Newham
Funding amount: £180,000
(Total lots: 6)
Funding applications return deadline: 23:59 on 28/2/2023
East London Foundation NHS Trust is opening a programme of investment in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to support work being undertaken by Specialist Children and Young People’s Services in Newham. The programme aims to support families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities who may be experiencing challenges in their daily lives. Newham’s diverse population, with a high number of parents/carers who do not have English as a first language, will need to be considered as part of proposals submitted.
The investment programme has six primary points of focus:
1. Post-diagnostic support for parents of children diagnosed with autism
Range for applications £5,000 to £50,000
We invite applications for post diagnostic support for families of children aged between 2-12 years in receipt of an autism diagnosis.
Proposals should consider how the service can enhance the current offer delivered between its clinicians and a parent/peer. This may, for example, be to provide additional resource, documentation, training or telephone support for parents. Typically, sessions are provided for <8 year old and >8 year old families. The service would want to support parents with accepting the diagnosis, supporting their child’s continued development, how to address discussions at schools and to consider other supportive mechanisms such as EHCP and DLA assessments. Options may also be focused on Mums/Dads/siblings or working with service users to create an educational video supporting diagnosis. Proposals need to work alongside the current dynamic multidisciplinary autism diagnostic team – CHAND – supporting a neuro positive and neuro inclusive approach
2. Pre-diagnostic support for parents of neuro diverse patients
Range for applications £5,000 to £50,000
We invite applications for proposals to support parents/carers of children with social communication difficulties who are waiting for an autism assessment. Programmes will be considered for age 4-8 years and 8-12 years.
Proposals should focus on how to support parents/carers in enabling their children to connect with others, make friends and reduce their levels of frustration. It should help with increasing their communication and interactions with others, assisting in their daily lives and routines, based upon the utilisation of practical strategies.
The proposal may include both informal and formal support in the form of a sessional programme and/or email/telephone support. It may also include resources utilising different forms of media to engage a diverse population. Proposals need to work alongside the service’s current dynamic multidisciplinary autism diagnostic team – CHAND – supporting a neuro positive and neuro inclusive approach.
3. Enuresis training for staff/parents/schools
Range for applications £5,000 to £20,000
We invite applications for projects seeking to support families of children between the ages of 5-12 years who experience enuresis.
Applications should cover initiatives for the following areas:
• Nocturnal Enuresis – to support children who bed-wet at night, why this may be happening and evidence based tools and strategies to overcome it. This will be for children on the service’s enuresis waiting list and could include staff training for ELFT clinicians and school based staff
• Toilet training for children with complex needs – assessment of readiness for toilet training, assessment for good bowel/bladder health, basic toilet training strategies as well as providing more in-depth support and plans for families
Proposals should address how the offer will empower parents, enabling them to identify the reason for bed-wetting and to support their child in reducing instances of bed-wetting while waiting for assessment by an enuresis nurse/paediatrician, providing early help and deploying creative approaches.
4. Sleep support and education
Range for applications £5,000 to £20,000
We invite applications for projects to support families with special educational needs and/or disabilities aged 2-18 years who have severe sleep problems. These children may be waiting to be assessed for a formal diagnosis or have recently received a diagnosis.
We are looking for proposals that will support families in a group setting, co-facilitated by parents with lived experience, through a sleep programme via any combinations of training workshops, email/telephone support and tailored plans. Successful proposals will include practical advice and suggestions using tools and techniques to help disabled children and young people get the sleep they need.
5. Empowering young people through the use of digital skills
Range for applications £5,000 to £20,000
In a world of digital technology, we welcome proposals to support young people 14+ years to increase their knowledge of technology enabling them to be empowered to support their own independence and future careers.
We invite proposals aimed at various levels of IT literacy. For example, programmes based on basic knowledge of email and internet usage, cyber safety through to coding, graphic design and visual story telling.
6. Health and well-being activities for young people with physical and learning disability
Range for applications £5,000 to £20,000
We invite proposals for projects which support young people aged 16-18 years transitioning into adulthood. We are looking for alternative ways for young people to engage with services in the community which will, in turn, support their health and wellbeing; building resilience and enhancing life skills.
Proposals should be based around physical activities to support mental health and physical well-being; building the young person’s self-esteem, trust and confidence. Activities should be based around accessible activities such as sports, music/arts and cookery. The sessions should be offered in a non-stigmatised, non-judgemental space, by professionals who are experienced in working with this cohort of young people. Sessions should be fun and engaging but also push the young person mentally and physically at a pace to suit the individual. Programmes should be of a duration that can make an impact and enable outcomes set with the young person to be achieved.
Background Information
East London Foundation NHS Trust is opening a programme of investment in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to support work being undertaken by Specialist Children and Young People’s Services in Newham. The programme aims to support families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities who may be experiencing challenges in their daily lives. Newham’s diverse population, with a high number of parents/carers who do not have English as a first language, will need to be considered as part of proposals submitted.
Specialist Children and Young People’s Services (SCYPS) is a collection of services in Newham that provide therapy, nursing and paediatric services for 0-18 year olds (some specialist areas work to an older age). As specialist services, they provide assessment and intervention to children and young people. They also cover statutory services such as child protection, adoption and fostering and educational health care plan assessments.
Following the pandemic, demand for services increased for particular cohorts of children. Due to restrictions during the pandemic and increased demand post-covid, waiting times have unfortunately increased and services are on a recovery trajectory to reduce them.
These programmes will support children and young people while waiting for specialist assessment and intervention. They will support activities of daily living and mental health and physical well-being for the child/young person and/or their families.
Successful organisations will be invited to work with relevant services who hold the clinical care and waiting lists for the individual lots.
Criteria for applications
To be eligible to apply organisations/ groups must:
• be a part of the voluntary and community sector
• be based-in and/ or delivering services in Newham or otherwise providing a service in an area of people with similar life experiences
• be a properly constituted organisation or with an option to be supported through Compass Wellbeing CIC to develop a suitable delivery structure
• comply with our terms and conditions
Funding is project-based (unless otherwise indicated) and should not be considered to cover continuing revenue costs beyond the life of the project.
Summary of available grants
These grants are project-based and should not be considered to cover continuing revenue costs beyond the life of the project.
Grants available in 6 lots:
Ref. – Lot 1 Post-diagnostic support for parents of children diagnosed with autism
Application for grants of £5,000 to £50,000
Deliverability to be tested at application
Ref. – Lot 2 Pre-diagnostic support for parents of neuro-diverse patients
Application for grants of £5,000 to £50,000
Deliverability to be tested at application
Ref. – Lot 3 Enuresis training for staff/parents/schools
Application for grants of £5,000 to £20,000
Deliverability to be tested at application
Ref. – Lot 4 Sleep support and education
Application for grants of £5,000 to £20,000
Deliverability to be tested at application
Ref. – Lot 5 Empowering young people through the use of digital skills
Application for grants of £5,000 to £20,000
Deliverability to be tested at application
Ref. – Lot 6 Health and wellbeing activities for young people with physical and learning disability
Application for grants of £5,000 to £20,000
Deliverability to be tested at application
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We will accept bids for multiple lots/funds. A separate form should be completed for each project if you propose more than one.
We welcome applications for projects and initiatives of all sizes and scope. The size of successful bids will not necessarily be reflective of the size of your organisation.
We are looking for projects that work with their community – whether that is a community living in the same area, or people with similar interests or life experiences.