The Cocoon Therapy Space

04/06/2026

The Government has now responded to our petition, and there is something really important that we cannot ignore.

For the first time, the response specifically references support for “autistic children and young people with a Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) profile” within the proposed National Inclusion Standards.

This petition was never about creating a separate diagnosis. It was about recognition, understanding, and ensuring that children and young people with a PDA profile receive appropriate support based on their needs.

The response states:

“National Inclusion Standards will set out the evidence-informed tools, strategies and approaches for educators… to identify and support children and young people with additional needs, including autistic children and young people who may have a Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) profile.”

It also says:

“Access to support should not be dependent on a child or young person having a diagnosis.”

These are positive statements. But now comes the crucial question:

What will this actually mean in practice?

If PDA is to be included within National Inclusion Standards, then PDA-informed approaches must be properly recognised, understood and reflected in the evidence base that informs those standards.

Families, PDAers, educators and professionals know that traditional behaviour-based approaches often fail children with a PDA profile. We need the evidence, research and lived experience around PDA-informed practice to be taken seriously as these standards are developed.

The Government has committed up to £15 million to strengthen the evidence base and says an independent expert panel will help design these standards.

This means our work is not finished. In many ways, it is just beginning.

We now need to ensure that:

• PDA profiles remain visible throughout this process

• PDA-informed approaches are included in future research

• Lived experience is listened to alongside professional expertise

• Schools receive meaningful guidance, training and support

• Recognition leads to real-world change for children and families

• Support should be based on need, not on where a child is educated.

Please continue sharing the petition and the Government response. Every signature helps demonstrate that this community expects more than words - we want meaningful inclusion, evidence-informed practice, and support that genuinely meets the needs of our PDA children.

Recognition is a step forward. Now let’s make sure the standards reflect what PDA families, educators and advocates have been saying for years.

Petition link:
🔗 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/757502

The conversation has started. Let’s keep it going.

28/05/2026

Signed...EOTAS is such a vital part of the education system. For some the only way to access an education without long term consequences. Please consider signing this petition

In any SEND reforms, maintain the legal right to education other than in school for children & young people whose needs mean no school or college placement is appropriate. Retain the SEND Tribunal’s power to order EOTISC and specify the provision required for a child’s individually assessed need...

23/05/2026

Joeli Brearley, Fiona Cameron, Agnes Agyepong and Celia Venables are undertaking some really important research called 'Scream and SEND', The Impact of SEND on Families, Education and Employment.

They are looking for families with SEND children that live in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland to participate.

The survey takes around 7 mins to complete.

Take part here: https://f.mtr.cool/amrvgghado

23/05/2026

Add your name to the growing list of experts, parents and educators calling for the government to deliver a properly funded education system.

21/05/2026

Oh my good God 😢
Department for Education - that you are continuing to post these reels is beyond appalling.
Its bullying.
You've seen the comments over the past 24hrs. You know the hurt you are causing and yet you continue.
Its shameful.
Mary Kelly Foy MP - please respond.

12/05/2026

Exactly...👏👏👏

One thing I keep quietly noticing in conversations around SEND reform is the underlying assumption that specialist schools somehow represent “less ambition.”

As though a child only counts as successful if they achieve success in the most mainstream-looking way possible.

But I have seen children arrive in the right specialist environments unable to cope, unable to attend, unable to regulate, unable to believe in themselves…

and then flourish.

Not because expectations disappeared.

Because support finally matched need.

Because someone understood that achievement is not always measured by:
straight-line progress,
perfect GCSEs,
or fitting neatly into a standardised model.

Sometimes achievement looks like:

A child attending school willingly for the first time.

A child making a friend.

A child speaking in class after years of silence.

A child no longer living in fight-or-flight.

A dyslexic child discovering they are intelligent.

A child who was breaking apart finally having enough safety to learn.

And yes — many specialist schools also achieve excellent academic outcomes too.

The idea that specialist provision is automatically “less aspirational” honestly misunderstands what good specialist education often is.

Not all special schools are good.
No system is perfect.
No school type has a monopoly on excellence.

But I have been fortunate enough to witness some genuinely extraordinary specialist settings and some of the most skilled educators I have ever encountered.

The irony is:
the same rare staff qualities people talk about wanting in every mainstream school already exist in some specialist provisions right now.

Patience.
Flexibility.
Deep understanding.
Emotional attunement.
Adaptation without shame.
Teaching that sees the whole child.

Those people exist.

I know where some of them are.

And honestly?

Part of me wants to keep them secret before somebody decides the solution is just spreading three magical staff members across seventeen schools and calling it “system reform.”

Because when you see what children can become in the right environment, it changes the way you think about “success” forever.

09/05/2026

WH

09/05/2026

WH