We have been a bit quiet on the EPIC blog of late as we have been very busy with a number of activities!
We are working hard on developing new booklets! These will be added to the collection of understanding ADHD and DCD and strategy booklets we have already posted on our website. Our new booklets will be suitable for all neurodivergent children. This means they will be suitable for children who have difficulties in their thinking, learning and wellbeing who have no diagnosis or multiple diagnoses or difficulties that go beyond a current diagnosis. Many children fall into these categories as waiting lists for assessments can be long and in our work we continually hear from parents and teachers about the need for information to help these children now while they are waiting on assessment and support.
We have also recently received funding to make a video version for parents and teachers of the EPIC booklets highlighting the ways in which these children can be supported and we hope to release that on our website in late autumn.
From next week we will be posting a series of posts again for parents and teachers that describes recent research we have published about children’s understanding of ADHD and strategy use in the classroom, understanding the relationship between thinking processes and maths learning, and an overview of how ADHD stimulant medication works on thinking processes.
From next week we will also be posting two interlinked series of blogs that relate to the importance of children with conditions, their families and those who care for them being involved as active decision makers in the process of research studies. These series’ will involve one directed to researchers ‘Insights from Researchers on Co-production blog series’ involving 4 blog posts written by PhD researcher Ailbhe McKinney on topics from evaluating involvement of the public in research to best practices in dissemination. A second series ‘Insights from a Lived experience on Co-production blog series’ involves 3 blog posts from Emma Pauley who has lived experience. She will cover the importance of families affected by disability in being at the heart of what is researched, informing how studies are carried out and how the researcher best reaches families with the findings. We will also be launching our YouTube ‘EPIC’ channel with videos and presentations about research and advice for parents and teachers.
EPIC Think Learn 