'ABI Return: Guiding the Return to Education' Booklet

We are proud to have helped fund and worked collaboratively to produce, a brilliant new resource from the UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF) and the National ABI Education and Learning Syndicate (N-ABLES)

Launched on 13th May 2021, the booklet is free-to-access and will help professionals involved in supporting children and young people with an Acquired Brain Injury to prepare for, and achieve, a successful return to education and to help progress their recovery.

Following guidance from 2026 here is additional information to the booklet:

An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is not a automatic right when a child or young person has additional needs or a diagnosis such as ABI. Whether one is needed will depend on the initial evidence of the child or young person’s needs. The application process and access to support can also vary between Local Authorities. Some areas of support operate funding systems that sit outside the EHCP process. Where an immediate need is identified, an EHC Needs Assessment request, which can be coordinated by the SENCO, but can also be done by the parent or carer, should be made to the local authority’s assessment panel. ABI is often recognised as a “hidden disability”, which reinforces the importance of careful, ongoing monitoring. Educational psychologists and neuropsychologists can provide valuable evidence and insight to support an EHCP application, particularly where it is necessary to demonstrate needs across the broad areas set out in the SEN Code of Practice.

N-ABLES was set up as a result of the recommendations made in the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Acquired Brain Injury’s recently-published Time for Change report, and we are very proud to be part of the steering group since its conception. The group works to identify ways to support all education professionals in gaining a minimum level of awareness and understanding about Acquired Brain Injury and the educational requirements of children and young people with this condition. To find out more about N-ABLES, please read more on the UKABIF website here.

The Eden Dora Trust are thrilled to be an active member of the N-ABLES group, which along with our C.E.O also includes Dr Emily Bennett, Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust; Dr Gemma Costello, Specialist Educational Psychologist in Paediatric Neuropsychology;  Professor Nathan Hughes, Professorial Research Fellow at Sheffield University; Lisa Turan, CEO of the Child Brain Injury Trust, Chloe Hayward, Executive Director of UKABIF; Joanna Woodhouse, SENCO and Susie Nolan, Head of Therapies, The Children’s Trust.