Isabelle Finn-Kelcey

MEd, MRes. Interested in narratives of neurodiversity and the double empathy problem. Neurocosmopolitan. She/her.

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

#EdD assignment time. For my MEd, I mostly referred to online publications when I was writing. This year I have treated myself to a few physical books. Huge thanks to @milton_damian @thewoodbug @WalkerSensei and many others for amazing work and insights 🙏

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

@RestIsPolitics @RoryStewartUK @campbellclaret Fix education for SEND children. For so many, schools are simply not safe or accessible atm, in spite of keystone legislation eg the 2014 CFA. If children can go to school, parents can go to work 🤷‍♀️

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

@naomicfisher Such an important message. Thank you for sharing 🙏 Over in our online ‘school’/EOTAS parent support groups, it’s this kind of messaging that gives us more confidence to advocate for the children in our community and beyond 🙏

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

It doesn't really matter what I say on here, it's guaranteed that someone will be angry about it. Someone will be furious and say I am making things up, or grifting. Someone will suggest that I'm exploiting parents because I don't work for free.

In a way, that's quite liberating. It means there isn't much difference between saying something completely anodyne and actually quite challenging - it will all get the same response. Someone will be outraged.

So I'm going to say what I really think. Punishing children does not help them learn. When 'structure and consequences' is a euphemism for 'harsh control' then we put the long term wellbeing of our children at risk, in the service of short term control.

Yes, frightened children look well behaved. Yes, scared teenagers are quiet and face the front. Yes, silent corridors are so much more orderly. Yes, you can push children into getting better exam results if you simply don't allow them to do anything else. The question isn't whether we can do things, the question is whether it's really worth it.

Controlling children will only get you so far, because children grow up, and they need to learn how to control themselves. You can't learn self-control through being controlled, the two things are separate. One is about compliance, whilst the other is about agency.

Doing as you're told will only get you so far. If that's what we prioritise in our children's education, no wonder they are telling us (and showing us) that they're unhappy.

[Autistic Girls Network @AutisticGirls_]

@bphillipsonMP That’s just not going to be possible for some who have been made so anxious and distressed by school that they can’t leave the house, or self harm, or even attempt suicide. What about them?

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

It would be wonderful if schools were safe for all our children. We need to acknowledge that this is not currently the case.

[Bridget Phillipson @bphillipsonMP]

I make no apologies for saying the best place for children is in school.

The Tories tinkered around the edges of a generational challenge. Labour are gripping it.

This week must be back-to-school week, not just for some children, but for all children.

https://t.co/UX38UO8hAK

[lisa chapman; @commonsenseslt.bsky.social @CommonSenseSLT]

1/2 To enforce a 1 Size fits All policy, & not listen to lived experiences, is a dangerous direction for govt. You're literally saying, 'WE know best', 'YOU (population) don't know'. Like many parents to ND CYP I can 💯% say school harmed my YP & us. I saw & lived the harm daily

[Emily♡ @ItsEmilyKaty]

‘The best place for children is in school.’

Why can’t there ever be a simple acknowledgement of the children who are broken by school, bullied horrendously and traumatised day after day?

I was in constant fight/flight mode at school. It has taken years to begin to recover.

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

@branwenjeffreys Lots of us would love to continue to teach. If our LAs could fulfil their legal obligation to meet our own children’s SEN it would make it much easier for us to remain in post. So many of us are now propping up a broken SEN system by caring & educating at home - unpaid.

[Stimpunks Foundation @stimpunks]

Getting human-centered, neurodiversity affirming, progressive practices into education, healthcare, & elsewhere is a battle through bad narratives & bad framing.

We need your help. We need you to help us bridge the Double Empathy Extreme Problem (DEEP).

https://t.co/SVsY4QY67H

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

@draevans @Ria1984 I also wonder whether Mr S was building in enough support for writing tasks - not just in that lesson but over time. The child is prob unable to express verbally and/or ‘appropriately’ they have unmet needs - and this is the teacher’s job in any case imv.

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

@draevans It doesn’t. Classic misdirection - blame the ‘truant’/‘ghost child’ or family rather than system failure.

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

@GL_Assessment See Cushing on S&L deficit ideology https://t.co/Rdy7qV4qDE

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

@RestIsPolitics Gillian Keegan tries to make a case that school experiences for SEND children will improve once more specialists are trained and SEND diagnostic backlogs cleared. But why can’t schools be funded to improve accessibility for SEND children anyway, proactively?

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

Whoops! Despite best deficit paradigm efforts, the DEP genie is out of the bottle! Send help! Scour real-world services and root out signs of dawning sloppy pro-ND empathy! Urgently teach the purest of sociocognitive deficit theories! 🧞‍♂️🤭

[Damian Milton @milton_damian]

Good response to DEP critique from Patrick Dwyer: https://t.co/6HjhpfclKG

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

@NaturalistDara @ElaineMcgreevy @ForewordReviews Congratulations!

[IPSEA @IPSEAcharity]

Local authorities have a legal duty to make sure children & young people with all types of special educational needs & disabilities get the education they need & are entitled to. If they can't do it, they should tell the Govt, not force families to fight. https://t.co/oDjvkv5aZP

[Vijay Ramjattan @Vijay_Ramjattan]

Defining "Standard English" is less important than understanding how it is used to police "deviant" Englishes.

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

@autgeek 💯

[Isabelle Finn-Kelcey @isabelle_finn]

Darn. Too maxed out supporting previously excluded/othered autistic children in fuzzy/applied settings to manage a decent rebuttal of Dr L’s paper. Thank you @DrRJChapman @DrMBotha @Noahsasson and others 🙏

[Damian Milton @milton_damian]

This...