The Handsel Trust, which campaigns nationally for effective support for families of children with disabilities /SEN, is trying to raise awareness about sleep issues.

This follows the workshop by Sleep Scotland at the Interconnections conference ‘New Thinking - New Working’ in Manchester in June 2004.

Our experience has shown us that in other parts of the UK  –

1. Many families keep their problems to themselves because they do not imagine help could be available

2. Many professionals, having a limited awareness of the problems families might be facing, do not ask parents about how much sleep they are getting or include sleep issues in their assessment processes.

• We are collecting information about the scale and nature of the problem and about the effects on families of disturbed sleep.

• We would like to find out what sort of support is available and how effective it is.

• We would like to learn more about Sleep Clinics.

• We would like to hear from families and from professionals

As a first step in our awareness-raising campaign we will make the information we collect available in a special Handsel Trust publication in 2005.

Could you please forward this request to other people who you think might be able to help?

Peter Limbrick

Chair

Handsel Trust

9 Pitt Avenue

Worcester

WR4 0PL

Tel/fax: 01905 23255

E-mail: p.limbrick@virgin.net