Thinking out loud
Where we are starting.
The list keeps growing. Once you start looking properly at how much of this could work better the ideas do not stop coming, and since none of it is built yet, all of it is still open.
Every family needs something slightly different, so what ARI becomes will be a good deal more than the ideas we have had so far.
Three we have thought about most.
Each has a page of its own, going into more detail on the idea behind it. Worth a look if one of them is close to what you need.
The paperwork
Every letter, in one place
The vault, and the sixteen ideas we are weighing up for it. Read the vault.
The high street
A rating in the shop window
Scored by parents who have been, not declared by the place itself. Read the rating.
Local people
Finding each other first
The groups we think should exist, and what keeps them kind. Read the community.
Getting out of the house
Finding places that work.
The rating is one part of it. The rest is about helping with the planning: what is near you, what to expect when you arrive, and the things worth knowing before you set off.
Somewhere to start
Parks, pools, cafes and shops on one map
Built on the open map everyone else uses, with what we know about SEND access laid over the top.
The blank spots
Places nobody has scored yet
Showing what has no rating at all, so somewhere near you can get its first one.
Narrowing it down
Only the kind of place you need today
A swimming pool is a different question from a supermarket, and the filters should know that.
Small checks
A quick answer while you are stood there
One short question when you happen to be somewhere, so a rating stays current rather than ageing quietly.
Getting there
Whether the lift is working
Step-free routes on public transport, how busy the route will be, and anything out of action today, so the journey is part of the plan rather than a surprise on the way.
What they keep
Which places have a sensory kit on site
Ear defenders behind the counter change an afternoon, and there is no way to find out short of asking.
Before you go
How busy the place will be
Some idea of the noise and the crowd this afternoon, so you can decide at home instead of on the doorstep.
Beyond the paperwork
The day itself.
Less about paperwork and more about the hours in between. All of this starts in one house with one child, so where it looks different in yours is exactly what we want to hear.
The passport
One page that explains your child
What helps, what does not, and what to do if it goes wrong. Shareable by a link that expires, so you stop explaining from scratch.
The log
What the day actually did
Sleep, triggers and how it went, kept simply enough to keep up. Over months it turns into something a clinician can read.
The statutory side
School, and the paperwork around it.
This is where the wording decides what support a child actually gets. The dates matter too, so it is the one part we would not rush.
The words
A first draft, never a final one
Pulls together the reports and letters you already hold, so you start from something rather than a blank page.
Outside school
When school is not the answer
Learning still happens through tutors, therapy and hours at the kitchen table. A way to show what is being covered and how it is going.
The other plan
The support plan that is not an EHCP
Plenty of support never reaches an EHCP. A place for the plan your school actually works to, in whatever shape they use.
Moving on
Changing school without losing the thread
What the next school needs, handed over once rather than retold from scratch.
Local rules
What your council actually offers
Every authority publishes its own local offer and they all differ. An answer should know which one applies to you.
Keeping the receipts in one place.
Saving a receipt takes a second. Finding it a year later might take an afternoon. This is somewhere to put them as you go.
Keeping them
Somewhere for the receipts to go
One place for them, on your own phone.
Sorting them
A photo instead of a filing job
Take the picture, and we would do the rest.
The difference
The specialist price next to the ordinary one
Some things cost more in a specialist version. This would show by how much.
The journeys
Appointments, counted up
Miles and parking, added up as you go.
All of it
Everything in one document
Ready to hand over, with the receipts attached.
What happens next
Choosing what to build first is the next part of this.
The list will keep growing
Every family needs something a bit different, so the gaps are the interesting part. Somebody telling us about one we had not thought of is a good day here.
Then we work out what comes first
We are picking what gets built first, and we would like that done with the community rather than announced to it. Tell us which three would help you most.
Getting the serious bits checked
Anything to do with an EHCP, an appeal or a benefits claim, we would want someone who knows the law to look at first.
None of it needs your child's details
Whatever gets built, the rule from the vault holds here too. It stays yours, and nobody sees it by default.
One app. One community.
So which of these would help?
Every family's list looks a little different to this one. Tell us which three would change a week for you, and if the thing you actually need is not on the list at all, we would like to hear that even more.
No need to tell us anything about your child. It is the list we are asking about.