New guide suggests parenting interventions should be ‘first line of support’ for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
A new guide, commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE), and published today by Foundations, underpinned by a wide-ranging review of the evidence by Anna Freud and UCL, demonstrates that parenting interventions improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND, and for their parent carers, making them an essential first line of support for families.1,2
The findings offer hope to parent carers of children with SEND who, the review suggests, often face burn out and can be overwhelmed by conflicting advice. The report comes as DfE’s latest strategy for children and families pledges early intervention and holistic support for parents with children with SEND.3
The Practice Guide – Parenting Disabled Children and Young People and those with Special Educational Needs – recommends effective approaches to parenting support for families with children with SEND, based on an evidence review conducted by a team at Anna Freud, a mental health charity for children, young people and families, and UCL.
The findings underline the case for intervention early in a child’s life, with evidence to show that parenting interventions targeted at parent carers of children aged under 6 years old are most effective for improving child outcomes, including emotional and behavioural well-being.
For children with SEND, key findings reveal that parenting support can:
Improve language and communication in autistic children and those with language impairment aged 1 to 6 years old;
Reduce behaviours that challenge and promote social skills in autistic children and those with ADHD;
Improve child development and cognitive skills in autistic children and those with cerebral palsy or acquired brain injury;
Improve parent-child interaction among families of autistic children and those with ADHD, intellectual disability, hearing loss, or brain injury.
Qualitative evidence about the experience and views of parent-carers found:
Parents carers who attended parenting interventions reported feeling burnt out, stressed and responsible for the entire family;
Parent carers often access support from multi-agency partnerships and can feel ‘caught in the middle’ of and overwhelmed by conflicting advice (for example, parenting programmes advice can be at odds with a school’s approach).
For parent carers of children with SEND, the evidence showed that parenting support can also:
Reduce parental stress and increase parental confidence in parents of autistic children, those with language impairment and those with an intellectual disability;
Lead to improved parental wellbeing and parenting practices for parents of autistic children and those with ADHD.
The review also found an evidence gap on the effectiveness of parenting programmes for different groups of parent carers and children and young people, particularly those from minoritised ethnic backgrounds, underlining the case for future research.
Professor Nick Midgley, who led the work on the review at Anna Freud, said:
“While it can be incredibly rewarding, parenting a child or young person with disabilities can also bring challenges, so access to evidence-based support and interventions is essential. However, until now, we’ve only had a partial understanding of the most effective approaches for supporting parents and carers.
“Our review found that parenting interventions can be effective at improving outcomes for a wide range of children and young people, and can help parent carers too, including reducing stress and improving confidence in parenting.”
Dr Jo Casebourne, Chief Executive of Foundations, said:
“This new Guide, commissioned by DfE, marks a breakthrough in our understanding of how to improve the outcomes of disabled children and those with SEN through supporting their parent carers. It strongly suggests that parenting interventions must be a first line of support for disabled children and those with SEN, if we want to make a real difference to these children and their parent-carers. “The findings back the case for intervention early in a child’s life too, with evidence that the impact of parenting programmes is strongest for children under 6 years old. Perhaps the most important takeout of the Guide is that there is evidence of the positive difference that structured parenting support makes to children across a wide range of disabilities and SEN, for children and young people of all ages, whether formally diagnosed or not.”
“Thanks to this research, we can now give clear guidance to local authorities about the parenting approaches that we know are effective for disabled children and those with SEN. The challenge ahead is to work with local authorities to put this evidence into practice as the new Best Start Family Hubs and reforms to Family Help and children’s social care come on stream.”
Notes
1 The review included autism, ADHD, cerebral palsy, hearing and/or language impairment, intellectual disability, and brain injury in its assessment.
2 Many of the 1.5 million children in the UK considered disabled are assessed as having ‘Special Educational Needs’ (SEN) and require support from local authorities and care services.
3 The Department for Education published the new strategy ‘Giving every child the best start in life’ on 7 July 2025, outlining their ambitions for improving child development and meeting the ambition that 75% of 5-year-olds in England have a good level of development by 2028.
Find out more
This evidence review was undertaken by researchers from Child Attachment and Psychological Therapies Research (ChAPTRe), a research unit run in partnership between Anna Freud and UCL, led by Professor Nick Midgley.
Read about ChAPTRe’s current research projectsAbout Anna Freud
Anna Freud is a mental health charity and we’ve been supporting children and young people for over 70 years. We listen to and learn from their diverse voices, and integrate this with learnings from our science and practice to develop and deliver mental health care. This holistic approach has world-changing potential – our training, schools support, networks, partnerships and resources equip those who impact children and young people’s lives with the knowledge and skills to support their mental health.
About Foundations
Foundations is the What Works Centre for Children & Families. We believe all children should have the foundational relationships they need to thrive in life. We’re researching, generating, and translating evidence into practical solutions that shape better policy and practice and lead to more effective family support services. Foundations was formed through the merger of What Works for Children’s Social Care (WWCSC) and the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) in December 2022.