Courses and training for parents

Parenting courses and workshops are available to all mums, dads and carers in Surrey. Most courses focus on helping parents with effective support and communication with their children.

There are also websites and helplines that offer advice about child development and family life. For families with children with Additional Needs and Disabilities (AND), it can be helpful to have specialist support and advice about how best to meet your child's needs.

Family learning courses

Family Learning offer courses for parents and carers to help give children a positive start in life and support their learning and development at home and school.

A wide range of free courses are offered online, from parenting and wellbeing to Maths and English for parents who speak English as an additional language.

Full details, including how to sign up, are available on the Family Learning web page.

Free online parenting guides for families in Surrey

Bringing up children is a lot of fun but can also have its challenges and understanding your child's emotional development can help to support your relationship and your child's behaviour.

Families living in Surrey can get access to free online guides that include top tips from childcare, education and NHS health experts.

• Understanding your pregnancy, labour, birth and your baby
• Understanding your baby
• Understanding your child 0-19 years
• Understanding your teenager's brain

The guides are available in other languages including Urdu, Chinese and Polish.

Register for free unlimited access to the guides in text, audio and video formats and other languages:

• go to the inourplace online learning page; and,
• use the code 'ACORN' to download.

SEND parenting courses

Specialist courses and workshops for parents and carers of children with SEND can help develop strategies that are helpful for children who have particular needs. Courses often focus on building more effective strategies to support children and young people with SEND and their families.

Some require the child to have a specific diagnosis prior to the parents going on the course. However, some courses are open to parents whose child shows some traits of a condition, but hasn't been assessed yet or didn't meet the threshold for a diagnosis.

Below are SEND parenting courses that regularly take place in Surrey.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

• The Surrey branch of the National Autistic Society regularly run workshops for parents about different autism-related topics. Recent workshops have focused on newly diagnosed children and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA).

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

• Barnardo's Positive Parenting Course support parents and carers of children (6 to 18 years old) who have a diagnosis of, or are in the process of getting a diagnosis of, ADHD. There are two separate parenting courses: the Parent Factor Programme for those whose child is diagnosed with ADHD and the Nurturing Programme for families awaiting a diagnosis of ADHD.
• 123 Magic is a parenting course designed to help parents with positive behaviour techniques for their child who has ADHD. The charity ADDISS have trained practitioners in Surrey to deliver this course, so you can contact them to find out where your nearest group is.

Special educational needs and disabilities

• Independent Provider of Special Educational Advice (IPSEA) run a training day for parents with a focus on SEND laws, to empower parents to use the law to ensure they get the right support for their child.
• Surrey's Specialist Teaching Teams help teachers and parents with children's learning and language difficulties, and also with behavioural difficulties.
• Local Offer Events are often updated with workshops for parents that focus on specific SEND issues.

General parenting support:

• The Family Information Service website has an information page about universal parenting courses. These do not focus on specific SEND issues but they can still be useful, especially if you have children with differing needs.

Information and advice

If it is not practical for you to attend a course, or you've already been on one and are looking for additional support there are other services that can help.

• Help and support for behaviour and emotional wellbeing gives information about services across Surrey that help children who need additional support.
• Family Voice Surrey advocate for services on behalf of families with children with SEND. Family Voice run conferences for parents, where services will deliver talks and workshops.
• The Surrey branch of the National Autistic Society is a parent to parent support service, run by volunteers. Support includes meeting up socially with other parents, parent workshops delivered by autism experts and an online forum for parents to talk to each other.

Family helplines

These are usually free and offer confidential advice and support about any concerns you may have about your child's development or family life.

• Contact is a charity for families with disabled children. They have a free helpline for parents and carers to call to discuss a particular diagnosis, educational support and medical and social care.
• YoungMinds has a helpline for parents who are worried about their child's mental health. If you are concerned that your child is feeling very anxious, or depressed you can call YoungMinds for advice about how best to support them.
• NAS Parent to Parent Service is a confidential telephone service provided by trained volunteers who are parents themselves of a child or adult on the autism spectrum.