Fundraiser launched for special needs activity videos

Charlotte Cooper, from Kidderminster, hopes the videos will be an invaluable resource for parents of youngsters looking for specialist SEN-only activities.

She has now launched a Crowdfunder appeal to raise £5,000 by the end of February to help pay for the production costs and hopes to have the videos online by the summer.

Charlotte, aged 27, said: “Dance helps SEN kids massively, especially with their communication. They may be non-verbal but through dance we see them laugh and smile.

"Parents are facing huge challenges at the moment with juggling work and home-schooling and parents of SEN children have their own challenges.

“I want these videos to be something they can access free of charge at their leisure to use at home as and when they need to.”

Charlotte graduated in dance from Bath Spa University and then qualified as a teacher at Birmingham City University in 2016 before setting up her own dance school.

She is already offering tuition for children and adults online after lockdown stopped her face-to-face classes in Worcester.

That includes her Light Up Dance sessions, aimed at children with special educational needs, which she launched in May 2019.

The classes began after she was approached by a parent with autistic children asking if there was a session purely for SEN children.

“We asked other parents and there was a lot of interest - we had 15 children on day one,” she said. “It showed that it was desperately needed. A lot of classes are inclusive, but there aren’t many places that are specifically for SEN kids.

“We involve the parents in everything – we ask them for their opinion and what the best approach is for their child and they like that. It means we are meeting the needs of every child in the class.”

Charlotte’s online classes cost £5 a time, but she wanted the videos to be a free resource for families who may not be able to afford classes and may not be able to attend in person once the physical sessions restart.

Georgina Durrant, founder of The SEN Resources Blog has wished Charlotte well in her venture and said her videos would be a great resource for families.

She has just written a book, called 100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play (Fun Activities for Children with SEN), published on June 21, and said dance in could offer huge benefits.

“In terms of physical benefits, dance can be a fantastic way of developing gross motor skills, balance, spatial awareness and proprioception - being aware of where your body is in relation to the things around it,” she said.

“Dance also offers tremendous mental health benefits. Children can express themselves and their emotions freely, in a safe way during dance. They often feel part of something and have a sense of belonging whilst dancing, in turn helping them to develop excellent relationships with their peers.

"Dance can often be relaxing and therapeutic for children. It enables development of self-esteem and confidence. It can also act as a powerful communication tool for children who are non-verbal or pre-verbal.”

To donate to Charlotte’s Crowdfunder visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/sendance.