A community group to support parents who have children with special needs has been set up by a mum battling to give her son an education.

Stacey McShane, who is 30 and lives in Greenstead, has been struggling to find a school that will accept her 11-year-old son, Noah, who despite being very intelligent academically, cannot get into a school that meets his needs associated with ADHD and autism.

Worried that other parents are struggling to cope with the extra responsibilities of raising a child with special needs, Mrs McShane has set up a group called Embrace Neurodiversity – Parents Supporting Parents (ENPSP).

With an online group having already reached 100 members, Mrs McShane is busy organising the first in-person meeting for parents of children with special needs, which will take place at Greenstead Community Centre on Monday, February 28, from 10am to midday.

She said: “Parents will be able to meet other parents who have children very similar to Noah.

“I’m just a parent who needed some support and I know other parents need support too – as soon as parents of children with special needs get chatting, we just connect in a way that’s so different to other parents.

“When I walk through the street and see a parent with a child who has special needs, I completely get it – you just know how that parent feels.”

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Although there are charities such as Project 21, which supports children with Downs Syndrome, and Maze Group – which supports with children with autism – Mrs McShane said the best support parents can receive is from other parents, regardless of their child’s disability.

“A lot of groups are targeted towards a particular disability, but I wanted a group to for parents to discuss the problems with one another,” she said.

“I want parents to be able to share with how hard they’re finding it.

“You know you’re not on your own but more often than not it feels like it, and I think it’s the same for everyone – but with this group at least you can be alone together,” she said.