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Keeping children safe online

How to Keep Children Safe onLine

The NSPCC have partnered with Ambitious about Autism to bring online safety tips, advice and activities specifically for parents and carers of children with SEND. They spoke to parents of children with a range of special educational needs such as dyslexia, autism and speech and language difficulties.

Letting your child go online can be intimidating; you might worry about the different spaces they explore, the people they meet digitally and the potential for things going wrong.

Being online can be positive for children and young people, including those with additional needs. So much of our communication now happens online, either by messages, in a game or through a video call. Sometimes online platforms like the apps, social media sites and games your child accesses can help them connect and make friends with new people that they might not know offline.

As a parent or carer, you play an important role in helping your child to have positive experiences online. If your child has additional needs, then this role can be even more important, and it can feel like a lot of responsibility when you hear about some of the risks young people face online.

How you can help keep your child safe online

The NSPCC have online safety tips, advice and activities to help keep your child safe online.

How to support children with SEND with talking to people online

Young people use the internet to contact friends they might know from school or other activities. Sometimes children with special educational needs and disabilities may struggle with making friends when other children are not being inclusive or kind.  Find out how to support your child.

Find out more

Supporting online wellbeing for children with SEND

NSPCC partnered with Ambitious about Autism to bring online wellbeing tips, specifically for parents and carers of children with SEND. Try the suggested tips and see which work for your family.

Find out more

The NSPCC website offers parents lots more information please visit their website (link below) for more information.

Online safety for children with SEND | NSPCC

More information...

Produced in collaboration with Home Office PREVENT and the West Midlands Police Crime Commissioner, Safety Net is a unique educational resource and training programme designed to provide the tools and confidence to engage children and their parents, in a concerted effort to encourage safe online practice in the home.

As the Internet and social media act as the gateway to the adult world, children are increasingly accessing online platforms more and more from an early age. Though they are becoming smarter and growing up computer literate, they are innocent and do not possess the life skills needed to recognise potential dangers. Parents worry about what their children are doing online, yet very few know how to help.

Safety Net embeds the understanding and effective protective behaviour strategies needed to help young people across all year groups stay safe, both online and in the physical world. Adopted by parents, schools, local authorities and multi-agency partnerships across the UK, it is establishing itself as a vital tool in safeguarding children.

You can find out more about the Safety Net programme, along with free resources for parents and carers on the dedicated Skips Safety Net website where the following topics are covered.