Mainstream Primary Schooling Your Special-Needs Child
A Parents Guide to Advocating and Navigating the System
Alicia Cohen
Alicia Cohen’s Mainstream Schooling Your Special Needs Child is a compassionate, clear-eyed guide for anyone walking alongside a child with additional needs as they begin or navigate mainstream education. Written with the warmth of lived experience and the insight of deep research, this book offers more than just advice, it offers understanding, solidarity, and practical wisdom.
From school selection and enrolment, through to goal-setting, funding, reporting, adjustments and navigating specialist involvement, Cohen gently yet firmly outlines the landscape families will face. But rather than presenting a checklist of tasks, she invites readers to consider the emotional, social, cognitive and often overlooked realities - such as the impact of routines, toileting, and peer interaction. These are the daily, human details that shape a child’s experience of school, and Cohen brings them into the light with care and clarity.
This book is full of emotional authenticity. Woven throughout are stories that reflect the highs, lows, confusion, and small victories that come with advocating for a child’s needs in a system that doesn’t always know how to listen. Importantly, Cohen reminds readers of the value of finding communities where children are celebrated, not simply accommodated and the importance of finding your tribe as a parent, carer or teacher.
This is a book for parents, absolutely, but it is also essential reading for teachers, school leaders, pre-service educators and any professional working within inclusive education. It bridges gaps in understanding without judgment and provides a lens that is both practical and profoundly human.
Cohen has given us a resource that is thoughtful, hopeful, and grounded. Whether you’re at the start of this journey or years in, this book will leave you feeling more equipped, less alone, and encouraged to see the child before the label.
Get your copy of Mainstream Primary Schooling Your Special-Needs Child now!
