Welcome

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Developed over a ten-year period, the Jigsaw Model is a structured framework that helps teachers, parent/carers and professionals quickly understand how different aspects of a learner’s development fit together. It focuses on key areas - Cognition and Learning, Diagnostic Information, Speech, Language and Communication, Other Important Factors and Executive Function. Their combined influences create a map of current strengths, differences and needs. 

 I specialise in helping families understand their child’s whole person profile, to provide evidence-based information and clear advice that makes a meaningful difference to everyday life and relationships with others.

My independent practice offers flexible, high‑quality advice and assessment. I take a warm, practical, and collaborative approach - working closely with families, schools, and other professionals to ensure every child and young person is understood and supported as they develop and change over time.

I work closely with teachers to build a clear, practical picture of each learner’s strengths, differences and needs; a whole person approach using JIGSAW. This helps schools confidently meet their responsibilities under the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Code 2021, to work with families and other professionals to use school-based assessment, information from parent carers and other professionals,  combining different skills and perspectives to identify any needs and meet them.

My approach is collaborative and evidence‑based, to first understand what’s already working for those staff in that setting. From there, I can offer language-specific ideas, ways that familiar adults can make small changes to the way they communicate. Those small changes can reduce the layers of demand and increase opportunities for learners to successfully engage and respond. Inclusive approaches that recognise the impact of each part of the learning environment - physical, sensory, emotional, social and linguistic – can adapt in ways that reflect the needs for that learner as a whole person.

 When I work with social workers, my role is to help them build a clear, whole‑person understanding of a  person’s strengths, differences and needs, using the JIGSAW and JIGSAW+ frameworks. I bring together developmental expectations, communication profiles, executive function, diagnostic information and wider contextual factors to create an integrated picture that supports confident, evidence‑informed decision‑making. 

Through joint discussion, we explore how language, communication and executive function influence learning, relationships, emotional regulation and behaviour, so that social workers can recognise when unmet language needs may be contributing to the concerns they see. I provide structured tools, clear shared‑language frameworks and practical next steps that social workers can use with families, schools and multi‑agency partners. This approach helps ensure that decisions about support, intervention and planning are rooted in robust evidence, reduce the risk of unseen need, and create consistency - understanding piece by piece. 

 If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment, please email me. Sometimes I suggest a short, free consultation (15-20 minutes) to get more detail and make a plan .