Eliza Fricker – författare

Eliza Fricker gets it. Her compelling, hard-hitting and irreverently humorous illustrations follow a family through the early days of school avoidance, the process of accessing support and the challenges of coping in the meantime. Can't Not Won't illuminates the absurdity and frustrations that often arise when dealing with health, social and educational systems, and will help any parent in the same boat feel seen. This guide acts as a way to communicate these difficult circumstances with others. Wonderfully relatable, the book also includes written guidance for parents and professionals on what works best when it comes to managing school avoidance.

You just need to stay calm. You should be able to manage. You should have grown out of that by now. You could try harder. Eliza Fricker spent her adolescence being told all of these things, until her autism diagnosis as an adult revealed why she may not have met the expectations of others so easily. Equally, the world didn't seem to live up to the expectations she had of it.Following on from her earlier book Thumbsucker, this graphic memoir narrates the complexities of Eliza's teenage years through to the beginnings of adult relationships; exploring the key stages of life from secondary school to college and then work.It was only as an adult that Eliza heard autism being talked about and wondered about getting diagnosed. She met others who identified as neurodivergent. They shared similar stories and struggles, and so, with her own eventual diagnosis, she started to process her experiences and write about it. And while diagnosis doesn't bring all the answers, it has allowed her to look back on her younger self with a bit more understanding and compassion - something she now wishes for others.As more young people explore their neurodivergence, this book will encourage readers to take an empathetic look back at their experiences and honour the identity they have created for themselves, in response to their problematic experiences.

A short, introductory guide to PDA for parents, extended family and professionals who are supporting a PDA child, with engaging illustrations throughout.Including explanations of the basics of PDA and how it can present, as well as straightforward advice on how best to meet the needs of the PDA child, this is the go-to guide for anyone who wants to get a clear overview of PDA and find out how they can provide high-quality support.

An increasing number of children are struggling to attend school. The conventional approach prioritises a rapid return to their setting. For some children, this simply doesn’t work. They are stuck, not attending school but not learning out of school either. What happens then - and what can we do about it? This illustrated guide lifts the lid on the experiences of children and families who are struggling within the school system and explores how we can work with these young people to maximise their chances of a positive and fulfilled life.The book encourages professionals to take a new perspective and to consider what can be done differently. It explores the ways in which difficulties with school are understood by children, parents, and professionals, and shows how things can go wrong (and right), using real-life examples from a range of settings. Chapters delve into common interventions and the impact these can have in practice, before introducing alternative approaches which have the child at the centre. The voices of young people are foregrounded throughout, shedding light on their struggles with attendance - including when placements have completely broken down – and, importantly, showing how they have gone onto success. Original illustrations are included to bring these ideas to life.Placing authentic experiences at the core, this book offers a valuable insight into the lives of children and families when school has gone wrong and will leave you with new ideas as to how to turn things around. What Can We Do When School’s Not Working? is essential reading for professionals working with children who are struggling with school attendance, from SENCOs and educational support workers to educational psychologists, senior leadership teams, and local authorities.

An increasing number of children are struggling to attend school. The conventional approach prioritises a rapid return to their setting. For some children, this simply doesn’t work. They are stuck, not attending school but not learning out of school either. What happens then - and what can we do about it? This illustrated guide lifts the lid on the experiences of children and families who are struggling within the school system and explores how we can work with these young people to maximise their chances of a positive and fulfilled life.The book encourages professionals to take a new perspective and to consider what can be done differently. It explores the ways in which difficulties with school are understood by children, parents, and professionals, and shows how things can go wrong (and right), using real-life examples from a range of settings. Chapters delve into common interventions and the impact these can have in practice, before introducing alternative approaches which have the child at the centre. The voices of young people are foregrounded throughout, shedding light on their struggles with attendance - including when placements have completely broken down – and, importantly, showing how they have gone onto success. Original illustrations are included to bring these ideas to life.Placing authentic experiences at the core, this book offers a valuable insight into the lives of children and families when school has gone wrong and will leave you with new ideas as to how to turn things around. What Can We Do When School’s Not Working? is essential reading for professionals working with children who are struggling with school attendance, from SENCOs and educational support workers to educational psychologists, senior leadership teams, and local authorities.

AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE FOR ALL TEENAGERS CONSIDERING EDUCATION OUTSIDE OF SCHOOLDoes any of this sound like you?· You find regularly attending school difficult or you have been excluded· School makes you feel unhappy, ill or overwhelmed· You get so angry at school that you just can't keep doing what you're told to do· You haven't found the right environment to support your learning· You are home educated, either because you want to be or because your parents felt they had no other choiceYou might not have met anyone else like you, but there are a surprising number of teenagers who do not go to school. Some of them are home educated, but others are just not attending school regularly. Then there are many more who do attend but aren't learning there.This is not a book which will tell you how to go back to school. You will not find anything here which tells you that without school, your life is ruined. This book is about how you can get an education without going to school. Education is compulsory, but school isn't the same thing as education. School is only one way to get an education.This book is about some of the other ways.Co-written by expert clinical psychologist Dr Naomi Fisher, who has helped many teenagers deal with navigating education outside of mainstream schools, and by bestselling author and illustrator Eliza Fricker, along with seventeen teenagers who have given their experience of learning outside of school.

Some children just haven't read the parenting books. The harder you try, the worse it gets.There's a hidden contract at the heart of parenting. It's the idea that if parents just get it right, their children can be made to do what they want. Manuals explain how to make it very clear to your children what you want them to do − and how to respond when they don't cooperate. With the right rewards and consequences in place, parents are meant to ensure that their children stay under control. That's Time Out and the Naughty Step (for the little ones) or grounding and withdrawing screen privileges (for the older ones). If that doesn't work, parents are told to be more consistent. But what happens if your child is even more consistent than you? For every so often, along comes a child who hasn't signed the contract. They don't buy in. When they are put on the Naughty Step, they refuse point blank to stay there. Promises of stickers and rewards get you nowhere at all. Take their iPad away and they say, 'Fine, but I'm still not doing that'. These are the children who rip up the rule book. Their parents are left floundering. The more they try to bring their children under control, the clearer it is that they aren't haven't any of it. The firmer the boundaries, the worse their behaviour becomes. Things can go downhill fast. This down-to-earth, illustrated guide is for parents who need something different. It's for those who are fighting battles where they didn't know battles could be fought. It's for those who suspect that what they are doing isn't helping - but they don't know what else to do. It's for families who need a better way to live and who want their children (and themselves) to thrive.

An essential guide for all teenagers experiencing stress and burnoutDoes any of this sound like you? - Lacking in energy and feeling that your life has lost its sparkle- Feeling like you can't ever quite relax- Unable to sleep despite being exhausted all the time- Finding that you don't really enjoy anything anymore, even things you used to love- Feeling that everyone is irritating and no one understands- Finding going to school really hard or not possible at all anymoreThen this book might help. These are signs that you are experiencing burnout − your battery has taken a battering and you are running on empty. Many people think burnout only happens to adults, but it's something lots of teenagers experience too. This book will help you to understand what burnout is, how you got there and what you can do to get back to a life you enjoy. We've written it to help you work out if you might be burnt out, and if so, what you can do about it. It will help you identify some of the ways that you might be getting stuck when you're trying to get better. You'll get some ideas as to what is and isn't helping. And if you decide that you aren't really burnt out but you're heading that way, this book has some ideas to stop it from happening in the future.Co-written by expert clinical psychologist Dr Naomi Fisher, who has helped many teenagers deal with the stresses and pressures of school and life, and by bestselling author and illustrator Eliza Fricker.

Eliza Fricker gets it. Describing her perfectly imperfect experience of raising a PDA child, with societal judgements and family pressures, she knows how easy it is to feel overwhelmed, resentful and alone. The Family Experience of PDA's comedic illustrations explain these challenging situations and emotions in a way that words simply cannot, bringing some much-needed levity back into PDA parenting. Humorous anecdotes with a compassionate tone remind parents that they are not alone, and they're doing a great job. If children are safe, happy, and you leave the house on time, who cares about some smelly socks? A light-hearted and digestible guide to being a PDA parent covering everything from tolerance levels, relationships and meltdowns to collaboration, flexibility, and self care to dip in and out as your schedule allows to help get to grips with this complex condition. This book is an essential read for any parent with a PDA child, to help better understand your child, build support systems and carve out some essential self-care time guilt-free.

Being a teenager is tricky at the best of times. Your body is changing and hormones are raging around your body - adding PDA to the mix makes this even harder! You may often feel misunderstood by others, and find it hard to understand yourself too. Whether you've just been diagnosed with PDA -or are a seasoned PDAer keen to know a bit more - this warm and wittily illustrated guide will give you a better understanding of your amazing brain and why you are so good at some things, but find other things tricky. It will help you to advocate for yourself better, understand your anxieties, manage rejection sensitivity dysphoria, explain to your family and friends and others what you need (and what drives you up the wall) - and navigate school or alternative education.

"Our story is a story that's happening right now, to other families in systems around the world. To those families, I want to say: I see you, and I want shine a light on your experiences so you know you are not alone."In this heart-warming and supportive new book, The Sunday Times bestselling author and illustrator Eliza Fricker lifts parents of neurodivergent kids from the dark days of grappling with impenetrable, underfunded systems, and shows them how life can become brighter - often by finding joy in the things that may seem small to everyone else but are huge milestones for our children.Honest, full of humour and laced with advice that can be implemented into hectic day-to-day life, this is the little shot of hope that will keep you going when times seem toughest.

Given the misinformation and confusing guidance out there about Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), it is no wonder, as a parent, you might be feeling frustrated and alone. Through clear, accessible and relatable information, this book provides a solid knowledge base for journeying through the EHCP process from start to finish. From learning to identify your child's needs and how to apply for an EHCP to what to expect from mediation and implementing and maintaining an EHCP once you have one, you'll have all the information you need to make the right decisions for you and your child. Real stories from parents provide an opportunity to learn from others' experiences and you'll also be able to access helpful advice about timelines, template letters and forms for gathering evidence. Combining their experience of the EHCP process as a professional and a parent, Dr Abigail Fisher, an educational psychologist and teacher, and Eliza Fricker, a Sunday Times bestselling author and illustrator, bring you this go-to guide to help you feel prepared and validated on your EHCP journey.