SEN Press was founded in 2006 by publisher, Peter Clarke. Peter and Christine Clarke’s son, Adam, has Down’s Syndrome. Peter had taught in the field of special education and literacy for many years, and was acutely aware that Adam, then a teenager, was poorly provided with engaging, age-appropriate reading material – so he decided to produce some resources to plug that very significant gap.

Peter worked closely with other special needs teachers, ASDAN and NASEN to ensure that SEN Press publications truly meet the needs of 14-19 year olds working around Level 1.

SEN Press offers young people with special needs books about people like themselves, in situations they recognize from their own experience – and situations they need to learn to deal with. Our resources are designed to help you teach key life skills – and the feedback we get from teachers and parents tells us that we have succeeded. There are some typical comments at the bottom of this page.

Our reading books are short (16-24 A5 pages) and easy to read (reading age 7), with age-appropriate colour illustrations. Each series comes with extensive support materials including eBook and audio versions of every reader and computer games and activities. We hope you all try them and enjoy using them with your students.

Sadly Peter passed away in 2009, but his legacy lives on in SEN Press, which continues to provide special and mainstream secondary schools, colleges and families with reading books, eBooks, audiobooks and related support activities on Work Experience, Everyday Challenges, Simple Meals, Teen Issues, Relationships, Making Sense of Money, Scary Things and Ups and Downs.

“You are the first publisher in my 20-year teaching experience to produce exciting, relevant material at the right level for my students.”
Ian Wray, Suffolk One, Ipswich

“Excellent… they cover realistic situations in a practical way and they deal with the misunderstandings and misinterpretations that may occur in daily situations…”
Marie Benton, Down’s Syndrome Association

“Absolutely fantastic – so relevant… We will be ordering them!!…” 
Angela Banner, Broadfield School, Oswaldtwistle, Lancs

“These all look great… The topics are all very relevant. “
Heather Fry, ASDAN

“The ‘Work Experience Activity Pack’ is brilliant”
Jayne Cowdale, Penn Hall School, Wolverhampton

“Excellent to support PSHE and emotional aspects of learning.”
Victoria Greenhalgh, Redwood School, Rochdale

“The words ‘spot-on’ immediately spring to mind. None of us can fault them.”
Sophia England, Charlton School, London SE7

“Really useful and excellent for stimulating discussion. We use them a lot”
Neil Thompson, Lancaster School, Westcliff-on-Sea