The news today that around a third of all secondary schools in England have SENCOs who are not qualified teachers is interesting. If parents are the child's first teacher, as I believe, then parents have a teaching qualification by default. Almost all the special needs classroom assistants I have met are parents themselves. Being able to establish a relationship based on  trust is the primary qualification required for all effective teachers in a secondary special needs department. Does a teaching qualification take precedence over parenting in this regard?