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Supplying you with information, advice and support
The term ‘special educational needs’ has a legal definition. Children with special educational needs all have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age.
The SEND Code of Practice states:
“A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.”
A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:
These children may need extra or different help from that given to other children of the same age. (This is called ‘additional to and different from’ provision.)
Each child or young person’s needs are considered under four broad areas of need.
These are:
These four broad areas give an overview of the range of needs that should be planned for. The purpose of identification is to work out what action the school needs to take, not to fit a child or young person into a category. In practice an individual child or young person often has needs that cut across all these areas and their needs may change over time.
The ‘primary area of need’ in education refers to the most significant special educational need a child or young person has. A detailed assessment of need should identify the full range of individuals needs and not just the primary need.
This is about how your child learns and thinks. Some learning difficulties may be obvious, while others less so. Children and young people with cognition and learning difficulties usually learn at a slower pace than other children in their year group.
Children and young people may find reading, writing, literacy and maths more challenging
than other children and young peoples.
They may have specific difficulties such as literacy issues or issues learning new skills.
They may have difficulties with memory, organisation or planning.
They may have a reduced ability to learn because they have difficulty managing their emotions.
Specific learning difficulties (SpLD) such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia would be included here.
Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others.
This may be because they:
Every child with SLCN is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all the different aspects of speech, language or social communication at different times of their lives.
Children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), including Aspergers Syndrome and Autism, are likely to have difficulties with social interaction.
Some children and young people require educational provision because they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided. These difficulties can be age related and may fluctuate over time. Many children and young peoples with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require support and/or equipment to access their learning.
Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained.
Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit, attention
deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.
Schools and colleges should have clear processes to support children and young people, including how they will manager the effect of any disruptive behaviour.
Plymouth has developed the Graduated Approach to Inclusion (GATI) website.
The GATI website provides information, advice to educational settings on how to meet children and individual needs and overcome any barriers to their learning.
The GATI website would be a useful place to look for information on how a school could meet your child/young person’s needs.
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