Children with special educational needs (SEN)
Children with SEN
1. Overview
What special educational needs are
Some children have needs or disabilities that affect their ability to learn. For example:
- behavioural/social (eg difficulty making friends)
- reading and writing (eg dyslexia)
- understanding things
- concentrating (eg Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
- physical needs or impairments
Who to talk to if your child has special educational needs
If you think your child may have special educational needs, contact the person in your child’s school or nursery responsible for special educational needs.
This person is called the ‘SEN coordinator’, or ‘SENCO’. Contact the local council or your doctor if your child isn’t in a school or nursery.
Contact your local Parent Partnership Service for impartial advice about special educational needs.
2. Types of support
There are stages of support to try and help children with special educational needs.
If your child is getting the help they need and they’re learning well, there’s no need for them to go on to the next stage.
If your child has high needs, they won’t need to go through earlier stages of support and can get an assessment straight away. The stages are:
Early Years Action/School Action.
Early Years Action Plus/School Action Plus.
Assessment.
Statement of special educational needs.
Early Years Action/School Action
Your child’s teachers or SENCO will discuss your child’s needs with you and decide what help to give. You should be asked about the help your child is given and its results.
This could mean a different way of teaching certain things, or some help from an extra adult.
Early Years Action Plus/School Action Plus
This is extra help from an external specialist, eg a speech therapist.
Assessments
An assessment of special educational needs is carried out by the local council. Experts and people involved in your child’s education will be asked about your child’s needs and what should be done to meet them.
Statement
A statement of special educational needs describes your child’s needs and how they should be met, including what school they should go to.
Further education
If your child has a statement of special educational needs, he or she will have a ‘transition plan’ drawn up in Year 9. This helps to plan for their future after leaving school.
The transition plan gets reviewed each school year.
Your local authority will make sure that your child gets the support they need and will work with social services before your child leaves school.
They must also make sure your child gets any education and training they need when they leave school if they’re 16 to 18, or 19 to 24 if they’ve had a Learning Difficulty Assessment.
3. Assessments
Either you or your child’s nursery or school can ask for an assessment from the council. They will get back to you within 6 weeks to say if they’ll do an assessment.
Children younger than 2
The council can decide how they’ll assess your child if they’re under 2.
They can also refuse to do an assessment. You can’t appeal their decision.
Children 2 or older
The council has to follow certain rules and time limits for assessing your child if they’re 2 or older.
You can appeal if you disagree with the council’s assessment of your child’s needs.
How your child will be assessed
These people will be involved in an assessment:
- you
- your child’s school/nursery
- educational psychologist
- doctor
- social services (will only give advice if they know your child)
- anyone else the council thinks it should ask
You can go to any interview or test that happens during the assessment. You can also suggest other people the council should talk to, eg voluntary organisations or charities.
After an assessment you might get a ‘statement of special educational needs’.
4. Statements
Statements of special educational needs say what your child’s needs are. They are reviewed every year.
You must be consulted before a statement can be changed by the council.
You can appeal to the special educational needs and disability tribunal if you disagree with a change.
Your local council should tell you if you're going to get a statement within 12 weeks of starting the assessment.
If the council decides not to write a statement, it will explain why and tell you how your child’s needs will be met inside or outside school.
You can appeal to the tribunal if you disagree with a statement of special educational needs.
Choosing a school
The statement initially has a blank section for you to say what school you want your child to go to (either mainstream or special), or how you want them to be educated out of school.
You have 15 days to say what school (including private schools) you want your child to go to.
Your local council must agree to send your child to the school you want as long as:
- the school you choose is suitable for your child’s age, ability, skills and needs
- your child meets any academic selection criteria the school has (although most state schools do not select pupils by academic ability)
- your child’s presence will not have a negative impact on the education of other children already at the school
- putting your child in the school will be an efficient use of the local authority’s resources
If there’s a suitable state school, the local council doesn’t have to send your child to a private school.
Changing schools
You can also ask the local council to change the school named in your child’s statement, if it’s at least 12 months since you asked for a change or since the statement was made or changed. This can only be the same type of school, eg mainstream school or special school.