In England children and young people have SEN:
- if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.
- are a child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they
- have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.
SEND Code of Practice 2015
The framework outlined in the Children and Families Act 2014 for meeting the needs of children and young adults up to the age of 25 has children and families at the centre.
There is a stronger focus on the participation of children and young people and parents in decision making at all levels. There is a strong focus on identifying outcomes and co-ordinating support to meet those outcomes; and on supporting young people through the transition to adulthood.
The provision in schools and colleges will enable them to meet the special educational needs of children and young people with SEND, as well as those whose health is a barrier to learning, must be set out and published in their Local Offer, and updated at least annually.
Where a child or young person is identified as having SEND, schools and colleges should take action to remove barriers to child or young person’s learning and put appropriate special educational provision in place known as the Graduated Response following the in a ‘assess, plan, do, review’ cycle. This is called SEN support.
SEN Support should take the form of a four-part cycle involving the parent and carers and the child or young person. By taking this approach earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the child or young person needs and of what support will help to secure good progress and good outcomes for them. This approach is known as the Graduated Response. The assessments provided by Marguerite can contribute to this cycle.
Some children and young people may require an EHC needs assessment in order for the local authority to decide whether it is necessary for it to make provision in accordance with an EHC plan. The purpose of the assessment process:
- To establish whether an EHC plan is needed (decision is based on whether special educational provision is needed beyond what is normally available to mainstream educational institutions)
- To identify detailed needs across education, health and social care, the desired outcomes and provision needed to enable the needs and outcomes to be met
Marguerite can signpost you to organisations that can help you to apply for an EHC needs assessment.
Advice and information must be sought* as follows:
- The child’s parent or young person, and wherever possible the child
- Current educational institution attended, or person responsible for educational provision
- Health care professionals
- An Educational psychologist
- Social care (from children’s or adult services)
- From Y9, advice on preparing for adulthood and independent living
- From any person requested by the child’s parent or young person
- Any other advice or information which the LA considers appropriate e.g. from a youth offending team
*The LA must not seek further advice if it has already been provided and the person providing the advice, the LA and the child’s parent or young person are all satisfied that it is sufficient for the assessment process
After the EHC needs assessment is complete and the local authority has decided to issue an EHC plan. They will use the information from the assessments to write the EHC plan.
It is the duty of the local authority to review EHC plans. The annual review is all the actions taken by the local authority to formally review the continued applicability of the EHC plan, including its decision after receiving the report of the meeting to:
- maintain the EHC plan as it is;
- to change it;
- or to cease it.
You can download the flowcharts from Special Needs Jungle to provide you with more detailed information. Remember the reports from the assessments can be used at every stage in the process.
Marguerite has specific experience working and designing learning programmes for children and young people with the following needs: Autism, Moderate Learning Difficulties, Specific Leaning Difficulties, Down Syndrome, Social Communication Difficulties, Sensory Processing Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Pathological Demand Avoidance.