Most children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) can meet their needs within an education setting’s own resources with support from commissioned services.
SEND support is the extra help offered to a child or young person to enable them to learn and make progress in their learning, alongside other children of the same age. Any provision or support should be provided in line with the needs of the child or young person and is not dependent on any formal diagnosis.
It might be:
- adapted teaching methods and materials to suit the child’s style and rate of learning
- other provision as described in the ordinarily available provision guidance such as input from specialist outreach services
SEND support is tailored to a child’s particular needs and should be agreed with parents and carers in a SEND support plan. This plan should be regularly reviewed.
For further information read chapters 5 and 6 of the SEND Code of Practice 2015 – GOV.UK.
Read about how your child's place of learning supports children who have special educational needs in their SEND information report.
How SEND support works
You and your child should be at the centre of any decision-making. This is called person-centred planning and can include person-centred reviews. It may be useful for a one-page profile to be drawn up so your child's voice can be heard.
The early years' keyworker or teacher, and the place of learning's special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENCO), will all work together using the graduated approach to create a SEND support plan.
This plan identifies your child's needs, the action needed and planned outcomes.
Some children and young people will make progress and no longer require SEND support. Other pupils may well need continued support and start the cycle again. However, if your child's needs are severe or complex they may go straight to the next step and request an education, health and care assessment.
What SEND support may include
SEND support could include teaching differently or extra help from the services, teams and resources listed below.
For children under 5 years old, our early years advisor can support the setting and the practitioners working with the child through the Early Years Foundation Stage. You can reach the advisor at eyfservice@lbhf.gov.uk
For children 5 and over, the education setting teacher or the special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) can provide support. The Ordinarily Available Provision Guide refers to the support that all H&F early years, schools and post 16 settings should be able to provide for children and young people, including those with SEND, from within their own resources. To find out what you can expect from educational settings, please visit the ordinarily available provision guidance.
The Early Help service can provide initial support for families with children aged 0-19 who are facing challenges including mental health, domestic abuse, drug and alcohol use, school attendance and behaviour issues and other challenges where the child or young person may be having difficulties.
The Inclusion and Specialist Intervention Outreach Service (INSPIRE) can help provide specialist teaching and learning services or SEND support services.
The Virtual School is in place to support all children looked after, aged 3 to 18 years who attend school in Hammersmith & Fulham, and also those who are the responsibility of Hammersmith & Fulham and live and attend school elsewhere.
For young people looking for work please see How to get a job if you're a young person with SEND
For adults, the H&FALS (adult learning and skills) service supports residents to gain employment skills and offers learning courses. For further support, the H&FALS special educational needs provision offers preparation for work and helps with personal development.
Visit the Living Independently service directory for information about learning, employment and volunteering options using that filter.
Other support could include:
- educational psychologists
- child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)
- speech and language therapists
- occupational therapists
Reviewing the SEND support plan
The education setting will review the SEND support plan regularly. The review will help identify whether your child's progressing and if the amount of support needs to change.
Involving you and your child
You and your child are central to deciding what action to take, what you want it to achieve and whether it's working.
The education setting must:
- work closely with you and your child to identify your child's needs and support
- take into account you and your child's concerns, views, agreed outcomes and next steps
- include you in any decision to involve specialists
- share details of the support plan with you and agree a review date
- ask you and your child for your views when reviewing the SEND support plan
If you feel your child is not making progress
Please discuss your concerns with the educational setting the child attends. Ask your child’s school for a copy of their complaints procedure so you know what steps to take to progress your complaint. By law, all schools must have a complaints procedure and make it available. It is important to remember that you must take your complaint to the school itself and follow its procedure.
SENDIASS can offer impartial advice on your situation. They can support you in getting your views across. Find out more about SENDIASS
Education, health and care plans and assessments
For those that have tried many different support options and adjustments but still need more help, the next step could be to apply for an education, health and care (EHC) assessment. Find out more about Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and assessments.