Support for Parents and Carers of Children and Young People with SEND

Are you a Parent or Carer of a child or young person who has been diagnosed as having one or more of the many and often complex SENDs?

Let's start as we mean to go on. What does SEND stand for? It stands for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Yet included other forms of difficulties too like Social and Communication needs.

Children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) all have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children and young people of the same age. These children and young people may need extra or different help to others.

Children and young people with SEN may need extra help because of a range of needs. The  0- 25 SEND Code of Practice which sets out 4 areas of SEN:

Communicating and interacting – Children and young people have speech, language and communication difficulties which make it difficult for them to make sense of language or to understand how to communicate effectively and appropriately with others.

Cognition and learning – Children and young people learn at a slower pace than others their age, have difficulty in understanding parts of the curriculum, have difficulties with organisation and memory skills, or have a specific difficulty affecting one particular part of their learning performance such as in literacy or numeracy.

Social, emotional and mental health difficulties – Children and young people have difficulty in managing their relationships with other people, are withdrawn, or they behave in ways that may hinder their and other children’s learning or have an impact on their health and wellbeing.

Sensory and/or physical needs – Children and young people with visual and/or hearing impairments, or a physical need that means they must have additional ongoing support and equipment.

Some children and young people may have SEN that covers more than one of these areas.

Where to go if you think your child has SEN or a disability

Children and young people with SEN or disabilities will usually be able to get help from their early education setting, school, or college, sometimes with the aid of outside specialists. When they do identify that your child has SEN, your school or other setting must contact you (or, if your son or daughter is over 16, they might contact them directly) and should discuss with you what support to offer your child. The setting must tell you if they are making special educational provision for your child.

If you think your child has SEN, you should talk to your child’s early education setting, school, college or other provider. They will discuss any concerns you have, tell you what they think and explain to you what will happen next. There are other sources of information, advice and support available too.  

• Your GP or health visitor 
• Charities or organisations that offer information, advice and support

Ask your  educational provider to  show you where to find your Local Authorities, 'Local Offer'. This if often and should be found on the educational settings website.

Useful link; https://www.thelocaloffer.co.uk/

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