Understanding key services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (England)

Every child deserves the best start in life and we know that positive early years experiences are key for children to thrive throughout their childhood and beyond. For children in their formative years, providing a supportive and encouraging environment that enables them to have quality interactions and build strong relationships is one of the most valuable responsibilities of early education and care professionals.

Sometimes, children and their families might need further support to achieve this for a variety of reasons. Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) may benefit from receiving more specialised provisions and, often, the expertise for these particular areas will fall with external agencies.

It’s important for early education and care professionals to be familiar with the key services available for supporting children with SEND in order to work in partnership to support the individual needs of the child.

In this learning workout, we are going to highlight some of the key services to support children with SEND within England and think about some of the ways these might be utilised.

What is a key service?

Key services for children with SEND in England refer to the consistent, primary services available for supporting children through their educational journey. From the first signs and conversations, through to assessments, diagnosis, transitions and specialist provision, key services cover a range of needs for children and their families.

Special educational needs and disabilities do not have a ‘one size fits all’ approach. All children with SEND have their own interests and needs, strengths and challenges, and are growing up in their own unique circumstances. To support the unique needs of a child you may need to work in partnership with specialist services.

Some key services might include:

• speech and language therapists
• inclusion services
• physiotherapists  
• play therapists
• parent/carer groups
• accessibility schemes
• mental health provisions.

Let’s have a look and what key services might entail…

The single most common reason for people not reaching out for support is not knowing where to go. As early education and care professionals, it is an essential part of our job to know where support services lie and the ways they can help in order to provide effective and compassionate advice to families in our provision.  

In England, over 1.6 million children have special educational needs, with an increase in children both with and without an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP).

 As the number of children identified as having SEND continues to rise year on year, support for them is becoming a larger part of our role. Partnership with multi agency teams and professionals is key to achieving best outcomes possible for every child with SEND. (170)

Understanding some of the key services for children with SEND in England

Local offer

The needs and the range of services that can be provided, will vary dependent on the unique nature of the locality. The local offer sets out the provision that is available to support children with special educational needs and disabilities, including those who do not have an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP).

Whilst there are some elements of the offer that must be included, such as information on educational support, Education Health Care Plans (EHCPs) and complaints, some opportunities will differ because of their availability. For example, children growing up in a landlocked city are less likely to have water therapy opportunities at the beach, compared to a child growing up on the coast. Your local offer should also provide advice on available targeted and specialist provisions available for children and young people as well as adult services.

You can find more about your local offer through your local council.

SENDIAS service

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support (SENDIAS) services are a regulatory requirement for every local authority. They provide a variety of opportunities to access general guidance, individual support and information on the local offer. Whilst minimum standards are set out in legislation, every local authority’s SENDIAS will offer a variety of different services so it’s important to see what your local community can access.

EHC (Education, Health and Care) assessment and plan

An Education Health Care assessment is a valuation of an individual child’s needs used to decide if an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) is needed to offer more specialised support. The assessment is conducted by the local authority and, whilst children aged 16 and over can request the assessment themselves, children in early education and care can have an assessment requested for by anyone else who thinks an assessment to be necessary. This includes early education and care professionals.

The ECHP itself is a legal document that describes a child’s specific needs and sets out any additional support needs, provisions to be put in place and goals they have.

This is drafted by the local authority and gives parents and carers the opportunity to comment and appeal on any disagreements through a regulated process.

Specialist services

For specific needs, children and their families may require additional help and advice from experts in their area. This might include speech and language therapists to support communication needs or physiotherapists who work with children with physical disabilities. Children with mental health conditions could benefit from professional services with mental health practitioners.

Conclusions

As early education and care professionals, we play a key part in the lives of the young children in our care. But we are just one fraction of a kaleidoscope of services that work to support the child’s best interests. It is imperative that we all work together to create an inclusive and nurturing environment for all children accessing these key services.

Have a look at some of member resources to explore how else you can support children with special educational needs and disabilities.