Portage

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Devon Portage provides a weekly, term time, home visiting service for pre-school children who have special needs and their families. It is an international scheme and originated in a town called Portage in Wisconsin, USA. Devon Portage are members of the National Portage Association which registers over 150 services in England and Wales. Devon Portage is funded predominantly by Education with some contributions from Health and Social Services. There are 3 services in 'new' Devon - North in Barnstaple, Central in Exeter, and South in Totnes.

Portage is based on the common sense principle that parents know their children better than anyone else and need to be the key figures in the care and development of their child. It aims to work in partnership with parents and to work towards enabling children with special needs to continue to learn and make progress throughout their early years.

The scheme is different from many other services for young children - instead of taking children to the service, the service is brought to the child and their families in their own home on a weekly basis. The same Portage Home Visitor visits the family each week for about an hour and a half at an agreed time. Activities are then designed to boost the child's development in those areas where help is needed - from very early motor skills to the more complex task of communication. Based on learning through play, agreed tasks are left each week to be practised and reviewed again at the next visit.

Portage assesses progress on a termly basis with regular monitoring and reviews. Liaison takes place with many other professionals and Portage use their ideas, advice and suggestions to help develop the individual programme for the child whenever possible.

Referrals to Devon Portage must go on a Portage service referral form and be sent to the area Portage office. Parents and professional can refer directly, but all referrals will go through the Joint Agency Team referral process (where these are established – North, East, Mid, Exeter) and be part of an integrated assessment.

Ultimately we are a service that strives to support the child and parent/carers to learn together successfully. We aim to empower parent/carers and to give them confidence to make appropriate choices for their own child.

Portage Focus Workers and Early Years Inclusion Support Workers

Portage Focus Workers and Early Years Inclusion Support Workers are an extension to the Portage Home Visiting team. They are trained Portage Workers with experience of working in early years settings. Their role is to work with staff in Nursery and/or pre-school where children with complex additional needs require additional support for a limited period of time, until the difficulties are resolved. Referrals can come from early years staff and other professionals involved with the child and should be sent to the Portage base in Exeter.

Who can receive Portage?

Families who have a child under 5 years of age with special needs who has:

a significant delay in more than one of the following areas: communication skills, motor skills, social skills, self-help skills, cognitive skills,
at least 3 terms left before entering full time schooling,
and is not attending an early years setting for more than 4 sessions per week.