You may be here because you’ve been told your child has or might have, a special educational need or disability (SEND), or you may have some concerns that your child is having problems, and want to know more.
The world of SEND can be a confusing one, with lots of people involved, and lots of jargon used. We’ve put together a Who’s who guide, and jargon buster tool that we hope will help you.
What is SEND?
Special educational needs and disabilities can affect a child or young person’s ability to learn, compared to other children and young people of the same age. They may need different or additional support to help them thrive and reach their potential, and can have a range of needs that might change over time.
Special educational needs and disabilities can affect children and young people’s:
- behaviour or ability to socialise, for example they struggle to make friends
- reading and writing, for example because they have dyslexia
- ability to understand things
- concentration levels, for example because they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- physical ability
How can you tell if a child has SEND?
Sometimes children are diagnosed as having SEND at birth, or soon after, but often this is not the case. Children develop and reach ‘milestones’ at different speeds, so it can be when a child starts pre-school, or school, that problems affecting their learning become more obvious.
Action for Children’s Parent Talk website offer parenting articles, guidance and coaching to parents supporting a child at different times in their life.
If you think your child may have SEND
If your child is in school, and you think they need extra help, talking to the school is the right first step. This can be their class teacher, head of year/key stage leader, the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENDCo) or the headteacher. Our approaching your school for support page contains more advice about this.
It may be that your child’s teacher or SENDCo raises the question that your child might have SEND. If so, there then there are lots of ways to find out for sure, including observation in class, assessments and getting professional advice.
If your child is not yet in school, but does attend an early years setting, such as a nursery or pre-school, talk to their key worker, or the early years SENDCo.
Alternatively your health visitor can be a good place to start.
Children do develop at different stages, so not being able to do things that other children can do doesn’t always mean that they have SEND. The sooner any needs can be identified however, the quicker any support needed can be put in place, so it’s always worth asking for advice if you have concerns.
If your child has been identified as having SEND
It can feel overwhelming, or you may find that you are relieved to have a diagnosis. However you’re feeling, help and support is available.
We expect that most children with SEND can be supported to go to their local mainstream school, college or early years setting.
All schools and settings must:
- make reasonable adjustments for disabled children
- prevent discrimination and promote equality
- support pupils with medical conditions
Our support you can expect in school page goes into more detail on this.
Getting further advice and support
If you can’t find what you’re looking for on the Local Offer website, please email sendlocaloffer@devon.gov.uk, call 01392 383000 or visit our Facebook page.
DiAS (Devon’s special educational needs information and advice service)
If you would like to talk to someone, DiAS offers impartial, confidential and free advice and support with SEND issues. You can call them on 01392 383080 or visit the DIAS website which contains lots of really useful information, for parents and carers, and for young people too.
DiAS run a number of free, online, training and information events, including ‘Demystifying SEND’, that you may find useful.