{"id":20015,"date":"2024-08-06T15:34:40","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T14:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/?page_id=20015"},"modified":"2026-07-07T13:26:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T12:26:40","slug":"the-support-available-for-slcn","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/send-local-offer\/types-of-send\/communication-and-interaction\/guide\/the-support-available-for-slcn\/","title":{"rendered":"The support available for SLCN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Devon, we aim to provide timely and appropriate support for children as early as possible in order to maximise their potential and ultimately improve their life chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All children and young people are supported under universal services, and if their needs require additional support, they can be referred to targeted and specialist services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Universal support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Universal support is intended for all children and young people, not just those with additional needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You should be provided with information and guidance to support speech, language and communication skills development. This is available from a number of sources including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/childrenandfamilyhealthdevon.nhs.uk\/our-pathways\/speech-language-and-communication\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD)<\/a>   <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/public-health\/healthy-children\/public-health-nursing\/\">Public health nursing services<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/child-family-support\/family-support\/family-hubs\/\">Best Start Family Hubs<\/a> and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>your child&#8217;s school or educational setting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Targeted support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some children will require additional support or provision. At this level, a range of support packages are available from a number of professionals and organisations, including CFHD, public health nurses, and Best Start Family Hubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Referral to one or more specialist services will need to be considered at any age if a child shows one or more of the following signs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A lack of progress or response to approaches used by those working at \u2018universal\u2019 and \u2018early intervention\/preventative\u2019 levels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Communication skills that are somewhat behind other levels of the child\u2019s development.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A specific problem in a particular area of communication that hinders learning or access to the curriculum.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A disordered pattern of communication development, for example, the child is not following the usual developmental pattern.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The child\u2019s ability to communicate is negatively impacting on their behaviour as well as their social, emotional and mental health development.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CFHD use a framework called The Balanced System\u00ae to make sure that children and young people and their support networks (including parents and carers and health and education professionals) has the right support, at the right time to develop and improve speech, language and communication skills. <a href=\"https:\/\/childrenandfamilyhealthdevon.nhs.uk\/news-and-events\/the-balanced-system-transformation\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Find out more about The Balanced System\u00ae on the CFHD website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Specialist support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Children and young people requiring specialist support will have significant and persistent needs despite appropriate intervention and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At this level:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a range of assessments are used to identify persistent and complex speech, language and communication needs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Speech and Language Therapy Team and Communication and Interaction Team provide specialist level support for practitioners in settings and schools to facilitate the effective implementation of specialist interventions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>schools and educational settings should provide teaching and learning opportunities that are different and additional to normal<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>schools and educational settings should ensure that the learning environments are appropriately adapted to ensure optimum communication and learning<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>workshops are provided for parents in order to ensure you understand your child\u2019s needs and are confident in your role as key communication partner for your child<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>speech and language therapists may deliver direct intervention as appropriate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These three levels of support are available to all children and young people aged from 0 to 25. There is more information available about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/send-local-offer\/early-years\/\">support during early years<\/a> as well as information about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/send-local-offer\/education-and-learning\/how-will-school-support-my-child\/send-support-in-school\/\">support at all three levels provided in schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Devon, we aim to provide timely and appropriate support for children as early as possible in order to maximise their potential and ultimately improve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":981,"featured_media":0,"parent":20020,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-guides.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-20015","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-24 19:19:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/981"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20015"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75170,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20015\/revisions\/75170"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}