Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) 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 could 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.
The Foundation Years website offers a useful guide about what to expect, when? which gives an overview of developmental milestones and should help you to know what to expect as your child develops.
As many as one in every six children are identified as having special educational needs, and the earlier the need is identified and support is given the better. If you are worried and think your child may need extra support, speak to the people already involved in their life. This could be a health visitor or GP, or if your child is in an early years setting, such as a nursery or pre-school, or has started school, then speak to their keyworker, teacher, or SENCO.
SEND areas of need
The SEND Code of Practice categorises SEND into four broad areas of need – children may have difficulties in one area, or may have a range of needs (sometime called complex needs).
The four areas are:
- Cognition and learning: how children learn and think.
- Communication and interaction: how children communicate with others, their relationships and social skills.
- Sensory and/or physical needs: sensory issues include hearing and visual impairments (or sometimes both), physical problems include physical disabilities, and motor skills difficulties.
- Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH): SEMH covers a range of problems, including mental health difficulties, ADHD or social anxiety, confidence or self-esteem issues.
Not all children with special educational needs are disabled. At the same time, a child or young person may be disabled but will only have special educational needs if the disability impacts on his or her learning.
Where a child or young person has a disability and/or special educational needs, there are laws and guidance to help ensure that their needs are recognised and supported.