update: January 2024
Gradual return to Educational Psychology early intervention work
We are delighted that the Educational Psychology (EP) service has returned to early intervention work with 100 targeted schools and settings that have high inclusion needs.
We have looked at data around exclusions, attendance, Elective Home Education (EHE), part-time timetables and EHCNA requests, in order to identify these schools.
The EP service model for supporting schools has been re-designed based on feedback from 140 Devon schools, who stated that schools want:
- More face-to-face time with their EP
- More time to discuss and agree intervention plans
- More time for their EP to consult with parents and staff
- Opportunities for staff supervision and training.
EP support will include a termly School Review Consultation (funded by DCC) to problem-solve key priorities and challenges linked to SEND. Ideally, this will be a multiagency meeting with representatives from other SEN support and Inclusion services. We know that this early intervention work is crucial in supporting children and young people’s needs to be identified and met early on.
The 100 schools will also be able to purchase EP support for Psychology Works consultation, supervision and training. This will be up to two days’ additional support for primary schools, and up to four days for secondary schools.
We understand that some schools and settings will be disappointed that they won’t be able to access EP support in the short term. The EP service is working hard to balance early intervention support alongside reducing waiting times for children and young people undergoing statutory assessment.
Over time, EP support will be rolled out to more schools and settings.
Best wishes
Dr Rachel Hearn – Interim Principal Educational Psychologist
SEND support for Devon schools and settings currently available
SEND and inclusion support for schools is provided by a range of different services, working in different ways to respond to every school’s unique situation.
The SEND and inclusion specialist support services’ advice, teaching and support for children and young people with SEND can be accessed through our Request for SEND Support form.
SEND Support consultations for schools: An opportunity to book a 30-minute TEAMS conversation with a multi-professional group consisting of SEND advisory teachers, Educational Psychologists and managers from the Statutory SEND team.
Please do ask us for support. We will be happy to work with you – perhaps to implement the ideas and evidence-based approaches selected below?
The Educational Psychology Service and SEND Support Service have collaborated to highlight the most relevant resources to support areas of need raised recently.
These are focused on support in schools. Many also have information that is useful for supporting children at home or learning more about a specific area of need, such as cognition and learning.
Highlighted SEND resources
Communication and interaction
- Linking language and learning and developmental language disorder (DLD)
- Supporting SLCN in primary schools and secondary schools
- Autism and girls
- Supporting transition for pupils with SLCN pre-school to primary and primary to secondary
- Sensory processing
- Autism Education Trust resources
Cognition and learning
- Overcoming barriers to learning – differentiation and scaffolding and mediation
- Independent learning and organisational skills and executive functioning
- Attention and concentration and memory and processing
- Literacy and understanding children and young people with literacy difficulties
- Maths and understanding children and young people with mathematics difficulties
Sensory and physical
- Moving and Handling
- Top tips for hearing impairment inclusion,
- Top tips for visual impairment inclusion
- Transition passport
Social, emotional and mental health
Understanding the link between language and social, emotional and mental health
- Managing anxiety and anxiety and dysregulation
- Child on parent aggression
- Relational learning to promote healthy emotional regulation
- Supporting children with challenging difficulties
Additional resources
- Strategic SEND
- Graduated response tool
- SEN 100 online learning modules
- Preparing for annual reviews – contact us for further information