SEND stands for special educational needs or disabilities. Children and young people with SEND may need more support to learn than the majority of their peers. Some may have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities provided for learners.
A child or young person with cognition and learning difficulties might learn at a slower pace than their peers, even when learning tasks are changed to support them.
Learning difficulties cover a wide range of needs, including moderate learning difficulties (MLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD), through to profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD).
Children and young people with MLD or SLD are likely to need support in most if not all areas of the curriculum and may also have difficulties with mobility and communication.
Children and young people with PMLD are likely to have severe and complex learning difficulties as well as a physical disability or sensory impairment.
Specific learning difficulties (SpLD), affect one or more specific aspects of learning. This encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.
Communication and interaction difficulties, also known as a speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), means that children and young people may have difficulties either saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or use social rules of communication, which makes it harder to build relationships with others.
The profile for every child with SLCN is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all of the different aspects of speech, language or social communication at different times of their lives.
Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) is a communication and interaction difficulty. Children and young people with ASC are likely to have particular difficulties with social interaction. Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that affects how people perceive, communicate and interact with the world. Autism is referred to as a spectrum condition because, although autistic people often share certain difficulties, their autism will affect them in different ways.
If a child or young person has a physical or sensory difficulty it means that they have a disability which makes it challenging or prevents them from making use of the mainstream educational facilities generally provided.
Sensory Difficulties
Children or young people with sensory difficulties are those with hearing impairment (HI) or vision impairment (VI). Some children may also have a combination of hearing and vision difficulties which is known as a multi-sensory impairment (MSI). Many children with these sensory difficulties will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning.
Physical Difficulties
Some children and young people with physical difficulties (PD) require additional ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers, including access to learning. These physical difficulties are usually linked to a medical diagnosis.
Our advisory team of specially trained teachers offer a range of advice and ideas to support you and your child during this time. This includes help with managing school work at home, support to help your child to understand what is happening and advice on coping with new routines. They can also provide you with lots of ideas on appropriate activities and resources for your child.
There is not a direct link between having a disability and having a Special Educational Need (SEN). However, there will be some forms of disability where a child or young person is more likely to have SEN. The critical factor is whether the disability prevents or hinders the learner from making use of education or training that is generally provided.
A child or young person does not have a learning difficulty or disability solely because the language (or form of language) in which he or she is or will be taught is different from a language (or form of language) which is or has been used at home.
Not all learners with a medical or healthcare need will have SEN. Medical conditions will not be regarded as SEN where:
However, if a healthcare need does impact on a child or young person’s capacity to learn, they may require some adaptation to the curriculum which is set out in an Individual Health Care Plan.
A child or young person has Special Educational Needs if he or she:
Needs can be identified prior to, at, or soon after birth, usually by health / medical professionals. The needs of other babies and children may become evident over time and you might be the first person to notice these, or they could be noticed by others.
More information about early identification of additional needs can be found from the link below:
Schools and other settings can help most children overcome the barriers their difficulties present quickly and easily, but a very few children will need extra help for some, or all their time in school.
The way that schools and settings assess and identify whether a child or young person has a Special Educational Need or Disability may vary but all schools and settings must follow the SEND Code of Practice (2015).
An overview of how a school or setting meets the needs of the learners with SEND is shown in their SEN policy, Local Offer for special educational needs Information Report. This can be found on each school or setting’s website.
You will also find the school or setting’s Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator’s (SENCo) contact details on their website.
If you need the SEND information report in a different format you should ask the school for help with this.
People often ask what it is like to be a parent or carer of a child or young person with a special educational need or disability. This video explains this from a parent’s point of view.
