Special educational needs

What is a Special Educational Need (SEN)?

All children and young people develop at different rates and have both areas of strength and areas of weakness. A child or young person may have a special educational need if they have a learning difficulty, which calls for special educational provision to be made.

Children have a learning difficulty if they:

• have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age or
• have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of the same age in schools within the area of the local education authority or
• are under compulsory school age and fall within the two definitions above or would do so if special educational provision was not made for them

A SEN can be divided into the following categories:

• Physical, sensory or medical
• Behavioural, emotional and social
• Speech, language or communication
• Cognition and learning

What should I do if I think my child has SEN?

If your child is of pre-school age talk to your health visitor or doctor.

If your child is already attending or about to start a pre-school, such as a nursery or play group, discuss your concerns with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO).

If your child is attending school talk to the class teacher, the SENCO or the head teacher.

What is the role of the Local Authority (LA)?

In the majority of cases a child's special educational needs are met within the mainstream school or setting without the need for the LA to make a statement of special educational needs. A statement of special educational needs (SEN) sets out your child's needs and all the special help they should have.

A child whose special educational needs can normally be met within the school or setting is supported by the school and monitored. This can be at a number of different levels of support.

When there is convincing evidence that, despite the school working with external specialists who have taken relevant and purposeful action to meet the child's learning difficulties the difficulties remain this may require the LA to determine the child's special educational provision. The LA will then agree to carry out an assessment. The majority of children with special educational needs will be able to have their needs met in their local mainstream school, however in a small number of instances, the child may need to access specialist provision, either in a support centre within a mainstream school or, in a special school. Where this is deemed appropriate, this provision will be named within the child's statement of special educational needs following the process of statutory assessment.

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