A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision (“SEP”) to be made for him or her. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:

• has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
• has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.

If a child or young person is struggling with their learning, significantly more than those in their year group or is struggling to access the facilities used by others and therefore needs special support to help them (which the majority of their peers in a mainstream school do not need), then they are identified as having special educational needs (SEN).

SEN is not based on diagnosis but on a child or young person’s needs. Each child is different and their needs can vary even within the same diagnosis. Some children may need minimal support, whilst others may need very specialist full time support. However, having a diagnosis may be helpful due to the information the assessment provided in reaching their diagnosis.

Some medical and learning needs will be considered a disability under the Equality Act 2010  and will therefore meet the definition of SEN. In the Act, a person is classed as disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. 

• Normal day-to-day means things that people do on a regular basis, for example mobility, dressing or cleaning (physical co-ordination), and having a conversation. 
• Long-term usually means the impairment should have lasted or be expected to last at least a year. 
• Substantial means not minor or trivial. 
• Physical impairment includes but is not limited to: sensory difficulties such as visual or hearing impairments 
• Mental impairment includes but not limited to: learning difficulties, autism, dyslexia, speech and language difficulties, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

High quality teaching that is differentiated and personalised will meet the individual needs of the majority of children and young people. Some children and young people need educational provision that is additional to or different from this. This is special educational provision (under Section 21 of the Children and Families Act 2014). For most children, this provision can be made through SEN Support. For others with more complex needs this provision will be made through an EHC Plan.

The SEND Code of Practice 2015 (6.44) states: Where a pupil is identified as having SEN, schools should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place

Every school is required to have systems in place to identify children who are in need of support and to assess, monitor and secure appropriate support for any SEN they may have. Each school (covered by the SEN Code of Practice) must:

• use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEN gets the support they need – this means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN;
• ensure that children and young people with SEN engage in the activities of the school alongside pupils who do not have SEN;
• designate a teacher to be responsible for co-ordinating SEN provision – the SEN co-ordinator, or ‘SENCO’ (not applicable to 16 to 19 academies);
• inform parents when they are making special educational provision for a child;
• prepare a SEN information report, setting out:
  
  
  • their arrangements for the admission of disabled children;
  • the steps being taken to prevent disabled children from being treated less favourably than others;
  • the facilities provided to enable access to the school for disabled children; and
  • their accessibility plan showing how they plan to improve access progressively over time.

As mentioned above, where a child is known to have SEN, and needs help with their learning, then generally the first step is to provide ‘SEN Support’.
This can take many forms, including (but not limited to):

• a special learning programme
• extra help from a teacher or a learning support assistant
• making or changing materials and equipment
• working with your child in a small group
• observing your child in class or at break and keeping records
• helping your child to take part in the class activities
• making sure your child has understood things by encouraging them to ask questions and to try something they find difficult
• helping other children work with your child, or play with them at break time
• supporting your child with physical or personal care, such as eating, getting around school safely, toileting or dressing.

Where a child or young person is thought to be struggling, steps should be taken by the school, to discover the reasons why. They may notice themselves or be informed by the child or young person themselves, or by you as their parent carer.

The SEND Code of Practice 2015 (6.45) says: schools should take seriously any concerns raised by a parent.

It is often the case that a parent carer will become aware of their child’s difficulties during a parent’s evening, however, if nothing is said by the school, make a note of your concerns and speak to the teacher first. Ask the teacher to monitor them in light of what you have shared and arrange a catch up conversation after a reasonable time has elapsed.

Schools should use a process called the graduated approach which is a 4- part cycle of 4 steps : Assess, Plan, Do, Review. As soon as the school have become or are made aware of a child or young person who is struggling, this cycle should be implemented. Sometimes it may be easy to identify what the barriers are and support can be easily given. Other times, a child’s needs may be more complex and can be harder to identify what their needs are and what provision is required to meet those.

You can find more information about this on our Graduated Approach page.

If you are concerned that your child or young person may be struggling and/or you think that they may benefit from further support then talk to the class or subject teacher first. You may want to involve the SENCo at further meetings as they may be able to coordinate any assessments that are required.

It will be helpful to record the way in which your child/ young person is struggling. For example – is there a change of behaviour, are they saying anything specific, do they seem less engaged, are their levels showing less progress being made etc. By sharing this way, school staff may gain insight and a better understanding into what may be happening.

Presenting your child / young person’s views in their own words can provide a powerful piece of evidence, so we would encourage you to include something brief in your records if you can – but this is entirely optional. It could be a written piece, a drawing or perhaps a couple of minutes sound recording / video done on a phone – and it doesn’t have to be anything formal. Please do make sure your child / young person is happy for others to see, hear or read it though.

Children and young people can find it challenging to articulate their thoughts, so some focussed questions can be helpful. Such as: “if you had a magic wand what would life look like for you” – “what would change and what would stay the same” or “if you could change one/two thing(s) about school /college, what would it/they be?”

Other questions you could use to capture their imagination and get them thinking or talking might be: