It can take time for teachers and support staff to identify your child's needs and understand what strategies and interventions work for them. This method of trying out and reviewing SEND support is called the 'graduated approach' and is a continuous support cycle until your child's needs are met.
If SEND support isn't helping your child make expected progress, the school can begin targeted support. This involves a bespoke, personalised approach to their curriculum and support from professionals outside of school.
This page will cover raising concerns and further support if SEND support isn't enough to meet your child's needs.
If you are concerned your child's needs are not being met by the SEND support that the school is currently providing, you have some options.
Speak to Your Child's Teacher
If you are worried your child is not coping with their school work, despite different strategies of support being tried, you should raise your concerns with the child's teacher, or you could contact their head of year if your child is in secondary school.
At the meeting, you can bring evidence to support your concerns, which could be test results, homework or other forms of work. You may wish to discuss any changes you have noticed in your child, like them becoming more anxious, their behaviour deteriorating, or health conditions that have been recently diagnosed.
Your teacher will meet with the school SENDCo to discuss further options and should involve you in planning further action.
Speak to Your Child's SENCo
You can request a meeting with the school Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCo) to set out your concerns. At this point, your child may have been through several different types of support. If different methods have been tried and they are not showing progress, extra targeted support can begin.
Your child's school may seek further advice by:
SEND support should be reviewed at regular intervals. If there is no progress, your SENDCo can start to add targeted support strategies. Target support involves a more individual approach to supporting your child's needs while gaining support from professionals outside the school.
A targeted approach to support can look like:
If your child has not progressed, despite being given targeted support, you may be recommended to apply for an Education Health & Care Needs Assessment. This is the first step in getting an Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP) which is a legal document describing your child's needs, the support they need and the outcomes you would like to achieve.
Education, Health & Care Needs Assessments
The EHCNA can be requested by:
The local authority will determine if the education, health and care assessment is required and inform the relevant parties of its decision. EHCPs should take 20 weeks from the initial request to its completion.
The information that will be gathered about a child's needs includes:
Children and young people must be consulted throughout the EHCP process and involved in it as far as possible. It must be accessible to everyone involved in terms of information, language and communication and the provision must be tailored to a child's individual needs.
EHC Needs Assessment Myths
Some myths surrounding the assessment process include:
Annual reviews are a statutory process of looking at the needs, provisions and outcomes specified in a child's Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and deciding whether these need to change.
In order for an annual review to take place, the following steps must be agreed:
Annual reviews should take place yearly, if elements of the process are not followed you have the right to take action.
The graduated approach to SEND support has four stages. It is called a graduated approach as it may take several cycles of interventions and different strategies to be tried before a child's support needs are understood fully and can be met.
Let us know what you think!
We've been working together in Norfolk and Waveney with families and professionals to put together information, advice and resources that are helpful to families. Let us know what you think, and anything we could change or add to make it even better.
If you live in Norfolk
You can contact the Healthy Child Service team by calling Just One Number on 0300 300 0123 or texting Parentline on 07520 631590. Our opening hours are 8am-6pm Monday-Friday (excluding bank holidays) and 9am-1pm on Saturdays.
If you are 11-19 you can text ChatHealth on 07480 635060 for confidential advice from one of our team.
If you live in Waveney
Norfolk SEND Local Offer provide information and advice on services for young people with additional needs in Norfolk.
Suffolk SEND Local Offer provide information and advice on services for young people with additional needs in Waveney.
Mencap is a national charity who support people with learning disabilities. They offer a free Learning Disability Helpline with advice and guidance. Call 0808 808 1111 to speak to a trained professional.
Kooth offers online counselling, advice and emotional well-being support for anyone aged 10-18, seven days a week until 10pm.
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