Pre School Education

The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice sets out the key principles for identifying and assessing Special Educational Needs (SEN) and describes the process of supporting children with SEN.

If you are concerned about your child from an early age you can refer them to the Local Education Authority (LEA) and request an assessment of needs

If a nursery has concerns about a child they can employ Early Years Action which is an intervention designed to support children whose progress is noticeably slower than it is for children of a similar age. A Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) will meet with the child's teacher and parents to discuss the issues as they see them.

If Early Years Action does not appear to have addressed and resolved matters, the nursery can help the child further using Early Years Action Plus. Again, any recourse to outside, specialist help should only be attempted with the involvement of the parents following discussions. The help on offer now may involve, for example, an Educational Psychologist or a specialist teacher.

If the parents or professionals still feel that the support that has been put in place is not sufficient for the child they can request a Statutory Assessment. The LEA can only reject this request if the child has been assessed in the last 6 months OR if they have looked into the situation and decided that a Statutory Assessment is not appropriate.

For the under 5s, further help may come from a Portage Scheme (the same sort of scheme may come under a different name in your area). Portage provides home based educational support for pre-school children who have special needs. A teacher will visit the home and suggest activities for the parents to undertake with their child before the teacher returns for another visit.

You may also want to tap into the Toy and Leisure libraries that exist across the UK which provide specialist toys, play sessions and a meeting place for parents and carers to share advice and experience. Sometimes the toys are loaned at for free, sometimes it is necessary to pay a small fee.

For information on special needs provision in Scotland, go to Enquire