Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of things can I get information, advice and support with?
If you are disabled, or if you have special educational needs, we can talk to you about issues to do with:
- Education (for example, your school or college)
- Health (for example, finding services in your local area, like physiotherapy)
- Social care (for example, short breaks)
If there is something that we cannot help you with, we will always try to find someone else that can help.
What is SEN and SEND?
SEN means special educational needs. Children and young people have SEN if they find it more difficult to learn and they need special help in school or college.
SEND means special educational needs and disabilities. People have a disability if they have an impairment that makes it hard for them to do everyday things.
If I tell you my personal information, what will you do with it?
We will record your information on our electronic system. We are contacted by lots of different people each week, so we need to keep details of who everyone is and what we talked about. The information about you will only be seen by members of the SENDIASS Team and will not be shown to anyone else unless you have agreed. We will only share your information if you say it is ok, or if we think someone is in danger of being hurt.
What is SEN support?
When a school identifies a child as having Special Educational Needs (SEN) they will consult with you, any teachers involved in teaching your child and the school SENCO. They then decide what help is needed and arrange for this to be provided as part of daily lessons.
Help that can be provided includes:
- different learning materials or special equipment
- group or individual support such as an individual behaviour management programme
- more adult time for planning help and monitoring its effectiveness
- training for staff to enable them to give the child more effective support
All settings should adopt a graduated approach with four stages of action: assess, plan, do and review.
What happens when my child is identified as having Special Educational Needs?
When a school identifies a child as having a Special Educational Need (SEN) then there is a process they follow which is called the graduated or SEN response. All teachers differentiate work in their classroom to ensure all children are able to access the curriculum. If they become concerned that a child is not making adequate progress then they will follow a model identified in the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice. This initially provides help in the classroom and in school but may be stepped up to involve outside professionals. They should tell you if your child is on the SEN response.