“Children have a special educational need if they have a difficulty learning that needs us to provide special educational provision to ensure their learning needs are met. The SEN Code of Practice (2014) outlines that a child has SEN if they:
- Have significantly greater difficulty learning than the majority of children of the same age.
- 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 school.
Special educational provision means that children have:
“Educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of this age in schools maintained by the Local Authority, other than special schools in the area”.
See Section 312, Education Act 1998 in Special Educational Needs Code of Practice p.6.
The SEND Code of Practice identifies four broad areas of need. These are:
Communication and interaction needs:
Children may have difficulty expressing themselves verbally, understanding what is being said to them or they may not understand or find it challenging to communicate and interact with others. Autism is most likely to sit within this SEND category.
Cognition and learning needs:
This category covers a wide range of needs including moderate, severe, profound and specific learning difficulties. It also encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia. In addition, some children may learn at a slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation.
Social, emotional and mental health needs:
Children can experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties that may present themselves as withdrawn or have difficulty managing how they react to situations or other people. This area of SEND can include things like, attention or attachment difficulties. ADHD is most likely to sit within this SEND category, however this may not always be the case.
Sensory and physical needs:
Some children require special educational provision because they have physical or sensory challenges that make it hard for them to access or make use of the educational provision or facilities.
Please click on the following drop downs to find out more:
- Communication and interaction needs
- Cognition and learning needs
- Social, emotional and mental health needs
- Sensory and physical needs