Meeting Childrens Special Education Needs in School

How does a school meet children's different special educational needs?

The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice says:

provision for a child with special educational needs should match their needs;
there should be regular recording of a child's special educational needs, the actions taken and the outcomes.
It says that schools should:
have a wide range of strategies to meet a child's special educational needs;
use a graduated response;
meet the needs of children with special educational needs through School Action and School Action Plus.

If the school is meeting the needs of your child through School Action:

the school must tell you if they think your child has special educational needs;
the class teacher or subject teacher will talk to you about any concerns which they might have about your child;
what each teacher does for your child should be additional to and different from what they would normally do for children in their class;
the class teacher or form tutor and the Special Needs Co-ordinator will gather information about your child, make further assessments of their strengths and weaknesses, monitor and review the action and keep records;
the Special Needs Co-ordinator and the class teacher or form tutor will decide on the Action needed to help your child to progress;
this Action should be recorded within an Individual Education Plan (IEP), which should be reviewed at least twice a year and ideally each term;
the lEP should have three or four individual targets, chosen from the areas of communication, literacy, mathematics, and behaviour and social skills to match your child's needs.

If the school is meeting your child's needs through School Action Plus arrangements for School Action should continue and, depending on your child's needs, any of the following professionals might also be involved:

specialist teachers of pupils with hearing, visual, and speech and language impairments;
teachers providing more general learning and behaviour support services;
educational psychologists;
advisors or teachers with knowledge of information technology for children with special educational needs;
the Local Education Authority (LEA) may also offer a range of services through the Education Welfare Service;
the Connexions Service;
the Learning and Skills Council;
the Health Service, including the GP, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists, as well as doctors and the school nurse;
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) They provide specialised health services for youngsters referred to them, and can also provide advice, support and consultation to family members and carers;
Social Services;
the Voluntary Sector. Voluntary agencies and groups have an important part to play in meeting the needs of pupils with special educational needs. They provide services and in some cases offer their own provision.

The triggers for School Action Plus could be that, despite receiving an individualised programme and/or concentrated support under School Action, your child:

continues to make little or no progress in specific areas over a long period;
continues working at National Curriculum levels well below that expected of children of a similar age;
continues to have difficulty in developing literacy or mathematical skills;
has emotional or behavioural difficulties which interfere badly with the child's own learning or that of the class group, despite having an individualised behaviour management programme;
has sensory or physical needs, and needs extra specialist equipment or regular advice or visits by a specialist service;
has communication difficulties that are stopping them from making friends and badly affecting their ability to learn.

What is an Individual Education Plan?

Teachers call this an IEP. An Individual Education Plan is a detailed plan of work that sets targets for your child to achieve and a date for a review to see what progress they have made.

The Individual Education Plan will have:

what the school want your child to achieve;
what the staff will be doing to help your child to meet these targets;
what extra staffing, resources and other arrangements need to be made for your child to make progress;
when the plan will be reviewed;
how your child's success will be measured;
what needs to be achieved for the plan to be withdrawn;
space to fill in what has happened, this is filled in when the plan is reviewed.

The Individual Education Plan shows what the staff are doing that is additional to and different from what they would normally do for children in the class.

Meetings

You may be invited to meetings held in school to discuss and review your child's progress.

Your child will benefit from you working closely with school staff so it is important that you attend if possible.

Think about what you want to say before the meeting.
Make a list.
Listen to what other people say and tick off the things they cover.
Ask questions about the things they haven't covered.
You may want to know:
what they think your child's needs are;
what they are doing to meet those needs;
whether or not what they are doing is working;
how your child feels about what is happening;
how you can be involved.

You may want to take a friend, relative or Independent Parental Supporter with you to the meeting.

Remember

Your child will receive help according to the difficulty s/he is having and the amount of support needed to make progress.
You may be invited to meetings held in school to discuss and review your child's progress. It is important to attend.
If things have gone well the school may suggest a reduction in the level of School Action or a return to the normal differentiated curriculum.
Advice and support from other professionals is available at School Action as well as at School Action Plus.
It is your right to ask the LEA for a statutory assessment.
Remember that the LEA will expect the school to show that it has done its best to meet your child's needs and that your child's learning difficulties are significant before a statutory assessment will go ahead.
Your child will benefit a great deal from you and the school staff working together to help them. Ask school staff if you feel you would like ideas about how best to help your child at home.
Be confident! You have the right to be involved and to have your views taken into consideration.

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