Understanding SEND: A Guide for Parents

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is a broad term encompassing a wide range of conditions and circumstances that affect a child’s ability to learn and develop in the same way as most other children of their age. Under the Children and Families Act 2014, a child or young person has a Special Educational Need if they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A learning difficulty means having significantly greater difficulty in learning than most children of the same age, or having a disability that prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of the kind generally provided for others of the same age.

Approximately 1.5 million pupils in England (around 17% of the school population) are identified as having SEND in some form. Of these, around 330,000 have a formal Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP); the remainder receive SEN support from their school or setting without a formal plan. SEND is not a single, homogeneous category: it encompasses children with autism, dyslexia, ADHD, speech and language impairments, physical disabilities, sensory impairments, emotional and mental health difficulties, global developmental delay and many other conditions – each with different needs, different strengths and different implications for how support should be provided.

The SEND Code of Practice

The SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years, published in January 2015, is the statutory guidance that governs the identification of, and support for, children and young people with SEND in England. It applies to local authorities, schools, early years settings, further education colleges, health services and social care – all of which must have regard to its requirements. The Code was a landmark development in SEND policy, extending the framework from birth to age 25, strengthening the focus on outcomes for young people and significantly increasing the rights of parents and carers to participate in decision-making.

The Code established a new framework for the EHC Plan, replacing the Statement of Special Educational Needs, and introduced the concept of the local offer – the information every local authority must publish about the services and support available to children and young people with SEND in their area. Settings are expected to contribute to the local offer and to make it available to parents.

The Four Broad Areas of Need

The SEND Code of Practice identifies four broad areas of need, which are not intended to be rigid categories but rather a framework for identifying what a child needs and planning provision:

• Communication and Interaction: includes children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), autism spectrum conditions and conditions that affect social communication. This is the most common broad area of need.
• Cognition and Learning: includes children with moderate, severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties, specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia, and global developmental delay.
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH): includes children with anxiety disorders, depression, attention deficit disorders, attachment difficulties, and the effects of adverse childhood experiences. This area has grown significantly in prominence in recent years.
• Sensory and Physical: includes children with visual impairments, hearing impairments, multi-sensory impairments and physical disabilities.

Many children have needs that span more than one of these areas. An autistic child may have both Communication and Interaction needs and Sensory and Physical needs. A child with cerebral palsy may have Physical needs alongside Cognition and Learning needs. Planning effective support requires understanding the full picture of an individual child’s needs, not just the diagnostic label.

The Graduated Approach: Assess, Plan, Do, Review

The graduated approach is the framework within which SEN support is planned, delivered and evaluated. It consists of a four-stage cycle:

• Assess (identifying the child’s needs through observation, discussion with parents, assessment tools and, where appropriate, advice from specialists)
• Plan (agreeing what provision will be made, by whom, using what resources, and setting specific, measurable outcomes)
• Do (implementing the plan, with practitioners taking lead responsibility for working with the child and monitoring progress)
• Review (evaluating whether the intended outcomes have been achieved, revising the approach where needed and deciding whether further action is required)

This cycle should be continuous. Reviews should happen at least termly (and more frequently for younger children or where needs are complex or newly identified). Parents should be full partners in every stage of the cycle – they know their child best, and their insight is irreplaceable. The graduated approach reflects the principle that SEND support is not a binary choice between “ordinary provision” and “having a plan”: it is a responsive, iterative process of identifying need and adjusting provision accordingly.

SEN Support vs the EHC Plan

Most children with SEND receive support through SEN support – the adaptations, interventions and additional provision made by their school or setting, funded within the school’s core budget (or, in the early years, through the SENIF and DAF funding streams available from the local authority). SEN support should be ambitious, specific and reviewed regularly. The majority of children with SEND have their needs met effectively at this level.

An EHC Plan is appropriate when a child’s needs are such that they require provision that goes beyond what can reasonably be delivered through SEN support, and where a more formal, legally binding specification of provision is needed to ensure it is delivered. The threshold is “special educational provision that cannot reasonably be provided within the resources normally available to mainstream schools or settings.” EHC Plans are the minority, not the norm, and the process of obtaining one (though important) should not be seen as the only route to effective support.

Parental Rights and Participation

The Children and Families Act 2014 significantly strengthened the rights of parents and young people in the SEND system. Parents have the right to be consulted at every stage of the assessment and planning process; to request an EHC needs assessment; to express a preference about which school or setting their child attends; to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) if they disagree with the local authority’s decisions; and to access an Independent Supporter to help them navigate the process.

SENDIASS (the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service) provides free, independent information, advice and support for parents of children with SEND. Every local authority in England is required to fund a SENDIASS service. Parents who feel their child’s needs are not being met should contact their SENDIASS before escalating to tribunal, as many disputes are resolved through mediation or clearer information sharing.