Educating Children With Special Educational Needs

The role of the SENCo has developed through government policy and undergone significant changes in the past decade with the introduction of the statutory SEN Code of Practice 2001 which states that the role of the SENCo includes identifying and placing pupils in need of special educational provision on a graduated system, liaising with parents and other professionals in regards to children with SEND and advising and supporting other practitioners in the field amongst other responsibilities.

This act required the code of practice be introduced for guidance on identification and provision of special educational needs. The role of the SENCO was introduced in schools and parents were able to challenge local authorities about providing for pupils with SEN.

Practitioners work in partnership with parent’s families, as they are the child’s first and most enduring carers and educators

Children Act 2006 – Is an Act that defines the new duties imposed on the Local Authorities in respect to improving the Every Child Matters outcomes for pre-school children. The Act also defines new rules in relation to childcare for working parents as well as parental information services. It is aimed at improving the well-being of young children. It emphasises the importance of safeguarding children and young people within an educational setting. If a child discloses neglect or abuse; an establishment should have instructions to help the child. This could be referral to an outside organisation or internally.

Multi agency teams such as a teacher, speech and language therapist and SENCO work together to support children that have speech, language and communication needs. If a parent is worried about their child’s speech, language or communication, they may visit their GP or a health visitor. The health visitor would identify problems when a child is taken for check ups. For some children if their communication difficulties are linked to other learning difficulties then it can resort to them being assessed by an educational psychologist. Once a delay in the child's development has been recognized the child would then be referred an appropriate specialist service e.g. to a speech and language therapist. It is vital that every educational provision

There are many different types of professionals who can offer support to children who are not following the expected pattern of development, the support is usually coordinated by the schools, SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator). If a child starts school with a disability the SENCO will have been informed by the child’s parents prior to the child starting. The child may already be receiving support from a number of professionals. For example a child with a physical disability may well be receiving treatment from a physiotherapist, with exercises given to

The SENCO takes day to day responsibility for the operation of the SEN policy and co-ordination if the provision made for individual children with special educational needs, working closely with staff, parents/carers and other agencies.

This Act which is born from parent’s needs has a specific impact on childcarer's practice, but not only, as course handout 1a (2012, p2) confirms This Act is ‘for all those who are responsible for planning, running and using early childhood services’.

The special educational needs (SEN) team are supported by a very active group who make sure that they provide a range of activities to meet the needs of our ever growing community of special schools, as well as colleagues in mainstream primary and secondary schools.

It is very important to recognise that parents and practitioners have different kinds of relationships with the children in their care. Practitioners need to develop consistent, warm and affectionate relationships with children especially babies but they should not seek to replace the parents. Babies need to be with the same people each and every day to develop social relationships. This is why the EYFS requires all early years settings and schools to implement a key person system. Parents and practitioners have one thing in common that is very important: they all want the best for the child. The roles involved are not the same yet they are complementary. Parents know their own child best. Practitioners have knowledge of general child development.

An explanation of how different approaches to work with children in early years have affected current provision in the UK

The special educational needs (SEN) team are supported by a very active group who make sure that they provide a range of activities to meet the needs of our ever growing community of special schools, as well as colleagues in mainstream primary and secondary schools. Their aim is to work together to ensure good practice to promote effective approaches to enhance the students learning with Special educational needs.

A multi-agency approach is a range of professionals including speech therapists, Special Educational Needs Co-coordinator (SENCO) , key workers or physiotherapists etc. that all work together and support children and their families in provisions that need to be made in order to support a child with special needs. Working within close partnership with parents is expected for all babies and children within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

The act was designed to make a difference to the education of SEN children by allowing them to have access to the educational facilities available all children. This is done by offering support tailored to the needs of the individual and their families whilst taking the opinion and wishes of the child into account with

-liaising with outside agencies with respect to a child's special educational needs (SEN) such as speech Therapist, physiotherapist..etc.