SENCO Interventions

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.

A child or young person with speech, language and communication delay will usually have a Multi Element Plan (M.E.P.). If they do not seem to be making enough progress or they need a lot of extra help the school SENCO will contact the Local Authority and ask them to carry out a statutory assessment. This is only usually required for children who have the most significant and long-term special educational needs which require a very detailed assessment. It can be a long process and both the school and parents are involved. If a statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) is issued, this will take

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.

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.

First, Rather than focusing on the child's learning deficiencies, emphasize and reward the child’s strengths and encourage them to find new interest and hobbies. Second it is important to meet with the child's teachers, tutors, and school support personnel to understand performance levels, and attitude toward school. After the student has been evaluated they are now eligible for special education services. Special education services are provided to student to work with a team of professionals, including your child's teacher, to develop an Individualized Education Program. The individualized education program is created to provide a summary of child’s current education and future goals within education. Children with learning disabilities need to know that they are loved and that they are not dumb. They need to know that they are intelligent normal people who just have trouble learning because their mind process words and information differently. Students with learning disabilities are just like every other student they just need more focus on certain learning

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.

Other statutory roles within schools apart from the Head and deputy head are Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO). They have day to day responsibility for the operation of the SEN policy and are responsible for managing and monitoring the special educational needs provisions in the school and to monitor and review the provision for pupils with special educational needs. This can include

In mainstream primary schools the key responsibilities of SENCO has evolved as they now need to include overseeing the day to day operation of the schools policy, coordinating provision for children with special educational needs, liaising with and advising fellow teachers, managing learning support assistants, overseeing the records of all children with SEN, liaising with parents, contributing to the in-service training of staff, liaising with external agencies including LEA’s support and educational psychology services, health and social services and voluntary bodies (Cheminais 2005).

Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. These look into what support and resources children and young people with special educational needs need whilst at the school. They will meet with various outside school practitioners like speech and language therapists and physiotherapists. They also keep the parents informed of everything that is being done for their child and get any consent for any treatment/therapist/outing the child may need. They also set out Provision maps (formally known as IEPs - Individual Educations Plans) with help from the class teacher and if available one to one TA. The Provision plan sets out what intervention group/individual activity the child will be involved in for the coming term and what the outcome of doing this should be. The child will also be asked to sign

Also when I took Abnormal Psychology I learned about the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System 2nd edition (ABAS) it measures the behavior frequency of the child. Parents score the child on individual questions between 0-3. 0 is not able, 1 is never when needed, 2 is sometimes when needed, 3 always when needed. The sections include communication, home living, academics, community use, health and safety, leisure, self-care, self-direction, social, and work. When the ABAS is scored it gives a score on developmental skills, emotional behavior, and relationship with others. It determines if the children is above or below average, it shows which sections they are strong and weak in, and if help should be given to that child. I was able to score a couple of Adaptive Behavior Assessments by putting it into the computer that generates an report that would then be used in the weekly meetings to determine if the child should be placed in special education.

The SEN code of practice suggests that interventions are the best thing to do as they can help the child or young person to make progress. Before they undertake a formal multi agency education, health and care assessment. But the main aim is to help the child as much as they can, but not to the extent that they need to intervene unnecessarily.

By taking steps to understand a child with a disability, understanding their needs and building on their strengths, and providing a supportive environment can a child maximize their learning potential.

The child can attend local community services and interact with regular non- disable children. The last level is the society of child. Intervention programs have allowed children to live at home, save money and have a human dignity (Moore, T. G. (1996)