Implementing the SEND Reforms SEND Reforms: Early Identification and intervention of SEN in the Early Years Produced in collaboration with: Contact a Family Council for Disabled Children Early Support Information, Support and Advice Services Network Mott MacDonald National Network for Parent Care Forum Preparing for Adulthood The Communications Trust The Dyslexia-SpLD Trust Autism Education Trust

Aims of the workshop Develop an understanding of the legal requirements for early years providers Consider the new graduated approach and how practice needs to be adapted to the new system Consider how early identification and intervention in the early years can lead to better outcomes in adulthood

The vision behind the SEND reforms “We want children and young people with special needs and disabilities to achieve well in their early years, at school and in college; find employment; lead happy and fulfilled lives; and have choice and control over their support. The special needs reforms will implement a new approach which seeks to join up help across education, health and care, from birth to 25. Help will be offered at the earliest possible point, with children and young people with SEND and their parents or carers fully involved in decisions about their support and what they want to achieve. This will help lead to better outcomes and more efficient ways of working.” Reminding ourselves, what the DfE want to achieve through these reforms.

Improving outcomes: high aspirations and expectations for children and young people with SEN Starting early – being aspirational about longer term outcomes. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework for children 0 – 5 years. Providers must have arrangements in place to support children with SEN or disabilities. Starting early – when a child is very young, or SEN is first identified, families need to know that the great majority of children and young people with SEN or disabilities, with the right support, can find work, be supported to live independently, and participate in their community. Health workers, social workers, early years providers and schools should encourage these ambitions from the start. They should seek to understand the interests, strengths and motivations of children and use this as a basis of planning support around them. Early years providers and schools should support young children so that they are included in groups and develop friendships. This is particularly important when children are transferring from one phase of education to another e.g. nursery to primary school. All EY providers must follow the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the EYFS and the learning and development requirements, unless an exception from these has been granted. The arrangements to support children with SEN or disabilities should include a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN. The benefits of early identification are widely recognised – identifying need at the earliest point, then making effective provision, improves long term outcomes for children. All of those who work with young children should be alert to emerging difficulties and respond early. In particular, parents know their children best and it is important that all practitioners listen and understand when parents express concerns about their child’s development. They should also listen to and address any concerns raised by children themselves.

Maintained nursery schools Maintained nursery schools must: Use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEN gets the support they need Ensure that children with SEN engage in the activities alongside children who not not have SEN Designate a teacher to be responsible for co-ordinating SEN provision (SENCO) Inform parents when they are making special educational provision for a child Questions – how do we know that settings are using their best endeavours? How are we supporting them to do this? Maintained nurseries must also prepare a report on: The implementation of their SEN policy Their arrangements for the admission of disabled children The steps being taken to prevent children from being treated less favourably than others The facilities provided to enable access to the school for disabled children; and their accessibility plan showing how they plan to improve access over time. EY providers should regularly y review and evaluate the quality and breadth of the support they offer or can access for children with SEN or disabilities. Maintained nursery schools must cooperate in reviewing the provision that is available locally and in developing the local offer. LAs must ensure that all providers they fund in the maintained private voluntary and independent sectors are aware of the requirement on them to have regard to the SEN COP and to meet the needs of children with SEN and disabilities. Where assessment indicates that support form specialst services is required,, it is important that children receive it as quickly as possible.

Duties and requirements Equalities Act 2010. All early years providers have duties under the Equality Act 2010. Medical conditions. All early years providers should take steps to ensure that children with medical conditions get the support required to meet those needs. EY providers must pay particular attention to the Equalities Act 2010. they must not discriminate against, harrass or victimise disabled children and they must make reasonable adjustments including the provision of auxiliary aids and services to make reasonable adjustments, to prevent them being put at substantial disadvantage. This duty is anticipatory – it requires thought to be given in advance to what disabled children might required and what adjustments might be needed. All publicly funded EY providers must promote equality of opportunity for disabled children.

SEN in the early years All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with SEN or disabilities and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care Some children need support for SEN and disabilities at home or in informal settings before, or as well as, the support they receive from an early years provider. These requirements are set out in the EYFS framework and requires practitioners to review children’s progress and share a summary with parents.

From birth to two – early identification Parents’ early observations of their child are crucial. Health assessments e.g. hearing screening test enable very early identification of a range of medical and physical difficulties Where it is the opinion that a young child under compulsory school age has, or probably has SEN, they MUST inform the child’s parents and bring the child to the attention of the local authority. The health body must also give the parents the opportunity to discuss their opinion and let them know about any voluntary organisations that are likely to be able to provide advice and assistance. This includes the educational advice, guidance and any intervention to be put in place at an early point before the child starts school.

Early years provision Early years providers and educational settings should have arrangements in place that include a clear process to assessing SEN. The EYFS framework includes two specific points for providing written assessments for parents and other professionals – when the child is two and when the child turns five. From 2015, it is proposed to introduce an integrated review that covers the development areas in the Healthy Child Programme 2 year review and the EYFS 2 year progress check. In assessing progress of children in the early years, practitioners can use the non statutory EY outcomes guidance as a tool to assess the extent to which a young child is developing at expected levels for their age. The guidance sets out what most children do at each stage of their learning and development. These include typical behaviours across the seven areas of learning: Communication and language Physical development Personal, social and emotional development Literacy Mathematics Understanding the world Expressive arts and design When a child is aged between 2 – 3 EY practitioners must review progress and provide parents with a short written summary of their child’s development, focusing in particular on communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development. This progress check must identify the strengths and any areas when the child’s progress is slower than expected. It must also describe the activities and strategies the provider intends to adopt to address any issues and concerns. Health Visitors currently check children’s physical development milestones between the ages of 2 -3 as part of the universal Healthy Child Programme. From 2015 it is proposed to introduce an integrated review that will cover the development areas in the Healthy Child Programme. Assessment at the end of the EYFS takes the form of the EYFS profile – the EYFS profile provides a well rounded picture of a child’s knowledge, understanding and abilities. A profile is usually completed for children in the final tern of the year in which they turn five. In addition to the formal checks, EY practitioners working with children should monitor and review the progress and development throughout the early years. Where a child appears to be behind expected levels, or where a child’s progress gives cause for concern, practitioners should consider all of the information available from within or beyond the setting. All the information should be brought together with the observations of parents and considered with them. Identifying and assessing SEN for young children whose first language is not English requires particular care. Difficulties related soley to learning English as an additional language are not SEN.

SEN Support in the early years It is important that there are no delays in making any necessary special educational provision. Where a setting identifies a child as having SEN they must work in partnership with parents to establish the support the child needs. All settings should adopt a graduated approach: Assess Plan Do Review Delays in providing SEN provision can give rise to learning difficulty and subsequent loss of self esteem, frustration in learning and to behaviour difficulties.

Assess The EY practitioner working with the setting SENCO and the child’s parents will have carried out an analysis of the child’s needs. This assessment should be reviewed regularly. Where there is little or no improvement in the child’s progress, more specialist assessment may be required. It is vitally important to review on a regular basis – this will ensure that support interventions are matched to need, barriers to learning are identified and overcome, and that a clear picture of interventions put in place and their effect is developed. For some types of SEN, the way in which a pupil responds to an intervention can be the most reliable method of developing a more accurate picture of need.

PLAN The support and intervention provided should be selected to meet the outcomes identified for the child and a clear date for review. Plans should take into account the views of the child. Parents should be aware of the planned support and interventions, and where appropriate, plans should seek parental involvement to reinforce at home Parents in consultation with teacher and SENCo should agree the adjustments, intervention and support to be put into place as well as the expected impact on progress, development or behaviour , along with a clear date for review. Support and intervention should be based on reliable evidence of effectiveness and delivered by staff with the right skills and knowledge.

DO The early years practitioner, should remain responsible for working with the child on a daily basis. The SENCO should support the practitioner in assessing the child’s response to the action taken, in problem solving and advising on the effective implementation of support. It is worth noting that there interventions involve group or one to one teaching away from the main class or subject teacher, they should still retain responsibility of the child. They

Review The effectiveness of the support and interventions and their impact on the child’s progress should be reviewed in line with the agreed date. The impact and quality of the support and interventions should be evaluated along with the views of child and parents. Parents should have clear information about the impact of the support and interventions provided, enabling them to be involved in planning next steps. SEN support should include planning for transition, before a child moves into another setting or school. Where a pupil continues to make less than expected progress, despite evidence based support and interventions, the setting should consider involving specialists, including those secured by the setting itself or form outside agencies. Settings may involve specialists at any point to advise them on early identification of SEN and effective support and interventions.

The Graduated Response in practice DFE Where a pupil is identified as having SEN, schools should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place. This SEN support should take the form of a four-part cycle through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and revised with a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs and of what supports the pupil in making good progress and securing good outcomes. Code of Practice, section 6.45 – 6.53

Q&A

Group task In small groups discuss the how you are developing the requirements for Early Years in your area and consider: How you are involving and embedding the views of young children and parents? What are your plans to meet the Early Years requirements for young children with and without EHCP’s? What are your plans to meet your obligations and implement the integrated review process? What is the demand on LAs for young children to have EHC assessments and EHCP’s? How do you ensure that all early years practitioners feel confident and equipped to identify and support SEN? What is working well? What is not working well? Issues and challenges? Please record and be prepared to feed back to the wider group

Next steps In small groups reflect on what you have heard today: What future support needs do you have? What 3 key things will you take back to your organisation?

Resources and Further Reading Mott Macdonald – SEND Information Packs and Resources Includes case studies and resources The send gateway at: www.nasen.org.uk Achievement for All at: www.achievementforall3As.org.uk Local authorities websites, particularly the local offer pages.

Evaluation Please help us to keep improving these workshops by completing the evaluation form at Participant evaluation: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/sendreformworkshops Facilitator evaluation: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RGVNV9M

Support available to local areas Pathfinder Champions North West Wigan, Manchester. Salford & Lancashire North East Darlington and Early Support Yorkshire and Humber North Yorkshire, Calderdale and York City West Midlands Consortium of 13 LAs East Midlands Leicester and Nottinghamshire East of England Hertfordshire and Bedford London 1 Bromley, Bexley and Enfield London 2 SE7 (supported by Mott MacDonald) South East South West 1 Cornwall (supported by Mott MacDonald) South West 2 Southampton and Portsmouth (supported by Mott MacDonald) http://www.sendpathfinder.co.uk/pathfinderchampions/

Support available to local areas Delivery Partners Autism Education Trust Contact a Family Council for Disabled Children Early Support Information, Support and Advice Services Network National Network for Parent Carer Forums Preparing for Adulthood The Communications Trust The Dyslexia-SpLD Trust Mott MacDonald

The Implementing the SEND reforms workshop series has been collaboratively produced by: The workshop series has been co-produced by the following organisations.

Implementing the SEND reforms workshop series Series 1: Transitioning from the old to the new system Series 2: Understanding EHC plans Series 3: Best practice in joint commissioning Series 4: Engaging parent carers – Wednesday 25th March 2015 Series 5: Engaging children and young people – Tuesday 2nd December 2014 Series 6: Preparation for adulthood – Tuesday 10th February 2015 Series 7: Understanding SEN Support – Tuesday 18th November 2014 Series 8: Early Years providers – Wednesday 21st January 2015 Series 9: Personal budgets – Wednesday 4th March 2015