1. Val Shanks-Pepper Lead Commissioner, SEN/Disability
The Context
Val Shanks-Pepper
Lead Commissioner,
SEN/Disability

2. SLCN missing link in social exclusion chain
Child and adolescent mental health,
Teenage pregnancy,
NEET,
Behavioural difficulties and
Low levels of achievement.

3. 3 Issues of Concern Nationally
the growing recognition of the scale of children’s poor communication,
the increased awareness of the need for early intervention and
the importance of skills development for the entire children’s workforce.

4. There is a cost the cost of poor communication skills
to the individual child and
to Liverpool as a city

5. What will make the difference
Key factors in the successful development of children’s communication skills are:
skilled and confident parents ,
focused early intervention programmes,
integrated approaches and
a developed children’s workforce

6. THE SLCN Need in Liverpool
10% of all children long-term persistent SLC N,
> 50% of children on school entry - transient difficulties / delayed language with the right support, are likely to catch up
 SLCN is central to and common across most areas of disability /SEN

7. SLCN are risk factors in Social Exclusion
Communication and health
Poor communication is a risk factor for mental health difficulties and problem behaviour.
Children with delayed language are less likely to talk about their thoughts and feelings than their peers .

8. SLCN are risk factors in Social Exclusion
Large numbers of children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties have undetected communication problems.
Children with undetected SLCN are at greater risk of exclusion from school

9. The problem is beyond SEN
Prevalence indicates SLCN is public health issue
It should be everybody's business
The challenge is so great we need to eat the elephant in chunks
The concern is raised in this city – Scrutiny Panel

10. 10,000 SLCN Disability/2,000 SALT caseload
Fluctuating population up and down
50,000-80,000 SLCN Vulnerable

11. The Challenge for Us
To be more effective and efficient in impacting on outcomes for the great mass of children
Children’s SALT service have adopted Care Aims
Now – we propose Care Aims as the common methodology for us all

12. Why
We need a common framework with a common language to get a better fit on how specialist services impact on the full range of child need NOT just the referrals that get through the system to them!
We MUST move away from ‘condition’ focus instead to ask ‘what is the impact the condition will have on the child’s life

13. WHY? To do this properly we need whole system engagement
We have approx 30 SALT in this city- not able to address the breadth and depth of the problem
Question:
How many teachers?
How many health visitors?
How many social workers
How many youth workers

14. What is the Care Aims Model?
A standardised way of capturing and communicating professional reasoning
A clear and comprehensive way of demonstrating professional effectiveness
An systematic way of supporting and demonstrating professional reflection

15. What is the Care Aims Model
Helps to refocus resources where they can make the most difference by being outcomes driven and not demand led
A sound framework for managing caseloads and workloads
A framework to support service design, planning and evaluation

16. Pulling down of Level 3
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1 – Schools/GPs

17. Our Vision
Mobilisation of the workforce to work more effectively together to get better outcomes for children with SLCN