1.  What is SEND?

A child or young person has SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them.  A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they:

 (a) have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or

 (b) have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.                                                                                                       (DfE SEND Code of Practice 2015 pages 15-16)

 

This is a broad definition covering all children and young people from 0-25 years of age.

 

The Code of Practice identifies 4 broad areas of need:

 

1.  Communication and interaction – this includes speech and language and social communication difficulties which includes Autism.

2.  Cognition and learning – this is where a pupil is learning at a slower pace than others in their year group, even with appropriate differentiation.

3.  Social, emotional and mental health difficulties – this includes pupils with challenging behaviour, anxiety, ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or attachment disorder.

4.  Sensory and/ or physical needs – this includes hearing impairment, visual impairment, multi-sensory impairment, mobility difficulties and sensory processing difficulties.

A pupil may have difficulty in one area or, more than one area of need.