Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) — What Every Parent and Carer Needs to Know

What do SEN and SEND actually stand for?

SEN stands for Special Educational Needs and SEND stands for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Children and young people with SEN or SEND have needs that affect their ability to learn. Some people prefer to use the term 'additional needs', but in England the term Special Educational Needs has a specific legal meaning; it refers to children and young people who have a learning difficulty and/or a disability that makes it difficult for them to use the facilities normally provided for others of the same age in mainstream school or college.

Some, but not all, children and young people with Special Educational Needs will also have a disability. Under the Equality Act a disability is defined as a 'physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on that person's ability to carry out normal day to day activities'. Substantial means the effect is more than minor or trivial; long term means it lasts or is likely to last for a year or more. Importantly, a child doesn't need to have a diagnosis to have a disability.

What counts as a special educational need?

The SEND Code of Practice 2015 recognises four main areas of need, but these are not discrete categories and frequently a child's difficulties will span one or more areas:

• Communication and interaction — difficulties with understanding and using verbal and non-verbal communication (e.g. autism, speech and language needs)

• Cognition and learning — both general and specific learning difficulties (e.g. Global Development Delay (GDD), dyslexia, dyscalculia)

• Social, emotional and mental health — mental health and emotional regulation difficulties (e.g. anxiety and ADHD)

• Sensory and physical needs — visual/hearing impairments, multi-sensory impairments, and physical disabilities (e.g. deafness, cerebral palsy)

How common is it?

Very common. Over 1.8 million children in England are identified as having SEN (out of a school population of around 9 million). It can often feel as though your family is the only one going through what you're going through, but that's really not the case.

What support is a child with SEN entitled to?

All mainstream education settings have a legal duty to use their best endeavours to meet the needs of children in their care who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). This is known as SEN Support and applies regardless of whether those children also have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). A setting is expected to proactively identify children making less than expected progress and then take steps to put in place appropriate support.

The key difference between SEN Support and an EHC Plan is that SEN Support is provided at the discretion of the school and can be changed or removed at any time. In contrast, an EHC Plan is a legal document which provides a right (enforceable via the courts) to the specific support set out in section F of the EHC Plan.

What should a parent do if they think their child has SEN?

If you are concerned that your child or young person might have Special Educational Needs, the first step is to speak with their class or form teacher. Often teachers will also have noticed difficulties or differences and will welcome a chance to discuss these with you. If you do not feel your concerns have been sufficiently addressed, or if you feel your child requires more support than the teacher alone can provide, ask to meet with the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO).

Every school will have a SENCO, who is a qualified teacher whose job it is to support students with SEND, ensuring the school implements the correct provision required to fulfil their needs. All SENCOs must complete mandatory training leading to a National Professional Qualification (NPQ) within 3 years of starting in the role, and information about how a school supports children with SEND should be available on the school's website under their SEN Policy along with a SEN Information Report.

Remember to follow up any in-person or telephone discussions with a letter or email so that you have a paper trail of what was said and the actions that were agreed. Ultimately, if you feel that your child's needs cannot be met from the resources available to the school, you can ask the school to request an Education Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) — the first step to obtaining an EHC Plan — or make a request to the local authority yourself.

How SEND Advocacy can help

Navigating the SEND system can feel daunting, especially at the start. Parents and carers are often exhausted from years of struggling to have their voices heard and their children supported. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the mountains of conflicting advice and information and to be unsure which steps really matter. Which is why SEND Advocacy exists: to support families to cut through the noise and focus on the steps necessary to secure the support their children need to thrive, not just survive.