SEN and disability in the early years

The Children and Families Act 2014 defines SEN as:

• a child has a special educational need if they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision
• a learning difficulty is a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age
• a disability is a disability that prevents or hinders a child from taking advantage of the facilities generally available
• special educational provision is provision that is additional to or different from that which is normally available in mainstream settings. For a child under the age of 2, special educational provision means provision of any kind
• a child under school age has SEN if he or she is likely to have SEN when they reach school age, or would do so if special educational provision were not made for them

Statutory document

• Code of practice (see chapter 5 early years providers)

Guidance documents

• Early years guide to the 0-25 SEND code of practice
• SEND early years toolkit

Support

The Early Years SEN helpline - 

• Email the Proforma and a member of the Early Years team will contact you in 5 working days.
• Request for Consultation form (MS Word, 145KB)
• SENCo Surgeries - Contact the Early Years and Childcare Team
• Permission form (MS Word, 15KB)

SEND Policy

• Cheshire East SEND policy - 2015 (MS Word, 683KB)

Early identification of children not reaching age related expectations

Refer to:

• Early years foundation stage
• Early years outcomes
• Development matters
• Progress check at age 2 - a knowhow guide
• 4 children what to expect and when

Tracking children's progress

• Individual record of development (PDF, 58KB)
• Progress check at age 2 (PDF, 234KB)

SEN support in the early years - a graduated approach

Assess, plan, do and review

• SEN Support Plan – Early Years (MS Word, 128KB)
• Child Centred Planning Meeting (MS Word, 167KB)

Transitions

• Transition meeting paperwork (MS Word, 763KB)

Early Years Funding guidance and dates

• Information for SENCos (PDF, 101KB)
• Application for SEND Inclusion Funding (MS Word, 90KB)