Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can affect a child or young person’s ability to learn. They can affect their:
- behaviour or ability to socialise, for example they struggle to make friends
- reading and writing, for example because they have dyslexia
- ability to understand things
- concentration levels, for example because they have ADHD
- physical ability
Who to talk to
If you think your child may have special educational needs, contact the school and ask for Mrs Gates, our School Inclusion Lead.
Our local Information, Advice and Support (IAS) Service can give you advice about SEND. (If you live in Medway area then visit here)
Support your child can receive
Your child may be eligible for:
- SEN support - support given in school, like speech therapy
- an education, health and care (EHC) plan - a plan of care for children and young people aged up to 25 who have more complex needs
Talk to us if you think your child needs:
- a special learning programme
- extra help from a teacher or assistant
- to work in a smaller group
- observation in class or at break
- help taking part in class activities
- extra encouragement in their learning, for example to ask questions or to try something they find difficult
- help communicating with other children
- support with physical or personal care difficulties, for example eating, getting around school safely or using the toilet
Extra help
An education, health and care (EHC) plan is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support.
EHC plans identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs.
Requesting an EHC assessment
You can ask your local authority to carry out an assessment if you think your child needs an EHC plan.
A request can also be made by anyone else who thinks an assessment may be necessary, including doctors, health visitors, teachers, parents and family friends.
If they decide to carry out an assessment you may be asked for:
- any reports from your child’s school, nursery or childminder
- doctors’ assessments of your child
- a letter from you about your child’s needs
The local authority will tell you within 16 weeks whether an EHC plan is going to be made for your child.
Creating an EHC plan
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Your local authority will create a draft EHC plan and send you a copy.
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You have 15 days to comment, including if you want to ask that your child goes to a specialist needs school or specialist college.
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Your local authority has 20 weeks from the date they receive the request for the assessment to give you the final EHC plan.
Disagreeing with a decision
You can challenge your local authority about:
- their decision to not carry out an assessment
- their decision to not create an EHC plan
- the special educational support in the EHC plan
- the school named in the EHC plan
If you cannot resolve the problem with your local authority, you can appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal.
Personal budgets
You may be able to get a personal budget for your child if they have an EHC plan or have been told that they need one.
It allows you to have a say in how to spend the money on support for your child.
There are 3 ways you can use your personal budget. You can have:
- direct payments made into your account - you buy and manage services yourself
- an arrangement with your local authority or school where they hold the money for you but you still decide how to spend it (sometimes called ‘notional arrangements’)
- third-party arrangements - you choose someone else to manage the money for you
You can have a combination of all 3 options.
Independent support for children of all ages
Independent supporters can help you and your child through the new SEN assessment process, including:
- replacing a statement of special educational needs with a new EHC plan
- moving a child from a learning difficulty assessment (LDA) to an EHC plan
You can find out how to get local support through:
- Council for Disabled Children
- Information, Advice and Support Service Network
- The Kent County Council 'Local Offer' on the local authority website