What does that mean? Key word HELP!!

The term special educational needs is described in law in the Children and Families Act 2014 as:

A child or young person has special educational needs if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.
A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
(a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
(b) has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.
A child under compulsory school age has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she is likely to be within subsection (2) when of compulsory school age (or would be likely, if no special educational provision were made).
A child or young person does not have a learning difficulty or disability solely because the language (or form of language) in which he or she is or will be taught is different from a language (or form of language) which is or has been spoken at home.

Many children and young people who have SEN may also have a disability. A disability is described in law (the Equality Act 2010) as:

‘a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term (a year or more) and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.‛

This includes, for example, sensory impairments such as those that affect sight and hearing, and long-term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes or epilepsy.

The professional language around SEND can be a tad overwhelming at times. This is a simple guide to some of the common words and phrases used by professionals, both in schools and in the wider community.

Advocate	An advocate is someone who can help children, young people and parents to say what they want if they find it difficult to do so.
Appeal	An appeal is what someone does when they want to try and change a decision about their support that they do not agree with.
Apprenticeships	Apprenticeships, traineeships and supported internships are types of training for young people who are 16 years old or over. They help young people to learn skills to get a job. Young people doing these types of training do some learning in a classroom and some learning at work.
Assessment	An assessment is a way of working out what kind of support someone needs.
College	College is where young people can go to learn skills that they might need when they are older. If someone is aged between 16 and 25 years old, then they can go to a college post 16 (ie, after GCSEs)
Decisions	Decisions are choices people make about what happens in their life. Some people may need support to make decisions. For example, having things explained in a different way.
Disagreement resolution services	Disagreement resolution services help to sort out problems where people do not agree with the support for a child or young person who has special educational needs or disabilities. You can find out about them from your local council.
Education health and care needs assessment	An education health and care needs assessment will look at what extra support children and young people with special educational needs might need in their life.
Education, health and care plan (EHCP)	An education, health and care plan says what support a child or young person who has special educational needs must get.
Education support	Education support can help someone to learn things like reading and writing.
Educational Psychologist	An educational psychologist looks at how a child or young person can be better supported to learn. This includes children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
Health support	Health support can help someone to stay healthy, like having physiotherapy.
Independent supporter	An independent supporter is someone who can support a young person or their family during an education, health and care needs assessment.
Information, advice and support service	An information, advice and support service is where children, young people and parents can go to find out more information about special educational needs and disabilities and how to get the support they need.
Local council	A local council is the group of people who look after things in a local area like services to support children and young people who have special educational needs and disabilities.
Local offer	A local offer is information about the support and services that children and young people, who have special educational needs and disabilities, and their families can get.
Mediation	Mediation is a meeting to help people who disagree about something, like the support someone gets. They can meet to try and find a way of agreeing about it. There is usually someone else there to help them do this. This person is called a mediator.
Mental capacity assessment	A mental capacity assessment is carried out to see if someone is able to make decisions. If someone can not make a decision by themselves, they should still be supported to have their say.
Personal budget	A personal budget is money set aside for a young person or a parent by their local council. It can be used to buy some of the support a child or young person gets in their education, health and care plan. Sometimes a local council will keep this money and use it to buy some support that a young person or their family might need.
Review	A review is a meeting where a local council, a school or a college, and some other people look at the support a child or young person gets and if it is right for them.
Social care support	Social care support is the support someone gets to help them do things like washing, cooking and meeting up with friends.
Social worker	A social worker is someone who works with families to help make sure they get the support they need.
Special educational needs	A child or young person who has special educational needs may: • find it harder to learn than other people of their age • face challenges that make it hard to go to school or college • need extra or different support to learn.
Special educational needs coordinator	A special educational needs coordinator is a teacher at a school who is in charge of making sure students who have special educational needs or disabilities get the support they need.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Tribunal	The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Tribunal is a court that listens to appeals and decides if a decision should be changed.
Special educational needs support	Special educational needs support is the support that children and young people who have special educational needs can get in school or college.
Speech and language therapist	A speech and language therapist is someone who helps children and young people who might find it harder to communicate.
Statement	A statement is the document that used to be given to children and young people with special educational needs in school who needed a lot of support. It has been replaced by the EHCP