SEND assignment

‘Inclusion’ captures, in one word, an all-embracing societal ideology, which secures opportunities for
students with SEND1 to learn alongside their non-disabled peers in mainstream education classrooms.
(Special Education Guide, n.d.) “Inclusion is important because through our diversity we certainly add
to our creativity. If you don’t have a diverse classroom or a diverse world, you don’t have the same
creative levels and I think our strength lies in our diversity.” (Gretchen Walsh M.S. Ed., n.d.)
Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, there have been substantial developments
in legislation and policy relating to inclusion within education. The Education Act 1996 put in place a
crucial change in education where inclusion was made a priority for schools. Teachers would, since the
Act was introduced, be “…aware of the importance of identifying, and providing for, those registered
pupils who have special educational needs… (ensuring that) …the child engages in the activities of the
school together with children who do not have special educational needs.” (Education Act, 1996). The
New Children and Families Act (2014) is aimed at improving services for vulnerable children including
those with SEND, (up to 20% of school age children have some form of SEND. (CDC, n.d.)). Many of
the principles regarding SEND in the 1996 Act are replicated in the 2014 Act and are based on the
Government’s vision for reforming services for children with SEND, ensuring children and families are
at the centre of decision making, with a focus on achieving the best possible outcomes. (Her Majesy's
Government, 2014). Having high expectations for all pupils meets Standard One of the Teachers’
Standards (DfE, 2011).

Part three of the Act introduces a major reform of the statutory framework for identifying children with
SEN, assessing their needs and making provision for them. (LGA, 2014). The SEND Code of Practice
is statutory guidance that sets out duties, policies and procedures relating to Part 3 of the Children and
Families Act 2014. Following the new Act, the previous Code of Practice (2001) was revised and is
much more family-centred with a greater focus on support. The Code now covers a 0-25 age range and
is more accessible, practical and condensed.

Chapter 4 of the Code (2014), prepared under the New act (2014), requires LAs to publish a “Local
Offer” providing clear, comprehensive, accessible and up-to-date information about the available
provisions for SEND and how to access them. The Special Educational Needs and Disability
Regulations 2014 provides a common framework for the preparation and publication of the offer
including support for parents and providers on obtaining an assessment for an EHC plan if necessary,
which is a co-ordinated assessment process for children with more complex needs, focusing on
achievement outcomes and how services will work together to support these outcomes. (CDC, n.d.).
This should be reviewed at least once a year to adapt and respond to changing needs. The child and
parents must be at the forefront of the assessment as studies show that “among parents with positive
experiences [through designing the plan], attempts to involve the child in a meaningful way were a key
part of their experience. Similarly, a sense of being excluded from the process was commonly
mentioned by those with negative experiences.” (Adams, et al., 2018).

The National Curriculum (NC) Statutory Inclusion Statement (2000) states that all schools must provide
a broad and balanced curriculum for all pupils, setting out three principles that are essential to
developing a more inclusive curriculum: setting suitable learning challenges; responding to pupils'
diverse learning needs; overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and
groups of pupils. Inclusion within the classroom is not exposing students with SEND to the same
teaching and curriculum as other students but encouraging the development of alternative teaching
strategies and differentiation of the curriculum to meet the specific needs of all pupils. This can cause
challenges however, with lack of funding and support for staff to get the correct training for all possible
means of inclusion, as its scope is so broad. (NASUWT, 2008).

School inclusion and SEND policies are a statutory requirement to identify SEN as early as possible.
Schools should provide a curriculum suitable to individual special needs through differentiation of
work/materials/teaching styles and 1:1 (or small group) adult support for a fixed amount of time
depending on SEN stage. (Stoiber & Midgley-Smith, 2018) SEN children are assessed on a termly
basis to review progress. Ofsted inspectors evaluate the extent to which the education provided meets
the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND and in any specialist resource provision (Ofsted,
2018). Identifying needs at the earliest point and making effective provisions is crucial and improves

1
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
long-term outcomes for children. (DfE, 2015) “With the right early intervention, children make better
progress, the longer-term impacts are minimised, and many children can even catch up.” (The
Communication Commitment, 2014).

Section 20 Children and Families Act 2014 defines a child as having SEND if they have a learning
difficulty or disability which calls for special education provision to be made. (Her Majesy's Government,
2014) The Code (2014) identifies ‘four broad areas of SEND: Communication and interaction; Cognition
and learning; Social, emotional and mental health; Sensory and/or physical needs. However, many
children’s needs are co-occurring so schools should design action around the ‘whole child’. (DfE, 2015)

Assessment for learning (AFL) creates feedback used to improve students' performance; compliant
with Teacher’s Standard 6. (DfE, 2011) AFL “must be modified and adjusted to meet the cognitive and
social abilities of SEN pupils”. (group5hah, n.d.) Students with SEN can become more involved in the
learning process and from this gain confidence in what they are expected to learn. (Flórez & Sammons,
2013) Questioning can be differentiated to suit specific learning needs. Within placement, a child with
dyslexia, benefited from the use of simple, short questions, asked slowly, clearly and broken into
‘chunks’. Similarly, a child with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) may require similar
differentiation. 'Think Pair Share' involves posing questions to learners and allowing time to consider
their response on their own. Each learner then discusses their ideas with a partner before the
conversation is opened to the whole class, scaffolding learning for children with SEND who may need
the extra support of a peer (Flórez & Sammons, 2013). Ensuring the provision of extra response time
supports children with needs including SLCN. Within placement, a child with co-occurring needs
including Autism and SLCN used visual, symbol-based resources for learning objectives, instructions,
target cards and emotion symbols, helping him feel more in control by understanding and predicting
changes and being able to communicate how he was feeling without a communication barrier. AfL
supports behaviour management for children with needs such as Attachment disorder and Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome (FAS) through positive feedback and reward, providing an incentive for positive behaviour
and motivation for learning.

Adapting teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils is a key part of planning for
differentiation. (DfE, 2011) One strategy is to provide small group lessons once the whole class has
been provided with instruction, to reinforce learning and check for understanding. (Amaro, n.d.). Within
placement, a ‘cold calling’ approach helped to ensure everyone participated, as children with SEN
tended to hold back with answering questions to avoid participation with fear of being incorrect. Positive
reinforcement and praise as well as support in expanding the child’s ideas is key to this strategy.
Children with SEN including SLCN, Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and
Dyslexia tend to have a short attention span with tasks. Planning and incorporating into lessons, topics
that those children enjoy can help to engage learners and make them more enthusiastic about the task;
compliant with Teacher’s Standard 5 (DfE, 2011). Constantly reviewing the effectiveness of teaching
strategies and approaches as well as the responses of the children will ensure Quality First teaching.

The graduated approach in the Code (2014), of Assess, Plan, Do, Review, replaces School Action and
School Action plus, enabling the identification of the most effective interventions in supporting the pupil
to achieve good progress and outcomes; compliant with Teacher’s Standard 2 (DfE, 2011). (Stoiber &
Midgley-Smith, 2018). It is a four-part cycle; through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited,
refined and revised to achieve the best possible achievement of a child with SEND. Class teachers,
under the Code of Practice, are directly responsible and accountable for all pupils in their class. If the
initial assessment of need is inadequate, the consequential provision to meet those needs will be
inappropriate. Tools and checklists are provided to teachers to resolve this issue to ensure all the
necessary information and evidence is gathered before moving on to the planning stage. The planning
stage allows teachers to gain a growing understanding of what teaching approaches work for a child.
(NASEN, 2014). Participation of the pupil and their parents/ carers enhances and reinforces strategies
to supplement the benefits of high-quality teaching differentiated for individual pupils.

A report found that some children with SEND continued to face considerable barriers to learning,
including inaccessible premises, unwelcoming attitudes, shortfalls in specialist support and exclusion
from aspects of school life. (NASUWT, 2008) The National Curriculum requires lessons to be planned
to ensure that there are no barriers to every pupil achieving. (DfE, 2013). Offering extra resources such
as various coloured paper/overlays, writing tools and various visual resources would remove learning
barriers for children with needs such as dyslexia or dyspraxia. This may be a reasonable adjustment,
and therefore must be legally provided, for their disability under the Equality Act 2010. A ‘buddy’ system
can be used to support an individual by providing them with a friendly support system of another child
as opposed to obvious adult involvement, which the individual may find too intrusive.

A Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) is a teacher who has the responsibility for the
operation of the SEN policy and co-ordination of specific provision made to support individuals with
SEN. Newly appointed SENCOs must gain a National SENCO Award within three years of being
appointed. (NASUWT, 2014) They must support class teachers in carrying out analysis of a child with
SEN as well as maintaining and supporting the agreements of adjustments, interventions and support
that is provided to the child, including monitoring their impact and effectiveness. The SENCO must
ensure that parents and children are involved in these planning and decision-making processes.
(NASEN, 2014). The SENCO is responsible for arranging multi-agency links and support. The Code
(2014), states the importance of close co-operation between health, education and social services, to
achieve the best outcome for a child with SEND. Section 26 of the Act (2014) places a duty on local
authorities and ‘partner commissioning bodies’ to put in place joint commissioning arrangements.
(Council for Disabled Children, n.d.) Promoting strong multi-agency links creates greater collaboration
between local areas which can support local professionals in planning, commissioning and delivering
the best services for children with SEN. (DfE, 2011). This can include speech and language therapists,
mental health services, and educational psychologists. Educational psychologists can make a
significant contribution in supporting families and enabling children to make progress with learning,
behaviour and social relationships. This also improves early identification of SEN, ensuring that the
appropriate support is put in place quickly. (NASEN, 2014). Improper delegation of funding can reduce
the range and quantity of specialist staff available to provide services and support. External issues can
also arise out due to shortages in the numbers of external specialists, leading to extended waiting
periods or even missing out on support services. (ATL, 2010) Parents of a child with an EHC plan now
have the right to request a personal budget for the additional support that the child or family needs to
resolve this issue. (Council for Disabled Children, n.d.)

The DfE supports parent participation in every aspect of the Code reforms. The Warnock Report states
the importance of parental views, saying that parents of children with SEND had important information
about their children that must be incorporated and used in the assessment, placement and educational
process. (Warnock, 1978) “Better communication and greater parental engagement is key to a number
of developments that seek to put the child and the family at the centre of the planning process This can
lead to lower levels of stress and better use of services. (NASEN, 2014) Teachers can facilitate this by
keeping regular contacts with parents through telephone calls, home –visits, home –school notebooks,
weekly report and forms of liaison. (Hornby, 2011) The Children and Families Act builds on and extends
the role of parent-partnership services, ensuring that parents have access to accurate, neutral
information on their rights, roles and responsibilities. (Her Majesy's Government, 2014) Involvement in
parents’ associations or professional organisations can support parents in retrieving information and
sharing their experiences.

To conclude, effective inclusive practice within mainstream education is essential for supporting
children’s learning, especially those with SEND, and makes the required reasonable adjustments under
the Equality Act (2010) for their disabilities. The new Act and Code of Practice aim to support strong
collaboration between parents, schools and agencies to create the best education with regard to the
needs of all children.

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