10 Things about Special Education Needs You May Not Have Known

By Sarah Coxon in BLOG on July 8th 2021

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Our knowledge about special educational needs is constantly developing. This means that myths can be debunked from year to year and new exciting facts can help all young people with SEN progress even more easily. Here are our top 10 things about special educational needs that you may not have known.

Special education services are not expensive

Schools get funding from the government through their Local Authority (LA) to support children with SEN, and a specific part of the budget has been set aside for this. This means that parents should not be expected to pay for provision within the school setting.

Outside of school, if a childcare, healthcare or learning service is Ofsted registered, you might get help to pay for it through the childcare element of Working Tax Credit, Universal Credit, Tax-Free Childcare or employer childcare vouchers. Also, if the setting is recorded in a child's EHC plan, parents could use direct payments or a part of their personal budget for this care. Equally, councils will have allocated money to specifically help SEN children attend a suitable childcare setting and should help with covering any additional fees including training or adapting a childminder's home.

Usually, specialist after-school clubs are charity or council-run, and so should be able to offer free spaces to some children with SEN. Contacting the Family Information Service can be extremely helpful when trying to navigate through all of these fees and levels of pricing. The FIS may have a specialist worker who can help you or will refer you to the area's Special Educational Needs Coordinator. The Family Information Service or SENCO will share their knowledge with you about specialist services, local support and any additional funding your child could be eligible for.

Special education is one of the best forms of education

Special education has changed a lot over the years and now incorporates much more research and awareness of learning styles into daily lessons and long term plans. Personalized learning, multisensory teaching and assistive technology have also played a big part in how children with SEN experience their learning today.

Here are some of the positive strategies that special education strives to provide today:

A considered environment. Schools may take into account how students with SEND are sensitive to particular sensory triggers in the environment. Therefore, classrooms, class sizes, lessons and social mobility around the school building may have been designed with these triggers in mind, reducing the anxiety or overwhelming feelings that a child with SEN can experience.
Help with travel to the school. Schools often have many links to mobility companies and can provide support to find the best option for pupils with a variety of needs.
Experienced and well-trained staff. In order to work at a professional level in a school most, if not all, staff will need to have gained qualifications and experiences in teaching children with SEND. Today schools will also be more likely to provide more SEND training for their staff. As a result, lesson work is often geared towards the student's individual needs and is linked carefully to their own individual targets.
Attention to developing personal skills. Some schools will work hard to teach the child strategies that will increase their interpersonal skills. This may mean that SEN students will develop greater self-esteem and feel less depressed when the world becomes too overwhelming. Also there may be a greater focus on developing your child's independence, encouraging them to believe that they can do things for themselves.
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Children in special education excel in their career

Many people across the world who have had learning disabilities become extremely successful in whatever career path they choose. In some cases they become famous or make life-saving discoveries that will shape the world for decades to come. Indeed, some of the most ingenious people the earth has ever known have had learning disabilities or other special educational needs: Abraham Lincoln, Buzz Aldrin, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Henry Ford, and Vincent Van Gogh.

Teachers are your greatest ally

Although your child's health visitor, childminder and other health professionals, such as their paediatrician, are extremely important for your child's early physical, emotional, intellectual and social development, it is your child's teacher who will get to understand and notice their complexities on a daily basis. You should ask your child's class teacher, the teaching assistant, head teacher or SENCO about any concerns you may have, or go to them whenever you have information that you want to share. Equally, being open, flexible and adaptable to the ideas and teaching methods of the staff would be the single best thing a parent could do to support all the work that teachers put in to support their pupils. By working in partnership with each other, parents and teachers can have strong lines of communication and all feel like they are on the same page, all moving together to support the progress of the child.

Under-fives can be assessed for special needs

Although it is often reported that children under 5 cannot be assessed for special needs, there are some key traits that parents and other professionals can keep a watch of to help with an earlier diagnosis. Important problems to look out for include:

Communication
Understanding and learning
Sensory and physical development
Interactions with others

If parents believe their child under 5 may have a special educational need which has not been formally identified, they should discuss this with the staff member responsible for SEN in the child's playgroup, nursery or other early years setting. Equally, if the child does not attend any of these, parents can talk to the Education Authority (EA) in their area and learn about the different services available for children under five years old. The EA can help parents locate appropriate early years and childcare provision, and the Special Education Needs Team will provide you with advice about all things SEN.

On top of this, talking to your doctor or health visitor can help get the ball rolling with an early diagnosis. Most health authorities are closely connected with voluntary organisations and social services to help support children with special educational needs.

Children with severe disabilities do not need to attend a special school

By law, a child with special educational needs must be educated with non-disabled children so long as he or she makes reasonable progress in his or her IEP goals, with the aid of special supports and services. Only when a student is not making good progress in a mainstream classroom setting will a special school be considered. Today, most pupils with SEN should find that their needs are catered to in a mainstream school or early years setting, and it is those with more complex needs who will be considered to benefit from the specialist knowledge of a special school. The school a child attends should ensure that parents or carers are involved in all the decisions that will impact the child.

Inclusion in mainstream schools does not mean exclusion from the rest of the class

All children with SEN are entitled to receive a broad, balanced and appropriate education which is commensurate with the National Curriculum.Under the Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years every school must:

Use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEN gets the support they need.
Ensure that children and young people with SEN engage in the activities of the school alongside pupils who do not have SEN.
Designate a teacher to be responsible for coordinating SEN provision.
Inform parents when they are making special educational provision for a child.
Prepare a SEN information report.

Nowhere in these requirements is the suggestion that students with SEN who learn in mainstream schools should be segregated into different classrooms, work constantly with a 1:1 or never learn alongside their classmates. In fact, research has even found that mainstream schools sometimes have higher expectations for children with SEN due to the expectations they have for the rest of class, and so learning with them can mean that young people with special needs can be pushed further and excel even quicker.

There are many strategies to help children with SEN have a good bedtime

Sometimes the transition to bedtime, or even just the idea of going to sleep, can be problematic for children with special educational needs. Here are our top 12 tricks for an easier bedtime:

Sleep tight: Health professionals suggest you wrap a quilt cover over the bed and tuck it in tightly on either side under the mattress, stopping the bedding from coming off.
Love my room: Try not to use the bedroom as space for punishment and instead find ways to make the bedroom awash with positive feeling associations.
Black-out blinds: Using black-out blinds particularly during the summer and spring months can give a few hours extra sleep.
Night wanders: Buy a plastic door hook to go over the top of her door and put a mobile that jangles on it to help you know when someone is sneaking out.
Night panics: Mp3 pillows with inbuilt speakers can be a great way to listen to soothing music without wires getting in the way.
Record your own voice: Recording yourself reading stories or singing lullabies can help send a child back to sleep after you have left their room.
Colours: Painting the bedroom in calming colours such as blues and greens can quickly create a calming atmosphere. Research has shown that blue is the best colour for sleep because it can induce sleep-time hormones.
Temperature control: 65 to 70 Fahrenheit / 18 – 20 Celsius is considered normal. Always remember to check for drafts.
Calming pressure: Using heavy blankets, sleeping bags, soft toys or pillows can meet the sensory needs of some children and increase the speed at which they fall to sleep.
Massage: Foot, hand, scalp or body massage with drops of essential oils can be incredibly soothing just before bed-time.
Naptime: Try to keep any naps a child takes during the day short and not too close to bedtime. Naps should only become part of the routine as early on in the afternoon as possible.
Starstruck: Sticking fluorescent stars to the ceiling can give a child's room a friendly and calming glow, helping them to relax as they go off to sleep.

There are some rules you can follow to pick the best school for your child

If you're choosing any school for a child with SEN, ask for a copy of the school's special educational needs policy and ask about funding and fees just so that you are clear from the beginning about how much support your child will be able to receive at that setting. If the school does this for you then you are on to a good one, however, here are some other big indicators about the school's attitude to their SEN students and provision that you will want to see before choosing them:

Staff will make sure that special needs support is an important part of the school, with an easy flow of information between specialists and subject teachers.
Careful consideration will be given about what a pupil will miss out on if they do not receive extra help.
They will test or screen all children for SEN on entry or at the first sign of any difficulties.
Will mostly likely have other pupils in the school with special needs who are supported by qualified specialist teachers.
Multi-sensory learning and teaching methods within lessons are used regularly.
The SEN code of practice is followed to make use of concessions for exams, such as providing a laptop, extra time or a member of staff to read out questions.
There is a supportive headteacher and SLT.
Staff look to build self-esteem and the overall wellbeing of the children each class.

Even without a statement, a child with SEN should receive specialised provision at school

Children with special education needs who do not have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) should have provision made for them in school through its ‘SEN Support'. This support should follow the tried and tested cycle which requires the school to assess, plan, do and review. This process is used to ensure that the school and outside agencies understand the child's needs, and to help identify the strategies and support needed to ensure they make good progress.

The assessment part of the process is where the teacher works with the SENCO to analyse the child's needs and to incorporate all parent concerns within the report. Input from other professionals working with the child at school should also be included to get a fully rounded picture of the child.

The planning stage is where the school decides what support and interventions must be put in place after looking at the assessment in great detail. Parents must be made aware of the plan and have to give their consent before the plan can be put in motion.

Do and review is when staff members deliver their planned interventions and support, and then regularly review the impact these strategies are having on the child's development and progress. Any changes to the plan after the review process must be made in consultation with parents and the child.

We hope this count down has been helpful and informative. For more information please look at these useful links:

The next big thing in special education needs 2021

The importance of supporting children with SEN

Top 10 tips for finding jobs in 2021

Job security a top priority in UK ahead of changes to travel

How do I make the right career choice in 2021

How to help special needs kids change schools

How to include children with special educational needs