Does my child have a Special Educational Need or a Disability?

The Equality Act 2010 (click here for more information) states that a person has a disability "if they have a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities."

A physical or mental impairment includes:

Learning difficulties - including moderate to severe difficulties with areas of the curriculum

Medical conditions, including epilepsy, diabetes, more severe forms of asthma and eczema

Specific learning difficulties, including dyslexia

Autism

Speech, language and communication impairments

Social, Emotional and Mental health difficulties.

Physical Difficulties

Sensory impairment

If the impairment has a substantial and long-term effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities it may amount to a disability.

A 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 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 generally provided for others of the same age in a mainstream school.

There are four categories of SEND. Your child's needs may fall into any one of the categories or they may have difficulties across a number of the categories.

The four categories, as outlined in the new Code of Practice are:

If you would like to discuss SEND in relation to your child, please contact your child's class teacher or Mrs Clifford-Turner, our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator.