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Identifying and assessing SEN for young children whose first language is not English
requires particular care. Early years practitioners should look carefully at all aspects of a
child’s learning and development to establish whether any delay is related to learning
English as an additional language or if it arises from SEN or disability. Difficulties related
solely to learning English as an additional language are not SEN.
Where a child has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than their peers, or a
disability that prevents or hinders a child from making use of the facilities in the setting
and requires special educational provision, the setting should make that provision. In all
cases, early identification and intervention can significantly reduce the need for more
costly interventions at a later stage.
Special educational provision should be matched to the child’s identified SEN. Children’s
SEN are generally thought of in four broad areas of need and support - communication
and interaction; cognition and learning; social, emotional and mental health, and sensory
and/or physical needs. A fuller explanation of these is given in Chapter 6, Schools, in
the 0-25 SEND Code of Practice, from paragraph 6.28.
These areas give an overview of the range of needs that providers should plan for.
However, individual children often have needs that cut across all these areas and their
needs may change over time. For instance speech, language and communication needs
can also be a feature of a number of other areas of SEN, and children with an Autism
Spectrum Disorder may have needs across all areas. The special educational provision
made for a child should always be based on an understanding of their particular
strengths and needs and should seek to address them all, using well-evidenced
interventions targeted at areas of difficulty and, where necessary, specialist equipment or
software. This will help to overcome barriers to learning and participation. Support should
be family centred and should consider the individual family’s needs and the best ways to
support them.
Reviewing the effectiveness of interventions in enabling children to make progress can
itself be part of the assessment of need, informing the next steps to be taken as part of a
graduated approach to support, as described in ‘SEN support in the early years’ below. It
may be necessary to test out interventions as part of this process, both to judge their
effectiveness for the child and to provide further information about the precise nature of
their needs.
There is a wide range of information available on early years and early intervention and
on different areas of need and the most effective interventions. More information and
links to useful resources are given in Annex 2: Improving practice and staff training in
education settings, in the 0-25 SEND Code of Practice.