What are special educational needs (SEN) and disability

What are special educational

needs (SEN) and disability

Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have
learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn.

What does special educational needs mean

Children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) often need extra help and support to learn.

The SEND Code of Practice Go to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25 (opens new window) sets out four areas of SEN:

communicating and interacting
cognition and learning
social, emotional and mental health difficulties
sensory or physical needs

Communicating and interacting

Speech, language and communication difficulties make it difficult for a child or young person to understand how to communicate effectively or appropriately with others.

Cognition and learning

Children and young people with cognitive and learning difficulties:

learn at a slower pace than others their age
find it hard to understand parts of the curriculum
have difficulties in organising themselves or remembering things
have a specific difficulty with one particular part of their learning, such as literacy or numeracy

Social, emotional and mental health issues

This means a child or young person:

finds managing relationships difficult
is withdrawn
behaves in a way that causes problems for themselves and others

Sensory or physical needs

This includes visual or hearing impairments, or a physical need that means they require extra ongoing support and equipment.

Some children have needs in more than one of these areas.

How a disability is different to SEN

Not all children with special educational needs are considered to be disabled. The Equality Act 2010 describes a disability 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 sensory impairments, such as those affecting sight or hearing, and long-term conditions such as asthma, epilepsy and cancer.

Children and young people with such conditions don't necessarily have SEN, but there are significant overlaps between disabled children and young people and those with SEN.

If a disabled child or young person needs special educational provision they're also covered by the SEN definition.

Who to talk to if you think your child has SEND

If you think your child might have special educational need or a disability, contact the person in your child's nursery, school or college responsible for SEN. This person is called the SEN coordinator or SENDCO.

Your child's teachers or SENDCO will discuss your child's needs with you and decide what help to give. This could mean a different way of teaching certain things or some extra help from a teaching assistant.

If your child is under 5 years old and not at nursery, contact their health visitor or doctor.

If your child is over 19 years old and not at college, contact their doctor.