It is important to understand what we mean when we talk about a child or young person having special educational needs (SEN).

This is because as parents, you can access important legal rights for your child if your child has or may have SEN. Young people, you can access these rights yourselves if you have or may have SEN.

We explain on this page what legal definition all nurseries, schools, colleges, and local authorities (LAs) will use when deciding whether your child has, or (if you are a young person) you have, SEN.

Looking at SEN means looking at the challenges or barriers to learning your child experiences, or you as a young person face. These challenges may relate to a medical condition or something else, and can include:

• reading and writing, for example due to dyslexia
• ability to understand things
• behaviour or ability to socialise, for example struggling to make friends
• concentration levels, for example due to ADHD, and
• physical ability to do things such as writing.

There are two questions settings and your LA need to consider when thinking about whether your child has, or you as a young person have SEN. When asking these questions, they also think about how old your child is, as different rules apply and that might affect whether they will be considered to have SEN. 

The questions settings and your LA need to ask are:

1. Do they have a learning difficulty or disability?

A child of compulsory school age or young person has a learning difficulty or disability if:

• they have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
• they have a disability which makes it difficult for them to use the facilities normally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or post-16 institutions.

You will see the above relates to children of compulsory school age. What then if you have a younger child? A child under compulsory school age is treated as having a learning difficulty or disability if:

1. it is likely they will have a learning difficulty or a disability, having the same impact as described above, when they reach compulsory school age, or
2. that would be likely, if no special educational provision were made for them.  

2. Does that learning difficulty or disability call for special educational provision to be made?

Here, the setting and your LA again need to think about how old your child is.

Children aged 2 or more years and all young people:

For these children and young people, special educational provision is any educational or training provision that is additional to, or different from, that made generally for other children or young people of the same age.

This is a wide definition, and could cover a wide range of things, for example:

• having materials provided in a larger font
• needing one-to-one support
• communicating through sign language
• needing small class sizes
• being in a different year group to children/young people their age, or
• needing the National Curriculum to be modified, or not applied.

Some children or young people may need additional support which is not special educational provision. Maybe they need certain treatments or medicines to be given to them at school because of a medical condition they have. If they do not need something educational in nature or training which is different from that given to other children or young people of the same age, then they won’t be considered to have SEN. This does not mean their needs will not be supported though and their setting may have other responsibilities for them.

Children under 2 years old:

For these younger children, special educational provision means educational provision of any kind.

This means you do not need to show your child with a learning difficulty or disability at this age needs to receive education which is different from or additional to that which others receive for it to be special educational provision.

All children and young people

There is an another category of special educational provision. This is health care or social care provision which educates or trains a child or young person in some way. For example:

• speech and language therapy, which teaches your child, or you as a young person, how to communicate more effectively
• occupational therapy, which trains your child to do something such as using the toilet or getting dressed, or
• cognitive behavioural therapy or mindfulness, which trains you to manage anxiety.

If your child (of any age) is, or you as a young person are, receiving health care provision or social care provision, which has this educational or training element, then this provision is considered special educational provision.

If the answer to both questions one and two above is yes, then your child has, or you as a young person have, SEN and nursery, school or college must put in place as much support as it can to meet these needs. 

 

Do you want to learn more about the law and how to enforce the rights of children and young people with SEND?   Explore our comprehensive range of free SEND legal guides and template letters designed to help you navigate the SEND system. Access our resources and get the support you need