How are children without statements helped?

Help for children with learning difficulties is provided largely by their school. Children who are not making adequate progress compared with other children of the same age may receive help at different levels. The SEN Code of Practice sets out the way schools should give extra help as follows:

School Action

School Action is help that is extra or different from the help that schools give routinely to children who may need different teaching methods or extra time to learn.

If routine help is not making a difference for your child, then you should ask to speak to your child’s teacher, headteacher or special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO). If the school agrees that your child needs more support, they should collect information about your child from you, your child’s teacher/s and anyone else who knows about your child’s problems. Then they decide what help is needed and write it on an Individual Education Plan (IEP) which should include:

• details of your child’s difficulties
• three or four short-term targets for your child’s learning
• the help to be provided to reach the targets
• when and how they will check whether your child has met the targets and whether any further help is needed

Help can include:

• different learning materials
• special equipment
• extra adult help in a group or one-to-one
• special programmes such as an individual behaviour management plan
• more staff time for planning your child’s help and checking progress
• training for staff to improve their help for your child

School Action Plus

Some children may go straight to School Action Plus which is a higher level of support. Other children may get this help because they are not making enough progress after two terms or more of help at School Action. At this level of help the school calls in outside experts. The experts may check your child’s progress, suggest new ways of giving help and set new targets for the IEP. The SEN Code gives the following examples of help which may be provided at School Action Plus:

• different teaching methods
• equipment and materials
• advice for teachers
• specialist teaching for the child
• changes to the way the school is organised or managed

Help in state nurseries and other early years provision which take state funding is provided on a similar model called Early Years Action and Early Years Action Plus.

Individual education plans should generally be reviewed two or three times a year. The review is a check on your child’s progress, and whether the help needs to be changed, continue or stop. You should be invited to an IEP review meeting by the SENCO. Unfortunately having an IEP and review meetings is not a legal requirement so some schools do not bother with them. They are strongly recommended in the SEN Code, however, so if your school does not involve you in planning and checking your child’s progress you should ask what it does instead and how you can have a say.