Does your child have SEN?

A child is considered to have a special educational need if he or she has a learning difficulty that calls for special educational provision to be made for them.

Parents, teachers and childcare practitioners usually find out if a child has a need if he or she has greater difficulty learning than the majority of other children of the same age, or if the child has a disability that prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities provided for children of the same age within that local educational authority.

The government's Every Child Matters (enshrined in the Education Act 1996) states that children with special educational needs should have their needs met as soon as they become apparent, without the need for a period of failure. They should feel valued as members of their school and community.

The paper also says there must be greater consistency in the quality of services for children with special educational needs to the extent that both parents and local authorities feel confident that this is the case.

Types of special educational needs

The term special educational needs (SEN) refers to a wide spectrum of different needs. These needs can be broken down into more specific areas.

Social, Emotional And Behavioural Disorders

Asperger Syndrome - Often seen as a form of autism because of several similar characteristics such as difficulty in socialising and using the imagination. However, children with Asperger generally learn to speak at an early age and the condition might not be recognised until after they start school.

Attention Deficit Disorder (Add) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd) - Children with these conditions find it difficult to concentrate and are easily distracted. This often leads to problems with learning and behaviour. The hyperactivity element might be noticed by excessive talking, movement or impulsive actions.

Autism - This is a non-progressive developmental disorder that usually appears before the age of three. Signs of autism are difficulties with social interaction, communication, imagination and behaviour. It is known as a spectrum disorder because symptoms can vary from mild to severe.

Learning Difficulties

Acalculia - This is different from dyscalculia in that it describes the inability to perform basic mathematical processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Speech, Language and Communication Disability - Children who have problems expressing themselves and understanding others may find it difficult to build relationships and learn.

Down Syndrome - Affecting one in every 1,000 people, Down syndrome is a chromosomal disorder and one of the most common causes of learning difficulties.

Dyscalculia - Like dyslexia, this is a specific disability that affects a person's ability to deal with numbers. It relates to numerical aspects of life such as telling the time, dealing with money, measuring things.

Dyslexia - This affects the ability to read, write and spell and can occur despite normal intelligence and teaching. About 10 per cent of the UK population is estimated to have some form of dyslexia and it varies from mild to extreme.

Dyspraxia - This is a motor learning disability characterised by a lack of coordination which affects the ability to deal with everyday tasks (it used to be known as clumsy child syndrome!). Children with dyspraxia have no neurological abnormality to explain its cause.

Sensory Impairment

Hearing Impairment - This refers to a range of hearing loss from mild to totally deaf and can refer to children born with hearing loss or who develop a loss later in life.

Visual Impairment - This covers people who are partially sighted or blind. Severe or total loss of vision can occur when parts of the eye or brain that process images becomes damaged through disease or trauma.

For further information services and organisations to help support your child with SEN check out our Helping Hands section