Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
(SEND)
CORONAVIRUS ADVICE AND LINKS
The Council for Disabled Children have collated a list of resources which may also be useful to you...
You can download it here.
The Council for Disabled Children have collated a list of resources which may also be useful to you...
- National Autistic Society – guidance and helpline for parents’, young people and staff: https://www.autism.org.uk/services/nas-schools/vanguard/news/2020/march/coronavirus-(covid-19)-advice.aspx
- Mencap - Easy Read guide to Coronavirus: https://www.mencap.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-03/Information%20about%20Coronavirus%20ER%20SS2.pdf
- Place2Be – Guide to helping parents answer questions from their children and to support family wellbeing: https://www.place2be.org.uk/about-us/news-and-blogs/2020/march/coronavirus-information-for-children/
- Young Minds - Talking to your child about Coronavirus and 10 tips from their Parents Helpline to support family wellbeing: https://youngminds.org.uk/blog/talking-to-your-child-about-coronavirus/
- Carers UK - Guidance for carers: https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/health/looking-after-your-health/coronavirus-covid-19
- Covibook – an interactive resource designed to support and reassure children aged 7 and under, designed to help children explain and draw the emotions that they might be experiencing during the pandemic: https://www.mindheart.co/descargables
- Amaze - information pack for parents https://amazesussex.org.uk/faqs-about-the-coronavirus-for-parent-carers-of-children-with-send-brighton-hove/
You can download it here.
SEND Policy - please click here to view
SEND News
Letter to parents/carers RE: Statutory work during COVID-19 restrictions
Dear Parent/carer
We are aware that for families with children with SEND, this is a hugely challenging time and you are all trying to adapt to a different world. The challenge for all families is great at the moment, but for families with children with SEND, there are more complications each day, and we hope that you are finding ways to look after yourself, as well as your children.
You many have seen Vicky Ford (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families) open letter explaining in more detail the changes made due to coronavirus.
We want to let you know what changes you may see in our services during this crisis. We will try to keep this information brief but explain what we are prioritising and how this may affect you.
Meeting our duties under the Children and Families Act 2014 in the context of Covid 19
The Government have now passed the Coronavirus Bill which relaxed some of the legal duties around EHC plans and this includes changing the requirement on LAs to maintain the precise provision and allows for schools to now use their ‘reasonable endeavours’ (rather than ‘best endeavours’) to support your children.
We would like to reassure you that our SEND Operations team will continue to work at this time. We are, like most people across the country, facing the same challenges of reduced staff and reduced hours as many of our teams have their own vulnerable children and family members who need care. However, for as long as the Local Authority has sufficient staff available to work, the SEND Operations teams will endeavour to meet as many of the SEND statutory processes and timescales as possible.
Education Health and Care Needs Assessments (EHCNAs)
We are asking that schools and settings do not make requests for new EHC needs assessments at this time. An EHCNA is a thorough assessment of a child’s needs and requires information from both health professionals and social care teams. We are not able to reasonably ask health front line staff at the moment for their time to contribute to assessments. We will of course review this on a regular basis.
Annual Review of Education, Health and Care plans
Your child’s annual review may be due in the coming weeks. We would ask that you have a conversation with the SENCo at your school to make the right decision for your child. It may be that you choose to rearrange the meeting; it may be that you choose to continue with the review using online meeting technology. This most likely will depend on your own availability and the availability of the professionals who support your child. Any of these options are appropriate under current circumstances.
Consultations for school places
We will continue to consult with schools about school places. However, we recognise that schools are working under very difficult situations currently and may not be able to meet the usual timescales. We have asked schools to respond as soon as is reasonably possible and we would ask you to bear with us at this time. We will do our best to keep you fully informed.
Useful information for parents
We understand that there are many sources of information at this time and it can be difficult to keep up with the latest information. We will be updating and developing the information on the Essex Local Offer each day with information and support for families.
http://www.essexlocaloffer.org.uk/?s=&category=coronavirus-support-for-families
http://www.essexlocaloffer.org.uk/?s=&category=coronavirus-learning-from-home
https://nasen.org.uk/news/covid-19-important-information-and-faqs.html
Working together
At this time, more than ever, it is essential that we understand how the current situation is affecting our families and the concerns of our families and young people. We will be working with the Essex Family Forum to keep them up-to-date with all developments and to make decisions wherever possible. We have received a list of questions from the Forum that have been compiled from families in Essex and we will be answering those questions the best we can on the Local Offer.
https://essexfamilyforum.org/about/
The SEND operations team can be contacted on:
Mid Essex (Braintree, Chelmsford, Halstead and Maldon): 0333 013 9949
North East Essex (Colchester and Tendring): 0333 013 7667
South Essex (Basildon, Billericay, Brentwood, Castle Point, Rochford and Wickford): 0333 013 4736
West Essex (Epping, Harlow and Uttlesford): 0333 013 9911
By us all working together, we can ensure that children and young people with SEND continue to receive the support they need during this difficult time. We will of course review all of this on a regular basis as the situation changes from day to day.
Best wishes and take care of yourself and your families during this time.
Kind regards
Clare Kershaw
Director of Education, Essex County Council
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The ability to communicate is fundamental to human activity.
A child's speech and language development has an impact on their social and emotional development and all areas of school life too.
We commission Communicate, an independent Speech and Language Therapy service. Our Communicate Speech Therapist is Hannah Bedford. Hannah and her colleagues have created resourses and complied lists of useful apps that will help parents to support their child's speech and language development at home.
Click on the links below to view these resources:
A child's speech and language development has an impact on their social and emotional development and all areas of school life too.
We commission Communicate, an independent Speech and Language Therapy service. Our Communicate Speech Therapist is Hannah Bedford. Hannah and her colleagues have created resourses and complied lists of useful apps that will help parents to support their child's speech and language development at home.
Click on the links below to view these resources:
| preschool_apps_page_1.pdf |
| preschool_apps_page_2.pdf |
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| preschool_speech_and_language_activities_page_2.pdf |
| year_1_speech_and_language_support_sheet.pdf |
| year_2_speech_and_and_language_support_sheet.pdf |
| year_3.4_speech_and_and_language_support_sheet.pdf |
| year_5.6_speech_and_and_language_support_sheet.pdf |
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| chat_challenge__objects_.pdf |
| chat_challenge__dough___1_.pdf |
| chat_challenge__blocks_.pdf |
Information about the Essex Local Offer can be found here
http://www.essexlocaloffer.org.uk
Have you seen the Living Well website?
On this site you will find an Autism Hub with lots of information for parents and carers of children with Autism.
http://www.livingwellessex.org/autism-hub/
On this site you will find an Autism Hub with lots of information for parents and carers of children with Autism.
http://www.livingwellessex.org/autism-hub/
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