Brent Children & Families Information Service Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ Tel: 0208 937 3001 Special Needs Services www.brent.gov.uk/childcare 0 to 25 This list is updated regularly Call Brent CFIS on 020 8937 3001 for up to date information Open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday How can I help my child who has special educational needs? • Children with special educational needs (SEN) have learning difficulties or other disabilities that make learning harder for them than it is for most children the same age. • Children with SEN could have difficulties with all the work in school; reading, writing, number work, understanding information, expressing themselves, understanding what others are saying, making friends or relating to adults. • Help for children with SEN will usually be in the child’s ordinary, mainstream early education setting or school. • Every child makes progress at a different rate and has different ways in which they learn best. • You should be consulted about all the decisions that affect your child. If you have concerns or worries, you should share them with your child’s teacher or any other professional working with your child. • If your child is not yet in school or not yet going to a nursery or pre-school, you can talk to your doctor or health visitor who will be able to give you advice. • If your child is at school or in an early education setting and you think they might have a special need that has not been identified, you should talk to their class teacher or head teacher straightaway What can you do as a parent? Your child’s early years are very important for their all-round development. When your health visitor or doctor makes a routine check, they might suggest that there could be a problem. But if you have any worries of your own, you should get advice straightaway. If your child is at school or in an early education setting and you think they might have a special need that has not been identified by the school or pre-school, you should talk to your child’s class teacher or head teacher straightaway. You could also talk to the SENCO. This is the person responsible for co-ordinating help for children with special educational needs. Learning Difficulties If you are concerned that your child may have learning difficulties, you should first talk to your child’s teacher, tell them your concerns and listen to their opinion. In most cases, this will be enough to put your mind at rest. However, if you feel your child requires further help, you can request a statutory assessment of your child’s needs which is managed by the Special Educational Needs and Assessment Service (SENAS). If you have concerns about your child, give the friendly and helpful staff at SENAS a call. Contact: SENAS Address: Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ Tel: 020 8937 3229 Email: [email protected] Website: www.brent.gov.uk (type SEN in the search box) The Brent Parent-Partnership Service is for all parents/carers of children who have, or may have special educational needs (SEN). Can help you to choose a nursery or a school for your child and give advice if you feel your child needs more support at school because they are not progressing well. We can also help you if you want to apply for a statutory assessment, if you need help with understanding how the assessment process works or any other query about your child’s special educational needs or disability. The Parent Partnership Service can provide support by attending meetings with you, by helping you write reports and letters and linking you to local support groups. Contact: Brent Parent Partnership Service Address: Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ Tel: 020 8937 3434 Email: [email protected] Website: www.brent.gov.uk (type parent partnership in the search box) Carer’s assessment If you are looking after a disabled child or an adult, you are entitled to a ‘Carer’s Assessment’ from Social Services. Depending on local policy, this may or may not be done at the same time by the person who assesses your son or daughter. The assessment is a chance to discuss what help you can get. You can refer yourself to Social Services for a Carer’s Assessment. Social Services can be contacted through your council offices or via their website. You can be assessed as a carer even if the disabled person you care for does not wish to be assessed. You can get more information about Carer’s Assessments from Carers UK, www.carersuk.org. Supporting children with additional needs Early support any child aged 0 to 5 years who has additional needs or a disability and who has 4 or more professionals involved will be eligible for early support. This support will provide you with an allocated key worker who will be the single point of contact between you and other professionals. Early Support offers a term around the family approach which brings key professionals together to discuss the needs of you child ensuring that you are at the heart of decision making about next steps for your family. You should ask one of the professionals with whom you are working (e.g. your speech and language therapist, children’s centre practitioner or physiotherapist) to complete the family CAF (Common Assessment Form) with you to apply for Early Support. Partly funded places if you child has additional needs they may also qualify for partly funded nursery places – application can be made through the nursery panel and details of this can be found at www.brent.gov.uk/sen You should ask the professional with whom you are working (e.g. you health visitor, GP, or children’s centre practitioner) to complete a family CAF (Common Assessment Form) with you to apply to this panel. Children who are looked after or who are subject to child protection or children in need plans may also be able to access funded nursery places. Please contact your social worker for further information. Common Assessment Framework – CAF for short - This is a form that you fill in with your health visitor, a family support worker, a parent support adviser or an early intervention practitioner. It allows you to go through any problems facing you and your family and find out if there is extra support that you may be able to get from social services or other services. If, for example, you have difficulties managing your children’s behaviour, you think special needs may be involved, you are having problems with health, housing or education that are affecting your family’s ability to cope, a CAF can help to find solutions. It always helps to talk and the CAF helps to make sure that the right questions are asked. Who? Health visitor Family support Parent support Early intervention worker advisor practitioner Where Health centre Children’s centre School Locality teams ? 020 8937 2492 Help with costs www.gov.uk : Disability Living Allowance Disabled child element of child Tax Credit Carers Allowance Attendance Allowance Employment and Support Allowance www.familyfund.org.uk Disabled Facilities Grant Hmrc.gov.uk: Maternity & Child Benefit and Tax Credits Nursery Education Grant for 3 and 4 year olds for 15 hours up to 38 weeks per year. Free nursery education is available for three and four year olds usually from the term after the third birthday who attend Brent day care settings that are part of the NEG scheme. Participating nurseries are shown on this list. Some nurseries may charge for extra hours. For further information on claiming please contact Brent Children’s Information Service on 020 8937 3001. www.brent.gov.uk/childcare Nursery Education Grant for 2 year olds www.brent.gov.uk/neg Some families with a child aged 2 are eligible for 15 hours free nursery education grant. You may qualify for the grant if the child for whom you are applying has identified additional needs, is looked after, adopted or in care, other criteria includes receiving Income Support, Job Seeker Allowance, an income related employment and support allowance, Child Tax Credit with an annual income that does not exceed £16,190.00, guaranteed state pension credit or child disability benefit. For further information on NEG 2 please contact Brent Children’s And Families Information Service on 0208 937 3001. Guide ACLD Autism, Communication and Associated Learning Difficulties ADD Attention Deficit Disorder ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder ASD Autistic Spectrum Disorder ASP Asperger syndrome AUT Autism BESD Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties EPI Epilepsy GLD General Learning Difficulties HA High Ability HI Hearing Impairment LD Learning Difficulties MLD Moderate Hearing Difficulties MSI Multi-Sensory Impairment OCD Obsessive Compulsive Disorder PD Physical Difficulties PH Physical Impairment Phe Partially Hearing PMLD Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties PNI Physical Neurological Impairment SCD Social and Communication Difficulties SCLD Severe to complex Learning Difficulties SEBN Social, Emotional and Behavioural Needs SLD Severe Language Difficulties SLI Specific Language Impairment SPLD Specific Learning Difficulties SP & LD Speech and Language difficulties VIS Visual Impairment 0 to 5 Age Group Parents & Toddlers Parent & Toddlers In Brent area Please contact CFIS for list on 3001 or www.brent.gov.uk/childcare 1 Voice Community Parent & Toddlers 1Voice helps to relieve the needs living in Brent by provision of Special needs children’s Play group support education and practical advice. Treetops, Barham [email protected] Park, Wembley Primary, St Raphaels’s, Granville Plus and Tel: Judy Tel: 07972 253339/0203 5560 983 Willow.