on making sure children and families are at the heart of
decision-making. Kay Mathieson takes a look at how the early years might
approach this.
A 'graduated response' is central to the new Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice. It is not a new idea, and was also core to the 2001 SEN Code of Practice. Then, it was characterised as a progression in the intensity of support a child needed from early years action (EYA) plan and early years action plus (EYAP) to statutory assessment and a statement of SEN. The statement of SEN was a legal document designed to ensure that children received the support they needed through multi-agency assessment.
The intention of this 'graduated response' was to support children according to their needs, beginning with minimal intervention and increasing as necessary based on evidence of progress and effectiveness of strategies. Sadly, in many cases the reality was that:
- EYA and EYAP were used as thresholds in the race towards statutory assessment and identified funding rather than focusing on child's needs and appropriate support
- the system of moving through the levels of support drove the process, rather than parents and children being at centre of decision-making
- there was a lack of flexibility in the process, as financial implications were prioritised over child's needs.
THE HEART OF DECISION-MAKING
The SEND Code of Practice (2014) sets out to refocus our efforts on ensuring that children and their families are at the heart of decision-making. And while the SEND Code of Practice is specifically concerned with children with SEND and their families, it is a timely opportunity to reflect on our engagement with all families.
The central idea is that as professionals we are able to bring specialist knowledge about child development but can also value parents' specialist knowledge about their child. The person-centred approach can improve our relationships with all parents, not just those who have a child with SEND.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) requires that we recognise each unique child as constantly learning, and able to be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. As professionals, we know that each child develops and learns in different ways and at different rates. These two principles guide our record keeping and discussions with parents as we celebrate progress and amend our provision to enable further learning and development to take place.
Meeting each child's needs is about:
- seeing things from the child's perspective
- using specialist knowledge from parents and other practitioners
- using interventions and approaches that give each child the 'best possible chance' to succeed
- making sure that what we put in place is making a difference
- seeking advice and guidance beyond the setting to inform more effective strategies and support.
Our EYFS planning cycle advocates observing a child's responses, assessing what this tells us about their development, fears and fascinations, then planning how we can most effectively facilitate progress. The 2014 SEND Code of Practice graduated response also uses observations to inform assessment and planning.
Instead of the previous EYA and EYAP, this code of practice requires an assess, plan, do, review cycle. If, despite 'purposeful action' evidenced through repeated use of this cycle, there are still significant concerns about a child's progress, multi-agency involvement can lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan. This plan will reflect a holistic view of the child and detail the support needed.
ASSESS, PLAN, DO, REVIEW IN PRACTICE
Assess
Initially, the key person, special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) and parents will consider a range of evidence, including observations, examples of new learning, progress and specific struggles to analyse the child's needs.
For this to be effective these discussions will have continuity with ongoing daily and weekly information-sharing between practitioners and parents. This supports open and honest conversations, bringing different viewpoints to be explored sensitively but purposefully.
Regularly sharing observations from home and setting supports evidence-based understanding of a child's progress, highlighting the continuity of their story over time. Adults, through their discussions, learn more about the child and their approaches to play and learning. Patterns of progress begin to emerge and specific forms of support can be recognised as more effective than others.
Plan
Based on the analysis of the child's needs and taking into account the child's views, adults agree the specific outcomes that are currently a priority. The next step is to detail how the child can be best supported when and by whom to enable the outcomes to become a reality. Parents and practitioners contribute to the child's progress through specific actions.
To increase the continuity for the child, the home and setting actions need to be manageable and complement each other. These discussions also help identify any related staff development or training needs.
Realistic expectations based on the shared knowledge of the child alongside reasonable timescales will ensure this is a more satisfying process for all concerned. Better to have three small successful outcomes than one large frustratingly unmanageable one.
Do
Having made the plan based on our factual evidence, we need to take action. Engaging in the assess, plan, do, review cycle means that we will be doing something that is 'additional to' and 'different from' what we do for other children or were doing previously, because we are recognising that this particular child, at this time, needs our intervention to ensure progress.
The way that we implement our plan is a crucial factor in its success. To give the child 'best possible chance', it has to be carried out in a way that is consistent, high-quality and well-understood by all practitioners, not just the SENCO.
Review
In many ways, this is the most important phase of the cycle. Running effective review meetings is a skill, and all practitioners in your setting should have the opportunity to work alongside more experienced members of the team to gain confidence in contributing, organising and sensitively running meetings.
The review is an opportunity to explore our new learning about a child as evidenced by their response to our planned intervention and expected outcomes. We are likely to gain new insights about the way they interact and learn about the world, understanding their perspective more clearly.
This will be enhanced further if there are contributions from professionals from other agencies. Although colleagues from other agencies may not be able to attend a review meeting, their information should be included to inform discussions. Following the review, with parents' permission, key points from the review should also be provided for other professionals.
In review discussions, we need to be honest - if our strategies did not achieve the outcomes, we need to explore the possible reasons. Did we employ our 'best endeavours'? Could our intervention be improved? Demonstrating openness to others' views, and seeking to improve our own practice, will create a positive tone in the discussion. We are equal partners with parents trying to understand and support their child.
This review phase allows reflection and questioning so that we improve our practice, develop our knowledge and target support more effectively. It is also where the graduated response is most evident, as the adults must decide if expected outcomes have been realised or whether more intense support or external advice and support is appropriate.
Practitioners, including SENCOs, often raise concerns about having 'difficult' conversations with parents where they need to raise specific concerns about a child's progress, perhaps indicating that they may have SEND. There are two key points to guide our thinking.
- Firstly, there should be no surprises for parents in a review meeting.
- Secondly, review meeting discussions must be an integral part of and have continuity with our less formal conversations with parents.
These review discussions should not stand alone or be 'different' in tone. Part of our preparation for a review meeting is considering with colleagues how we have supported parents, through our daily conversations to have evidence-based, realistic expectations of their child at this particular time in their development.
We can do this by encouraging sharing of specific observations from home and setting, then contributing our professional knowledge and understanding about child development to celebrate successes as well as sharing surprises and concerns about progress.
When we first meet parents, we do not know where the journey of our relationship will lead, but as described in the SEND Code of Practice we must demonstrate our 'best endeavours', and take 'purposeful action' through the graduated response including working collaboratively with multi-agency colleagues to meet the needs of each unique child in our setting.
MORE INFORMATION
- Check your local authority website for the local authority's 'local offer', which will give details of support and contact points for supporting children with SEND and their families.
- Early support materials, including development journals and specific information about SEND are available from: www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk.
- Identifying Special Needs in the Early Years by K Mathieson, Paul Chapman Publishing.
- Inclusion in the EYFS by K Mathieson (due out April 2015), McGraw-Hill Education.
- Key Persons in the Early Years: building relationships for quality provision in early years settings and primary schools by P Elfer, E Goldschmied and DY Selleck, Routledge.
- SEND Code of Practice: for 0 to 25 years, Department for Education and Department of Health (2014), www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.
