Identifying Need

The support and help a child or young person requires depends on their needs. There are four broad areas of needs and the child or young person may have needs across some or all of these areas. Their needs can change over time.

On this page, you can find:

What do we mean by identifying need?

  • Improving outcomes for our children and young people with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) is at the heart of our Inclusive Ambitions to tackle key inequality issues in Doncaster.
  • Investing in our learners and their families at the earliest opportunity will support us to help them achieve their best possible outcomes.
  • There are four broad areas outlined in the SEND Code of Practice (2015). They provide settings with an overview of the range of needs that should be planned for.
  • The purpose of identification, however, is to work out what needs to be put in place to remove barriers, not to fit a learner into a category. In practice, individual children or young people often have needs that cut across all these areas and their needs may change over time.

What are the four broad areas of need?

Areas of Need Summary
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Cognition and Learning

Identifying Needs_Cognition and Learning
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Communication and Interaction

Identifying Needs_Communication and Interaction
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Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)

Identifying Needs_Social, Emotional and Mental Health
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Physical and Sensory

Identifying Needs_Physical and Sensory
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What does the SEND Code of Practice tell us?

6.14 All schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN. The benefits of early identification are widely recognised – identifying need at the earliest point and then making effective provision improves long-term outcomes for the child or young person. 
6.15 A child or young person has SEN where their learning difficulty or disability calls for special educational provision, namely provision different from or additional to that normally available to children and young people of the same age. Making higher quality teaching normally available to the whole class is likely to mean that fewer pupil's will require such support. Such improvements in whole-class provision tend to be more cost effective and sustainable. 
6.16 Schools should assess each pupil’s current skills and levels of attainment on entry, building on information from previous settings and key stages where appropriate. At the same time, schools should consider evidence that a pupil may have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 and, if so, what reasonable adjustments may need to be made for them. 
6.17 Class and subject teachers, supported by the senior leadership team, should make regular assessments of progress for all pupils. These should seek to identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individual circumstances. This can be characterised by progress which: 
• is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline 
• fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress 
• fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers 
• widens the attainment gap
6.18 It can include progress in areas other than attainment – for instance where a pupil needs to make additional progress with wider development or social needs in order to make a successful transition to adult life. 
6.19 The first response to such progress should be high quality teaching targeted at their areas of weakness. Where progress continues to be less than expected the class or subject teacher, working with the SENCO, should assess whether the child has SEN. While informally gathering evidence (including the views of the pupil and their parents) schools should not delay in putting in place extra teaching or other rigorous interventions designed to secure better progress, where required. The pupil’s response to such support can help identify their particular needs. 
6.20 For some children, SEN can be identified at an early age. However, for other children and young people difficulties become evident only as they develop. All those who work with children and young people should be alert to emerging difficulties and respond early. In particular, parents know their children best and it is important that all professionals listen and understand when parents express concerns about their child’s development. They should also listen to and address any concerns raised by children and young people themselves. 

Needs Descriptors

How may an unmet need present?

  • Work refusal
  • Difficulty paying attention (easily distracted, difficulty knowing the answer to a question or what was asked)
  • Poor school-based organisational skills (difficulty starting tasks, forgetting homework, forgetting necessary equipment)
  • Regular disturbance (e.g. calling out, talking to peers, distracting others)
  • Sensory seeking behaviours e.g. rocking on chair, putting things in their mouth, unable to stay still, constant  fiddling, needing to touch others, making noises)
  • Language that is considered rude or disrespectful
  • Attention- needing behaviours (e.g. constant reassurance seeking, calling out)
  • Difficulty with paired or shared work
  • Difficulties with emotional regulation e.g. appear angry, have extreme emotional reactions,
  • Appear isolated in the school community
  • Punctuality, attendance issues and Emotionally Based School None Attendance (EBSNA)
  • Difficulties with break times or with socialising
  • Difficulty following instructions

Resources

Bespoke Timetable Quick Guide FINAL
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