The four broad areas of need provide a guide to the range of needs that schools and settings should plan for.
It’s important to identify difficulties early to ensure needs are addressed and children or young people are supported in these key areas as soon as possible. Some will have had their needs identified at an early age and may already have received support. For others, needs may not become apparent until the child enters a group setting or difficulties begin to impact on the child’s learning and wellbeing.
Every child or young person will be different and individual children or young people can have needs across all these areas and they may change over time.
The four broad areas of need
Communication and interaction
This can include:
Children on the autism spectrum (ASC) or with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
- Children and young people with autism are likely to have particular difficulties with social interaction. They may also experience difficulties with language, communication and imagination, which can impact on how they relate to others.
- Children and young people who have difficulty in communicating with others, either because they have difficulty saying what they want, understanding what is being said to them, or they do not understand the social rules of communication.
Cognition and learning
This includes:
Children and young people with learning difficulties where they learn at a slower pace than their peers even with appropriate support. This might cover a wide range of needs:
- Moderate learning difficulties (MLD).
- Severe learning difficulties (SLD), where children are likely to need support in all areas of the curriculum and associated difficulties with mobility and communication.
- Profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), where children are likely to have severe and complex learning difficulties as well as a physical disability or sensory impairment, and specific learning difficulties (SpLD) which affect one or more specific aspects of learning. This encompasses a range of conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, and developmental co-ordination disorder.
Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH)
This includes:
Children who have become withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour.
- These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harm, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained.
- Children and young people with disorders such as ADHD-HI Hyperactive/Impulsive type, ADHD-I Inattentive/distractable type or ADHD-C combined type or attachment disorder.
Behaviours should be explored as communication and could be a result of an unidentified or unmet communication and interaction or learning need.
Sensory and/or physical (S&P)
This includes:
Children and young people who require special educational provision because they have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided.
These difficulties may fluctuate over time.
Many children and young people with vision impairment (VI), hearing loss/deafness (HL) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning, or habilitation support.
Children and young people with an MSI have a combination of permanent vision and hearing difficulties. Some children and young people with a physical disability (PD) require additional ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.
Speech, language and communication needs can also be a feature of a number of other areas of SEND, and children with autism may have needs across all areas.
Support should be tailored appropriately and built on the child or young person’s individual strengths and needs so that it can address any difficulties.
Useful information
The Education Endowment Foundation guidance report Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools outlines how school staff should build an ongoing, holistic understanding of pupils and their needs.