Zara Smith, PACEY Advisor
All teachers, including early years practitioners are responsible and accountable for the progress and development of the children in their care. The Equality Act 2010 prohibits educators from discriminating against a child with additional needs and settings must ensure that they are fully inclusive. This also means that every educator, in early years, primary and secondary education is a teacher of children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND). In the early years we are best placed to identify these needs early on and to ensure that appropriate support is put into place as soon as possible, helping to ensure that most children with SEND achieve well and gain the foundations for a successful transition into school and their future life.
But how do we best support children with SEND?
The Departments of Education’s guide, SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years, sets out the process that should be used for identifying and meeting the needs of children with SEND – the graduated approach. This is an ongoing four-part cycle of actions: Assess; Plan; Do; Review.
Although you may not have heard of this term as part of everyday good practice, early years practitioners will already be familiar with this process as it is how you plan for all children to learn, though observing a child, thinking about what they need, trying out ideas, deciding how well it has worked and what the child needs next.
The graduated approach is a more formalised, documented approach to support children who are not developing and progressing as expected. It is important to begin this approach as soon as there are concerns about a child’s development and you should not wait for a formal diagnosis. Afterall, a diagnosis is a label or name given to a condition or set of symptoms and everyone with a given diagnosis may present slightly differently. Much more helpful, when considering how to support a child’s learning is understanding their learning needs.
The graduated approach is intended is support the understanding of a child’s learning need. It also helps to bring together helpful information for the child and their family and identify appropriate support and interventions that will help the child to develop, progress well and make a successful transition in the next stage on their learning journey. The four steps are as follows:
ASSESS – Analysis and identification of the needs for the child. This is done by gathering information from parents, teachers, other professionals, through observation and specialist assessment if required. Things to consider could include:
- Tracking and monitoring the child’s engagement
- Observing how the child interacts with others
- Identifying barriers to engagement
- Reviewing their current progress against age-related expectations
PLAN – Develop a plan, with parents/carers and other external professional that are involved in supporting the child. This should:
- outline and document the support that will be provided to the child
- include what the child is expected to achieve, what outcomes are being sought
- specify the interventions and support that will be put in place and how they will be tailored to help the child meet these specific targets and goals
- consider staff development needs to deliver the strategies and interventions
- agree a date for review.
DO – Implement the plan by providing the support outline within it. This may include:
- Working with the child one-on one or in small groups
- Providing additional resources or equipment
- Making adjustment and adaption to the learning environment or learning activities and experiences
REVIEW – Regularly review the effectiveness of the support provided and adjust as necessary. This will involve:
- Gathering feedback from parents, teachers, and other professionals
- Reviewing child’s progress against the goals and targets set up in the Plan phase
This takes you back to the beginning of the process – PLAN. Where a specific goal or target has been met and is learning is NICE (natural, independent, consistent, and embedded), then either more challenging targets or new targets can be set. Where a specific goal or target has not been met, the plan can either be continued or simplified.
The graduated approach is a continuous cycle of assessing needs, planning to meet those needs, implementing those plans, reviewing their effectiveness, and adjusting as required.
It is important that these plans are documented. Sometimes these are called Additional Support Plan (ASP) or Individual Education Plan (IEP). It is worth checking with your local authority, as they may provide an example format for you to use, which may align with their Inclusion Funding application process. The plans should be shared with the practitioners who will be implementing the strategies and interventions. As their child’s first and most enduring educator, it is important that the plans are shared with parents/carers and that their views and insights are sought. These documents also ensure that the children’s successes are captured and celebrated.
It is also important to consider that they are also important for providing the necessary evidence of interventions tired and their impact when applying for Inclusion Funding or an Education health and Care Plan, if necessary. It is also a requirement of the EYFS that settings maintain a record of children under their care, including details of how the setting supports children with SEN and disabilities and must make these records available to parents and other professionals working with the child.
Remember a diagnosis is not necessary to follow the graduated approach, so as soon as there are concerns about a child, this approach should be adopted, and actions documented. When supporting children with additional needs, it can sometimes feel overwhelming and daunting, however truly inclusive settings will actively seek out ways to support children with SEND, adapting and developing as required. The graduated
approach is not only a legal requirement, but also provides a framework and structure that can help settings to feel less daunted and can support children to develop and progress.
‘Inclusion is mainly just good teaching’ (Sobel: 2021)
