Transcript Individual Education Plans

Graduate Diploma
Implementing and Managing the
Code of Practice
Day 5
Thursday 17th February 2011
Special Educational Needs Code of Practice
for Wales 2002
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
EDUCATION DIRECTORATE
What do we mean by SEN?
Children have special educational needs if they
have a learning difficulty which calls for special
educational provision to be made for them
Children have a learning difficulty if they:
a. have a significantly greater difficulty in
learning than the majority of children of the
same age
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
What do we mean by SEN?
Or:
b. have a disability which prevents or
hinders them from making use of
educational facilities of a kind generally
provided for children of the same age in
schools within the area of the local
educational authority
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
What do we mean by SEN?
Or:
c. are under compulsory school age
and fall within the definition at a)
or b) above or would do so if
special educational provision was
not made for them
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
Key principles
 Schools must have due regard to the Code
 Provision for SEN is a whole school issue
 All teachers are teachers of SEN
 Children should be offered access to an
appropriate curriculum
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
Key principles
 A child with SEN should have their needs met
 These needs will normally be met in a
mainstream setting
 A child’s view should be sought
 Parents have a vital role to play
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
SEN Code of Practice
 Early Identification is seen as critical
 The Graduated response: Early Years or
School Action
-
Early Years or
School Action Plus
-
Statement
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
Categories of Need
There are no hard and fast categories but most
pupils will fall into one of these main areas:
 communication and interaction
 cognition and learning
 behaviour, emotional and social development
 sensory and/or physical
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
Complete sheet
‘Categories of need’
Categories of Need
Communication and Interaction may include:
 speech and language delay, impairments or disorders
 specific learning difficulties (e.g dyslexia, dyspraxia)
 hearing impairment
 autistic spectrum disorder
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
Categories of Need
Some pupils may also have:
 moderate, severe or profound
learning difficulties
 language and communication
difficulties as a result of permanent
sensory or physical impairment
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
EDUCATION DIRECTORATE
Categories of Need
Cognition and Learning may include:
 Moderate
 Severe
 Profound learning difficulties
Some pupils may also have:
 specific learning difficulties
 physical and sensory impairments
 autistic spectrum disorder
Categories of Need
Some of these children may also have:
 Sensory
 Physical
 Behavioural difficulties
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
Categories of Need
Behaviour, emotional and social
development may include those who are:
 disruptive and disturbing
 hyperactive and lacking concentration
 withdrawn or isolated
Categories of Need
Some of these pupils may also
have:
 immature social skills
 challenging behaviours arising
from other complex special
needs
Categories of Need
There is a wide spectrum of sensory, multisensory and physical difficulties. The sensory
range includes:
 profound and permanent deafness
 visual impairment
 lesser levels of loss, which may only be
temporary
Categories of Need
 Physical impairments may arise from physical,
neurological or metabolic causes
 Others may lead to more complex learning and
social needs
 A few children will have multi-sensory
difficulties, some with associated physical
difficulties
Defining SEN
Additional Learning Needs (ALN)
Or
Additional Educational Needs (AEN)
is becoming more widely used to encompass those
with SEN and with other disabilities that may
impact on their ability to access the curriculum
The Impact of SEN
Some issues pupils may have in common:
 Low self-esteem
 Difficulty co-operating with peers
 Difficulty working independently
The Impact of SEN
Some issues pupils may have in common:
(continued)
 Difficulty staying on task
 Difficulty completing tasks
 Poor communication skills
 Poor motivation
Individual Education Plans
Individual Education Plans
a useful way of focusing
on a child’s needs and how
to meet them, or just
another bureaucratic
chore?
Why do we have IEP’s?
Task
Purpose of IEP
IEPs
 The idea behind individual plans for children
with special needs, is a good one: when a pupil is
experiencing difficulties, identify what they
are; decide on some appropriate action; do it,
then review it
 BUT a whole industry has grown up around
designing templates, creating targets,
measuring progress – and stressing over the
whole business. SENCOs have literally made
themselves ill in the process
IEPs
 The test of how well IEPs are used is
whether a teacher knows about a pupil’s
difficulties, plans accordingly and
differentiates effectively in the
classroom, science lab, studio, gym, etc,
rather than the IEP being used only by
the TA running a small group
intervention.
Questions to consider
 What should they include?
 Should they all be the same
Primary, Secondary?
IEPs
 Individual plans still play an important role
however, especially for children with significant
difficulties. For these pupils, a ‘bespoke’ approach
may be needed and the important thing is that
thought is given to the individual.
 Part of the reason for IEPs gaining such a bad
reputation was that many tended to be generic,
with a tendency to only ‘change the name’
sometimes; another reason is that they often didn’t
see the light of day – kept neatly in the teacher’s
desk drawer, or a filing cabinet, ready for when an
inspector called!
IEPs
 An individual plan should be a working
document, useful to all staff working with the
pupil and constantly at hand: its design should
allow for regular updates and comments
(scribbled notes) by TAs, teachers and
parents. In some schools, an extra sheet is
attached to the IEP for daily/weekly updates,
rather than waiting for the scheduled review –
this makes much more sense in many ways.
Make sure that:
 targets are achievable, short-term and specific, so that
everyone can see when each one has been met
 the pupil is involved in the setting of targets whenever
possible
 targets are described in jargon-free language and clear to all
concerned – not least the pupil himself/herself, who should
be able to say ‘Today I hit one of my targets… I sat on the
carpet for the whole story/spelled three new target words
correctly/asked a question in class…’
 teaching/behaviour management strategies are described
with details of who will deliver them, when and where
 necessary resources are listed
 there is a date for review, and the names of people involved
in reviewing.
IEPs
 Involving pupils in decisions about their IEPs
and types of support provided is something
that everyone acknowledges as a ‘good thing’,
but in practice, is not always well done. It may
not always be appropriate for a child to attend
review meetings, but a one-to-one with the
SENCO or TA/mentor beforehand can provide
useful information and insight into how a child
is responding to the support on offer.
EDUCATION DIRECTORATE
Individual Education Plans
 Should only contain what is additional to
and different from the school’s
differentiated curriculum planning for all
pupils
 3 or 4 SMART short term targets set
through discussion with the pupil and
parents.
 A description of the child’s strengths
and areas for development
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
EDUCATION DIRECTORATE
Individual Education Plans
Targets should be:
SPECIFIC
MEASURABLE
ATTAINABLE
RELEVANT
TIME CONSTRAINED
CITY AND COUNTY OF SWANSEA • DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE
Individual Education Plans
Look at some IEP’s
Are the targets SMART?
IEPs
 there have been moves to minimise the
number of IEPs and many schools have
used ‘provision mapping’ as a way of
allocating different types of support to
individuals. Pupils identified for ‘school
action’ can certainly fit well into this
type of planning and management of
interventions.
Can provision maps replace IEPs?
 Provision maps can support schools in reducing
bureaucracy
 In England they are being used as an alternative to
writing large numbers of individual education plans for
students with low level needs that can be met through
wave 3 literacy and numeracy interventions
 Some schools believe they will replace IEPs, however
this could only happen if certain provision is in place
Can provision maps replace IEPs?
Some schools believe they will replace IEPs, however this could
only happen if certain provision is in place
These include:

Whole school target setting systems that incorporate individual
targets for all vulnerable groups/ students which are reviewed
at least twice a year

Rigorous self evaluation of SEN provision which ensures all
students are making good progress

Systems for working in full partnership with parents

Systems which take account of the views of students
Look at some provision maps