What can you expect from the service?
Advice for settings on inclusive teaching
Our main purpose is to guide, train, advise, support and empower Early Years practitioners so that all children have access to fully inclusive learning environments.
Support for individual children
For some children, additional support will be necessary. The staff in our team have specialist SEND knowledge and experience. They work with individual children and their families and/or settings, assessing their needs, giving practical advice and guidance and offering training. They suggest and model strategies to help support your child, and may also identify training opportunities for the staff working with your child.
Support for emotional wellbeing and behaviour
Support may be provided by an Early Years Emotional Wellbeing and Behaviour Specialist. They have specialised knowledge, skills and experience supporting children with social, emotional and behavioural needs. They work with Early Years providers to develop therapeutic behaviour support in their settings. They work with a small number of individual children who may benefit from more individualised support due to their emotional and behavioural needs.
Support for social communication and autism
All Early Years settings have access to the Hertfordshire Autism Training, and will be offered bespoke training or support through the Early Years SEND team.
Our Early Years SEND Team practitioners are all experienced in supporting early years children with social communication needs. In some cases, where your child’s strengths and needs assessment indicates that their main area of need is Speech, Language, Communication and Autism (SLCA), a member of the team with specialist knowledge in this area will be allocated.
Depending on your child's level of needs, they may be offered additional support. This could include you attending a group to meet other families and access additional support for your child. In some cases, it may mean that adults working with your child will be offered training from an Early Years Inclusion Specialist (EYIS) to advance their knowledge and skills in specific interventions and SEND strategies.
Support for transition
During key periods of transition (for example, when your child starts Nursery or Reception, or moves from Reception to Year 1) we will support the staff at your child's setting to ensure the most appropriate provision and adjustments are in place to meet their needs.
Specialist Development Centres
Some young children requiring specialist support may be offered a block of sessions at an Early Years Specialist Development Centre (EYSDC). The EYSDC is a specialist group which offers therapeutic, play-based parent and child sessions.
There are 5 Specialist Development Centres across the county which support children from birth to approximately 3 years of age who have complex SEND.
Education Health and Care Plans
We support settings and schools to provide high quality SEN support; to meet the learning needs of the majority of children without the need for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
You can find more information about requesting an EHC Needs Assessment on our Requesting an Assessment page.
If your child has an EHCP, we can support your child's setting to ensure they are able to confidently put the suggested provision in place. Children (up until the end of Reception year) with an EHCP will be allocated to an Early Years Education, Health and Care Plan Coordinator (EHCCo). The EHCCos will support families and settings to regularly review the EHCP and plan for next steps. If you require support regarding the EHCP process, contact the Early Years SEND duty line on 01442 453300, or email us on: EarlyYearsStatutorySend@hertfordshire.gov.uk.