Have you and your child/young person worked with the education setting to give support as part of a "graduated approach"?
The education setting should be working with you to understand how best to support you or your child. They should have a document that records the child's needs and what supports them. This might be called a SEN Support document, an Individual Education Plan or something else similar.
This SEN Support document has a four part cycle:
- assess
- plan
- do
- review
This is the "graduated approach". You and the education setting can decide what worked and what didn't in that cycle. Then you can change the plan as needed to help the child or young person make progress.
Yes, I think my child or young person has been supported in this way
No, I do not think my child or young person has been supported in this way
The education setting must provide support to you or your child if they believe they have special educational needs. While you may still submit a request for assessment, if support has not been fully explored through SEN Support, the local authority may reach the decision that your/their needs can clearly be met through SEN Support and decline your request for assessment.
If you don't think the support has been right, talk to the education setting first. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) gives impartial help and can support you when talking to the education setting.
You can choose to continue with the checklist anyway.