Sensory Support Service

What are levels of support?  We need to know how often each CYP (Child or Young Person) should be in contact with their Teacher of the Deaf, Teacher of the Visually Impaired or Teacher of Multi Sensory Impairment in order to meet their needs. We call this their Level of Support. Knowing this helps us to make sure that we are providing a fair allocation of resources, it informs our staffing levels and ensures that we are complying with The Equality Act 2010.

In our service, levels of support are tailored to the needs of the individual. In order to make decisions about the level of support required for each CYP we use a combination of professional judgement, formal specialist assessments, informal detailed professional observations, discussions with family and other professionals involved with the care of the CYP and the NatSIP (National Sensory Impairment Partnership) Eligibility Framework (Formerly Criteria).

You can find the NatSIP framework by clicking on the link below:

Use the tabs above to find out more about the specialist assessments used within the Sensory Support Service.

What is the Local Offer? The Local Offer is a place on the local authority website.  It is designed to be a single point of information so that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families can find information about the help and support available in their area. The Children and Social Work Act 2017 requires each local authority in England to publish a local offer.

Here is a link to the Local Offer that the Sensory Support Service has provided to Bolton Local Authority. https://www.bolton.gov.uk/sendlocaloffer/

Quality First Teaching – The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 

is very clear that high quality teaching which is differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have, or may have, special educational needs (SEN). CYP may then be identified as needing something in addition to and/or different from Quality First Teaching in order to meet the CYP’s learning and development needs.

The difficulties of a CYP (Child or Young Person) must be assessed so that the right support can be provided. The Early Help Assessment process can support the CYP and their family to get the right support for their child’s needs.

Your specialist teacher, Qualified Teacher of the Deaf (QToD), Qualified Teacher of the Visually Impaired (QTVI), Qualified Teacher of the Multi Sensory Impaired (QTMSI), will be happy to discuss this process with you.

For more information please see BOLTON SEND and Inclusion pages:

 Some children have a high level of need which which cannot be fully met in a mainstream provision. The Early Years High Needs Base provision offers:

• Places for 2, 3 and 4 year old children who have high needs.
• An environment and resources specifically designed to reduce the barriers to learning and support development within the core areas of learning for children with SEND.
• A higher ratio of staff available to meet the needs of pupils who require more specific care.
• Staff who are highly trained and experienced in the field of SEND.

To apply for a High Needs Base place a professional working with the child will need to submit a base referral form together, with an Early Help Assessment and supporting evidence from other professionals to the Early Years SEND High Needs Base Panel. The panel will consider all the evidence and determine the child’s level of needs.

The EY SEND High Needs Base Panel meet approximately three times a year these dates can be found here:

https://www.boltonstartwell.org.uk/resources/send-inclusion/13?documentId=7&categoryId=7

Education, Health and Care Plans

The Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment is the process for identifying the needs that your child/young person has and the provision that is necessary to adequately cater for those needs. It is important that the local authority completes the process efficiently and effectively. The assessment is a multi agency assessment which considers a child/young person’s education, health and social care needs which may lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Information is gathered from the CYP’s parent, the young person themselves, the educational setting they attend, health care professionals, an educational psychologist, specialist teachers and where appropriate social care. An assessment can be requested by: the child’s parent, the young person – if they are over the age of 16 but under the age of 25, or an early years setting, a school or a post 16 provider.

Your specialist teacher – Qualified Teacher of the Deaf, Qualified Teacher of the Visually Impaired, Qualified Teacher of Multisensory Impairment will be happy to discuss this process with you.

For more information please see the Bolton SEND Local Offer:

https://www.bolton.gov.uk/sendlocaloffer/ehcp-assessment

Disability living allowance (DLA) is a benefit for disabled people. It is a monthly, tax-free payment which may help with the extra costs of looking after a child who needs much more looking after than a child of the same age who does not have a disability. To find out more please go to:

https://www.gov.uk/disability-living-allowance-children

Whilst the Sensory Support Service is not able to help with completing the form, there is a section of the form ‘Statement from someone who knows the child’ which we can complete. Please speak to your QToD, QTVI, QTMSI. Your specialist teacher may also be able to put you in touch with an organisation that may be able to help with completion of the form e.g. National Deaf Children’s Society.

https://www.ndcs.org.uk/information-and-support/money-and-benefits/disability-living-allowance-dla

The policies relevant to the Hearing, Vision and Multi Sensory teams are available to view email sss@thomasson.bolton.sch.uk

Service Development Plan

The Service Development Plan is available to view email sss@thomasson.bolton.sch.uk