Physical disability: Parents or carers
Support for physical disabilities
If your child needs extra support with physical development you need to speak to your school Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) or SEND Outreach Team
Supporting parents or carers
Some families may begin to notice that their child may have some developmental delay in their physical development, including fine/gross motor skills and handwriting.
What to do if you are worried about your child’s physical and sensory needs (Ages 5 to 16)
You may feel your child is ‘clumsy’, that they struggle with their balance/co-ordination or they have a short attention span.
These issues may not necessarily be serious health concerns, but you may feel that your child would benefit from further support. If this is something that is worrying you then contact your child’s school SENCO, who will investigate the matter.
Referral
The school SENCO may decide to refer a child or young person to the SEND Outreach Team. Their role is to support mainstream schools across the local area providing them with advice and strategies to support teaching and learning.
No diagnosis is required to access the service, but the child/young person will need to have had support in school and to be on the SEN Register.
The school SENCO will work with parents to complete a referral form. This will help identify the child/young person’s needs.
Allocation of support
Your child’s referral will normally be allocated within 2 weeks, as long as the referral is complete and has all the information needed.
Referrals that are received at the end of the term will be triaged at the beginning of the following term due to the team operating term time only.
The school will then be allocated to a SEND Outreach Project Worker who will offer support.
Meeting and observation
Yourself, your child, the school, and SEND Outreach Project Worker or Specialist Teacher will then meet and agree suggested outcomes. Your child may also be observed in class, following the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycles. This cycle can be seen in the Physical disability outreach process map (PDF, 79KB) .
If this approach is not having an impact a referral to another agency may be suggested.
Contact details
For more information please contact us by email at sendoutreach@nelincs.gov.uk or phone on 01472 325950.