Welcome
Welcome to the July edition of the SEND Improvement Board newsletter where you will find an update on special school places, Devon County Council's new SEND website and how you can provide your feedback. In addition, the Autism resources toolkit, with a vast range of information on a number of topics and the newsletter includes an update on the Ambassador Volunteer Project.
We have launched our brand new Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) website, designed for children and young people with SEND and their families to help them find the right information about education, health and care support in the local area to help them achieve their goals in life.
The new website has been developed alongside parents and carers, those working with children and young people and young people themselves to make sure families can easily find the information that matters most.
The site is initially being launched as a ‘Beta’ site. This means that we will continue to work on it behind the scenes to make sure it has all the information you need, and you can easily find what you’re looking for.
We would love to know what you think, so please use the feedback button on the website to let us know. The feedback button can be found at the bottom right hand side of the screen and looks like the image below. Once you have clicked to share your initial thoughts, extra questions are shown to enable you to provide more information if you wish.
Children and Family Health Devon and NHS has created an Autism Spectrum Disorder Team Directory of Resources for children and young people who may not have a diagnosis of Autism yet. This booklet may be helpful to implement some supportive Autism strategies and includes topics such as eating, sleep, communication, challenging behaviour and transitions. These strategies are not going to have a negative impact even if your child does not go on to receive a diagnosis of Autism.
The aim of the Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme is to support children to eat more healthily, be more active over the school holidays and have a greater knowledge of health and nutrition as well as be more engaged with school and other local services.
To help you find the guidance that you need, please click this link to be directed to the information pages.
DiAS and Parent Carer Forum Devon working together with Ambassador Volunteers for families across Devon.
Coming out of Lockdown. We can welcome eight new parent carer Ambassador Volunteers helping to widen connection for families in Devon, taking the total to 28 linked into the network. We also welcome 11 new Action for Children Link Volunteers who support families in their SEND Step by Step groups.
Click here for more information on the Ambassador Volunteer Project. |
New Special School Developments
 We are continuing work on increasing the special schools places. Increased capacity at Bidwell Brook is progressing well, the new build will add more of the new places we have funded.
Can you help to identify what has worked well and what has been challenging for children with SEND in your service during the Covid - 19 pandemic and what needs to be done to support children with SEND moving forward? Please find below the links to the survey for parents/carers and professionals.
Are you a parent/carer of a child or young person with SEND? Click here for the survey and here for the flyer for more information.
 Are you a professional who works with children and young people with SEND? Click here for the survey and here for the flyer for more information.
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a diagnosis given to children and young people who have life-long difficulties with language that are not associated with other biomedical conditions, such as cerebral palsy, or autistic spectrum disorders.
DLD, can have a significant impact on attainment at school, employment outcomes and social and emotional wellbeing. Many children and young people with DLD are not identified, meaning that they are not getting access to the support they need.
NASEN and Whole School SEND developed, (and funded by the Department of Education) this practical guide to give school-based professionals guidance on how to identify and support children with DLD in mainstream primary and secondary schools. This resource can be accessed here: ICAN DLD guide
In addition, there are FREE webinars for staff in Early Years, Primary and Secondary Schools. These can be accessed here: ICAN webinars on DLD. |
