Principios de la Contabilidad Generalmente Aceptados

Table 19 (overleaf) was provided by City of Sunderland Council and shows that in the Pupil Referral Units they have identified:

• 86% of children and young people are identified as SEMH as their primary need with 101 children on SEN Support and 1 with an EHC plan (also for SEMH).

• 7% of the children and young people are identified as SEN Support for cognition and learning as their primary need.

• 5% of the children and young people have communication and interaction as their primary need.

Table 19

The number of children and young adults attending PRUs in Sunderland (5 -16 years) (2017).

Recommendation 33: For the Council to expand their data set from broad area of need to primary and additional needs for the children and young people in a PRU. This should also include a chronology of each child and young person in terms of their particular difficulties and strategies used to support their SEMH needs and a reintegration to mainstream package(s). The City Council should consider the viability of the educational psychology service providing a psychological service across all PRU provision to facilitate effective integration into mainstream through person centred approaches (Lawrence, 2011).

Recommendation 34: For the Council to commission further research into effective alternative provision models that support children and young people in achieving good outcomes in terms of education and to examine good practice approaches in meeting social, emotional and mental health needs. A similar review was carried out by Newcastle City Council in September 2016.

Recommendation 35: For the Council to collate data on which educational contexts are excluding children and young people on fixed on permanent basis to carry out a debrief with these schools to analyse the factors leading to the exclusions. This would allow the Council to target training to support schools in addressing early signs of behavioural difficulties which lead to SEMH difficulties.

13 Concluding remarks

It is evident that there is a deep level of commitment from health and education services that have been involved in this research to improve outcomes for children identified with SEND. The process of referrals from Health Visitors and GPS to Consultant Paediatricians often results in early identification, intervention and clear support pathways for many children and young people. Constant comparative analysis of interviews with both the National Health Service (NHS) and Clinical Commission Group (CCG) highlighted areas of good practice in collaboration, particularly across health and education. However, a key recommendation to emerge from this research is for stakeholders to examine ways of collaborating to ensure that the care sector becomes an effective agency in contributing to and sharing the particular needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in Sunderland.

To further promote effective multi-agency working, the role of the Designated Medical Officer in Sunderland requires review. This will support the CCG in meeting its statutory responsibilities for children identified with SEND. If the role is to remain shared, clear role descriptors and responsibility allocation needs to be made explicit.

Following classification analysis of children and young people with SEND, it appears that there are remain a significant number of children and young people whose needs require converting from a Statement of SEN to an Education, Health and Care plan by April 2018. This should be prioritised so that these children and families can have the advantages of the person-centred approach advocated by the new system (DfE, 2015a).

It is advised that the City Council use the recommendations of this study to plan future provision, practice and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in light of prevalence findings in relation to specific primary needs of children with SEND. There has been a particular development need identified at SENCo level, due to the suspected over/under identification of a number of primary needs. SENCos within the Local Authority need to be supported to attend high quality training, which they then cascade and monitor the impact of with all staff members in their educational contexts. It is vital that Teachers and Teaching Assistants also need to be supported to meet the needs of children identified with SEND. It is imperative that all services know a child’s holistic needs, not simply their primary need.

The key priority areas for CPD, as identified in the main report are associated with identification and assessment of the following primary needs:

• Autism Spectrum Disorders

• Social, Emotional and Mental Health • Specific Learning Difficulties

• Moderate Learning Difficulties

• Speech, Language and Communication Needs (EYFS and Primary phase)

There is currently an under identification of Specific Learning Difficulties in schools, when compared to national averages. Across all age phases there needs to be further

investigation into the classification of Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD), as this is the most prevalent need in school-age children and is high in children in Reception. Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties (SEMH) are also rising and are particularly

prevalent from Year 5 onwards, peaking in Year 11. The factors contributing to this need to be further explored to ensure that early support is provided and sustained. Within the early years, and into Year 2, Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) is also a primary need with high prevalence.

It is considered by the research team and those interviewed that the SEN panel needs to become more efficient. This could be supported by the development of training materials and exemplars to promote consistency and compliance through a locally agreed EHC plan format, which reflects the principles, set out in Chapter 1 of the SEND Code of Practice (DfE, 2015a).