EHCPs by "Primary Special Educational Need"
SEN 'Special Educational Needs' is a legal term and refers to children with learning problems or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children the same age. Your child may well have multiple SEN, but LAs like to have one primary need so that they can produce this information. You need to consider all aspects of how your child copes and an EHCP should include all areas of need.
The Primary SEND Identified on an EHCP is usually one of the following categories:
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Autistic Spectrum Condition
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Speech, Language and Communications needs
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Social and Emotional Mental Health (SEMH)
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Moderate Learning Difficulty
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Severe Learning Difficulty
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Specific Learning Difficulty
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Physical Disability
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Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
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Other Difficulty / Disability
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Hearing Impairment
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Visual Impairment
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Multi-sensory Impairment
When thinking about whether an EHCP is necessary for your child or young person you need to think about how they are coping and developing in all four areas of Special Educational Need (SEN). These areas can be split, roughly, into four areas:
- Communication and Interaction: This area focuses on difficulties with understanding and communicating with others, including speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN).
- Cognition and Learning: This area encompasses difficulties with learning, remembering, and processing information, as well as challenges with attention, memory, and organisation.
- Social, Emotional, and Mental Health: This area addresses difficulties with emotional regulation, social interactions, and mental health challenges, such as anxiety, depression, or behavioural issues.
- Sensory and / or Physical Needs: This area covers sensory processing difficulties (e.g., difficulty with sounds, lights, or textures) and physical disabilities that impact learning and participation.
We have taken the UK Governments statistics for 2023/2024 and established what was the “primary need” listed in the child or young person’s EHCP.
All children are different. Not all children will have all the problems, and some will have others not mentioned, but they will help you understand some of the areas and make you think about the difficulties your child might face in terms of the four categories above.