Additional support needs

The term ‘additional support needs’ covers a wide spectrum of abilities and differences, often in the way children and young people learn and develop. There are varied factors that give rise to additional support needs and a child or young person may have multiple and overlapping experiences.

A child or young person does not need to have a diagnosed condition to have additional support needs. If your child is struggling at school or nursery and needing extra help for any reason, they have a right to receive the help they need.

A child or young person may have additional support needs for a range of reasons. These may include:

• Mental health and wellbeing concerns, including anxiety and difficulties attending school

• Specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia, dyscalculia

• Language and communication difficulties or disorder 

• Children who are Care Experienced, or Looked After

• Children who are Young Carers

• Gypsy/traveller families

• Highly able learners

• Children who have English as an additional language 

• Children who have been affected by bullying

• Children affected by chronic illness 

• Children in and affected by the Criminal Justice System

• Armed Forces families

• Asylum seekers and refugees 

• Children impacted by parent/carer mental health and/or addiction issues, housing issues and/or domestic violence

• Children whose parents/carers are imprisoned.

   

At the heart of providing effective support, is a shared understanding of the wide range of additional support needs and ensuring the child or young person is at the centre of all assessment and planning.

High expectations and access to a broad and balanced curriculum ensures inclusion, equality and better learning outcomes, whilst helping children develop social skills, build friendships and create a sense of belonging.

Children and young people with additional support needs can access a range of universal supports and strategies to best meet their individual needs from their local early years or school setting. This may include an additional level of input from specific staff.

In some instances, it may be agreed that additional support from more specialist services will be appropriate. The education service has targeted support services that offer a range of supports for children and young people, and the staff who work with them.

East Dunbartonshire Council provides support from the Educational Psychology Service to advise on the needs of children and young people, where targeted supports may be required. These supports may include Sensory Services, Outreach support and English as an Additional Language (EAL) support.

A small number of children and young people with more complex additional support needs may require a higher level of support provided by a local specialist provision or a special school. East Dunbartonshire Council also have a range of specialist resources and educational establishments.

If you are concerned about your child’s learning or development, please contact their early years centre or school.

Assessment information should always inform the support that is needed. In East Dunbartonshire we follow a process to identify the level of support each individual child or young person needs. Children and young people should always be central to assessment and planning processes.

Including Every Learner Policy Guidance describes how we meet each child’s needs.

Assessment is an ongoing process that aims to ensure the right help is available at the right time, to help children and young people reach their fullest potential. It includes gathering a range of information to understand their strengths, skills and personality, learning styles and individual circumstances.

Assessment can involve reviewing a child or young person’s work, observing them in a range of learning situations, seeking their views, consulting their parents or carers and with staff that know them well.

A range of professionals may support the assessment including specialist school staff, specialist support services, and colleagues from other services.

As a parent/carer you have the right to ask for your child to be educated in a school other than your catchment school through a Placing Request. View our schools placing requests webpage.

If your child has additional support needs, you can make a placing request to any of our schools. You do not need to live in the area.

A young person with additional support needs has the right to make a placing request for them self.

If you are requesting a specialist placement and your child's placing request is refused, you can appeal to the Additional Support Needs Tribunal.

If you are requesting mainstream placement your appeal is heard by an independent placing request appeal panel.

GIRFEC (Getting it Right for Every Child) provides a framework and shared language for promoting, supporting and safeguarding the wellbeing of children and young people, especially those who need additional support.

An integrated framework for assessment and planning ensures a consistent approach to improving wellbeing outcomes for all, both universally and through a targeted approach.

Individualised support is in place and achieved through the implementation of Including Every Learner policy in line with both the Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act, 2004, as amended, and the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act, 2014. The “Equality Act, 2010” ensures accessibility strategies apply as some children/young people’s needs may meet the definition of a disability.

If you want independent advice about additional support for your child, there are national organisations who offer this.

Enquire

Enquire is the Scottish advice service for additional support for learning. This service provides advice and information about additional support for learning for families and professionals

Visit the Enquire website for parents, carers and professionals

Visit the Enquire website for children and young people.

My Rights, My Say

This service provides advice, advocacy support, legal representation and offers an independent service to seek children's views about their support

Visit the My Rights, My Say website.

Advocacy and Mediation

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 includes a requirement for education authorities to have in place arrangements for mediation, involving independent mediators, to aim to resolve disputes between parents and carers and the authority and/or school, regarding a child or young person who has additional support needs

Mediation support services are available to families with children who have additional learning needs

View East Dunbartonshire’s independent mediation service Resolve. 

View Ceartas Advocacy website who provides Independent Advocacy to adults living in East Dunbartonshire

Let's Talk

This national advocacy service is funded by the Scottish Government. It is for parents of children with additional support needs who need support in relation to a dispute or potential dispute with an education authority.

Visit the Let’s Talk website.