Managing SEND, Part 5: Parents - Parental advisory

See the full series on managing SEND

We invest literally hours and hours in talking to our parents,’ says Amanda King, head teacher of Bedworth Heath Nursery School in Warwickshire. ‘We support them to become an advocate for their child and help them in any practical way we can, whether it is filling out a form for the Disability Living Allowance or trying to access an education health and care plan. Our focus is on achieving a holistic picture of the child that is shared with their parents.’

When it comes to working with parents on SEND, practical steps are one way that the parents can be helped through what can be an emotional process.

Ms King says, ‘A lot of our work involves providing parents with emotional support and helping them to become resilient when the going gets tough. Waiting for funding can be very stressful and frustrating. We have one little girl here with severe, multiple needs, for whom it is obvious that funding is necessary for her to move to school. However, despite the severity of her needs, a great many assessments had to be completed, and weeks later the family are still living in hope that the funding will arrive.’

DOING THE ADMIN

Simply being informed about the options, such as sources of funding, is a good first step. According to Nicola Gibson, training manager at the Pre-school Learning Alliance, many parents arrive at nursery not understanding that they are entitled to the Disability Living Allowance.

‘It is really important that they get this and settings go on to access the Disability Access Fund,’ she says. ‘We work with providers to give them the skills they need to help parents fill out the forms. These are quite complex, with different levels of funding, and the responsibility falls to managers to help parents get the best rates. The move to local authority inclusion funds is also a new area and settings have to explain to parents how the process in their area works.’

Each local authority also has a growing range of services that nurseries need to be aware of for their parents. Stacey Kenyon, senior manager at Mulberry Bush Nursery in Walmersley, Bury, says, ‘We’ve now got a two-hour drop-in service to see an educational psychologist at a local children’s centre and we can go with the parents or they can go independently. All we have to do is email the professional in advance with details, and because the service is based in a children’s centre it means there is lots of other support on hand, including access to outreach workers and a range of parenting classes.

‘Bury Parent Forum is run by parents for parents and offers classes and equipment loans. Home Start also provides a forum that brings parents together and helps them to share the expense of SEN apps.’

She adds, ‘Bury Council has now even got a Facebook page that is flagging up parent services and views, and once a month it is messaging local providers to hear about what they need.

‘We’ve all said it is better late than never, but it’s good to see the conversation growing.’

CONVINCING PARENTS

Effective communication with parents can become a particular issue when a child has emerging needs, as many parents find it hard to accept that their child needs extra support. And while the Equality Act spells out that managers need to be proactive in gathering information about the child, if parents have a negative perception of how that information might be used, they may be reluctant to provide it.

‘Ideally communication should lead parents to have a shared view with staff of a child’s development. If not, emerging needs can come as a huge shock,’ says trainer and author Kay Mathieson. ‘Even if the communication process is secure, as needs become more evident a parent might struggle with the consequences, feeling overwhelmed, and possibly not wanting to accept what is suggested.’

Ann Clark, deputy manager at West Street Nursery in Erith, Kent, which currently has 29 children with SEND, says, ‘It’s about getting across the message that we have the child’s best interests at heart. It can make all the difference to securing essential information – whether it is documentation, such as the integrated check if it was written before the child attended nursery, or what time they are going to bed.’

PLANNING

At Dimples Nursery in Dartford, there are currently 20 children out of 120 who have SEND. The nursery has had four consecutive Outstandings and has a strong reputation for SEND provision, which includes a Forest School. With its long and impressive track record, it is confident about including children with a variety of special educational needs.

However, manager Sandra Roles believes that escalating levels of need are taking their toll on her business. Despite having more than 15 years’ experience in talking to parents about emerging needs, Ms Roles finds it is becoming increasingly time-consuming.

‘While some parents are fantastic, others can be in denial, and we try to gently open their eyes. For some children, parents’ co-operation in accessing specialised support is vital for their well-being and progress, and we can’t do it all on our own,’ she says.

Ms Kenyon adds that if a member of staff raises concerns about a child to a parent, they are expected to have the answers. This means that it is very important to always plan for meetings with parents and have all the information, including strategies and services to signpost them to, immediately to hand.

‘Every case is individual and we deal with them on that basis,’ she says. ‘We invite the parent in for a positive conversation that begins with what we love and admire about their child and what’s going well and then move on to what is not going so well. Most of the time they look to us as the professionals to provide the guidance.’

Reducing the need for misunderstandings is also important. If a meeting is being arranged, it is important to articulate to the parents why it is being held and what it is expected to achieve. ‘If parents assume that the meeting is to tell them the child can no longer attend the setting, they are likely to experience feelings of anger or despair. If the purpose is confirmed as an opportunity to update the speech and language therapist on recent progress and discuss possible next steps, their emotions are likely to be much more positive,’ says Dr Mathieson. Crucially, there should be no nasty surprises.

But it is not always easy to predict how things will pan out. ‘Parents can change their minds,’ says Ms Kenyon. ‘For one little boy recently we had developed an individual learning and development plan (ILDP), with the parents on board, and were going to progress this for funding. While the parents initially agreed to it, after the Christmas break they changed their minds. The ILDPs are written out on official council-stamped forms, and I think it is this which may have put them off. Parents do not like to see their children labelled. Some parents need more time to realise their child may need support.’

She adds that the setting will continue to support the child until the parents are ready to escalate concerns.

EXTRA TRAINING

Back at Bedworth Heath Nursery School, Ms King sought extra help from Achieving for All, a not-for-profit organisation that works to improve outcomes for all children at risk of underachieving because of disadvantage, special needs or disability.

She and a team have undertaken the organisation’s Achieving Early training programme, which provides the setting with specialist coaching and plans aimed at improving outcomes for children. She says the programme is intended to achieve ‘all staff having a shared understanding of the importance of a structured dialogue with parents. We find out what their aspirations are for their child and create a bond of trust, which enables us to gain a clear picture of their child’s progress at home as well as at nursery.

‘Under the SEND Code, the child’s intended outcomes need to be shared with parents and reviewed by them, and then referrals or interventions decided together. When staff are confident about having conversations about this, the process becomes so much easier.

PARENTS: WHAT THE REGULATIONS SAY

EYFS:

1. All providers must make information available to parents and carers on how the setting supports children with SEND. This applies to those who arrive with a diagnosis already in place and those who do not.

2. Practitioners must review children’s progress and share a summary with parents.

3. Practitioners must involve parents in identifying needs.

EQUALITY ACT:

1. Managers need to be proactive in gathering information about the child and determining if the child has SEND.

2. It is good practice to involve parents (and children) in planning reasonable adjustments and encouraging them to share information about barriers.

SEND CODE

1. SEND policies should be made available to parents.

2. Practitioners should take steps to ensure that parents are ‘actively supported’ in contributing to needs assessments and developing and reviewing education, health and care (EHC) plans.

3. Observations of parents about their children should be taken into account.

4. The parent has the right to request a particular maintained nursery to be named in their EHC plan.

5. Parents should be fully involved in making decisions about the nature of the help and support they would like.