Early Years

Supporting your little one with SEND

If your SEND child falls into the Early Years age (birth - end of reception), you may be wondering about the best place to seek information and support. Not all of us begin our journey from the same place. Some of us know our child has an additional need or disability from birth, or possibly before, while others do not find out until a later stage or may even just be wondering. Wherever you find yourself, there are many questions and feelings you may have and SGPC can help you navigate through them.

CONNECT ONLINE

Join one of our coffee & catch-up online support sessions

Join SGPC’s mailing list for local information, support, and guidance

Join our community Facebook group to chat with other parent carers

Check out the Local Offer website for Early Years and Childcare information

Join other online disability or need-specific support groups and chat with other parent carers - SGPC can point you in the right direction

Contact SEND and You (South Gloucestershire’s SENDIAS service) who can provide information, advice and support about SEND to children, young people and their parent carers

GET INVOLVED

Find out about our Little Treasures stay and play support sessions

Drop in to our Community Base in Kingswood where you’ll find support and information from our Early Years team in a relaxed and friendly environment

Talk with someone who knows your child

Spend time identifying and understanding your child’s needs

Contact your Health Visitor, GP, Early Years setting and express your concerns

Contact relevant charities for information and guidance on your child’s disability or specific areas of need - SGPC can point you in the right direction

Keep a record of key information to share with professionals (one shareable document is easier than constantly re-telling your story)

Talking helps

If you have any concerns about your child and their development, talk to someone who knows your child. Spending time learning all about what your child responds well to and what challenges they face can help.

Health Visitors are a really good place to ask those questions, or your child’s health consultant if your child is under their care. You could refer to the council’s information and advice website about Early Years.

The right childcare

The first big step may be in finding the right childcare or early years setting. As with any setting, it’s best to find out what is available in your area.

Visit the nursery or childminder to talk about what is on offer and whether it feels like a good fit. If you know of other parent carers who take their children there, speak to them about how well they felt their child was supported. The council’s Information and Advice website details the different types of available childcare options.

Education support

Choices relating to early years education will be based on the needs of your child and any combined information, both personal and professional. The council have information about how education settings should be supporting your child, in their Early Years Inclusion toolkit.

When your child starts their education setting it will take a little time for anyone involved in your child’s care to become familiar with their needs, so a good transition plan is important. You will also have a part to play in making sure that all educational settings know as much as possible, so together you work around the needs of your child. Suggestions around transition planning are available on the council’s Local Offer.

Identifying needs

Some families may spend some of their child’s Early Years unaware that their child has additional needs.

You may see more behaviours that challenge displayed by your child, which often are:

• a means of communication

• the result of an unmet, or unidentified need.

If this sounds familiar, let us reassure you that you are not the first parent carer to live through this experience and we invite you to access the guidance and support available in our community – sometimes being heard and believed can make an enormous difference. Your local SENDIAS support group SEND and You can work with you to take the next steps towards gaining the support you need. They are a great resource for understanding the legal processes and requirements that underpin SEND education.

Sharing your views

When you share your views and experiences with us, we can feed them back to service providers via the collective voice of our community, to form and shape the services we use. Working with us in this way truly makes SGPC our community for positive change.

This can be in the form of:

• completing the surveys we create to gather your views

• speaking directly to our team

• giving feedback at any of our support group or training and information sessions

Our Community

Our understanding of the journey we are all on makes our community a safe space for you to relax and enjoy informal conversations about Early Years services. Join us to find out about events, webinars and online support. Head over to our private Facebook community group to engage with other like-minded parent carers and keep abreast of the latest SEND information and support.

We also offer two weekly (term-time only) stay and play support sessions called Little Treasures, especially for SEND children aged 0-5. These sessions are based in fun and accessible settings, where each week the team plans sensory stimulating activities for the children and offer support for the parent carers.

You’ll also find our Early Years team at the SGPC Community Base in Kingswood every Thursday, and also at our online Early Years support sessions.

Finding The Right

Early Years Setting

We can help you to learn how to navigate the South Glos Local Offer in small digestible stages – and simplify the process, signposting you according to the pathway you’re currently on.

The SEND Local Offer is the place where you will find out more about what is available in our local area – what you can access and how to apply. South Glos Council worked with a number of professional groups including, health services and South Glos Parent Carers, when putting together its Local Offer, and this online content provides a good overview of what is available to support children with special educational needs.