Different areas of SEN

This is about how your child learns and thinks. Some learning difficulties may be obvious, whereas others aren’t. Children with cognition and learning difficulties usually learn at a slower pace than other children in their year group.

If your child has a cognition or learning need they may:

• find reading, writing, literacy and maths more challenging than other children
• have specific difficulties such as  literacy difficulties or issues learning new skills
• have strengths or difficulties with memory, organisation or planning
• have a reduced ability to learn because they have difficulty managing their emotions

This is about how your child communicates with others, their relationships and social skills. This kind of need includes:

• speech and language issues
• difficulty communicating with others, such as not being able to say what they want to, or having difficulties understanding what’s being said to them
• not understanding or using social rules
• problems understanding how relationships with other people work
• autism (Autism Spectrum Condition or ASC)

These are physical and sensory things that could make it more difficult for your child to learn in a usual school environment. This might include:

• difficulties with hearing or sight or multi-sensory impairment
• any physical disability
• problems with fine motor skills, such as picking something up between thumb and fingers and using it, or gross motor skills such as running and jumping.

These kinds of difficulties can show in lots of ways, such as a withdrawn or isolated child, or challenging and disruptive behaviour. This area of need includes things like:

• social anxiety, phobias or refusing school
• mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming or an eating disorder
• attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD)
• attachment disorder or difficulties or early development trauma
• self-esteem and confidence issues
• if they have tantrums or meltdowns or times when they seem to ‘lose it’