| 30 hours |
Working parents in Staffordshire could receive 30 hours a week of funded childcare for their 3 and 4-year-old children. |
| ADN/AEN |
Additional District Needs (previously known as Additional Educational Needs). School-based funding to provide additional adult support to a named child (see also SEND Inclusion funding) |
| AOT |
Autism Outreach Team. Work in schools and PVIs to support staff working with children with Autism |
| ASD/ ASC |
Autistic Spectrum Disorders/Condition. ASD include conditions such as autism and Asperger syndrome. |
| ASQ |
Ages & Stages Questionnaires®, Third Edition (ASQ-3™); tools used to assess the development of a child to screen children for developmental delays between one month and 5½ years. |
| BCH |
Birmingham Children’s Hospital |
| BESD |
Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties. Now referred to as SEMH (social, emotional and mental health) |
| BRFC |
Building Resilient Families and Communities. Staffordshire’s version of the Troubled Families Programme designed to improve multi-agency responses to the needs of families/household where individuals are experiencing a range of difficulties share an address. |
| CAF |
Common Assessment Framework. Now known as Early Help |
| CAMHS |
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service: a support service for young people aged 18 and under. They offer support and advice for a wide range of emotional difficulties that young people may experience. |
| CDC |
Child Development Centre: a health assessment centre which provides both initial outpatient assessment and continuing treatment and support for children. |
| CIC |
Children in Care – different term for looked after children. See LAC. |
| CIN |
Child in Need: A CIN Plan is drawn up following an assessment which identifies the child as having complex needs and where a coordinated response is needed in order that the child's needs can be met. |
| CLLD |
Communication, Literacy & Language Development- used in reference to early years teaching to improve competence in communicating, speaking and listening, and beginning to read and write. |
| CP |
Cerebral Palsy |
| CPP |
Child Protection Plan: a plan drawn up by the local authority. It sets out how the child can be kept safe, how things can be made better for the family and what support they will need. |
| CSW |
Communication Support Worker (usually for children with visual or hearing impairments) |
| CYP |
Children and Young People – general term used to cover everyone from birth to 25. |
| DAF |
Disability Access Fund, £615 available to the settings of three-year olds receiving DLA to reduce barriers to inclusion |
| DLA |
Disability Living Allowance for children may help with the extra costs of looking after a child who is under 16 and has difficulties walking or needs much more looking after than a child of the same age who does not have a disability |
| DLD |
Developmental Language Disorder, previously known as Specific Language Disorder |
| DV |
Domestic Violence |
| EAL |
English as an additional language – term used to describe anyone where English is not their first language. |
| Early Years Area SENCOs |
Specialist Teacher Consultants who support PVI’s to meet the needs of children with SEND. |
| EEF |
Early Education Funding: Childcare entitlement, including Think2 and universal funding |
| Early Help Assessment, EHA |
A standardised approach to conducting an assessment of a child or young person presenting with additional needs and agreeing how those needs can best be met. Previously known as CAF |
| EHA |
The early help assessment (formerly known as the Staffordshire common assessment form or Staffordshire CAF) is a universal tool for practitioners from any service. It can be used with the child or young person and their family to summarise and clearly record current circumstances including areas of need and of strength. This then forms the basis for an agreed way to work together to achieve the improvements in the life of that child and family. |
| EHCP |
Education, Health and Care Plan. Previously known as a statement of SEN |
| EHE |
Elective Home Education. is the term used by the Department for Education to describe parents’ decisions to provide education for their children at home instead of sending them to school, once they are of statutory school age. This is totally different to home tuition a term used to describe the situation when the Local Authority (LA) provides a teacher to educate a child in their home. |
| EI Place |
Early Intervention Place. Places available at special schools whilst an EHC assessment is ongoing, for children who meet criteria |
| Entrust |
A joint venture with SCC and Capita providing educational services to Schools and PVIs. |
| EOTAS |
Educated Other Than At school |
| EP |
Educational Psychologist – EPs focus on supporting schools and families to meet the needs of children with additional or special needs. |
| EWO |
Education Welfare Officer. Involved with children of statutory school age |
| EYF |
Early Years Forums – group responsible for monitoring the needs of pre-school children with special educational needs in Staffordshire |
| EYFS |
Early Years Foundation Stage- a comprehensive statutory framework that sets the standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five. |
| EYPP |
Early Years Pupil Premium. Additional funding available to pre-school settings to support the development of children where the parents is in receipt of certain benefits or if the child has been in local authority care for 1 day or more in England or Wales or are adopted. |
| FF |
Families First, part of Staffordshire County Council. Ensures that the needs of children, young people and families across Staffordshire are identified early, the right help is put in place and problems are stopped from getting worse. |
| FIS |
Family Information Service – a free individually tailored service offering independent quality information on any family matter. |
| GP |
General Practitioner – a medical doctor who attends to the everyday medical needs of individuals within a community, often in a surgery or home visits. |
| Griffiths |
GRIFFITHS III, Griffiths Scales of Child Development, Third Edition Assessment of developmental levels from birth to 6 years (72 months). |
| GRT |
Gypsy Roma Traveller |
| HI |
Hearing Impairment or Hearing Impaired Service |
| HV |
Health Visitor |
| IEP |
Individual Education Plan, used by settings to plan interventions and teaching. Now often referred to as a targeted plan |
| IF |
Independent Futures – social care service for children and adults with learning disabilities |
| LA |
Local Authority – has responsibility for education within its boundaries. |
| LAC |
Looked After Children – children and young people who are looked after by the local authority. |
| Local Offer |
Information about services and resources available to Staffordshire children and families |
| LST |
Local support teams are part of Staffordshire’s social care and work with children and young people with a disability or additional need and their families. |
| MEAS |
Minority Ethnic Achievement Service. The service aims to help schools by supporting the inclusion of minority ethnic pupils, promoting diversity, preventing discriminatory incidents, supporting new arrivals with English as an additional language (EAL) to make progress, monitoring the attainment of new arrivals with EAL, implementing best practice for newly arrived EAL learners |
| NEF |
Nursery Education Funding (previously known as nursery education grant, NEG) and now referred to as universal funding as part of EEF. |
| OT |
Occupational Therapist. Occupational therapy enables of children who have either a physical disability or a motor coordination difficulty to participate in daily life to improve their health and wellbeing. |
| PECS |
Picture Exchange Communication System. PECS is an alternative/augmentative communication system developed in the USA in 1985 by Andy Bondy, and Lori Frost |
| PEEP |
Parents Early Education Partnership – parent training |
| PEP (also EYPEP) |
(Early Years) Personal Education Plan – a plan which supports looked after children to do well at school. |
| Physio |
Physiotherapist: provide specialist assessment and a range of interventions to enable children with physical difficulties to reach their potential. This may be required during and following illness, surgery, disease, disability or injury. |
| PIP charts |
PIP Developmental charts. Assessment tool developed by Dorothy Jeffree and Roy McConkey |
| PVI |
Private, Voluntary and Independent Sector – non-statutory providers of nursery education. |
| SEMH |
Social, Emotional and Mental Health |
| SEND |
Special Education Needs and Disability – when a child has a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. Often also written/spoken of as SEN |
| SEND COP |
Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice |
| SEND Locality Manager |
Manage the assessment and coordination of education, health and care plans. Previously known as District Senior Assessment Officers |
| SEND Key worker |
Coordination the compilation of education, health and care plans. Previously known as assessment team caseworkers |
| SENCO |
Special Educational Needs Coordinator, manage the provision for children with SEND in their setting/school |
| SEND Inclusion Fund |
Additional support available to pre-school settings to meet the needs of children who meet criteria. Described as tiers 1, 2 and 3 |
| SENDIST |
Special Educational Needs and Disability tribunal: First-tier tribunal responsible for handling appeals against local authority decisions regarding special educational needs |
| SENDIASS |
Staffordshire Family Partnership, providing an impartial and confidential service on matters relating to a child or young person’s special educational needs or disability from birth to 25 years. The Information, Advice and Support Service for Staffordshire. |
| SLCN |
Speech, Language and Communication Needs – difficulty in communication. |
| SLI |
Specific Language Impairment. Now knows as DCD, Developmental Communication Disorder |
| SLT (SaLT) |
Speech and Language Therapist-assess and treat speech, language and communication problems in people of all ages to enable them to communicate to the best of their ability. They may also work with people who have eating and swallowing problems. |
| SOGS |
Schedule of Growing Skills – assessment of developmental levels from ages from birth to 5 years. |
| SPA |
Single Point of Access – collects information, agrees to initiate Education, Health and Care assessments and agrees additional funding for children without EHCs |
| Statutory school age |
1. Children must start full-time education once they reach compulsory school age. This is on 31 December, 31 March or 31 August following their fifth birthday - whichever comes first. If the child’s fifth birthday is on one of those dates then they reach compulsory school age on that date. |
| TAC |
Team Around the Child – a multi-disciplinary team of practitioners established on a case-by-case basis to support a child, young person or family by assessing their needs and deciding with the child/family a course of action to provide the services needed. |
| Think2 |
Free childcare (up to 15 hours) for children who meet certain criteria from the term after their 2nd birthday until the term after their 3rd birthday |
| TOD |
Teacher of the Deaf |
| TOVI |
Teacher of the Visually Impaired |
| Triple P |
Promoting Positive Parenting – a multi-level, evidence-based parenting and family support strategy |
| Universal Funding |
All 3 and 4-year olds-are entitled to 15 hours per week of funded places from the term after turning 3 years old |
| VI |
Visual Impairment or Visual Impairment Service |