Identifying initial concerns

All children are individual and develop at different rates.  In this toolkit there is a lot of information about typical development and developmental milestones and it is important to remember is that this is a range. 

It is also important to remember that life experiences can have a positive or negative impact on a child’s development, for example being read to every night may have a positive impact on a child’s vocabulary and moving house may have a temporary negative effect on a child’s behaviour. 

The SEND Code of Practice (2015) states

“A delay in learning and development in the early years may or may not indicate that a child has SEN, that is, that they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision. Equally, difficult or withdrawn behaviour does not necessarily mean that a child has SEN. However, where there are concerns, there should be an assessment to determine whether there are any causal factors such as an underlying learning or communication difficulty. If it is thought housing, family or other domestic circumstances may be contributing to the presenting behaviour, a multi-agency approach, supported by the use of approaches such as the Early Help Assessment, should be adopted.”

Therefore, when a concern about a child’s development, learning or behaviour is identified it is important to consider all the information available, namely:

• information about the child’s learning and development, in the setting and at home
• parental views and information
• voice of the child – which can be displayed in different ways – through language or behaviour for example
• any formal assessments, health checks and information other professionals
• the rate of progress in key areas – speech, motor skills, social/emotional development etc
• attention and concentration on preferred/non-preferred activities
• health checks - hearing, sight
• any other relevant considerations – new babies, moving house, parental separations, bereavements or other trauma etc.

It may be useful for settings to have a template with certain questions on in order to obtain the information above.  Any concerns should be discussed with parent/carers as soon as possible in order to share information. 

After concerns have been raised:

• ensure that the information is shared with other members of staff in the setting
• monitor the child's development for the next few weeks in order to gather more information. 
• gather more information for the child's EYFS profile to ascertain whereabouts within the age bands that the child is - use professional judgement and best fit for this
• identify the individual statements within the EYFS profile that are not yet achieved and focus on these for the next few weeks

If concerns are more significant it may be necessary to put additional strategies and support in place to support the child.  Please see the SEN Support in Nurseries section for more details.  In time, if concerns persist it may be necessary to request further advice from outside agencies - refer to the Outside agencies section for more details.

The NASEN website has lots of useful information (NASEN requires membership - which is free - to access these materials).