SEND resources for professionals

SEND Resources for Professionals

The resources below can also be found in the Kensington and Chelsea SEND Local Offer website and bring together a wide collection of toolkits, advice and guidance to support and help those professionals working closely with young people with SEND. They cover a range of topics, including participation, communication, events and transition processes. These toolkits are designed for practitioners working across health, social care and education to effectively involve and support young people in matters that are important to them and impact their lives.

The resources have been compiled by external organisations and are publicly available. This is not an exhaustive list and is intended as guidance only. If there are areas where we could provide further support, please don’t hesitate to get in touch [email protected].

Participation

The Participation Audit Tool from the Council for Disabled Children (CDC) is an essential resource for statutory and voluntary agencies, across health, education and social care to evidence and develop their participation practice and outcomes
This poster from CDC lists a series of tips for involving young disabled people in participation
A CDC checklist for how to include young people in decision making
A case study from CDC focused on engaging young people in Core Asset's Independent Support Service
This CDC guide offers an array of practical examples and suggestions to help professionals and parents become effective participators
The toolkit from ALLFIE has been created to better connect with disabled young people and build their resilience to participate in decision making.
This is the first booklet in a toolkit comprised of 6 booklets developed by Save the Children

You can find more information on Participation in our Young People’s Participation Pages for Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea.

Advocacy

This guidance from Voice Ability supports advocates in challenging decisions or actions with or on behalf of individuals
ALLFIE have created this toolkit focusing on supporting disabled people to lead on advocacy

Communication

Tools for Talking are resources to facilitate culturally sensitive, person-centred communication and understanding, service planning and delivery
CDC teamed up with Participation Works to create this guide which provides information and ideas about how you can enable children and young people with a range of communication impairments to participate in decisions about their lives
This guide, designed by MENCAP, is designed to provide a brief introduction to communication, and the problems faced by someone with a learning disability
The communications toolkit is a compilation of sample worksheets and communication boards created by the Information, Advice and Support Services Network

Easy Read

This guide from Change People is full of tips on how to make your own Easy Read documents.
Am I making myself clear? Mencap’s guidelines for accessible writing.

Under 8s and Early Years

National Children’s Bureau has created a set of eight leaflets on a range of topics for young children from birth to eight
The Bi-borough Training and Outreach Service Team have developed a bank of ideas of how to capture the voice of EY (under 5s) and non-verbal pupils
The Researcher Toolkit and Resource have been designed to support those who are seeking to include young children aged 5-8yrs old in research
This CDC toolkit provides information about supporting SEN and disability in the Early Years
Look Who’s Talking is a set of posters about eliciting the voices of children from birth to seven

You can find more information on Early Years and Childcare on the Local Offer for Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea.

Evaluation

This toolkit from Artworks Creative Communities details a selection of creative techniques that practitioners can use to enable participants to engage in understanding and share their feelings and opinions in a reflective manner

Events and Planning

The Disability Awareness Toolkit by Plan International is a resource that can be used when facilitating a community meeting
Young People and Respect created a toolkit for running a consultation event with young people about respect
ALLFIE have produced this document to help organisations meet disabled people’s access requirements during events
This document from the National Disability Team aims to support staff working in higher education who are involved in the planning, organising, publicising and running of events

SEND Reforms

‘Your Rights, Your Future’ is an interactive training session designed for any practitioner working with children and young people on the SEND reforms

Autism

The Include Autism Toolkit was developed for those running youth groups or clubs to better understand autism and support autistic young people
Ambitious about Autism have created a tool called ‘Know Your Normal’ to help explain autism to others.

Transition

Coram Voice have produced this toolkit to help advocates, professionals and carers support disabled children with the transition from children’s to adult’s services
The Bi-borough Transitions Toolkit for Early Years can be used as a guide to transition processes and can inform policies and procedures
The Bi-borough Transitions Toolkit for Primary to Secondary is aimed to assist teachers and parents / carers working with children and young people with SEND to support their thinking around periods of transition. It should be applied alongside 'Transition, Recovery and Learning in the Aftermath of a Pandemic' which has been produced by the Educational Psychology Service for Primary Phase and Secondary Phase.
This toolkit from the Autism Education Trust is a summary of the common issues surrounding transition for young people on the autism spectrum
Managing the transition back to school: A guide for schools and colleges from the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families
Managing unexpected endings and transitions: A practical guide to support pupils and students to manage change during periods of disruption from the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families

For Covid-19 support, transition resources and templates for school staff and SENCOs visit the Local Offer.

Health

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital have created a Patient Passport aimed at supporting people who need additional help when coming into hospital
A toolkit from Young People’s Health for those supporting 16–25 year olds experiencing common mental health problems to gain and stay in work
Young Minds created these handy guides to give you all the basic information you need to know about participation across the children and young people's mental health system

For more information about Health Care for children and young people with SEND visit the dedicated pages on the Local Offer for Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster.

Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP)

Amy, a member of Council for Disabled Children’s youth advisory group FLARE, has created an incredible resource to support children and young people who have an Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP)
This CDC Top Tips guide is for all professionals who are involved in supporting disabled children and young people and those with special educational needs, to fully participate in their Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plan
This CDC resource has been produced to help practitioners write good quality EHC plans that meet both the letter and the spirit of the Children and Families Act 2014. This guide which seeks to build on the first resource with a particular focus on how plans should evolve for young people from year 9 reviews onwards, as their journey into adulthood builds momentum. We would recommend that you use this resource to complement the first guide
A Quality and Rights-Based Framework for Professionals Involved in Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) for Disabled Children and Young People developed by RIPSTARS Coventry