Early Identification and Intervention to Better Support Children and Young People’s Therapy Needs

This will support children’s development within their local environment and increase understanding of the ways to support children’s development and therapy needs.

• Implementing a whole setting approach to develop children’s speech, language, communication, occupational performance and sensory skills within education settings
• Training for universal staff groups (such as childminders, EY (Early Years) settings, schools, health visitors and school nurses, in strategies to support the development of skills and inclusion of children with additional needs, particularly sensory needs
• Mapping of the current support available by level of support offered across all ages (Early Years, Primary School Age, Secondary School Age, 19 to 25 years) and all providers
• Developing the ordinarily available provision to provide more help for settings to support therapy needs
• Raise awareness of the range of support available for everyone, including parents.
• Clear information for parents and schools about what therapy support is available and how to access it
• Ensuring consistent SEN Support across the County for children with therapy needs
• Supporting staff training within settings by utilising specialist capacity

• Ensuring pathways are clear to identify and support children who will need therapy support from birth, from maternity and neonatal provision
• Ensuring we deliver the five mandated checks within the Healthy Child Programme.
• Improved integration of the 2-year early years checks and 2-year health visitor checks
• Promoting school readiness self-assessments within Health Visiting
• Delivering packages to schools to support them to screen/identify and provide targeted support to children
• Providing training for universal staff on where and when to seek support for children

• Recommissioning local children’s therapy services to improve the delivery of therapy provision across Education, Social Care and Health needs and all ages
• Consider how therapy input can be part of the support offered by other teams, for example, Community Paediatrics, within neurodevelopmental assessment, and iSEND to make it more accessible
• Recommissioning a package for primary schools to support them in screening and providing targeted support to children
• Including an Early Language Implementation Measure as part of the two-year check
• Developing an increased targeted support offer in Buckinghamshire