Special Educational Needs – Agencies

Sometimes, some of our children need a little extra support with their education and development than we can offer in school. It may be necessary to refer a child to an outside agency that specialise in supporting children with a variety of needs. Below are some of the main agencies that we work with in school.

CAMHS

The Emotional Wellbeing Team - Gateshead CAMHS is made up of practitioners in Gateshead who provide services aimed at improving the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children, young people and their families.

CAMHS work with children and young people who are aged 4-18yrs and who live in Gateshead, who are experiencing mild to moderate emotional, behavioural and psychological difficulties such as:

• Behavioural difficulties, including low mood, anxiety and depression.
• Eating distress
• Sleep difficulties
• Self-Harm
• Bereavement and Loss
• Relationship difficulties
• Bullying

CYPS

The Children and Young People’s service (CYPS) supports children and young people 0-18 years living in Newcastle and Gateshead who present with mental health difficulties. This includes children and young people who may be living in difficult and challenging circumstances.

Services for children and young people with learning disabilities are provided through collaboration between CYPS and the Community Learning Disability Team.

CYPS are able to provide:

• Assessment, diagnosis and intervention on a range of mental health issues.
• Intensive response and home-based treatment for children and young people whose mental health is causing significant concern.
• Training, consultation, support and advice to staff

HINT

High Incidence Needs Team (HINT) consists of teachers who are specialists in the areas of:

Communication and Interaction

– Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)

– Complex Social Communication (CSC)

– Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC)

Physical and Medical Needs

Cognition and Learning

– general learning difficulties

– Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD)

They provide assessment, advice, recommendations and support to schools and settings providing for children and young people aged 4-25 years with High Incidence Needs.

LINT

The Low Incidence Needs Team (LINT) includes the Hearing Impairment Team and the Visual Impairment Team both of which provide support to pre-school and school-age children in Gateshead. 

Specialist teachers and support staff hold qualifications in the areas of Hearing Impairment and Visual Impairment. These teams provide services which may include:

• Home teaching for pre-school children and teaching support for school-age children, information and advice on a child's hearing/visual impairment and its implications
• Support with hearing/vision assessments and technologies
• Assistance with access to specialist equipment
• Sign language and Braille teaching
• Supporting participation in leisure and social activities outside of school.

Hearing Impairment Team

This team works with children and young people with a hearing impairment (HI) aged 0-25 years. The team consists of specialist teachers and support assistants, specialist speech and language therapist (SALT) and a specialist HI learning mentor.

Visual Impairment Team

The Visual Impairment Team works with children and young people aged 0-25 years with a visual impairment (VI). The team consists of specialist teachers and support assistants, a Habilitation Officer and a specialist learning mentor.

OT – Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapists work with children to help them achieve their maximum level of function in all aspects of their daily life and help to promote health and wellbeing. They work with children aged 0-18, children experiencing difficulties with self-care skills e.g. drinking, feeding, washing/bathing and toileting or gross/fine motor skills which are impacting on the child’s ability to learn or play, and children who have a physical disability/illness, developmental disorder/difficulty and/or learning disability 

The Gateshead team accept referrals from health care, social care (e.g. Social Worker) or educational professionals (e.g. school teachers). They offer:

• Assessment of functional performance using a range of methods and tools
• A goal orientated approach working in partnership with the child and their family/carer
• Collaborative working with colleagues in health, education and social care
• Individual treatment programmes
• Advice and information on maintaining and developing skills
• Recommendations for equipment and minor adaptions.

SALT

The Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) team provide comprehensive services for children and young people (CYP) in Gateshead, who have difficulties with speech, language and communication (SLC) and/or eating, drinking or swallowing (EDS) difficulties. 

This includes assessment, diagnosis and therapeutic intervention of difficulties in these areas.  Therapy may include the provision of advice and programmes to parents, carers and education staff, individual or group therapy or the provision of an alternative means of communication.

They support children and young people and their families to adapt and manage changes, in all areas of their lives relating to communication and/or feeding/swallowing difficulties.

Early Years Support (0-4 years)

Gateshead Council commissions the Early Years Assessment and Intervention Team (EYAIT) to work in partnership with parents/carers, childminders, nurseries and pre-schools to assess children aged 0-4 years who are facing significant barriers to their development and learning and provide appropriate intervention and support.

The team consists of an Educational Psychologist, three Specialist teachers, two Portage workers and seven Teaching Assistants.

The staff in the team are all very skilled and experienced in working with children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and work with children with a variety of needs e.g. Autism Spectrum Condition, Cerebral Palsy, general developmental delay, with or without a diagnosis.

The Early Years Assessment and Intervention Team:

• Offer assessment, interventions and support for children from 0-4 who are experiencing significant barriers to their development and learning.
• Establish and develop partnerships with parents/carers in supporting children with SEN.
• Offer coordinated, holistic and multi-agency assessments, interventions and reviews.
• Develop effective strategies to enable children to access their education in an inclusive environment.
• Liaise with parents/carers and practitioners to develop appropriate action plans.
• Develop and support transition to the child’s next educational placement.
• Contribute to the EHC Plan process.
• Provide time limited interventions, assessment and advice and coaching and modelling strategies.

Additionally Resourced Mainstream Schools (ARMS)

It may be appropriate for some children to attend an ARMS unit within a school to further support their education.

ARMS are schools which specialise in a particular area of learning need. Children in ARMS usually have an Education, Health and Care Plan and are generally taught in smaller classes with a higher level of support than a normal mainstream school but will have opportunities to mix with children in the mainstream school. The ARMS in Gateshead are as follows: