Specialist Educational Support Services

A multi-agency approach is taken to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in their educational setting. Services may work with pupils on an individual referral basis or provide wider training and development to the education setting itself.

Autism Outreach service

Autism Outreach provide services for any child/young person with social communication difficulties, who would benefit from autism-related strategies.

The Autism Outreach service is commissioned by Surrey and is based at four schools across the county; Linden Bridge and Freemantles visit primary schools, Limpsfield Grange and The Abbey visit secondary schools. A child/ young person does not have to have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan to access this service. A formal diagnosis is not necessary to access Surrey Autism Outreach service.

Educational psychology

Educational psychologists concentrate on the psychological and educational development of children and young people at home, school and within the community.

They work with you and your child's teachers to help if your pre-school or school-age child is having difficulties with their learning and general development (including reading, writing, maths and communication skills), behaviour and managing emotions, or making relationships with other children and adults.

Parents and carers concerned about their child's progress should discuss this with the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) at their child's school, who can consult the Educational Psychology Service in Surrey on your child's behalf.

Specialist teaching teams

Specialist Teachers for Inclusive Practise (STIPS) provide expertise and practical support to schools and families so that children and young people with SEND can achieve their potential.

The teams are made up of learning and language support specialist teachers and behaviour support specialist teachers and assistants.

They can work with any mainstream school to support the inclusion and achievement of children with additional and special educational needs.

STIPS work with schools, parents and other agencies to help pupils with learning and language difficulties and to help manage behaviour difficulties.

Schools can ask for the teams' involvement through a formal referral process to the area specialist teaching teams. Parents or carers will need to support the referral and sign a permission form confirming this.

Physical and Sensory Support service (PSS)

The service supports children and young people with physical, hearing, visual and multi-sensory impairments, in their learning and living. They give advice, support and training to promote educational achievement, and social and emotional development.

If you are concerned about how your child's education is being affected by their vision or hearing impairment, or physical disability, please first speak to your child's teacher, who can refer your child to Physical and Sensory Support service if they meet the criteria.

Although many of the children supported the Physical and Sensory Support service do an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan, children are not required to have an EHC plan to access support from this service.

If you are a student over the age of 16 at a further and higher educational establishments in Surrey, with a hearing impairment, vision impairment or physical disability, you can contact the Physical and Sensory Support service post-16 team.

Speech and Language Service

Speech and language therapists help children and adults who have problems speaking and communicating. They can also support treatment for those who have difficulty with eating or swallowing.

Speech and Language Therapy for Early-Years (zero years to five years old)

Surrey Children and Families Health Speech and Language Therapy service provides assessment, therapy and advice for children up to the age of five years who have speech, language and communication needs.

They see children in community clinics, homes and early years settings including family centres.

Children can be referred by their health visitor, GP, therapist, early years' service, paediatricians based in the local acute or tertiary hospital, paediatric audiology, CAMHS or other agencies.

Parents, carers and guardians can also refer directly to the service by using Children and Family Health Surrey One Stop referral service.

School-aged service speech and language service

Surrey provides a school-based speech and language therapy service. All schools have a link therapist to liaise and discuss the needs of the school and its pupils with the school SENCO on a regular basis.

All new referrals to the service are made via your school's special educational needs coordinator (SENCO).

Your school SENCO will meet with their school link therapist on a half-termly or termly basis to discuss referrals and next steps.

Children and Young People requiring speech and language therapy as a result of a medical condition

Children of any age who require speech and language therapy as a result of an acute episode of a medical condition or an acquired medical condition (for example, head injury) can access services through Surrey Children and Families Health Speech and Language Therapy service.

Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO)

Every school has a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) who works with other teachers and parents to make sure the needs of children with SEND are met by the school, efficiently and effectively.

Your child's school should also publish information about the support they offer children with SEND on the school's website. You can find your school's website by searching the directory of schools on the Surrey County Council website.

Educational support for pre-school children

For pre-school children with severe or complex needs, early support with their education can be very beneficial:

  • The portage early education support service provides home teaching for children aged from birth to three and a half years, whose development is seriously delayed. Children are usually referred to the 'portage' service at birth or when they are diagnosed with a particular need or condition.
  • A place at nursery school or extra help at pre-school may be possible. Contact the Family Information Service to ask about this. Similar help in non-state maintained schools is provided by our early years support team, which you can contact through our Contact Centre on 0300 200 1004.