SEND can be broken down into Special Educational Needs (SEN) and/or Disability.
SEN
A child has SEN if they:
- have significantly more difficulty learning than most others their age
- have a disability which prevents them taking part in similar learning to others of the same age
- need extra support that is ‘additional to’ and ‘different from’ the support that other children of the same age get.
A disability is part of SEN when it impacts on their learning.
SEN covers a lot of difficulties that children may face. The Code of Practice breaks this down into four main types:
- Cognition and learning
- Communication and speech
- Social, emotional, and mental health
- Physical and sensory.
Disability
The other part of SEND is disability.
A disability is defined as a physical or mental condition which has a long-term and substantial impact on your daily life (Equality Act 2010).
It can be physical, for example, cerebral palsy.
It can be neurological, for example, autism spectrum disorder.
If a child has a disability that does not affect their learning, they are part of SEND but do not have Special Educational Needs (SEN).
The SEND Code of Practice gives more detail about what SEND means.