Many settings can meet a child or young person’s needs without needing to access additional services. Where this is not the case, there are a number of assessment and support services that can be provided for the child’s learning and wellbeing.

Settings, schools and providers must work in partnership with parents/ carers and young people in identifying and providing support for SEN. They should follow an approach with four stages of action: assess, plan, do, review, which is a part of the graduated approach. Many settings can meet a child or young person’s needs without needing to access additional services. Where this is not the case, there are a number of assessment and support services that can be provided. This may lead to some of the services mentioned here being involved with the child’s learning and wellbeing.

If you feel that a child or young person has SEN and needs to access an assessment or support service, then please talk to the school or settings Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) in the first instance.

Special Needs Early Years Service (0 to 5)

Special Needs Early Years Service provide support for children aged 0 to 5 including SEND Area SENCOs role and Home Based Services.

Special Needs Early Years Service is a team of Specialist Teachers and Specialist Higher Level Teaching Assistants.

Through their combined specialisms and experience, they provide a Specialist Education Service for children from birth and through to the end of their Nursery age years, across the City of Wolverhampton. They deliver a service for children where their learning is delayed, or where a diagnosis has been made or is being investigated. Every child is unique and so are their needs. The aim is to provide identification of children’s needs, and implement any specialist support required, at the earliest opportunity.

View Parent Support Offer for families with children and young people with SEND.

Sensory Inclusion Service 

Sensory Inclusion Service providing support for children and young people who are deaf or have a visual impairment. Wolverhampton Sensory Inclusion are a team of Qualified Specialist Teachers of the Deaf, Qualified Specialist Teachers of the Visually Impaired, Specialist Higher Level Teaching Assistants and a Deaf Tutor. They support children from birth to 25 in homes, schools and settings across the city. 

View Parent Support Offer for families with children and young people with SEND.

Specialist Learning Support 

Specialist Learning Support is a team of Specialist Teachers and SEND & Inclusion Support Officers, all of whom are qualified teachers with specialist qualifications in SEND. The SEND and Inclusion Support Officers (S&I) are part of the City of Wolverhampton Council’s core offer available to all schools.

They are the first point of contact for Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCos) in schools, offering advice and guidance in their strategic roles as leaders of SEND. The S&I Support Officers offer advice and guidance around all four broad areas of need. They also promote the graduated approach guidance as per the SEN Code of Practice 2015. 

View Parent Support Offer for families with children and young people with SEND.

Outreach service 

The Wolverhampton Outreach Service offers support to mainstream practitioners to enable them to more confidently meet the needs of children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND). They also offer parent support and workshops. 

View Parent Support Offer for families with children and young people with SEND.

Educational Psychologist 

Educational Psychologists are professionals who specialise in child development, learning needs and emotional wellbeing, using psychological theories to help recommend appropriate support. They work with children and young people up to the age of 25 years, working closely with parent/carer(s), the young person and other professionals to better understand the needs of the young person.

They offer a free remote consultation service to parents/carers living in Wolverhampton, and also to parents/carers of children or young people in the care of Wolverhampton Local Authority. 

This support includes helping parents and carers with emotional wellbeing, mental health advice for you and your family. As well as SEND related advice and how you can support your child through transition.

Royal Wolverhampton Trust - Speech and Language Service 

The NHS Speech and Language Therapy service offer a universal, targeted and specialist service to schools and settings.  They work with education staff to support identification of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) and through them, share strategies and suggestions to support in the following ways.

Universal: General strategies around speech, language and communication development, e.g. teaching listening skills, using visual support, creating a language friendly environment.

Targeted: Short term small group or individual intervention, e.g. Language programmes, Narrative programmes, Social communication programmes

Specialist: Highly Individual specialist programmes of work for complex needs, for example Developmental Language Disorder, Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Cleft Palate.

For more information about the service visit What if I need a bit more support.

Royal Wolverhampton Trust - Physiotherapy 

Supporting school for learning needs

The service works very closely with education staff, including the Outreach service, to ensure interventions at all stages can be delivered effectively. This approach means children and young people are able to access support immediately on identification of their needs, with minimal disruption to their education. 

They support children with sensory and motor skill difficulties following a graduated approach, this may include -

  • Your child being provided with universal occupational therapy strategies in school when their needs are first identified.
  • If support is still required, your child may be referred for more targeted and individualised support from the Wolverhampton Outreach or Early Years service.
  • Additionally, if further support is required following universal and targeted approaches, a referral can be made for more specialist intervention from the Occupational Therapy service.

For more information about the service visit What if I need a bit more support.

Royal Wolverhampton Trust - Occupational Therapist

The service works very closely with education staff, including the Outreach service, to ensure interventions at all stages can be delivered effectively. This approach means children and young people are able to access support immediately on identification of their needs, with minimal disruption to their education. 
They support children with sensory and motor skill difficulties following a graduated approach, this may include -

  • Your child being provided with universal occupational therapy strategies in school when their needs are first identified.
  • If support is still required, your child may be referred for more targeted and individualised support from the Wolverhampton Outreach or Early Years service.
  • Additionally, if further support is required following universal and targeted approaches, a referral can be made for more specialist intervention from the Occupational Therapy service.

Occupational Therapist involvement with schools

  • Education and advice around exercises and positioning, including training teachers to do your exercises and positioning with you if agreed
  • Provide online resources for all Wolverhampton schools enabling them to identify appropriate activities which can be built into the school day to support movement, sensory and fine motor activities such as developing handwriting skills.