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7 November 2011 SEN and Disability Marketplace Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Theme 4 Workshop 1 Learning from Early Support Elizabeth Andrews Associate Consultant Council for Disabled Children. Overview. What the Green Paper says and promises
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7 November 2011 SEN and Disability Marketplace Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Theme 4 Workshop 1 Learning from Early Support Elizabeth Andrews Associate Consultant Council for Disabled Children
Overview • What the Green Paper says and promises • Early Support and key working at the heart of current development • What Early Support provides now and planned development in 2011-2013 • Resources to help and who to contact • Questions and issues
What the Green Paper says:Early Support ‘Early Support is highly regarded by parents and professionals alike and has been proven to make a significant difference to families… Early Support has been used by many local authorities for families with disabled babies or children under 5, but the approach of clear information and resources with parents holding the plan for their child’s support is relevant to older children too.’ Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability
What the Green Paper promises:Early Support ‘The Department for Education will fund voluntary and community sector organisations to maintain the existing Early Support resources, including the training materials, and amend them in partnership with parents to extend their use to families with school-aged children.’ Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability
What the Green Paper says:Key workers ‘Parents with disabled children are likely to face higher levels of stress and they value the practical and emotional support of a key worker. Key workers can help to reduce this stress, help parents to navigate the system and help them agree the right support for their child. Most local authorities are already using key working to some extent. Although some local authorities use dedicated key workers, most train professionals who are already in contact with the family, such as a health visitor or social worker, to act as a key worker.’ Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability
What the green paper promises: Key workers ‘The Department for Education will fund the voluntary and community sector to provide free training on key working for a range of professionals…and will test the role of key workers in the single assessment process and ‘Education, Health and Care Plan’ in the pathfinder areas as well as their role in supporting parents with increased control over funding for their child’s support.’ Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability
How this fits into broader Green Paper principles and working ‘Working together with parents right from the start to support the child’s learning and development and can have huge benefits for the child’s achievement and wellbeing. Learning from parents and sharing information with them can give professionals a much better understanding of how best to support a child.’ ‘Services will work together with the family to agree a straightforward, single plan that reflects the family’s ambitions for their child from early years to adulthood, which is reviewed regularly to reflect their changing needs, and is clear about who is responsible for provision.’ Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability
What do we know about the positive impact of Early Support? • The evaluation of Early Support commissioned by Government concluded that, ’from the perspective of both parents and professionals, Early Support is a successful programme that has had demonstrable positive effects on the quality of service provision, the wellbeing of families and the appropriate support and development of disable children.’ • It was described as ‘one of the government’s great success stories in relation to disabled children’ by the Parliamentary Hearings on Services for Disabled Children in 2006
People who use it say… ‘Family Service Plans mean that parents go away with a piece of paper that says, “We will do this, this and this” with dates for delivery. That’s been really powerful from the perspective of parents and it’s really helped professionals to come together and work more collaboratively.’ Senior Commissioning Manager for Disabled Children and Children with Long Term Conditions ‘Care co-ordination for me is about having the Care Plan ...You’ve got it and you’ve got timescales. You know who’s doing what and when they’re doing it by.’ Parent and Chair, Parent Forums
People who use it say… ‘A key thing about Early Support has been the strength of engagement with parents. It led directly to the formation of our Parent Forum, which gives families a collective opportunity to influence and be involved in the development of the services that they require.’ Service Manager - Special & Additional Needs ‘Early Support is not a programme. It’s part and parcel of the way services should work with children and young people with SEND. It’s not additional. It’s the way services should be delivered and it should just be a part of what we do.’ Service Manager - Special & Additional Needs
Relevance for older children and young people? ‘We all recognise the need for a single plan for transition, but we can’t agree yet on how far other processes can be compromised to achieve a single plan. Sometimes there are very entrenched attitudes to be un-picked. We’re trying to use learning from ES Family Service Plans to say, “This is how you achieve it.” The way we deliver Team Around the Child support and Family Service Plans for younger children is ‘multiple assessments, but one plan’ and it works ... the focus is on planning with and for the whole family. At transition, young people will have a more independent voice supported by their family but a single plan at transition should look similar.’ Manager of an Integrated Service for Disabled Children
Relevance for older children and young people? ‘What we’ve learnt is that the coordinating role and oversight of multi-agency services is important and highly valued by families. Our Key Workers and Key Worker Coordinators have a newly developed ability to look holistically and more widely at a family’s situation and to maintain oversight of what’s happening with all the different agencies involved. That ability has grown directly from the practice of Early Support with younger children.’ Key Worker Coordinator
Early Support and Key Working at the heart of current development
Single gateway into the system and multi agency referral panels Transition Support Programme Existing arrangements for statutory assessment and review Experience using Family Service Plans Early Support principles and experience Single assessment and planning process 0-25 Experience using Team Around the Child approaches and meetings Individual budgets Achievement for All Experience developing holistic support and partnership with families Early Support and key working at the heart of developing EHC plans
The experience, principles and practice ofEarly Supporthelp with all of this Early Support and key working at the heart of current development Core element of reform: A single education health and care plan from birth to 25 years old, focusing on whether outcomes for disabled children and their parents have been improved Core element of reform: Strong partnership between all local services and agencies working together to help disabled children and those with SEN Core element of reform: Developing the role of parents and voluntary and community sector organisations in a new system Core element of reform: Personal budgets for parents of disabled children and those with SEN so they can choose which services best suit the needs of their children
What Early Support offers now and planned development in 2011-2013
What Early Support provides now Family Service Plans Background Information Booklets Information for Parents Booklets Developmental journals Multi-agency joint planning and decision making with families Information for families and two-way exchange of information with families Working in Partnership Training for use of materials like the Service Audit Tool and developmental Journals Parent Workshops Training for professionals working for Education, health and Social Care services and for families Family File Help for families with co-ordination, supported by key working where appropriate All developed in partnership with families and local services and piloted and refined in 45 x Early Support Pathfinder areas in 2005 and 2006 then through a national programme
Projected development 2011-2013 Up-dating of all current programme materials for the under 5s Development of current programme materials for use with children and young people Up-dating of Early Support training and extension for use with families with older children and young people Development and delivery of new national training in key working All developed in partnership with families, young people and local services and ‘piloted’ in pathfinder areas as part of broader SEN Green Paper testing of the role of key workers in the single assessment process and ‘Education, Health and Care Plan’ .
Resources: The Early Support and Key Working Consortium • The appointment of the Early Support and Key Working Consortium to lead these developments has recently been announced • The Consortium wishes to establish early contact with all Green Paper pathfinder areas and also warmly invites all local areas and trainers with experience of using and extending Early Support up the age range to make contact with them • The Director of the Early Support and Key Working Consortium is Kim Bevan Contact: kim@estrust.org.uk • The Consortium is also represented in the Marketplace today. Please speak with Gill Haynes or Kim to find out more.
Assessments/referrals Support for learning Equipment Medical/health care Short breaks Work experience Support for the family What will the scope of Education, Health and Care Plans be? … and who will be responsible for convening joint planning meetings with young people and families?
Transition Support Programme Existing arrangements for statutory assessment and review Early Support principles and experience Single assessment and planning process 0-25 Individual budgets Achievement for All How will support for local areas be coordinated?
