Statements for children under two

5:5. Statements will be rare for children under two.  The LEA should first consider individual programmes of support according to the child's particular needs.  The procedures are not specified in legislation.  But, while LEAs may prefer to make voluntary agreements to cover such arrangements, they should be aware that a parental request for a statutory assessment could indicate that those arrangements are insufficient.  For very young children LEAs should consider home-based programmes such as Portage (see Glossary) or peripatetic services for children with hearing or visual impairment.  Parents should be consulted about the nature of the help and support which they would like to receive and some may prefer to attend a Centre or to combine home-based with centre-based support.

5:6. If a decision is made to issue a statement, usually because of the child's complex needs or to allow access to a particular service such as a home-based teaching or a developmental play programme, it should include:

? all available information about the child, with a clear specification of the child's special educational needs

? a record of the views of the parents and any relevant professionals

? a clear account of the services being offered, including the contribution of the education service and the educational objectives to be secured and the contribution of any statutory and voluntary agencies, and

? a description of the arrangements for monitoring and review.

5:7. LEAs should ensure that any specific educational targets are regularly reviewed and, if necessary, revised.  Any action will require close collaboration with child health services.

5:8. Careful monitoring of the child's progress should be a priority.  LEAs should consider liaising with non-educational service providers for young children to ensure that record-keeping contains information relevant to identifying and meeting the child's special educational needs and to avoid duplication of investigations when the child is over two years.


Assessment of children under five


Those responsible for a school's governance (the LEA in the case of a maintained nursery school) shall use their best endeavours to secure that appropriate special educational provision is made for all their registered pupils with learning difficulties.

(Section 161)



5:9. The LEA may expect a nursery class or school to follow broadly the same procedures for identifying and meeting the special educational needs of children under five as Part 2 of this Code recommends for children of compulsory school age.