Helping your child in early years

There is a wide range of support available to parents of children with SEN or who are disabled to help their development at home. All professionals working with your child will give you advice about this.

Some Trafford services provide direct support to children and families within the home using specialist approaches such as Portage and Early Support.

Health Visitors

Health Visitors are qualified, registered nurses with specialist knowledge of community and public health, child health, and health promotion and education. We work in teams with Community Staff Nurses, Community Nursery Nurses, Health Care Assistants and Interpreters.

• North Health Visiting Team
• West Health Visiting Team
• Central Health Visiting Team
• South Health Visiting Team

Health visitors are the case co-ordinators for all families with children under 5 and can work holistically with parents and children. It is important that services work together to support children’s developmental progress and make sure every child gets the best start in life.

All school nursery classes, day nurseries and preschool playgroups have a named Health Visitor for support and childminders have access to their local Health Visiting Teams. Contact your locality health visiting team for more information.

Trafford Integrated Review Presentation

Trafford Early Development Service (TEDS)

Trafford Early Development Service (TEDS) is a registered Portage Service. We support Children and their families through home based play and also in Early Years settings. We also provide targeted group sessions.

TEDS provides an essential early assessment and intervention service for children with developmental delay, i.e. pre-school children who have been identified as having a developmental delay – sensory / cognitive / physical / communication and / or learning impairment / children with complex health needs.

Trafford Children's Therapy Service (Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy)

Provide high quality holistic therapy assessments, treatments, advice and care to babies, children and young people with complex and additional needs. With an aim is to improve the child’s function in daily activities so they can achieve their full potential and stay healthy.

SEN Advisory Service (SENAS)

The main purpose of the SEN Advisory Service (SENAS) is to advise and support settings and schools in meeting the needs of children with Special Educational Needs and who are Disabled (SEND), as well as provide advice to the Local Authority and to parents. 

Complex Needs (Children's Social Care) Team

The Complex Needs (Children's Social Care) Team carry out early help and child/family assessments to identify unmet social care needs and work to determine if these needs can be met through the family, specialist support or universal services.

Early years childcare

Good quality early years childcare is beneficial for all children. It can play a hugely important role in your child's development, allowing them to become independent, to mix with other children, learning new things and skills which benefit them for years to come.

Helpful Advice Sheets

Helping your child with daily activities, advice and support from Trafford Children's Therapy Service around getting dressed, using the toilet, hands skills, using tools and cutlery, getting ready to write, sit, pay attention and work, attention and organisation, play skills, visual perceputal skills.

What language skills does your child need to engage in toilet / potty training advice and support from SENAS

Tiny Happy People 

Language lets children express themselves and tell others how they feel.

Language is the building block of all learning. Without language skills, it’s harder for children to learn how to read, write and use numbers.

When children start school they should be able to speak to their new friends in full sentences, ask teachers simple questions and understand what they’re told to do. When they have these skills they’ll feel more confident and they’ll be happier.

But children starting school all across the UK today are unable to do these things.

In England alone, 1 in 4 five-year-olds are behind with their language skills, rising to 1 in 3 depending on where you live (Save the Children 2015). And the picture is similar across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too.

A chatty child is a happy child, so Tiny Happy People from the BBC is here to help you develop your child's communication skills through simple interaction and play.

Tiny Happy People can help you develop your child’s language and communication skills, so they get the best start in life.

Hungry Little Minds 

A new campaign from the Department for Education that encourages parents and carers to adopt positive activities to boost children’s communication, language and literacy development.

The campaign aims to help parents understand that they have a massive impact on their child’s learning. Reading, playing and chatting with your child are simple things you can do to help them develop, even when they are too young to say much back.

Find out more at the Hungry Little Minds website.