Special Educational Needs Advisory Service (SENAS)

What we do

Trafford SEN Advisory Service (SENAS) provides advice and information to Early Years settings, schools and colleges to meet the needs of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. We work with parents, Education, Health and Social care staff to ensure that children and young people in Trafford are supported in their education. We work together to identify a child or young person’s needs and ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to enable them to learn.

SENAS works closely with Inclusion Services across Trafford. We contribute to the statutory assessment process and liaise with families and staff. We aim to build capacity through inclusive teaching and reasonable adjustments to the environment, the curriculum and assessments. SENAS works collaboratively with SENCOs in Trafford to facilitate SENCo Cluster meetings, SENCO Forums SENCo and whole school Training.

Who we are

Trafford’s SEN Advisory Service includes staff with extensive knowledge and experience of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Our Team includes SEN Advisory Service Consultants, Early Years Area SENCos and SEND Specialist Teaching Assistants.

 Our SEN Advisory Service Consultants have the following areas of responsibility:

Autism and Social Communication

Social communication describes how we communicate in social situations; it includes both verbal (spoken language) and nonverbal (eye gaze, facial expression, gestures) communication. Not all children and young people who have differences in their social communication to their peers are autistic, but most of the same approaches will be helpful to them.

Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental difference which affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people and how they experience the world around them. Like anyone else, autistic people will have different life experiences, strengths, weaknesses, and support needs which is why autism is described as a spectrum condition.

The SENAS autism and social communication consultant and specialist teaching assistants work alongside schools to help remove the barriers to the well-being and achievement of autistic children and young people. This can be through:

  •  providing advice to support individual pupils in schools
  •  a varied training offer for whole staff, and staff groups including understanding autism as well as support approaches
  • developing autism awareness (especially a positive view of autism), as well as providing informal advice to SENDCos, schools and families.

We work alongside the Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, and Educational Psychology services in Trafford.

 

Early Years

Our Specialist Teaching Assistants support the informal assessment of children with SEND in conjunction with a SENAS Early Years Consultant and other relevant services. We work closely with parents and carers offering advice and support in relation to their Nursery child’s assessment, provision, intervention, inclusion and transition.  We also work closely with the Trafford Early Development Portage Service (TEDS) who cater for younger children, and Trafford Speech and Language Therapy Service. We aim to ensure that starting school for the children on our caseload, is well planned and we are available to advise on this transition through the first term of Reception.

We take referrals for Nursery children who may have significant Physical and/or Medical Needs, and for children who have a significant delay in 2 or more areas of their development.

SENAS staff are highly trained in Early Support as well as specific areas of need.  We offer guidance to parents for children in the Early Years whilst helping to coordinate information gathering to enable the Local Authority to decide whether the needs are sufficiently complex and long term that an Education Health and Care Needs Assessment is necessary.

We also offer advice to support the inclusion of children with cognition and learning needs including Down Syndrome in Trafford’s mainstream schools. Training is available for schools on a range of approaches to support learning.

We consulted with parents, staff in Early Years settings and schools about our SEN Advisory Service. This is how we have acted on the feedback we received.

 

Physical and Medical Needs

Children and young people with physical and medical needs may have lifelong conditions, short term needs or acquired conditions that impact on their ability to access education. The SENAS Physical/Medical Needs Consultant and Specialist Teaching Assistants work with EY settings and schools to provide support to families and education settings to raise achievement, promote inclusion and improve access to learning. We follow a graduated approach to ensure that children with physical/medical needs get the level of support they require.

We work closely with relevant services to ensure a multi-agency joined-up approach. This includes Children’s Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Speech, Language and Communication Therapy Services. We link in with Trafford Sensory Impairment Support Service for children with additional visual or hearing impairment and work closely with Trafford Children’s Community Nursing Team to meet the clinical needs of children and young people in school. We ensure that multi-agency recommendations are implemented to keep children and young people healthy and safe, able to access their environment and learn.

Our SENAS Physical/Medical Consultant oversees the provision of specialist equipment for children and young people who require specialist seating, toileting and/or moving and handling equipment. We have a store of equipment that is recycled to provide value for money. We also provide Assistive Technology assessments, support and training to implement any recommendations. Assistive Technology includes hardware and software that will enable children and young people to perform functions that otherwise may be difficult or impossible because of their disability.

Specific Learning Difficulties

Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) is a term that covers a range of learning differences, that include Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia and Dysgraphia. SpLD often co-occurs with other conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or social communication difficulties.

If a child or young person has had access to a wide range of learning opportunities via quality first classroom teaching and group intervention, but attainment remains a concern, an unidentified specific learning difficulty may be the underlying cause.

The SENAS Consultant for SpLD supports by offering:

  • informal assessments of need
  • recommendations on appropriate strategies, interventions, and assistive technology to inform a robust SEN Support Plan
  • training for teachers and/or teaching assistants on supporting students with specific learning difficulties in the classroom, including advice on creating a dyslexia friendly learning environment
  • advising and supporting education providers through the Dyslexia Friendly Kite Mark

Who to contact

Telephone
0161 911 8669 0161 911 8669
E-mail

Where to go

Name
Sale Waterside
Address
Waterside Plaza
Sale
Manchester
Postcode
M33 7ZF
View M33 7ZF on a map

Who is it for?

Ages
  • From 2 to 25 years old
Supporting People With
  • Learning disability
  • Mental health
  • Autistic Spectrum
  • Communication
  • Physical impairment
  • Challenging Behaviour
  • Profound or Multiple Needs
  • Hearing impairment
  • Visual impairment
Eligibility Details

Children and young people who:

  • are resident in Trafford and attend an Early Years setting, state funded school or college in Trafford;
  • are resident in Trafford and have an EHCP, but attend a state funded school or college in a different Local Authority;
  • are resident outside Trafford but attend a state funded school or college in Trafford.

Children and young people who are resident outside Trafford and have an EHCP should contact the Local Authority in which they reside.

Availability

Referral Required?
Yes
Referral Details

Early Years Referrals to SENAS:

PVI settings should use a Trafford Single Agency Referral Form (SARF) to refer Early Years children to SENAS: SENAS PVI Referral

Early Years referrals from school nurseries need to be made via Liquid Logic.

School Referrals to SENAS:

Schools or colleges can make a referral to SENAS for a specific child by using the Single Agency Referral Form (SARF): SARF to SENAS Enquiry V1.0 

Other agencies should encourage the setting, school or college to refer, if they feel support from SENAS is appropriate.

Telephone advice is available on general issues which may lead to a referral for a specific child. SENAS Consultants offer virtual advice sessions and may be booked following contact with the Service.

 

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