Principles of inter-agency working for children with SEN/AEN

The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (DfES, 2001) clearly says that ALL services for children with SEN should focus on identifying and addressing the needs of children and enable them to improve their situation through:

■ early identification;

■ focused intervention;

■ continual engagement with the child and parent;

■ dissemination of effective approaches and techniques.

Five factors enabling effective inter-agency working are also indicated in the SEN Code of Practice. These are:

■ integrated, high quality, holistic support focused on the needs of the child;

■ a flexible child-centred approach to service delivery;

■ effective collaboration of services involved with the child and with parents;

■ based on a shared perspective;

■ built whenever possible on mutual understanding and agreement.

Therefore, there needs to be a multi-level approach to interventions, starting on every occasion at looking at what the individual pupil’s needs are. As stated earlier, the purpose of any intervention needs to be at the centre of all decisions. If there is not going to be a positive outcome for the pupil, then the work should not be continued.