Rainbow SEND Assessments

27/09/2024

Today we celebrate Teaching Assistants and to be honest, teachers would be lost without this army of staff who make a difference every day.

04/06/2024

The second area of the SEND Code of Practice is Communication and Interaction. The Code of Practice explains this as follows: '‘Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying what they want to, understanding what is being said to them, or they do not understand or use social rules of communication. The profile for every child with SLCN is different and their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all of the different aspects of speech, language or social communication at different times of their lives." (paragraph 6.29).
Children with these needs may require an assessment and support by a Speech and Language Therapist - they can be referred by your child's teacher or SENDCo. They can support with speech sounds and working on social cues. They may talk about expressive and receptive language (the language we use to express ourselves and the language we receive from others). Children with specific conditions, such as Autism, may also struggle with social interaction, communication, imagination and implied understanding.
Whilst Rainbow SEND Assessments cannot diagnose Autism or any specific speech issues, we can help support your child, and we can also screen for issues with communication and interaction needs. Contact Suzanne for an informal chat to see if we can help.

18/05/2024

I read this article this morning. I am appalled by its contents, but sadly not surprised. The children and parents of Lancashire and South Cumbria deserve (and, according to the SEND Code of Practice, entitled to) better. NICE guidelines for diagnosis are not being met.
To reach a diagnosis of Autism, your child needs to have been seen by a number of professionals, and information from many sources will be used to identify whether your child meets the threshold for a diagnosis. Private assessments are available, but these are costly, and are, in some cases, not accepted by the NHS. The same goes for ADHD. A clinical psychologist can diagnose ADD/ADHD, once observations have been made and information from home and school has been sought. Again, private assessments can be comissioned, but you would need to check that these are accepted by the local NHS Trust.
These waiting times are shocking, and what is more shocking is that children are in school settings, waiting for someone to understand them. More often than not, school staff notice traits of autism and/or ADHD in children, and they put strategies in place to enable them to continue to make progress in their learning.
Rainbow SEND Assessments are not qualified to diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorder or ADHD, but we can help parents and school to put a plan in place to support an undiagnosed child. This will help until a diagnosis is in place.
Contact Rainbow SEND Assessments today to see if we can help your child right now, rather than in two years time ….

15/05/2024

The first area of need, as identified by the SEND Code of Practice is Cognition and Learning. This is the area that affects progress and attainment in subjects, and is probably the area that parents are most concerned about, as a lack of academic progress and attainment can lead to issues in the future, especially where GCSEs and further/higher education are concerned.
Rainbow SEND Assessments have a range of psychometric, standardised assessments that can identify current attainment, and once assessed, a plan can be put in place to help the child make progress in the specific areas of need.
Sometimes, an assessment may indicate that a Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD) may be stopping the child from making progress. This could be Dyslexia or Dyspraxia, or something similar. Again, Rainbow SEND Assessments have the means to screen for such difficulties - phone or email Suzanne to discuss this further, or visit the website - www.rainbow-send-assessments.co.uk

07/05/2024

The world of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities seems like a minefield when it's mentioned by your child's school. Schools have a duty to follow the government's SEND Code of Practice, which was put in place in 2014 (last updated 2020). This document discusses the responsibilities of all stakeholders in a child/young person's care.
From a school's perspective, they have a duty to identify signs of SEN as early as possible, and have a 'graduated response' to these signs. This essentially means that they have to 'assess - plan - do - review'. They assess the child's current attainment, plan for the gaps in their attainment, complete a series of interventions (either in a small group or on a 1:1 basis) and review the progress made towards the specific targets written for the individual. The cycle then begins again, hopefully with the child making progress during each cycle. Sometimes the need will be too great and progress is not achieved. At this point, schools may commission the help of a specialist teacher to assess the individual in more depth. This is where Rainbow SEND Assessments can help. Look at our website for more information, and feel free to contact Suzanne via email, contact form or WhatsApp - www.rainbow-send-assessments.co.uk

30/04/2024

Thank you to everyone who has liked this page and shared the profile. I just wanted to share a little about who I am and my motivation for starting this business.
My name is Suzanne and I have just retired from a thirty-two year career as a primary school teacher. In the last twelve years of my career, I was also SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator) as well as being a classroom teacher. In this role, I felt completely frustrated about the lack of support for schools when they want particular children assessing for signs of SEND. The authority have a SEND Department, but that is often too busy to be able to send anyone out in a timely manner, so I have made it my mission to be able to do just that; respond to schools' requests for support within a short time frame, and I want to be able to offer this level of support to parents too. Over the next few weeks, I will post about the help that I can offer to parents (and schools) and I am happy to engage in conversations about individual cases via WhatsApp, Messenger or via the 'contact me' page on my website - www.rainbow-send-assessments.co.uk

24/04/2024

Worried that your child is struggling in school?

Is your child’s teacher concerned about a lack of progress in your child’s learning?

Contact Rainbow SEND Assessments to discuss how I can help. I can assess your child and identify where the needs are, and I’ll communicate these with your child’s school.

Rainbow SEND Assessments offer parents & school staff help and guidance with all things SEND related.

22/04/2024

Thank you for taking the time to visit my page. I'll be updating it with information about my business and what I offer. Please share this page with your friends, and I'll be eternally grateful!