Early years settings are crucial in providing support for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). By fostering an inclusive, personalised environment, children with SEND can thrive socially, emotionally, and academically. At Inspirations we are passionate about supporting all children and inclusivity, even if that means we need to provide extra support.

Here’s how we support our children:

1. Inclusive Environment

We create accessible spaces and use adaptive tools to ensure all children, regardless of their needs, can participate. This includes accessible rooms, sensory-friendly areas, and visual aids to support  communication.

All the activities are accessible for all abilities. For example, in the preschool room a numeracy activity with a variety of numbers will be set up and how the adult supports a child to interact with that activity depends on their ability. There could be numbers out and other resources; for one child we could simply ask them what they see and encourage counting, whereas another child we might ask to them match the numbers or put them in a sequence. This is why it’s important we get to know our children and we can do that through child led learning.

2. Individualised Support Plans

Every child’s needs are different. Tailored plans—such as Individual Education Plans (IEPs)—will be created by the child’s key worker, with a sencos (special educational needs and disabilities coordinator) support. Regular reviews ensure there is ongoing support and monitor progress. For children that receive any inclusion funding, the parents are asked to come in on a termly basis to create targeted outcomes together and celebrate achievements.

3. Trained Staff

Educators working with children with specific needs receive ongoing training in various SEND-related areas, such as autism or speech and language development. This equips them to respond effectively to each child’s needs. We have two trained sencos onsite to support the staffs development and training needs. Many of the other staff have shown an interest in training in other areas such as communication and language barriers and supporting behaviours etc.

4. Emotional and Social Support

We support children to develop their social and emotional skills through activities like social stories, role-playing, and peer interaction. Providing emotional regulation tools such as sensory breaks, supports children when they’re overwhelmed. In the preschool room, we have just purchased a variety of sensory toys, including a large light table and a dark den.

5. Collaboration with Parents and Professionals

Effective communication with parents ensures consistent support at home and nursery. Collaborating with specialists, such as speech therapists, provides a holistic approach to each child’s development. As above, we review on a termly basis using a senit dj ( special educational needs development journal), this is the EYFS (early years foundation stage) in smaller steps to enable us to see and monitor progression, and to enable us to have a more tailored targeted approach. Parents of children that are funded with early years inclusion funding are invited into nursery to discuss progression and create the next terms targets collaboratively.

6. Fostering Independence

Encourage children to develop independence by celebrating small achievements and teaching self-advocacy skills. This boosts their confidence and helps them navigate challenges. Rather than recruiting a one to one for the children that require additional support, we would choose to recruit an additional member of staff to be there to support when needed but to also allow and encourage children to develop their own independence and learn how to navigate with support rather than done for them.

Did you know you we offer Send Forest School Sessions open to the public on Thursdays, to book your place visit the following link- https://inspirationsnurseries.co.uk/forest-school-training-and-sessions/sessions/send-sessions/

Early years settings play a key role in supporting SEND children by creating an inclusive, tailored environment. By focusing on individualised support, strong staff training, and collaboration with families and professionals, these settings ensure that every child can grow and succeed at their own pace. This is a belief we have for all children, not just those with SEND. Child led learning and having keyworkers allow us as educators to observe our children, listen to their questions and their stories, find what interests them and then provide them with opportunities to explore these interests further. The Reggio Emilia Approach takes a child-led project approach. The projects aren’t planned in advance, they emerge based on the child’s interests. With individualised plans for those children with SEND being tailored to them, we also carefully plan their activities through their interests to help support them to reach their outcomes.

 

-Kayleigh