Wave 1 strategies: Identifying and Supporting Pupils with SEND needs

This guidance has been created with with contributions from professionals with expertise in different areas, including: Hearing Impaired Services / Visual Impaired Services / Educational Psychology / Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy. We've tried to include strategies that have been used across a range of contexts including mainstream, specialist and pupil referral settings.

Ultimately, it has been created to empower teachers to take ownership and use the guidance to inform the strategies they use in the classroom and the targets they set.

This booklet provides support for the staff in:

Section 1: Identifying barriers to learning (Special Educational Needs when they become frequent)

Section 2: Classroom-based strategies and adaptations which may be useful in meeting pupils’ special educational needs within their lessons and in the wider school environment.

This guidance is not exhaustive and does not pretend to provide all the answers. Also, it avoids suggesting that there is only one strategy which may work. Instead, it represents a range of strategies which teachers may find helpful in range of contexts. Colleagues are invited to consider the strategies given and to use those which are most relevant to their year group, their own teaching style and the pupil’s immediate needs. Please contact Chris Rigby (SEND Director for Primary Academies) with suggestions for further additions or comments about the content.