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Sensory needs, which can be hearing loss and/or visual impairment or sensory processing difficulties and physical difficulties, can occur for a variety of reasons. The important consideration in this area is the degree to which the difficulties impact on a child or young person’s ability to access education opportunities.

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Support available for children, young people with special education needs or a disability aged 0-25 years

The Luton Local Offer helps you find information about local services, support and events for children and young people aged 0 to 25 years who have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). More about what the Local Offer is.

Get some advice

Luton Emotional Wellbeing Information Resource

If your child is struggling with their mental health, there are a number of local and national services offering information, advice and support for children and young people aged 0-25 years.

Social media and the Local Offer

Right now we're posting, sharing and tweeting lots of information to help support SEND families and professionals. If you don't follow us on either or both of the social media channels, here's what you'll need.

Luton Local Offer on Twitter Luton Local Offer on Facebook

Find services by age

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Luton's Local Offer SEND information hub

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The Luton Local Offer helps you find information about local services, support and events for children and young people aged 0 to 25 years who have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). More about what the Local Offer is.

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As of the start of February Gill Blowers have 22 of the 24 resourced places filled with children that have been to the Maintained Nursey Schools Panel – Total of 17 children.  There are a further 4 children that are currently being tracked with the view of going to panel in February. 4 Children are SEND Registered and have Class IEP’s in place. 3 additional children are being ‘monitored’ and a final 4 children that have been highlighted as displaying ‘initial concerns’ by class.

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The Holistic Profile outlines a child’s development in the four broad areas of need and support within the SEN Code of Practice. Each stage describes skills a child may have when at this stage and is a ‘best fit’ model. Stage 1 represents the initial skills a child may present at the start of their development in each area and at stage 10 the child may present similar skills to a child who is working at 2 years of age using the Development Matters Assessment (2021). The exception to this is ‘How do I move and help myself’ where Stage 4 represents the beginning of typical development. Practitioners record achievement that is just emerging (E) or has been achieved (A).

At time of baseline in October,  13 children were identified as requiring SEND support, this comprised a total of 9 boys and 4 girls. 4 Children aged 2-3 cohort and 9 children in 3-4 cohort.

In February all 13 children were assessed again, 2 children (1 boy and 1 girl) have moved from the 2-3 cohort to the 3-4. All these children are currently performing below age related expectations across key developmental areas and assessed using the Holistic profile. Each child is receiving targeted SEND strategies tailored to their individual needs, alongside regular one-to-one support sessions with SEND support staff.

The data highlights that all children are making progress. The data for physical is of note as there are a significant number of children not making any steps of progress. When looking further into this it was noted that for Gross motor 3 of the 7 children had moved from 10A to SABA 2years. This was not counted as a step of progress due to 10A being equivalent to 2 years. However, this could be considered progress as they have changed assessment systems. The same was true for 2 of the 4 children not making progress in fine motor.

This has been addressed with room leads. It appears that Physical development is not focused on as much as this is an area that is much higher than others on their profile. There are plans to include physical development as part of continuous provision on the IEP and transfer this to the SEND daily planning.

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Watch our staff on our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hidK942IN58&list=PLb4U4z7owIdX8t9L_N18-226OzwCx2aC2

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Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have difficulty 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 for 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. Being with others helps children to build social relationships which provide opportunities for friendship, empathy and sharing emotions.  Communication and Interaction also includes attention and Listening skills, Understanding and speaking.

Children and young people may have difficulty with:

Receptive Language

Difficulty in understanding and processing language

Expressive Language

Difficulty with the use of spoken language or nonverbal communication

Pragmatic/social communication

Difficulty with social interaction, social cognition, and pragmatics.

Speech sound difficulty

Difficulty with phonological skills or articulation skills.

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How we support our children with SEND in this Communication.

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How we support our children with SEND in this Communication.

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Interaction skills are supported through the use of intensive interaction. Intensive interaction is similar to the mother-baby response.

The adult copies the sounds a child makes and the actions they do, which teaches the child that interacting is fun and purposeful.

Communication skills are taught by supporting children with visuals and using appropriate communication methods to allow children to communicate their wants and needs e.g. objects, photographs and symbols. Children are referred to speech therapists if they need additional support in this area and advice is used to inform targets specific to the child.

TICPAC (TACPAC) brings together touch and music to create structured time of communication between two people.

Speech is the ‘cherry on the top’. If a child is able to use meaningful speech, we are able to develop this through specific strategies and interventions.

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An introduction to object exchange from children's speech and language therapy services, Luton and Bedfordshire. Find out more about what we do here: http://childspeechbedfordshire.nhs.uk/

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ognitive development means how children think, explore and figure things out. It is the development of knowledge, skills, problem solving and dispositions, which help children to think about and understand the world around them. Brain development is part of cognitive development. Children with learning needs may learn at a slower pace than their peers despite appropriate differentiation. Learning difficulties can be general or specific and related to one or more areas of the curriculum. Difficulties may be short-term in one or more areas or severe and long term.

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How we support our children with SEND with Cognition and Learning.

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How we support our children with SEND with Cognition and Learning.

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We apply for resourced funding so that a child can be supported during their learning time on a 1:1 by a member of staff who has been trained in using the specific strategies and interventions that we use. We support the children to access a differentiated curriculum through daily planned activities that take place at a distraction free work station.

We understand that some children learn through repetition, broken down tasks and backward chaining.

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Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or distressing behaviour. Some children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.

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How we support our children with SEND with SEMH

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How we support our children with SEND with SEMH

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Children are supported to spend time with peers and tolerate social situations. Turn taking activities are introduced with a high level of adult support at first and then slowly peers are introduced allowing the adult to step away. Children are supported to take part in structured parallel play sessions using a physical barrier to prompt turn taking.

Recognising and managing emotions/feelings can be extremely difficult for our children with SEND. Children are supported to recognise how they are feeling through mirror play and sign4feelings. The adult role models the emotion that the child is expressing and supports them to sign it. Adults are in tune with the children and support them to regulate their emotions/feelings.

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How we support our children with SEND with Sensory and physical needs

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How we support our children with SEND with Sensory and physical needs

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Children are supported with their sensory development through a range of interventions, activities and use of resources. This includes sensory play where children are encouraged to explore foods by touching, smelling and tasting at the beginning of each session.

Children have access to sensory regulation resources throughout the session. These include equpiment to support vistibular needs like trampolines, peanut balls and swivel chairs alongside the oppotunity for hand and feet massages and weighted rucksacks to support deep pressure needs.Sensory stories and bag books are used to bring a story to life through sensory experiences linked to the text.

We use the T.A.S.T.E programme which allows the children to explore foods through their five senses.

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https://padlet.com/SENStraining/luton-autism-network-group-lang-pdjbcmc3fi24a77l

Contains information regarding parent support groups and parent support.

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A link to the family fund Website

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Family Fund deliver grants for families raising a disabled or seriously ill child or young people on a low income across the UK

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Autism Bedfordshire are an independent charity dedicated to improving the lives of autistic people and their families across Bedfordshire.

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EPIC - Empowering parents influencing change

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EPIC - Empowering parents influencing change

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The government has published a green paper on the future of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision system. A green paper is a discussion document. It is usually published as a first step towards making changes to the law. You can read the proposals here The Council for Disabled Children and the Department for Education are running a virtual consultation event on 23 May, 10am-3.30pm . Register here

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The government has published a green paper on the future of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision system. A green paper is a discussion document. It is usually published as a first step towards making changes to the law.

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Some helpful tips if hair brushing is a challenge

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Some ideas on toilet training

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Some helpful tips if sleep is a challenge

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Some information on Melatonin for sleep difficulties

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Information about Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP)

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Questions you may want to ask when visiting future schools

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Tips for children who consistently bite their nails

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Tips for children who consistently bite their nails

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The New way to contact SENDIAS

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SEND information report 2026/School Offer

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SEND information report 2026/School Offer

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SEND information report 2026/School Offer

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SEND information report 2026/School Offer

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It is important to notice and celebrate the little steps our children with SEND take towards being toilet trained, which is why we have developed the toileting ladder.

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Dental information for children with ASD

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Dental information for children with ASD

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Advice and information for parents about a wide range of tasks that our children may find difficult

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Bedfordshire and Luton Children’s Occupational Therapy

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Learn about the Bedfordshire Luton Children’s Occupational Therapy Service, how they can help and who you will see and speak to.

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Bedfordshire and Luton Children’s Occupational Therapy

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Learn about the Bedfordshire Luton Children’s Occupational Therapy Service, how they can help and who you will see and speak to.