SEND Graduated Response Toolkit
Identifying needs in Social, Emotional and Mental Health
The SEND Code of Practice states that persistent disruptive or withdrawn behaviours do not necessarily mean SEN.
Where there are concerns, there should be an assessment to determine whether there are any causal factors such as:
- Undiagnosed learning difficulties
- Communication difficulties
- Mental health issues
In each case, early identification, assessment and intervention will significantly reduce the use of more costly intervention at a later date.
Schools and colleges often use a range of strategies to identify children and young people at risk of poor emotional and mental health often the first response is rewards and sanctions are put in place which are designed to modify the behaviour and encourage the child to conform, but ultimately may not address any underlying needs. Applying the principle – behaviour is a form of communication – can help to identify any potentially unmet emotional and mental health needs and ensure that these are addressed.
Working with parents to identify children’s emotional and mental health needs can provide valuable information; often the ‘missing pieces of the jigsaw.’ The evidence indicates that, while parents are well-placed to recognise risks they need to feel confident that they can approach school staff and will be actively listened to by professionals before a situation reaches crisis point.
Identifying need requires careful planning and evaluation to ensure what is put in place brings about sustainable positive change. , Validated tools should be used to assess pupil emotional health and mental wellbeing (including identifying those who need extra support) as well as evaluating outcomes of interventions.
- Effective use of data that tracks changes in pupil patterns of attainment, attendance or behaviour are noted and acted on.
- Schools and colleges should be mindful that some groups of children are more vulnerable to mental health difficulties than others.
If all other areas of SEN have been investigated and evidenced that all interventions put in place have had little or no positive effect, then SEMH should be investigated as a specific SEN.
There is further guidance on identifying needs in:
"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 These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated as well as displaying challenging disruptive or disturbing behaviour.
These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.”
SEN Code of Practice (6.32)
What might I see in children and young people with social, emotional and mental health needs?
Some of the following behaviour may be observed. There are some suggested actions that you could try in the first instance to address these difficulties.
The list is by no means exhaustive and often the first and best indicator is recognising when 'the Child’s normal is not normal’.
This relies on schools having at least one member of staff who knows the pupil well and can spot changes in individual behaviour patterns so that the root cause can be addressed.
| Behaviours | Suggested actions |
|---|---|
| Reluctant to start tasks and/or to sustain attention to them | Task breakdown ideas and resources |
| Tends to need adult support and affirmation to attempt things that would appear to be within their grasp | I do /don’t need help circles on desk |
| Overly worried about making mistakes, easily frustrated and prone to giving up | Try some of the ideas from Growth Mindset - Immediate affirmation praise through task break down and regular check-ins with teacher. |
| Reluctant to accept help e.g. actively ignoring offers of assistance | Peer support / I do /don’t need help circles on desk |
| Appears to lack motivation for certain learning activities | Time to Talk to Teacher – exploring the issues and finding ways to resolve it |
| Can be unfocused and distracted by peers, equipment or their own thoughts | |
| Distracting of others and/or looking for peer affirmation | Individual work station / task break down resources, regular check in with teacher |
| A negative response to his/her work or to themselves | Success reminders / Time to Talk with Teacher |
| Can be restless and/or acting/speaking without apparently thinking first | Individual answer tokens |
| Appears socially unskilled and not to be able to interact at an age-appropriate level with peers | Mentoring – Emotional literacy intervention programmes to build social skills / co-operative skills |
| Difficulties with cooperative working / sharing / turn-taking) sometimes resulting in isolation from them | Mentoring – Emotional literacy intervention programmes to build social skills / co-operative skills |
| Difficulty maintaining friendships | Mentoring – Emotional literacy intervention programmes to build social skills / co-operative skills |
| Easily led, vulnerable | Mentoring – Emotional literacy intervention programmes to build social skills / co-operative skills |
| A tendency to put others down and/or take part in a bullying dynamic | Emotional literacy intervention programmes to build self-esteem to address the need to bully or dominate |
| Has been on the receiving end of bullying from individuals or groups | Emotional literacy intervention programmes to build self-esteem confidence and ability to take effective action when placed in risky situations |
| Tending to need to set the terms for work or relationships. (needing control) | Giving structured choices |
| Low mood | Time for Me and You – Having time and space to enjoy activities and be playful |
| Reticence about attending the setting or distress on transition | Planning for change – Pre teaching / visual timetables, use of interventions to support school refusers |
| More agitated during transitions or unexpected change | Planning for change – Pre teaching / visual timetables, use of interventions to support school refusers |
| Difficulties in responding to adult redirection | Reflection and Repair or Time to Talk with Teacher where communication can be explored and solutions agreed |
| Occasionally rude to staff or peers e.g. through sarcastic tone of voice, rolling their eyes or dismissive body language | Reflection and Repair or Time to Talk with Teacher where communication can be explored and solutions agreed |
| Poor self-regulation, quickly angry and/or tearful | A care and support Plan / emotional literacy to explore feelings and learn alternative responses |
| Limited /dysfunctional communication skills during anxious periods | Reflection and Repair or Time to Talk with Teacher where communication can be explored and solutions agreed |
| Heightened anxiety or arousal | A care and support Plan / emotional literacy to explore feelings and learn alternative responses |
| Quiet and withdrawn, particularly in some situations | A care and support Plan / emotional literacy to explore feelings and learn alternative responses |
| Hyper-vigilance | Understanding the trauma response, safety planning / anchors of safety etc |
| Poor attendance and punctuality | tracking and understanding the issues before planning effective intervention |
|
Low self-esteem |
Encourage positive social interactions |
| Demonstrates inappropriate responses in need of attention | Reinforce appropriate behaviours through praise, celebration, and reward systems |
|
Inappropriate responses that aim to gain attention from others |
Encourage suitable alternatives to inappropriate behaviour, having fully considered the underlying causes |
| Their interactions with others are unpredictable. | Pastoral support with regular opportunities for the young person to ‘check in’ with a trusted adult to discuss what is working well and reflect on issues that have occurred. |
| Has difficulty expressing feelings without support and taught strategies in place. | Teach the young person emotional literacy skills to help them identify and talk about emotions more clearly. |
| Has difficulty understanding and accepting responsibility for their actions. | Reinforce appropriate behaviours through praise, celebration, and reward systems. Encourage suitable alternatives to inappropriate behaviour. |
| May avoid or become upset when faced with new, unfamiliar tasks. | Talk to the young person about changes of routine in advance and support them with unfamiliar tasks. |
| Does not comply with requests and instructions. | Use language that makes the young person feel included in their class and does not focus on deficits. |
| Increase in anxiety and challenging behaviours | Reserve a quiet area that the young person can use to regulate their emotions when needed. |
When would you move to SEN support for SEMH needs?
Where there is a lack of adequate progress despite identified and targeted differentiation.
Schools should seek to identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individuals circumstances.
This can be characterised by progress which:
- Is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline
- Fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress
- Fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers
- Widens the attainment gap
Assessment may include:
- Baseline measures / (frequency duration / intensity)
- Functional behavioural analysis. (Watch video)
- PIVATS PSED (baseline assessment)
- Observations
- Feedback from parents and pupil
- Pupil interview
- EYFS development matters
- ASQ –SE questionnaires - www.sdqinfo.org
- Scaling activities with the pupil to assess how they are feeling.
- Sorting activities e.g. likes / dislikes
- Boxall profile - www.boxallprofile.org
- Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of interventions
The Boxall Profile