That is why Kent County Council and NHS Kent and Medway have been working together to explore innovative ways of supporting children to have the best start in life.
In this article, Rachel Peachey, Tenterden Primary Federation’s special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO), explains how a new approach, that is being rolled out across Kent, is making a difference, to pupils and their families.
Speech, language and communication is the most common type of special education need in Kent primary schools and the second most common in secondary schools.
Like many schools, both in Kent and nationally, the Tenterden Primary Federation also faced the same issue.
“There’s a growing need for children to have support but it was getting harder and harder to have them seen by the speech and language team,” explained Rachel.
The federation is an early adopter of the Balanced System®, which has been commissioned by KCC and the NHS as a more joined-up way of supporting children and their families. It uses a whole system of support where everyone involved in a child’s life plays a role in supporting their speech, language and communication.
This includes parents and carers, midwives, health visiting staff, early years settings, family hubs, schools, colleges, specialist teaching services, as well as speech and language therapy services.
‘game-changing’
“Adopting the Balanced System® has been game-changing for the children in our school and their families,” said Rachel.
“We have 331 pupils across our infant and junior schools and using the Balanced System® has opened up provision to a lot more children. Getting support is no longer dependent on them having a referral or a formal diagnosis.
‘wider offer’
“Before the Balanced System® we would only provide support to families of children who were seeing a therapist, but now what we’ve got is a much wider offer at a universal level, for the whole school, with targeted and specialist support on top where needed.”
The Balanced System® has five core strands:
- supporting parents, young people and families
- enhancing and adapting the environment
- developing the workforce confidence and skills
- identifying need as it arises and
- providing appropriate activities and intervention
It enables schools and settings to understand their role in allocating funding and resources to provide improved support for speech, language and communication needs.
Schools and settings can also work to achieve accreditation to recognise the high standard of provision they have put in place for speech, language and communication. Several schools in Kent have already received this accreditation, while others are currently working towards this along with some early years settings.
The accreditation journey gives schools the tools, mentorship and peer support to help them make the best of resources to support all children as well as those with specific needs.
The Tenterden Primary Federation has recently been awarded its accreditation.
“Introducing the Balanced System® gave us time to see what we were already offering and where we had gaps in our provision," said Rachel.
“We chose to develop the support we offered to our families and the training we gave to our workforce.
“We hold regular coffee mornings for parents who have concerns about their child’s speech and language development and have made information more accessible to parents using our website and online resources.
“The training we give to staff is also provided to everyone, including mid-day supervisors, instead of only those teachers who have a child with speech and communication needs in their class.
‘benefited pupils’
“We have seen how this training has really benefited pupils, with a standout example being the training we gave all staff on selective mutism.
“A child in one class was presenting as confident throughout the lesson but when the teacher tried to work one-to-one with them or provide feedback the child would close down.
“After the training, the teacher was able to realise it was the child displaying selective mutism traits, so they adapted the way they approached the child.
“Instead of giving one-to-one direct feedback verbally, they would leave feedback on a post-it note.
“We have also expanded the use of supports such as cued articulation through Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage one, which involves adults using hand signs alongside speech sounds to prompt a child, so teaching approaches are consistent across the school."
‘support faster’
More recently the school have been able to benefit from having a Link Therapist allocated to their school.
“We still have specialist therapists come in to see those who need support, but it’s meant we can get their support faster by the new referral process.”
‘thrive at school’
“Children need the right support with their speech, language and communication at the right time so that they can thrive at school, build friendships and understand how to manage and control their emotions or feelings,” said Christine McInnes, Kent County Council’s Director of Education and SEND.
“Developing these skills makes a big difference to a child’s future work and life prospects, so I am delighted pupils, their families and school staff in Tenterden are already seeing what a positive difference the Balanced System® can make.
‘reduction in waiting times’
“We are also seeing the impacts of our new approach at a Kent level,” added Abigail Kitt, Deputy Director of Children’s Services for NHS Kent and Medway.
“We have seen a big reduction in waiting times for speech and language assessments, from 49.5 per cent of children and young people waiting more than 12 weeks for an assessment in May 2023 to 22.8 per cent in May 2024.
“New approaches like this enables more children and young people to get the right support earlier and has increased the knowledge and skills of a wider range of professionals who work with families.”
The Balanced System® is being rolled out at pace with the support of Better Communication CIC and based on its success is projected to be fully operational across the NHS and Kent areas to all families within the next year.
If you are in a Kent school or setting, find out more about the Balanced System®.
You can also find out more about speech, language and communication on the SEND Information Hub.
