SEND Assessment

A Strengths-Based Framework for Learners with SEND

Judith Carter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367632878
• eBook ISBN: 9781000377644
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Part of The Essential SENCO Toolkit series, this invaluable resource offers practical ideas and materials to allow SENCOs and SEN practitioners to capture learning, demonstrate the impact of SEN support, and analyse whether provision is effectively tackling barriers to learning.

Chapters introduce a shared language of learning and move through seven key components: cognition, communication, creativity, control, compassion, co-ordination and the curriculum.

Key features include:

• A framework for the holistic assessment of skills and attributes that contribute to accessing the curriculum, and a framework for intervention that is additional to, or different from, the differentiated curriculum
• A unique strengths-based progress tracker that establishes a baseline to inform intervention and determine progress over time
• A photocopiable and downloadable programme of materials, trialled and tested in both primary and secondary settings, that can be shared with teachers, senior leaders and support staff, as well as with parents/carers and pupils

Providing a framework to create a holistic profile of the child and their needs, SEND Assessment empowers professionals to confidently demonstrate progress for barriers to learning that are otherwise difficult to measure. It will support SENCOs in their day-to-day roles and become a vital tool for those interested in providing effective SEN provision in educational settings.

1. What is assessment?

Assessment is at the heart of education. It is an essential component of learning focused teaching and it dominates a huge part of our everyday lives. But how often do we consider what assessment actually is and whether this meaning is the same for the teacher and the learner?

The Cambridge English Dictionary defines assessment as: ‘the act of judging or deciding the amount, value, quality, or importance of something, or the judgement or decision that is made’. It continues, saying that assessment is: ‘the process of considering all the information about a situation or a person and making a judgement’.

It is often quite ‘humbling’ to reflect on the definition of words that have become such an integral part of our vocabulary. How poignant to be reminded that the word and indeed process involves ‘judgement’ and by implication ‘value’. So often our assessments for learners with special educational needs become negative judgements as we are evaluating difficulties or barriers. Of course, our intention is to inform positive action that will support development, but it is essential that we recognise the ‘deficit’ model of which we are a part.

On the subject of deficit models, it is important to acknowledge that the very title of this book, the key abbreviation that we will be using throughout this text (SEN) and indeed many of our job titles, have been created as part of a deficit or medical model. If you are not yet familiar with the medical and social model of disability, I encourage you to read up on this as it reminds us of the bias that exists within us and is all around us. The medical model attributes responsibility for the disability to the individual; it is ‘their’ issue, whereas the social model of disability attributes the barriers experienced to the shared social environment. It acknowledges that an impairment is experienced by an individual, but the impairment becomes disabling because of limitations within the social environment. An example cited by the University of Leicester is that of a wheelchair user who is unable to get into a building because there are only steps. The medical model attributes this barrier to the wheelchair (and by implication the wheelchair user). In contrast the social model attributes the barrier to the steps (and by implication the building owners and designers). At first glance this may appear to be somewhat trivial or pedantic, but in real terms, the significance of attribution cannot be overstated as it relates to ‘ownership’ and responsibility. The medical model attributes all responsibility to the individual so it is their responsibility to overcome or remove barriers they face. Whereas the social model is more inclusive and perceives that the responsibility is with the society and the environment, which are external to the individual, so there is a shared need to overcome or remove the barriers.

The term ‘special educational needs’ or SEN evolved from what some now consider to be a controversial history of the educational language of ‘difference’. The introduction of the term ‘special educational needs’ emerged within the Warnock Report published in 1978. This report (in)famously cited that 20 per cent of children could at some point have a special educational need. It is unclear wheth...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 What is assessment?
• 2 A strengths-based approach
• 3 Who has SEN, SEND and/or medical needs?
• 4 Developing a shared language of assessment
• 5 The 7 Cs Learning Portfolio
• 6 Using the 7 Cs Learning Portfolio
• 7 The 7 Cs Progress Tracker
• 8 Collaborating with learners and families
• 9 Intervention
• 10 Getting started
• Index