Attending a nursery - My child has a developmental delay in three or more areas

Some children have a developmental delay in several areas of development.

If your child is not meeting age-related expectations in most areas, they will need support to help them make progress.

The nursery SENCo and staff will follow the Graduated Approach. 

This means they will make reasonable adjustments to enable your child to access education and will look at ways to help them progress. The SENCo should record this on a SEND Support Plan and share it with you.

The setting must also closely track your child’s development using a suitable assessment tool, so that they have a clear picture of your child's levels of development and any progress made. If your child is not making progress, or progress is very slow despite the support in place, the nursery may then refer to outside agencies. It is the responsibility of the nursery SENCo to make these referrals, but they must have a parent’s consent to do so.

If your child has a significant developmental delay in three or more areas, and there is evidence of the Graduated Approach (i.e. support plans detailing the strategies and support in place), the nursery SENCo can seek parental consent to refer to the Early Years Team Area SENCo.

Each early years setting has a named Area SENCo who supports them to understand and follow the SEND system. The Area SENCo will observe the child and give the setting staff advice on what they need to do to support the child. Please note, the Area SENCos do not work directly with children (i.e. 1:1 work). It is the setting’s responsibility to share reports with parents.

Further information

• Parents’ guide to referral to the Area SENCo Team
• What is the graduated approach?
• The graduated approach for early years
• The role of an early years SENCO
• Role of the area SENCo

More information is available on the parent toolkit