Help Support services
Schools can access a range of specialist services to support them to meet your child’s needs. All of these services support children and young people based on their needs. Children and young people DO NOT need any formal diagnoses to access these services.
Clusters are groups of services that work with schools, health services, and the local authority. Clusters help families, children, and young people who need extra support. They aim to offer families the right help at the right time by the right people.
The majority of clusters are focused on family support and emotional wellbeing and have services to meet these two key early intervention needs.
You can see a list of the clusters and what they offer on the Leeds Local Offer website here.
Speech and Language Therapists (SLT) work with children and young people with speech, language, and communication needs.
They also work with those who may have eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties that impact on their ability to participate in everyday activities. Find out more about the SLT service, and how to refer a child/young person for support here.
The speech and language therapy toolkit also contains advice, activities and general resources to help with the development of children and young people’s speech, language and communication skills.
The Inclusion Advisory team (IAT) is a multidisciplinary team of specialist teachers, inclusion advisors and home visiting officers with expertise in the 4 below areas, across all phases of education:
- Cognition and learning
- Early childhood development / Early years
- Social emotional and mental health (SEMH)
- Communication and interaction (including autism) – This team offer free parent carer workshops, with a focus on supporting children and young people with communication and interaction differences, including autism, at home and in the community. Click here to see workshop dates and how to book.
Early years home visiting officers provide home-based early intervention and support for young children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEN).
For children and young people in educational settings, the team provide advice, resources, strategies and training and, where appropriate, specialist assessment to build capacity within the setting to identify and meet needs.
How can a child/young person access support from IAT?
Children attending pre-school settings (e.g. child-minder, children’s centre, private nursery) and schools in Leeds can be referred by the setting or school. Pre-school children can also be referred by a medical professional working with the child and family. The criteria for referral is shared with education and health professionals. If you think your child would benefit from support from IAT, please speak to the staff at your child’s nursery/school or their medical professionals.
The Educational Psychology team (EPT) supports children and young people with special and additional educational needs, and works with those children and young people, their parents or carers, and educational settings.
Educational Psychologists (EPs) are trained to understand how children and young people learn, problem solve, develop relationships, communicate with others, and understand and manage feelings. The EPT support systems around children and young people to improve their educational experience and outcomes.
Read the ‘one minute guide’ to the Educational Psychology Team here.
The Educational Psychology team (EPT) team website also includes further information.
Occupational Therapists (OT) work with children and young people with conditions such as cerebral palsy, autism or developmental co-ordination disorder. The OT team are part of the Integrated Children with Additional Needs (ICAN) team (see below).
However, a medical diagnosis is not needed in order to work with the Occupational Therapy Team. Such professionals can help families to understand and manage a range of sensory needs. Find out more about the OT service here.
The ICAN team includes a range of specialist healthcare professionals to support the participation and inclusion of children and young people with disabilities and their families in everyday activities.
The professionals that make up the ICAN team include Paediatricians, Occupational Therapists, Audiologists, Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists, Nurses and Health Visitors. Their work may involve direct intervention for the child, but may also include support and training for other people or changes to their environment or activities.
Find out more about the ICAN service here. Healthcare professionals can refer children and young people here.
All wider local support services and agencies can be found on the Leeds Local Offer website. The Leeds Local Offer provides information for children and young people with SEND and their parents/ carers in a single place. It shows families what they can expect from a range of local agencies including education, health and social care.
The Leeds Local Offer is about providing families with information to make informed choices about services they chose to use.