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Supporting children with SEND has always been an important part of early years practice, but for many settings it is also an area that feels increasingly complex. Teams may be supporting children with a wide range of needs, navigating referrals and waiting lists, working alongside different professionals and trying to make sure families feel supported throughout the process.
With so much going on, it can be easy for SEND to become centred around paperwork, meetings, referrals and the next stage of support. All of those things have their place, but getting SEND right starts much closer to the child. It is about understanding what they can already do, recognising where they may be experiencing barriers and making sure that what we put in place genuinely helps them to participate, learn and make progress.
Good SEND practice is not something separate from good early years practice. In many ways, it is good early years practice done particularly well.
Early identification matters, but identification is not simply about noticing what a child cannot do. Practitioners need a rounded picture of the child: their strengths, interests, relationships, communication, development and the situations in which they flourish or find things more difficult.
This is where skilled observation and strong key-person relationships are so important. A child who appears to struggle with listening, for example, may communicate very differently during play with a familiar adult. A child who finds large-group experiences difficult may remain deeply engaged when exploring something that interests them. Looking carefully at when difficulties occur, as well as when they do not, can tell us a great deal.
Parents and carers are a vital part of building that picture too. They know their child in a different context and can often help practitioners understand patterns, changes or ways of communicating that may not initially be obvious in the setting. SEND conversations should therefore be part of an ongoing relationship with families, sharing what is going well alongside anything that is causing concern.
The stronger our understanding of the child, the better our decisions about support are likely to be.
One of the most important parts of inclusive practice is maintaining high expectations for children with SEND.
That does not mean expecting every child to reach the same point at the same time, or access an experience in exactly the same way. It means being ambitious for each individual child and not allowing additional needs to quietly reduce the opportunities we offer them.
There is a difference between adapting an experience so that a child can succeed and removing challenge altogether. Adults can sometimes become understandably protective when a child finds things difficult, stepping in quickly or doing things for them. Over time, however, this can unintentionally reduce opportunities for independence, problem solving, communication and progress.
The right support should enable a child to do more, not make their world smaller.
High expectations might mean providing additional processing time rather than answering for the child, adapting resources so they can participate alongside their peers, supporting communication in a different way or breaking a skill into achievable steps. The route may look different, but there should still be a clear sense of where we are helping the child to go next.
SEND practice can become very focused on what the child needs. Equally important is looking at what is happening around them.
Early years environments are busy places. There are transitions, routines, group experiences, noise, conversations, resources and lots of social expectations to navigate. For some children, elements of the day that appear straightforward to adults can present significant barriers.
This is why inclusive practice requires teams to reflect on their provision as well as the child. Long periods of waiting, lengthy group times, too much verbal instruction, an overwhelming environment or rigid routines may be contributing to a difficulty.
Making an adjustment is not about lowering expectations or providing a completely separate experience. Often relatively small changes allow a child to access much more of what is already available. Visual support may make a routine easier to understand. Reducing the amount of language used in an instruction may help a child process what is being asked. Changing the organisation of a transition may reduce anxiety for several children, not just the child whose needs prompted the review.
This is one of the reasons good inclusive practice often improves provision for everyone.
The SENCO has a crucial role in leading and coordinating SEND provision, but they cannot be the only person who understands it.
A beautifully written support plan has very little value if the practitioners working with the child do not know what it says or why particular approaches have been agreed. Strategies need to move off the page and into everyday practice.
That requires good leadership. Managers and room leaders need to make sure staff understand children’s needs, have the knowledge and confidence to provide the agreed support and are consistent in their approach. Where outside professionals give advice, teams need to understand how that advice translates into the nursery day rather than simply adding another document to the child’s file.
The graduated approach of assess, plan, do and review is useful because it keeps the focus on a cycle rather than a finished plan. We build our understanding, decide what we are going to try, put it into practice and then look at the difference it has made. If something is not working, we should expect to change it.
Review should never become a date in the diary where the same targets and strategies are simply carried forward.
There will always be processes around SEND. Settings need records, referrals, plans and evidence of the support they provide. But those systems should help us improve children’s experiences rather than becoming the work itself.
Ultimately, getting SEND right means being able to connect what we know about a child with what we are doing differently for them and the impact that support is having.
It means recognising strengths as well as needs, keeping expectations high, working closely with families and making adjustments where barriers exist. It means a knowledgeable SENCO, but also a team that understands its shared responsibility for inclusion.
And importantly, it means continuing to be curious. Children develop, circumstances change and approaches that worked six months ago may no longer be right today.
There may not always be a quick answer, particularly when settings and families are waiting for wider support. But there is a great deal that skilled early years practitioners can do in the meantime.
Getting SEND right is not about having every answer. It is about knowing the child, understanding the purpose behind the support we provide and being able to see that it is making a meaningful difference.
For more on putting support plans into practice, read our Nurturing SEND Children: Putting the Plans into Practice article.
Across the sector, early years settings and practitioners are finding thoughtful ways to remove barriers, support families and help children participate and thrive.
The nasen Awards recognise individuals, settings and initiatives working towards a more inclusive future for children and young people with SEND. At MBK, we’re proud to be involved in celebrating the people and settings helping to make inclusive practice a reality.
Because inclusion is not just about what a setting says it believes in. It is about what children experience every day.
Building confidence in SEND support starts with understanding children’s development, recognising their individual needs and knowing how to adapt practice to help them make progress.
MBK’s Supporting Children with SEND in Early Years course explores how practitioners can use play and observation to understand children’s development and identify appropriate next steps.
For teams looking to develop their wider inclusive practice, explore Supporting SEND Children: Empowering Practitioners to Deliver Inclusive Education, or browse our full range of SEND training courses.
The aim is simple: to help every child access the support, opportunities and experiences they need to thrive.
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