This site is delivered by Worcestershire County Council.

Information for parent and carers

Useful links and resources for parents and carers.

Inclusion Support Services (ISS) is made up of several teams:  

  • Sensory Impairments Teams: Deaf or Hearing Impairment (DHI), Vision Impairment (VI), Multi-Sensory Impairment (MSI) 
  • Complex Communication Needs Team
  • Learning Support Team
  • Educational Psychology Team
  • Early Years Inclusion Team

Our main purpose is to support schools and educational settings to enable all children who have special educational needs access the curriculum.

How do we support Families and Children?

We work in schools and educational settings such as colleges and pre-school nurseries as well as in the home, from the point of diagnosis. We work with parent/carers, school staff and the child or young person to understand their needs and what can be done to support them as well as directly teaching essential skills such as BSL and Braille.

Hearing impairment team

Useful links

Frequently asked questions

How do I look after my child’s hearing aids? 

Instructional videos which may be helpful:

Where can I get extra support? 

The following links and email addresses may also be useful:

Vision impairment team

Useful links

Frequently asked questions

What is Braille?

What is the new curriculum framework for VI?

Where can I get extra support?

The following links and email addresses may also be useful:

Multi-sensory impairment team

Useful links

Frequently asked question

How does the world look for a child with a VI?

What is a Cerebral or Cortical Vision impairment (CVI)?

What is on-body signing?

Where can I get extra support? 

The following links and email addresses may also be useful:

Complex communication needs team

How do we support families and children?

We will meet with families in person or virtually whenever we are working with your child in school. We want to gain a true picture of your child and so your information from home is extremely important to us. Your school SENCo and/or your child’s keyworker will arrange a time and date with you for this.

We have a series of mini webcasts on strategies to support your child available in the Communication and Interaction section of the Inclusion Support Service website.

We have bookable drop-in sessions for parents/carers of Worcestershire children. These are 45-minute sessions with an autism or Complex Communication Needs specialist teacher where you can discuss any difficulties you’d like advice or support with. Your child does not need to be working with our team to access this service.  Please call 01905 844 499 to book a drop-in session.

Frequently asked questions

Does your team diagnose Autism?

No, our team advises schools and settings on how best to meet the needs of autistic learners and learners with Complex Communication Needs.  We do make referrals and take part in multidisciplinary assessment as part of the Umbrella Pathway, but the Umbrella Pathway process is a health-based diagnostic process.  Details about the Umbrella Pathway can be found here: Our Services | Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust (hacw.nhs.uk)

What ages do your team support?

0 to 25 years

Does your team only work with autistic children?

No.  We work with children with a range of social communication and emotional regulation differences in schools.  We don’t just work with autistic children. 

What does typical involvement look like?

We work using a consultation method, so we talk to the child/young person and the key people around the child/young person to get to know their strengths and any current difficulties or barriers.  We usually observe the child and speak to them to gain their voice where this is possible.  We then work collaboratively to find solutions and ways forward based on young people’s strengths and aspirations.   

Does your team use ABA (Applied Behavioural Analysis)?

No.  We use strengths-based approaches which are neurodiversity affirming and respectful of different social communication styles. 

Learning support team

How do we support families and children?

We work in schools and other educational settings, helping teachers to identify any learning difficulties their pupils may have. We help them to adapt the way that they teach it make lessons more accessible to all learners so that all children feel included. We also advise parents so that they can help their children at home to support what is happening in school. 

We make sure that pupils who need extra support in exams are assessed so that their school can apply for this. 

Frequently asked questions

I think my child is struggling at school. What should I do?

First speak to the class teacher and raise your concerns with them. Also speak to the school SENDCo and ask if your child is on the school SEN register. Find out what targets have been set for your child so that you can support them at home by listening to them read or helping with their homework.  

Can parents pay for an assessment?

No. LST only complete work at the request of an educational assessment

Do you identify children with Dyslexia?

Yes we do in collaboration with schools using a combination of formal assessment and school evidence of intervention over time.

Educational psychology team

How do we support families and children?

We work in schools and educational settings such as colleges and pre-school nurseries.  We work with parent/carers, school staff and the child or young person to understand their needs and what can be done to support them. 

We work in a model of consultation and are in the process of developing a leaflet that explains this for parent or carers.  

We are also currently offering a telephone drop in service for parent/carers. 

Information about this can be found here: Parent or carer drop ins (PDF)

Frequently asked questions

As a result of feedback from parent or carers, we have created the attached frequently asked questions: FAQs EP EHC Assessments September 2023 (PDF)

What is an Educational Psychologist’s involvement in the EHC assessment process?

  • to complete an independent assessment with the family, professionals, and young person which establishes the strengths, additional needs and the support required to meet the identified need. Usually within 6 weeks. The 6 week date given above is the expected time of external agency report submission, but the actual date may be later due to service capacity affecting allocations and there may be a delay of up to 8 weeks
  • the report produced by the EP is one of many pieces of advice that SEND services consider as part of the assessment process
  • the EP will describe the support required but will not recommend specific placements or type of setting
  • once the assessment is completed the report will be sent to family and SEN services and the involvement of the EP carrying out the assessment will cease
  • the focus of the involvement is for assessment and not for ongoing casework
  • if the need for an EHC plan is agreed, it is the role of SEND services to co-produce and decide the content of the plan

What is the difference between remote and face to face statutory psychological assessments?

When it comes to assessing your child’s educational needs, our Educational Psychologists (EPs) use a consultation model. This means they work closely with those who know your child best, including you and their school, to understand your child’s needs and help plan goals that fit their future aspirations. This enables us to co-produce the planning for your child in line with person-centred principles. 

What is a statutory psychological assessment?

A statutory psychological assessment is a detailed look at your child’s educational needs, carried out by an Educational Psychologist. Depending on what’s best for your child, the assessment can be done either remotely or in person.

Remote assessments

A remote assessment means the EP will gather information and assess your child using technology. This can include:

  • phone calls: the EP will call you and your child’s school to talk about your child's needs and outcomes
  • online meetings: the EP may set up an online meeting (like on MS Teams) with you, your child, and their school These meetings, called Joint Assessment Meetings, focus on understanding your child’s needs and co-construct outcomes together
  • online work with your child: The EP might work directly with your child through an online meeting or talk to them over the phone

Face-to-face assessments

In a face-to-face assessment, the EP will meet with you and the school in person. This could involve:

  • in-person meetings: the EP will lead a meeting at school, where you, your child, and the school will discuss your child’s needs and co-construct outcomes together. These are called Joint Assessment Meetings
  • direct work with your child: the EP may work with your child in person, either at school or at home (if your child is not attending school)
  • observations:  the EP may visit your child’s school to observe how they are doing in their usual learning environment

Professional standards

All assessments follow professional standards set by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Whether remote or face-to-face, these methods are recognised to effectively support children, young people, and their families.

Your role as a parent/carer

You will be informed by the EP about which approach is being used for your child’s assessment. If you have a preference for a remote or face-to-face assessment, please let us know by emailing as soon as the assessment is confirmed by SEND Services.  Please be aware that having a preference for face to face may lead to a delay with the assessment.  

Our email address is: edpsychology@worcestershire.gov.uk

Early Years inclusion team

How do we support families and children?

The Early Years Inclusion Team (EYIT) in Worcestershire provides support, advice, training and information to Early Years Providers and schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to help ensure that all children are fully included within the setting. 

We are committed to providing effective early identification and intervention for children with Special educational needs and disabilities. It is essential that all children with SEND have their needs identified as early as possible and the aim is to provide early intervention programmes to help remove barriers to learning.

We have Area SENCos and SENCo Support Advisors, both specialists in SEN and disabilities. They are part of the Inclusion Support Service. The principle focus of their role is to support all early years providers and schools in the early identification and intervention for children with Special education needs and disabilities.

We offer universal and specific support through the Early Years Inclusion Process as part of the Inclusion Support Services.

Early years inclusion team contact details

The Early Years Inclusion Team offer an Inclusion Helpline. 

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon (term time only) between 1pm to 3pm there will an Inclusion

Officer able to take your phone calls. 

The remaining times within the week, someone may answer, or we ask that you leave a voicemail for us to get back to you.   

Information for Parents on the SEND journey can be found here: Supporting parents on the SEND journey

Webcasts

We have a range of helpful webcasts recorded; these are free to access, and you can watch them at any time. Themes include tips for promoting positive behaviour, visuals in the Early Year and intensive and shared interactions for children.

Families in Partnership (FiP) - Worcestershire's Parent Carer Forum

Worcestershire's official parent carer forum, FIP is a Parent Carer Forum consisting of a group of volunteer parent carers who work with local authorities, education settings, health providers to make sure the services they plan and deliver meet the needs of their children and families

Families in Partnership (FiP) - Worcestershire's Parent Carer Forum

Frequently asked questions

If you are a parent or carer and have concerns about your child starting nursery or school and you think they need some extra help, please speak to your GP, Health Visitor or early education worker (e.g. nursery or childminder) about the Early Years Inclusion Process (EYIP).

You can find out more about EYIP by visiting our dedicated web page for parents and carer on our Local Offer: Early Years Inclusion Process for parents. 

The new Early Years Inclusion Process is designed to support settings, children, and families in implementing the graduated response. Typically, health providers will make the initial notification to the EYIP when SEND is identified. However, EY providers can also notify EYIP when the reviews of the graduated response indicate that despite high levels of support being provided and/or the use of specialised strategies and resources, a child is making limited progress in specific or across all areas of development. This is typically identified through the EYFS Early Support Levels (tracking templates can be found on the Early Years Inclusion Team Website.  

Find out more about the Inclusion Funding Early Years settings can claim to support children with SEND. Written to help parents understand the process, with each individual level having a corresponding leaflet to set out the expectation of support for each level of need (known as the Graduated Response Level).  

If you are looking to find different types of childcare and information on choosing the right type and the funding available, search here: Childcare.

Further information for Parents/carers can be found on our A-Z section of our website .

Useful links