Surveys and campaigns

Special Educational Needs Reform in Wales

Updated: 23 October 2012
Afasic Cymru campaigns

The Welsh Government is seeking to change the law governing the way that a child’s special educational needs and wider support needs are assessed, planned and met.

These changes will affect children and young people with specific speech, language and communication needs across Wales. The consultation document that sets out these proposed changes is called, Forward in partnership for children and young people with additional needs: proposals for reform of the legislative framework for special educational needs. You can access this document by visiting The Welsh Government website.

Afasic Cymru's response to the consultation
Third Sector Additional Needs Alliance's response to the consultation

Additional Needs Reform in Wales – Statementing or Something Better?

Updated: 23 October 2012

Afasic Cymru campaigns The legislation surrounding the SEN framework is over 30 years old and there is plenty of evidence across Wales to prove it needs reforming.

In 2007, the then Welsh Assembly Government indicated its intention to bring forward legislation in this area following the undertaking by the former Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (ELLS) Committee. There was a consensus that the existing system was too bureaucratic and not sufficiently child-centred or user-friendly.
WG are proposing to replace the statutory framework for the assessment and planning of provision for children and young people with SEN with a simpler, more person centred and integrated system for children and young people with additional needs (AN). It is believed that this will;

  • lead to increased trust and confidence of parents and carers in the system
  • provide greater consistency between schools and local authorities, and
  • foster more effective partnerships between agencies.

Central to the proposals is the Individual Development Plan (IDP) which is proposed to replace the existing statements of SEN.

A multi-agency approach is proposed with joined up working between education, health and social care agencies (including the third sector where relevant) for children and young people with the most severe and/or complex needs. This is so as to improve our current early intervention systems and to enable an IDP covering all aspects of identified need, to be established. The IDP will be the plan that either replaces or integrates all other individual planning processes, linked to integrated assessment arrangements.

The proposals for reform are set out in the consultation documents which can be downloaded below or by visiting The Welsh Government website.

Consultation Document
Young Person's Guide Consultation

The consultation closed on 19 October 2012 - please see the article above to read Afasic Cymru's response.

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Parent/carer questionnaire

Posted: 23 November 2012
Afasic Cymru parent/carer questionnaire

Please complete this questionnaire; we are trying to find out what sort of support you think would be helpful. In particular we are interested in finding out if parents/carers want to access to online parent learning, training, information and guidance.

Questionnaire - English
Questionnaire - Welsh

RALLI video campaign to raise awareness of SLI

Posted: 22 May 2012

RALLI video campaignAfasic, as a part-funder of this project, is pleased to announce the release of the RALLI video campaign to raise awareness of SLI.

One child in every reception classroom is affected by a specific language impairment, a little-recognised condition that affects all aspects of life, prompting a group of leading academics to come together and launch RALLI, a video led campaign to raise awareness. Specific language impairment (SLI) hinders understanding and expressive language and can impact on how children learn, form friendships and on educational development. Despite how common the condition is, it receives little recognition, with many children and their families missing out on accessing much needed help and support as a result.

To find out more about SLI and to watch the launch videos, please go to RALLI’s YouTube page. Please tell your friends and families about it!

RALLI launch press release

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