What we do
We work with schools and early years settings to help them to include and support children and young people who have physical impairments so that they can access the environment and a broad and balanced curriculum alongside their peers.
Our advice and support will be bespoke to the needs of the child or young person and the setting, as each case is distinct and different, but advice could include things such as:
- Differentiation of teaching materials to meet the needs of the learner
- Use of alternative forms of recording
- Classroom organisation
- Timetable adaptations
- Inclusion of specialist equipment or programmes into daily routines
- Staff training and awareness raising
- Signposting to other appropriate professionals and agencies
- Environmental considerations and adaptations
- Risk assessments and Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP)
- Liaison with other professionals, particularly Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists
- Contribute written advice during the EHCP needs process
- Contribution to EHCP or provision review meetings
- Transition planning and support
- School trips and residentials (including risk assessments and PEEP)
How will our support be delivered?
Our support and advice would be delivered through our core offer to make a minimum of 3 contacts with the school or setting per academic year. These contacts would be a mixture of:
- in-person visits
- virtual visits
- attendance at meetings, usually via Teams
Again, this will vary and change depending on an individual’s circumstances.
When we have made a significant in-person visit this will be followed up with a written note of visit which we will ask schools and setting to save on the child’s file and share with relevant staff and parents.
Criteria for involvement
The acceptance of a referral to the team is based on the following criteria:
A child or young person has a substantial and long-term physical impairment/disability or medical condition that will affect their access to the early years setting or school environment and curriculum.
A child or young person that is aged 0 to 16 years of age (or up to 19 if the young person attends a school post-16 provision). If a child is of a pre-school age, we will begin to work with the families and settings in the term prior to the child starting a placement in a setting to support the transition process.
The child or young person must be:
- A Derbyshire child (i.e. council tax for the property that is the child’s permanent address is paid to Derbyshire County Council)
- Due to attend a mainstream school or pre-school setting within the county.
For a Derbyshire child attending an out of county setting, there are separate arrangements. The team will not need to get involved where the child or young person is attending, or heading towards a special school placement, as specialist support will be provided in-house.
We do not support at home, in-work, further or higher education settings.
Conditions which we would consider to be substantial and long term could include, but are not limited to:
- cerebral palsy
- muscular dystrophy
- brittle bone disease
- children with short stature
- amputations
- acquired brain injury
- genetic conditions where there is a physical impairment (for example, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome)
- spina bifida and hydrocephalus
Some physical conditions may not need the support of a specialist teacher and a child’s needs could be met with reference to the appropriate graduated response document:
Where we receive a referral and it is not entirely clear what support is needed, we may contact the referrer or do an assessment visit to gather more information, before making a decision about ongoing involvement.
Once we have received and accepted a referral, we endeavour to make contact and arrange visits within 4 working weeks.
Referral Routes
A referral may be made by any person involved with the child or young person.
It is helpful if as much information about the difficulties the child/young person is encountering with their physical impairment is included.
For a child aged 0 until the end of nursery, please use the Early Years SEN Panel Referral Form.
For a child who is in reception or above, please use the RFI Physical Impairment Form.
Both forms can be found in the related documents section of this page
Contact details
Rachel Wessels, Acting Principal Advisory Teacher
Email: rachel.wessels@derbyshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01629 532908 (Term-time only)
Sensory & Physical Support Service
Email: Sensory&PhysicalSupportService@derbyshire.gov.uk
Alfreton Office
Sensory and Physical Support Service – Physical Impairment
SEN Support Services
Grange Street
Alfreton
DE55 7JA
Telephone: 01629 532171
Chesterfield Office
Sensory and Physical Support Service – Physical Impairment
The Quad
Dock Walk
Chesterfield
S40 2GQ
Telephone: 01629 537686