The number of children described as having special educational needs and disabilities in the early years is rising fast. Research in 2023 by Dingley’s Promise, the national organisation that supports children with SEND in the early years, found that around eight in 10 settings reported a significant increase, and more than half stated they did not have “any more spaces” for new children with SEND.

It is common to hear of children being put on part-time timetables because their setting or school is unable to meet their needs for a full day. This means that the children who need early education the most have the fewest hours, if they are not being turned away completely.

Many early years educators, meanwhile, are genuinely overwhelmed as they try to meet a very wide range of needs. All of this is contributing to a sense of “crisis”.

It’s a sentiment that mirrors perceptions of SEND across the education sector. The Department for Education has recently described the SEND system as being “on its knees”, and will set out how it plans to address this in a White Paper later this year.

SEND in the early years

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) shapes children’s earliest learning experiences. As such, it is arguably the point at which the SEND crisis begins - and it is, therefore, an area worth looking closely at when considering overall solutions.

Indeed, a recent evaluation of the Sure Start programme by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that a higher rate of identification of developmental difficulties when children were younger, together with better early support, was associated with lower levels of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) in secondary school.

Despite this, it is still common for children in the early years to receive lower levels of funding and support than older children. We need to reverse that, with fair funding for the early years.

But we need new thinking just as much as we need better funding. Ahead of the White Paper, I am going to propose three approaches to improve the current system.

1. Learn about children’s backgrounds and adapt accordingly

There are multiple factors that influence the likelihood of children being identified as having SEND. Understanding how these interact is crucial to ensuring that we provide the right support at the right time.

For example, there is a strong association between child poverty and delays in development, especially language and communication. As a recent report from the Sutton Trust explains, children eligible for free school meals are “overrepresented in every category of SEND”.

Evidence suggests that this group of children will benefit particularly from a thoughtful and structured approach to supporting early language development.

Old Ford Primary Academy in East London has significantly reduced the number of children it describes as having SEND by focusing more on early language, including the expansion of its offer of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) in Reception. Crucially, the school waits for a child to complete the intervention before making a decision about whether they have an additional need.

In York the city-wide Early Talk for York programme has significantly boosted outcomes by the end of the EYFS and reduced the gap between children from lower income backgrounds and their peers.

In both cases, a focus on staff professional development, mobilising research evidence and careful monitoring of children’s progress using a robust assessment tool (for example, LanguageScreen or WellComm) have been crucial.

Cultural understanding should also feed into how we interpret and respond to individual needs. For example, the researcher Liz Brooker notes how children from some Pakistani and Bangladeshi families are used to following an adult’s lead before joining in, rather than independently initiating play and exploration. Some of the teachers in her study assumed that children from these backgrounds were less independent and less confident as a result.

Similarly, 2008 research found that while in Western culture people generally share attention by making eye contact or focusing on the same thing together, in some Arab households shared attention operates more via touch and gesture.

It’s important to note that we should not make assumptions about a child’s needs based solely on cultural background. However, by creating bridges between the practices of home and early years provision, we can work towards ensuring that we build on children’s ways of learning and funds of knowledge, rather than jumping to conclusions about deficits or additional needs too early.

2. Create ‘inclusion by design’

Every new early years cohort includes children who experience various combinations of difficulties with attention, communication and social interaction.

Much current practice focuses on identification and diagnosis. I am not disputing the importance of diagnoses, which create important shared reference points for parents and settings as they consider how best to support a child to overcome barriers to learning. But in some settings, there is a long wait for assessments to be completed and a diagnosis to be issued before planning support for the child. During this time, children may struggle and become increasingly switched off from learning and playing.

We need to turn this situation on its head. If we know that every early years setting will include children who need extra support with communication, interaction or focusing their attention, then we should consider how we might anticipate and meet those needs by design.

By developing a more inclusive approach, we can also support many other children who may have fluctuating needs in the same areas. Early childhood development isn’t smooth; pretty much every child will experience difficulties at some time.

Practical steps to develop a more inclusive approach include:

Establishing safe, secure and predictable routines

Many young children struggle with extended periods of unstructured time. A mixture of blocks of time when children can choose their play and blocks of time in smaller and quieter groups may be supportive for many.

For example, children with weaker language skills will benefit from an adult engaging them in regular opportunities for interactive reading in small groups, as modelled by the Talking Time approach. Research evidence from BookTrust further suggests that shared reading can help children with their emotional self-regulation.

Some children may also need explicit help to learn each other’s names and know how to access and tidy away resources.

We sometimes expect the youngest children to manage the longest unstructured times in provision. Punctuating stretches of independent play with enjoyable, focused interactions with adults can help children to sense rhythm and predictability in their day.

Prioritising communication

Augmentative communication approaches, such as “core boards” (a visual communication tool with pictures of core words) Signalong and Makaton signing, should be universal - not just used with the children who have identified SEND.

As children develop their communication, they also develop their capacity to think and plan. We need to consider how we can spend more time on approaches that help to develop communication and language, like taking time for conversation - and be explicit about the trade-offs.

For example, in the run-up to a calendar event like Easter, activities related to that can start to dominate. We need to consider paring back activities that take up lots of practitioner time and may not meet the needs of all children.

Ensuring that children can anticipate what will happen next

Children need to know what to expect, especially those who might struggle with change or switching their attention. For example, if there are unavoidable changes in staffing, we need to signal these in advance before the child comes into the setting or classroom, using visual communication as well as oral.

We also need to communicate what is happening next for the child, with enough time for them to get ready. For example, a child might seem to present with “challenging behaviour” because they find it hard to manage the transition from playing to lunchtime or because they get angry and distressed while waiting in a queue to wash their hands or get their meal.

An early warning of the change gives the child time to adapt. Teachers might also consider altering the routine so the child is first in the queue and does not have to wait longer than they can manage.

By focusing on the root cause - in this case, that the child finds it difficult to manage change - we can avoid an unhelpful focus on symptoms like challenging behaviour and the negative labels that can result.

Reducing distractions

Research shows that many young children find it difficult to block out distracting background noise. Yet early years settings are typically very noisy. Studies in Sweden and Germany have consistently recorded noise levels between 70 and 80 decibels (equivalent to the noise of a vacuum cleaner), with peaks of more than 110 decibels (equivalent to the noise of a power saw or jackhammer).

In addition to being noisy, settings can be visually cluttered, with brightly coloured displays and items hanging from ceilings and covering windows.

Furthermore, the practice of taking children out of their usual room and engaging them in an intervention in the corridor frequently puts the children who struggle most with attention in a noisy, busy and unpredictable place.

We can take steps to reduce noise by using more soft furnishings, turning off amplified whiteboards and never using background music. We can reduce visual clutter by using more muted colours, having fewer displays and stopping the practices of covering windows and doors with pictures and notices or hanging things from ceilings.

3. Empower every member of staff to be a specialist in SEND

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) explains that research evidence from schools suggests that “teaching assistants should supplement - not replace - the teacher”.

“This means that pupils who struggle most should spend at least as much time with the teacher as other pupils, if not more,” it states in its guidance on the deployment of teaching assistants. This applies as much in the early years as at any other stage.

In an inclusive setting, every member of staff should be a specialist in working with children who have SEND. The recent announcement that the DfE plans to fund training on SEND and inclusion for all teachers, including in the early years, is, therefore, hugely welcome.

It’s vital that we ensure that all staff members are accessing high-quality, sustained professional development around SEND. But what does this look like?

A good place to start is CPD designed to improve the overall quality of teaching. This matters because the DfE-funded Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE) research study found that attending a high-quality early years setting made children less likely to be recorded as having SEND.

The EEF gives a helpful overview of developing quality practice in its Early Years Pupil Premium guide, and notes that the most vulnerable children are also the most sensitive to quality.

Features of high-quality provision include adapting to children’s fluctuating needs as they present in the setting; for example, by stepping in to help a child manage frustration or helping them to communicate their choice using a sign or symbol. Dr Anne Heavey, director of impact at Ambition Institute and a member of the DfE’s SEND Inclusion in Education Expert Group, calls this an “inside-out” approach to professional development: training educators, managers and leaders to anticipate, notice and respond to children’s underlying needs.

In addition, all staff need to understand the impact that specific conditions, such as autism or ADHD, can have on children’s learning, and how approaches to care and teaching can help children to overcome the barriers they may face. Those approaches might include supporting children’s use of augmentative and alternative communication or having a safe, low-intensity place for them to retreat to when feeling overwhelmed. Heavey refers to this as “outside-in” training, ensuring that educators know how to support children according to their diagnoses.

Effective professional development, she argues, can bring together “inside-out” and “outside-in” approaches, so that educators are knowledgeable and confident about diagnoses, and also expert in adapting care and teaching for a wide range of children.

In addition, research evidence tells us that effective professional development is sustained over time and focuses on developing motivation and expertise in order to embed changes in practice.

To develop their expertise, educators need time to learn about effective strategies, to practise them and to observe colleagues modelling them. They also need time for coaching, reflecting on practice and fine-tuning what they have learned to meet the specific and individual needs of children.

In short, a one-off session on autism or speech and language delay is not even going to scratch the surface.

The value of connection

I am keenly aware that this is a “broad brush” set of recommendations that will need much more detailed consideration in individual schools and settings. I am just as keenly aware of how shortcomings in funding, premises and initial qualifications can get in the way of developing a more inclusive early years system that enables children to thrive.

However, I do not think we can keep waiting for external changes before we act. 

High-quality early education with early support for the children who need it makes economic sense. The IFS estimates that providing a cohort of children with access to Sure Start could save the government £0.6 billion through reduced service use, including “less support required for children with special educational needs”.

But there is something more important at stake here than saving money. Offering children the extra support they need while they are in the early years can reduce the heartbreaking sense of “not belonging” that so many young children and their families experience.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development tells us that human connection is a major source of happiness and health. We must ensure that no child is excluded from that sense of connection in their earliest years.

By thinking more carefully about children’s earlier experiences, putting more focus on inclusion by design and redoubling efforts to support the early years workforce, we can do much more to help every child thrive.

Julian Grenier is a member of the Department for Education’s SEND Inclusion in Education Expert Group. He would like to thank Lauren Grocott, Professor Sam Wass and Professor Joe Mintz for their advice and support with this article. However, the opinions expressed are his own

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