If your child who stammers was not making progress under the 'Early Years Action' or 'Early Years Action Plus' schemes and has other complex needs that require a lot of special extra help, your local authority can carry out a more detailed assessment of your child's needs, based on professional advice. This assessment may conclude that your child needs the extra support that a statement of special educational needs should give.

The assessment finds out exactly what your child's needs are, and what special help they need. It is only necessary if your child's pre-school or educational setting cannot provide all the help they need. If your child is under two years of age it is unlikely that statementing would be considered unless he has the most severe learning difficulties.

You can ask for an assessment for your child and so can your child's pre-school. If the pre-school wants to ask the local authority to carry out an assessment, they should always talk to you first. You may approach the local authority yourself to request one and should then talk to your child's childminder, teacher, or SEN coordinator (SENCO) first. You may decide that the process would be less demanding for you if you and the staff agreed that the application should be made by the pre-school.

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Text for this page: Statementing
Text for this whole section: When your child has complex needs