St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy

Children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) have
 difficulty in communicating with others. This may be because they have difficulty saying 
what they want to, understanding what is being said to them or they do not understand or 
use social rules of communication. The profile for every child with SLCN is different and 
their needs may change over time. They may have difficulty with one, some or all of the 
different aspects of speech, language or social communication at different times of
their lives.

Some children and young people require special educational provision because they have a 
disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities 
generally provided. These difficulties can be age related and may fluctuate over time.  
Many children and young people with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI), 
multi-sensory impairment (MSI) or a physical disability (PD) will require specialist support 
and/or equipment to access their learning and to have the same opportunities as their peers.

Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties
which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or 
isolated,as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These 
behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, 
self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically 
unexplained.  Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit 
disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder

Support for learning difficulties may be required when children and young people learn at a 
slower pace than their peers, even with appropriate differentiation.  Learning difficulties 
covera wide range of needs, including moderate learning difficulties (MLD), severe learning 
difficulties (SLD), where children are likely to need support in all areas of the curriculum and
associated difficulties with mobility and communication, through to profound and multiple 
learning difficulties (PMLD), where children are likely to have severe and complex learning 
difficulties as well as a physical disability or sensory impairment.