How to use the WellComm toolkit with children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

The WellComm toolkit is designed to identify and respond to children’s speech, language, and communication needs in the early years. The toolkit can be useful for supporting some children with Special Educational Needs and disabilities (SEND). The following top tips will provide some guidance on how the toolkit could be used to support children with SEND.

Carrying out the screen with children with SEND

complete the assessment in a quiet, distraction-free area
you may need to complete questions from the screen at different times of the day/ on different days rather than doing them all at once
for children with limited attention, you could use games alongside the screener as a motivator e.g. pop-up pirate, building blocks
it may be helpful to have two adults to support children with SEND with the screening process; one to complete the activities with the child and one to make notes and score
section 1 of the toolkit is mostly based on observations of the child and can therefore be used with children who do not yet respond to adult led activities. For children with a high level of needs you could begin the screen at section 1 to identify a target/ strategy to support the child’s communication skills

The toolkit is not designed as an all-encompassing assessment, and it is advised that you use your knowledge of the child and information from parents/carers to decide whether this toolkit is appropriate. If you feel the toolkit is not appropriate for a child with SEND, it may indicate that they need further assessment and/or support from other services to help address their communication needs. See ‘Further support for children with SEND’ section below.

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Using The Big Book of Ideas

The Big Book of Ideas has a number of useful resources that can be used to support children with SEND.

see ‘Strategies for developing use of language’ (pg.209), which highlights some helpful interaction strategies that can support any child’s language development. You could agree on one interaction strategy to focus on with parents/carers and try to bring this strategy into the child’s play and everyday activities e.g. snack time, bath time etc
see ‘Shared or joint attention’ (pg. 215-216), which discusses how to share or engage a child’s attention to support with developing their communication skills
even when it is not possible to carry out the screen with a child, you could look through the activity ideas in the Big Book of Ideas for section 1. Choose a strategy/ activity that you feel may support the child’s needs

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When the toolkit is not appropriate

It is not appropriate for a child who is deaf and using sign language
It is not appropriate to use with children who have Selective Mutism or who are very anxious about speaking in their setting
It is not appropriate to use with children with visual impairment as a number of the questions incorporate pictures

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Further support for children with SEND

You can access further support in the following ways:

contacting the Learning Support Hub – Schools and settings can request either learning support for a specific child or young person or for staff training, group learning or guidance via the Learning Support Hub
contacting the Speech Language and Communication Hub - A group of practitioners with experience and training in Speech, Language and Communication who can be contacted to provide support with any aspects of the WellComm toolkit
contacting the York and Scarborough NHS Foundation Trust Speech and Language Therapy Service

If you have any questions or comments about WellComm as part of Early Talk for York please email [email protected].

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