Literacy news
Voluntary organisations contracted to support children with special educational needs
7 Nov 2011
Voluntary and community organisations have been awarded contracts worth a total of £6m each year for the next two years, to deliver programmes for children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities and their families.
Children's minister Sarah Teather announced details of the programmes, which will support the delivery of short breaks, aim to give more information to parents, and help disabled young people and those with SEN prepare for employment, training and independent living.
I CAN, the children’s communication charity and the Council for Disabled Children are among those voluntary organisations to receive the funding.
The Early Language Consortium led by I CAN will run early language development training in children’s centres in the poorest areas of the country, with the aim of reaching more than 960,000 families.
The aim of the Early Language Development Programme (ELDP) is to ensure that more young children develop the language skills they need to be ready for school. I CAN said that evidence shows that children's understanding and use of vocabulary at the age of two is very strongly linked to their performance when they start primary school.
Teather said:
We're proposing some of the biggest reforms to special educational needs and to help disabled children, and we're testing out the best ways of doing this over the next year. But it's important that children, young people and their families get help and support now, from organisations they trust.
That's why we're funding and extending programmes that have been successful so far and that parents have told us they value, like short breaks and helping young people make the often difficult transition from school to employment or training.
See the article from Children and Young People Now.
