Get help for children and young people who have social communication difficulties

If a child or young person does not attend school, or finds it very difficult to attend school full time because they have social communication difficulties, they could get support. We call this support our Social Communication Resource (SCR).

Who can get support

The support is for children and young people that have certain needs and:

  • live in Brighton & Hove
  • go to one of the city’s Local Authority schools including Academies and Free Schools.

They must have social communication difficulties, this includes autism.

They must also have social and emotional mental health difficulties.

Criteria for support

To get support, the child or young person must: 

  • be school age - reception to year 11
  • have social communication difficulties, which may be related to being autistic - they may have more than one difficulty
  • have significant difficulties accessing learning and development in school
  • have difficulties which are still there even after getting support and interventions
  • struggle to make progress, and/or their mental health has got worse and/or they have low school attendance
  • attend a Brighton & Hove mainstream school or want to get back to school
  • have parent carers who want to work together

Children and young people can get support with or without an EHC (Education, Health and Care) plan. A child or young person cannot get help if they have a special school named on their EHC plan.

The support is not for families seeking to continue elective home education.

Children and young people cannot get help if there's a risk assessment showing that it would not be safe.

About SCR Coordinators

Each SCR Coordinator can organise a bespoke package of support to help up to 15 children or young people.

SCR Coordinators create a personal support plan by working with:

  • the child or young person
  • the child’s parent carers
  • staff from the school the child is enrolled at
  • other people involved with the child

They liaise with the school and other organisations to coordinate individual packages of educational, social, well-being and health support to help them access more learning.

There is a primary-age SCR base at Balfour Primary School and a secondary-age SCR base at Tudor House. These bases are sometimes used for children to get some of their education packages if they are not able to go to their school site.

The SCR Coordinators do not provide teaching. This support is not an alternative to a school, special unit, or facility.

SCR Coordinators help plan educational, social, well-being and health support. They will try to help the child or young person back into long-term education.

The SCR Coordinators are part of the Brighton and Hove Inclusion Support Service (BHISS). They work throughout the year and have support from Educational Psychologists.

Who the Coordinators work with and what they aim to do

The Coordinators work with a variety of people, including:

  • parents
  • carers
    • school representatives, for example SENCO
  • the Schools Mental Health Service
  • Brighton & Hove Inclusion Service - BHISS
  • Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services - CAMHS
  • Occupational Therapy Service
  • Speech and Language Therapy Service

Together they will:

  • build positive and trusting relationships with families
  • use a team around the family approach
  • coordinate educational, social, wellbeing and health support to each child or young person
  • coordinate creative education support linked to their learning at school
  • help the child or young person get back to school full time where possible
  • plan a transition for each child

SCR support packages

Examples of bespoke packages of support may include:

  • regular check-ins with the young person and family
  • regular liaison with school staff and other professionals working with the young person
  • signposting and referring on
  • goal setting
  • developing social groups to meet the young person’s interests
  • transition support

Each package of support is bespoke to meet the child or young person’s individual needs.

We do not expect every child or young person to go to Balfour Primary School or Tudor House to get some of their educational packages. Support may take place in different locations if it's appropriate.

How to ask for support

If you are a parent or carer

To ask for support your child needs to match the difficulties listed in the criteria above.

If your child meets the criteria, you can ask a professional like a Special Needs Coordinator (SENCO), to help you fill in a request form.

To ask for a form:

Amaze can also help parents and carers fill in the form.

If you are a professional

Professionals such as key leads in school or social care, education or health staff who support the child or young person can ask for support from the SCR.

Professionals need to get agreement from the parents or carers of the child or young person.

What happens next

A group of professionals known as a multidisciplinary panel decide which children or young people will get support.

The group can include: