Definition

Definition of Special Educational Needs (SEN) as taken from section 20 of the  Children and Families Act 2014.

A child or young person has special educational needs if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they;

1. a) have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or

(b) have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.

A child under compulsory school age has special educational needs if they fall within the definition at (a) or (b) above or would do so if no special educational provision were made.

Children must not be regarded as having a learning difficulty solely because the language or form of language of their home is different from the language in which they will be taught.