Special Educational Needs Service - Specialist Teaching Team

The Specialist Teaching Team works with parents, families and other professionals to enable children and young people aged up to 25 years with ‘low incidence’ special educational needs to access education and gain the maximum benefit from their time at nursery, school or college.

The team works to:

• remove barriers and enable access to learning
• provide advice about short term interventions
• enable the child or young person’s voice and views to be heard
• provide advice and training to staff in nurseries, schools and colleges
• provide advice and support to parents
• advise the local authority on the development of services and support
• carry out assessments and provide educational advice

Contact: Lynne Johns, Head of the Specialist Teaching Team
Telephone: 01904 554204
Email: lynne.johns@york.gov.uk

Autism Team

We offer support to children and young people with an autism diagnosis.

We provide advice, training and support for:

• staff in schools and other settings
• parents and families

We work closely with colleagues in education and health, and staff in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Contact: Carolyn Roberts
Email: carolyn.roberts@york.gov.uk

Deaf and Hearing Team

We offer support to children and their families and work closely with staff in Early Years settings, schools and further education colleges to ensure deaf children are able to access education.

Contact: Shelley Nicol, Senior Specialist Teacher of the Deaf
Email: shelley.nicol@york.gov.uk

Physical and Health Needs Team

Our Physical and Health Needs Team works closely with colleagues from the local NHS Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy teams to enable children to take part as fully as possible in the life of their school.

They provide specialist support for children and young people with physical disabilities to:

• remove barriers to learning
• promote access to the curriculum

We also work closely with specialist NHS nursing staff who support children and young people requiring long term medical support, for example, with conditions such as epilepsy or diabetes.

Contact: Emma Parkin, Senior Practitioner, Physical and Health Needs Team
Email: emma.parkin@york.gov.uk

The Vision Support Team

Our Vision Support Team provides specialist support for children with reduced vision whose sight cannot be improved solely by the wearing of glasses.

We support children and young people by offering staff from nurseries, schools and further education colleges advice on:

• classroom management
• appropriate teaching resources
• relevant assistive technology

We can also provide specialist training and advice on the development of mobility and independence skills ('habilitation').

Contact: Abi Hall QTVi
Email: abi.hall@york.gov.uk

Also see

• Special educational needs and disabilities
• Specialist Teaching Team
• York's Local Offer (Special Educational Needs and Disability)