Portage is a home visiting educational teaching service for pre-school children with disabilities and special educational needs.
The service is available to families who live within the city boundary and have a pre-school child (between 0 and 5) who has:
- delays or difficulties in more than one area of development; or
- a diagnosis which may predict such difficulties
The service also offers support to children at risk of developmental difficulties through low birth weight and/or premature birth and children that are looked after by the local authority.
A Portage home visitor will visit the family home for 1 hour each week or fortnightly. Working in partnership with the parent or carer the home visitor will agree on a planned teaching target which promotes the child’s learning, communication, and independence through play.
After 6 months of receiving Portage support, reviews are held with each Portage family, their Portage home visitor, and the Senior Portage Worker to review the outcomes being worked on and to celebrate the progress being made.
The National Portage Association principles are:
- partnership
- inclusion
- generalising skills
- celebrating diversity
- enabling
- looking forward
- practical, immediate, relevant
- supporting
- whole child, family and community
- being positive
- small steps
- celebrating success
We accept request for support from parents or carers directly and Professionals working with children.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
For further information see our Specialist Teaching Team and the Learning Support Hub. Additional information is also available on the National Portage Association website.
Also see
Shahenaz Shaikh
Senior Portage Worker