Special Educational Needs: Speech and Language Disorders
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of delayed identification of and intervention for selective mutism on children’s and young people’s (a) school attendance, (b) educational attainment, (c) participation in further education or training and (d) likelihood of becoming not in education, employment or training; what evidence informed that assessment; and whether she will commission longitudinal research where the evidence is insufficient.
Answered by Department for Education
Effective early identification and intervention are critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN).
Through our programme of special educational needs and disabilities reform, we are working to strengthen earlier identification of need and improve access to support for children and young people with SEN. This includes the development of National Inclusion Standards to support mainstream settings to identify and meet children and young people's needs as early as possible.
As part of these reforms, the department is working in partnership with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to deliver new government-backed research on SEN identification and support. This research will help strengthen the evidence base on early identification, strengths and needs assessment, and effective support for children and young people with SEN, with the aim of developing and rolling out approaches that can be integrated into education settings by 2028.
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