ASL Act
A new law, the Education (Additional
Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, replaced the law relating to
Special Educational Needs in November 2005. This new law introduced a
single structure for meeting the needs of children who require
additional support to ensure they can make the most of their education.
Any
child who needs more or different support to what is normally provided
in schools or pre-schools is said to have “additional support
needs”. This includes a larger group of children who need extra
help with their education for a wider variety of reasons. These reasons
include issues arising from e.g. social and emotional difficulties,
bullying, a physical disability, having English as an additional
language, a sensory impairment or communication difficulty.
Support
therefore may need to come from health professionals and/or social work
as well as from within education. Your child’s needs may last for
a short time or they may be complex and need additional support for a
number of years. For some children it may be appropriate to have a
Co-ordinated Support Plan which sets out annual targets that require
input from other agencies, e.g. speech and language therapist.
The
level of support needed will vary from child to child and allocation of
support is organised equitably across all schools in the Authority in
consultation and agreement with the school themselves.