Early Years & Childcare

Childrens building blocks

If you think your child might need some additional support there are lots of people and services that can help.

If your child is not in full time nursery or school you may want to talk to your Health Visitor about whatever it is that’s worrying you. They might suggest a referral for further assessment such as with a paediatrician or a speech and language therapist or a referral to Middlesbrough Council’s Early Years and Primary Inclusion Team. You can also contact the Early Help Hub / First Contact team at Middlesbrough Council. They will ask you some questions about your child in order for them to know the right type of advice and support to offer. 

If your child is attending nursery, you can also talk to your nursery key person or SENDCo.

Middlesbrough Council Early Years:

A range of specialist support is available through the Early Years & Primary Inclusion Team and for children in the Early Years (0-5) who have or may have special educational needs or disabilities, this will come from The Cleveland Unit Child Development Centre (CUCDC) which is part of the Inclusion Team.

Your Health Visitor (or other professional) can refer your child to the service. 

The CUCDC provides Portage which includes visits in the family's own home and invitations to groups, both of which help to find out more about what your child is good at, what they find difficult and what might help them to make progress. When the time is right, the Portage team also support parents/carers to help their child to settle into nursery. The CUCDC also provide Portage Plus which is a similar service for children who are attending a nursery.

The outreach and inclusion team from EY & Primary Inclusion also work in partnership with schools and nursery settings to identify and assess children’s needs, and provide support and training to promote inclusion and achievement, to secure better outcomes for children with SEND across Middlesbrough.

Every nursery setting and school in Middlesbrough has a named Inclusion Officer from the EY & Primary Inclusion Team so if you have any worries about how your child is learning and developing in nursery and/or how they’re being supported, ask the nursery key person or SENDCo to speak to their Inclusion Officer.

You could also call into one of the Multi-Agency Drop In sessions organised by Daisy Chain (see Local Offer for more details www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/localoffer) or contact the Local Authority SEND & Inclusion teams via the single point of contact (SPOC) telephone number 01642 201830 or email sen@middlesbrough.gov.uk

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