Why we need a needs led approach to ALN/SEND

Too often responses to children who are struggling with learning is to ask, ‘What is wrong with them?’ This deficit model leads to a focus on diagnoses and often misses children’s strengths and motivators. In this seminar, Sara Alston will argue that often the diagnoses given to children are too wide to be truly helpful when identifying their education needs. Instead to provide children with the support they need, we need instead to focus on their needs. She will suggest practical ways of doing this.