Supporting Commissioners to Respond to the Children and Families Bill

Supported by-

Preparing for September 2014: Commissioning through the prism of speech, languageand communication needs

Supporting commissioners to respond to The Children and Families Bill

Tuesday 25th February 2014, 10 am-4:30pm

The Abbey Centre, 34 Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BU -

The Department for Education and Department of Healththrough their jointly-managed Communication Council, invite you to attend an evidence-to-practiceseminar to help you best meet the needs of children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) in light of the SEND Reforms.

Aim of the seminar: To support local and national decision makers in commissioning cost-efficient, effective SLCN provision in light of the SEND Reforms using the evidence gathered through the Better Communication Research Programme (BCRP), funded by the Department for Education.

By the end of the session, participants will:

Supported by-

• Have a direct understanding of Ministerial thinking in this area
• Understand the reforms for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) and what the new joint commissioning duty means for health commissioners
• Know how the findings of the BCRP can help inform commissioning and improved outcomes for children and young people
• Have practical examples of commissioning services for children with SEN, including those with SLCN
• Understand the prevalence and impact of SLCN
  

Who should attend:

Supported by-

• Commissioners for both health and education services
• Local authority leads for SEND
• Speech and language therapy service leads
• Clinical Commissioning Group and Commissioning Support Unit staff with responsibility for children’s services
• NHS England staff with responsibility for specialist commissioning
• Public Health England staff
• Head teachers and those responsible for commissioning services in academies, free schools, maintained schools and clusters
• National Parent Partnership Networks
• Health and Wellbeing Board members
• Children and young people’s health outcomes forum members

Supported by-

This event is free to attendand on an invitation only basis. Places are limited and targeted at those with direct or strategic responsibilities for commissioning and planning health and education services.

We will be asking delegates to take on a championing role and to spread the key messages amongst their local, regional and national professional networks – we will email useful digests, toolkits and information to delegates following the conference and will update these as we move towards September 2014.

Seminar Agenda

9:30- 10:15 / Registration period
10:15– 10:25 / Welcome to the day / David Carpenter, young person representative
10:25 – 10:45 / Ministerial keynote: Improving outcomes for children and young people / Health Minister – Dr Daniel Poulter
10:45 – 11:05 / Implementing the Reforms: What you need to know from the BCRP / BCRP research team representative
11:05 – 11:35 / Commissioning for SLCN: An introduction to best practice / Kamini Gadhok, Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists(RCSLT)
Local Authority representative TBC
11:35-12:20pm / The Commissioning Cycle: showcasing best local practice
5 minute presentations on what makes successful local practice followed by Q&A and discussion. Delegates will hear from speakers including representatives from;

• A Young person representative
• A Parent representative
• Sheffield
• Stoke
• Barking & Dagenham

/ Chaired by Anne Fox, The Communication Trust
12:20-1:05 / Parallel workshop sessions on the commissioning cycle: ‘Understand, plan, do, review’ and evidence based approaches for SLCN

1. Understand and plan

This session will focus on the needs assessment, including prevalence for SLCN and local identification and demographic links. It will outline to participants the current barriers SLCN comes up against in the identification and commissioning process and aim to make clearer the specifics of the needs that services should support. / Workshop led by:
Maria Luscombe, North West London Hospitals Trust and Deputy Chair of RCSLT
Dr Helen Duncan, Public Health England
Learning outcomes:
-Understand what needs children and young people with SLCN have and what sort of services they need to support them
-Understand the prevalence and impact of SLCN on a local level and the impact this has in local commissioning and service provision arrangements

1. Do and review

This session will focus on 'commissioning in partnership' for improved outcomes for children and young people with SLCN and will include the roles of LA, CCGs and schools. It will look at the whole commissioning cycle and encourage participants to think about outcomes for children with SLCN and their role in working together to best support them to communicate to the best of their ability. It will examine the relative roles to be played by different commissioners, and lookat outcomes across LA, CCG and schools in terms of their priorities and how they measure and collect information. / Workshop led by:
Marie Gascoigne, Better Communication CIC
Local Authority representative TBC
Learning outcomes:
- Understand the commissioning cycle and the roles of different commissioners
- How to work in partnership to commission for improved outcomes

1. Evidence-based approaches to support SLCN

A session looking at the context and development of evidence based approaches to SLCN. This will include an outline of What Works and how it can be used by Commissioners as well as an exploration of some of the interventions on there, their evidence base and their impact. / Workshop led by:
Professor James Law, Newcastle University
Professor Leon Feinstein, Early Intervention Foundation
Learning outcomes:
-Have an overview of key approaches, interventions and support for children and young people with SLCN.
- Have an understanding of how the What Works database can support commissioners.
1:05- 1:50 / Lunch and exhibition
1:50- 2:35 / Second parallel session / Opportunity to attend the second workshop session
2:35- 3:20 / Third parallel session
/ Opportunity to attend the third workshop session
3:20-3:35 / Refreshments and exhibition
3:35-3:50 / Ministerial keynote: The importance of SLCN in the SEND Reforms / Education Minister – Edward Timpson
Exhibition runs until 4.30pm

What is the Better Communication Research Programme?

The Better Communication Research Programme is the most extensive research ever for SLCN with the ambitious aims of bringing together research, policy and practice.Given the reforms to both health and social care and SEN services, this event is timely in informing those engaged in implementation of the reforms as to the learning from the BCRP.

The research evidences continued misunderstanding of language impairments and SLCN more generally. Provision of support is currently related to diagnostic label, not the needs of the child, impacting on provision and outcomes.

Numbers of children identified by schools with SLCN as their primary need has increased over the last 6 years. According to the most recent DfE Statistical First Release, 2013 data shows that the number of children identified with SLCN (SA+ & statements) in state-funded schools in England has increased by 9.6% since 2011.

There are evidenced practical solutions coming out of the research which if taken on board could impact positively on children with SLCN.

The research contains key messages for services:

1. Identification – there remain huge challenges for universal practitioners in effectively identifying SLCN, with continued misunderstanding of what it is
2. Support – children with SLCN need support at all levels, in the classroom as well as by specialists; children are very clear about what works for them – other people’s behaviour and understanding is paramount
3. Outcomes – children with SLCN do less well at school than peers of similar ability; the setting and measuring of relevant, meaningful, functional and motivational outcomes need to be at the heart of the system
4. Workforce development – there remains a lack of understanding of SLCN and how to support children with difficulties, particularly for teachers in changing classroom practice; there needs to be a structured, systematic and ongoing approach to universal workforce development
5. Commissioning – children with SLCN can fall through the gaps in the system; health and education need to work together to design and commission needs-led local services considering universal as well as targeted and specialist approaches
6. Research - needs to combine expertise of practitioners, parents, service providers, and researchers to fill the evidence gaps