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Disabled children

Support is available for disabled children and young people, and families.

Our Early Help and SEND advice line can provide advice to families and signpost you to support available across the city.

Support services for disabled children and young people

Families have said that they would like advice and information about support available to be easy to access and we have developed our teams with this in mind. Within the SEND Service in Plymouth we have teams who provide a range of assessments and services for children with disabilities. We can help with:

  • an assessment and plan for your child’s needs
  • support for you and your family
  • occupational therapy assessment services
  • short breaks for you or your child
  • advice and information on services in your community

Our SEND Early Help Team is able to provide initial advice, information, and signposting for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their families and carers. The team will help with making sure the right teams are involved.

The Short Breaks Team work in partnership with families to assess and plan for short break support which meets the needs of children and young people, and parent/carers within an Early Help response.  Plymouth’s Short Break Statement sets out our local short break offer.

The Children’s Occupational Therapy Team aim to enhance levels of functional independence by providing support to you and those who manage your child and/or young person daily activities and care needs.

The Children’s Disability Team provides social work assessment and planning support to children and young people with profound disabilities and complex needs between the ages of 0 to 18 years. 

We maintain a Register of Disabled Children who live in Plymouth in accordance with duty set out in the Children Act 1989. Although registration is not mandatory, parents are encouraged to include their child’s names on the register in order to assist the Local Authority and partner agencies to plan future services and target resources more effectively.

Our SEND Local Offer is hosted on the Plymouth Online Directory website.

For more information and advice, contact the Early Help and SEND advice line.