Frequently asked questions for the Dudley Learning Support Service.
If your child is experiencing any learning difficulties in school please discuss your concerns directly with the school; ask to speak to the school Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). If difficulties continue to present, the school may then contact the Learning Support Service for advice and pupil assessment.
They work in partnership with schools, pupils, parent/carers and other agencies as appropriate. They support the entitlement of all pupils to a high quality, inclusive education in educational settings through the assessment and teaching of targeted pupils identified by the purchasing setting. They assist the school in developing personalised approaches to support and manage pupils who have learning difficulties and/or dyslexia.
First contact should be with your Special Educational Needs Coordinator in school.
Dyslexia Action can offer an assessment; Educational Psychologists and qualified Specialist Dyslexia Teachers can assess and diagnose.
British Dyslexia Association can also help with advice/assessment.
Your first point of contact should be an appointment with the school Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). If you have had a discussion with them and still are unable to agree on a course of action, there is a statutory service providing impartial advice and support to parents and young people with special educational needs and disabilities called Dudley Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (Dudley SENDIASS).
Telephone Helpline: 01384 817373; Email: dudley.sendiass@dudley.gov.uk Website: Dudley SENDIASS
That decision will be made by the school Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) following discussions with the Specialist Teacher who is allocated to the school.
That decision will be made by the school Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) following discussions with the Specialist Teacher who is allocated to the school.
An initial assessment usually takes about 3 hours but with younger children this may be broken up into several shorter sessions. After the initial assessment, your child’s progress is likely to be monitored by the Specialist Teacher. Monitoring sessions are shorter – usually around an hour.
A unit equates to 1.5 hours of time and is used as a means of purchasing our services.
Written reports are produced within 2 working weeks of assessing a pupil. These reports are securely emailed to the school Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo).
Schools/settings can purchase additional units via the termly Service Level Agreement with the allocated Specialist Teacher.
Please see page 3 of the Intensive Learning Unit Policy on the Specialist Teaching page.
Please complete the online booking form on our Senco Forum page with the details of the course. You will be able to email this directly to the Learning Support Service.
Go to our Training Page and complete the 'Register of Interest' form in the first instance. When we have sufficient delegates registered, we will then schedule a date for the training and invite you to book a place.
You should complete our register of interest form on our Training page. When we have a sufficient number of delegates, we will contact you with a view to scheduling the training course.
Our Resource Base consists of books, publication and teaching resources relating to a range of SEND topics. School staff are welcome to browse these resources free of charge. A range of assessment materials are also available which can be viewed/discussed with a member of our team for a small charge. All visits to the Resource Base need to be booked in advance. Please note that items cannot be removed.
An explanation of this and other information can be found in our leaflet 'Understanding Learning Support Service Assessment Reports' available on our Publications Page.
