SENCo Space > Graduated Response > Early Years > Identifying needs in Early Years > Identifying needs in Social, Emotional and Mental Health

Identifying needs in Social, Emotional and Mental Health

The SEND Code of Practice states that persistent disruptive or withdrawn behaviours do not necessarily mean SEN.

Where there are concerns, there should be an assessment to determine whether there are any causal factors such as:

Undiagnosed learning difficulties
Communication difficulties
Mental health issues

In each case, early identification, assessment and intervention will significantly reduce the use of more costly intervention at a later date.

If all other areas of SEN have been investigated and evidenced that all interventions put in place have had little or no positive effect, then SEMH should be investigated as a specific SEN.

There is further guidance on identifying needs in:

Supporting Young Minds through Tough Times.

What might I see in children and young people with social, emotional and mental health needs?

Some of the following may be observed:

Reluctant to start tasks and/or to sustain attention to them or tends to need adult support and affirmation to attempt things that would appear to be within their grasp.
Overly-worried about making mistakes, easily frustrated and prone to giving up.
Reluctant to accept help e.g. actively ignoring offers of assistance.
Appears to lack motivation for certain learning activities. Can be unfocused and distracted by peers, equipment or their own thoughts.
A negative response to his/her work or to themselves.
Can be restless and/or acting/speaking without apparently thinking first.
Distracting of others and/or looking for peer affirmation.
Appears socially unskilled and not to be able to interact at an age-appropriate level with peers (difficulties with cooperative working / sharing / turn-taking) sometimes resulting in isolation from them. Difficulty maintaining friendships
Easily led, vulnerable
A tendency to put others down and/or take part in a bullying dynamic. Has been on the receiving end of bullying from individuals or groups.
Tending to need to set the terms for work or relationships. (needing control)
Low mood.
More agitated during transitions or unexpected change. Heightened anxiety or arousal.
Quiet and withdrawn, particularly in some situations.
Difficulties in responding to adult redirection.
Occasionally rude to staff or peers e.g. through sarcastic tone of voice, rolling their eyes or dismissive body language.
Poor self-regulation, quickly angry and/or tearful.
Reticence about attending the setting or distress on transition
Limited /dysfunctional communication skills during anxious periods
Hyper-vigilance
Poor attendance and punctuality

When would you move to SEN support for SEMH needs?

Where there is a lack of adequate progress despite identified and targeted differentiation.

Schools should seek to identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individuals circumstances.

This can be characterised by progress which:

Is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline
Fails to match or better the child’s previous rate of progress
Fails to close the attainment gap between the child and their peers
Widens the attainment gap

"Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated as well as displaying challenging disruptive or disturbing behaviour.
These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.”

SEN Code of Practice (6.32)