Children’s Integrated Therapy and Equipment Service

East Sussex Children’s Integrated Therapy and Equipment Service uses an outcomes-based framework that has been developed to ensure that the therapy needs of children and young people are met as part of a whole systems approach.

This framework uses three levels of intervention that is well known in education and aligns with recommendations in Bercow Report (2008) and The Better Communication Research Programme (2012).

The three levels of intervention are universal, targeted and specialist:

Universal:  This level is available to all and does not require assessment.  It empowers parents and carers, other professionals and education staff to facilitate support for all children. Universal support includes, but is not limited to, training and advice for parents, carers, educational staff and other professionals.

Schools can find the East Sussex SEN Matrix at SEN Matrix | Czone and can access the Universally Available Provision document - which sets out the provision that should be available to all children and young people so they can thrive in their setting - by emailing sendqualityofeducation@eastsussex.gov.uk.

Targeted: Targeted support includes but is not limited to specialised training and advice for parents, carers, educational staff and other professionals to enable them to deliver structured interventions and programmes to meet the educational or health needs of the Child and Young Person. It can also include report writing and handover to those implementing therapy programmes e.g. parents, school staff.

Specialist: This level of provision addresses the needs of those children and young people when the complexity in the child or young person’s clinical profile goes beyond what other health or school staff are able to address or progress and to meet needs requires specialist therapist support (e.g. monitoring of spine or hips; 24 hour postural management including safe positioning for complex health needs; complex and persistent speech disorders).  Not all children with complex learning needs will require specialist therapy intervention, this would be determined by assessing clinical need and delivering in accordance with evidence-based practice. Intervention will be tailored to an individual’s needs and provision at this level could include: specialist assessment and advice to support and monitor a child’s progress; specialist training to support schools, settings and families; specific interventions in clinic or school settings; review of equipment from a specialist therapist.