Building Your Child's SEN Support Team

When your child has special educational needs, they may work with numerous professionals—teachers, TAs, the SENCO, speech therapists, occupational therapists, educational psychologists, pediatricians, and more. Each brings valuable expertise, but without coordination, their efforts can become fragmented, duplicated, or even contradictory.

Building an effective SEN support team isn’t about collecting professionals—it’s about creating a coordinated network where everyone communicates, shares information, and works toward the same goals. And at the center of that team? You, the parent.

This guide will help you understand who might be involved in your child’s support, how to coordinate effectively, and how to become the skilled conductor of your child’s support orchestra.

Who Might Be on Your Child’s Support Team?

Every child’s team looks different depending on their needs, but here are the common professionals you might work with:

Potential Team Members:

Education Professionals:

• Class Teacher: Delivers daily teaching and implements in-class strategies
• SENCO: Coordinates SEN support, oversees interventions, liaises with external professionals
• Teaching Assistants (TAs): Provide in-class support and deliver interventions
• Learning Mentors/Pastoral Staff: Support emotional wellbeing and behavior
• Educational Psychologist (EP): Assesses learning needs, advises on strategies, recommends interventions

Health Professionals:

• Speech and Language Therapist (SALT): Assesses and treats communication and feeding difficulties
• Occupational Therapist (OT): Supports sensory processing, fine motor skills, daily living skills
• Physiotherapist: Addresses gross motor and physical development needs
• Paediatrician: Medical oversight, diagnosis, medication management
• CAMHS: Mental health support for anxiety, depression, trauma, or emotional difficulties

Other Specialists:

• Autism Advisory Teachers: Specialist advice for children on the spectrum
• Hearing/Vision Impairment Specialists: Support for sensory impairments
• Social Workers: If your child is known to social care or has safeguarding needs
• Alternative provision coordinators: If your child accesses part-time alternative settings

Not every child needs all these professionals, and some children work with specialists not listed here. Your team should reflect your child’s individual needs.

Your Role: The Central Coordinator

In an ideal world, professionals would communicate seamlessly with each other. In reality, you—the parent—often become the central hub connecting everyone. This isn’t because professionals don’t care, but because systems are siloed, caseloads are high, and information doesn’t flow automatically.

Why Parents End Up Coordinating

• Schools and health services use different IT systems that don’t talk to each other
• Professionals work in separate services with different priorities and processes
• You see your child across all settings—home, school, therapy—giving you the complete picture
• You’re the constant while professionals may change due to caseload shifts or staff turnover
• You have the deepest knowledge of what works and what doesn’t across contexts

While it can feel frustrating to be the go-between, embracing this coordinator role also gives you power—you control the narrative, ensure consistency, and spot when advice from one professional contradicts another.

Building the Team: Who Do You Need?

Step 1: Identify Your Child’s Needs

Start with your child’s specific challenges. What areas of development are affected? This determines which professionals you need.

Matching Needs to Professionals:

• Speech/language delay: SALT, possibly EP for cognitive-language links
• Sensory processing issues: OT, possibly autism advisory teacher
• Fine motor difficulties: OT, handwriting specialist
• Gross motor/coordination: Physiotherapy, PE specialist
• Learning difficulties: EP, specialist teacher
• Social communication/autism: SALT, autism advisory, possibly CAMHS
• Emotional/behavioral challenges: EP, CAMHS, pastoral support
• ADHD: Paediatrician (diagnosis/medication), EP (learning strategies), CAMHS (if comorbid mental health needs)

Step 2: Access Professionals

Once you know who you need, how do you access them?

Access Routes:

• Through school: SENCO can request EP, autism advisory, SALT (some areas), learning support services
• Through GP/health visitor: Referrals to SALT, OT, paediatrician, CAMHS, physio
• Through EHCP process: If your child has an EHCP, therapy provision may be written into Section H
• Privately: If NHS waiting lists are prohibitive and you have resources, private assessments can speed things up
• Charity programs: Some charities offer low-cost or subsidized therapy

Effective Communication Strategies

A good team communicates clearly, regularly, and purposefully. Here’s how to facilitate that:

Communication Best Practices:

• Keep a team contact list: Names, roles, contact details, and areas of responsibility for everyone involved
• Create a one-page profile: A snapshot of your child—their strengths, needs, what helps, what doesn’t—that every professional receives
• Regular updates: Send brief updates to the team when something significant changes (new strategies working, regression, diagnosis)
• Share reports: When one professional completes a report, share it with others (with permission)—it saves duplication
• Cross-reference recommendations: If the OT recommends a sensory diet and the SALT recommends oral motor exercises, how do they fit together?
• Request joint meetings when needed: For complex cases, multi-agency meetings (TAC/TAF meetings) can be invaluable

The Power of Shared Information

When professionals work in isolation, they miss the bigger picture. Sharing information prevents:

• Duplication: Three professionals asking the same developmental history questions
• Contradictory advice: SALT says one thing, OT says another, leaving you confused
• Missed connections: Not realizing that the feeding difficulties the SALT is addressing are related to the sensory issues the OT is working on
• Gaps in support: Everyone assumes someone else is addressing a particular need

Team Meetings: Making Them Productive

When your child’s team meets (annual reviews, TAC meetings, planning meetings), make the most of having everyone together:

Before the Meeting

• Request an agenda and share it with attendees
• Prepare your own update—progress, concerns, questions
• Ask professionals to bring data/reports if available
• Identify your key questions or decisions needed

During the Meeting

• Take notes or ask for minutes
• Ensure every professional reports on their area
• Identify areas of overlap or connection between different professionals’ work
• Agree on specific actions, who’s responsible, and deadlines
• Set the next review date before you leave

After the Meeting

• Send a summary email to all attendees confirming actions agreed
• Follow up on any actions assigned to you
• Chase professionals if they don’t deliver on their commitments
• Share the outcomes with anyone who couldn’t attend but is involved in your child’s support

Managing Conflicting Advice

Sometimes professionals disagree. The OT recommends sensory avoiding strategies while the autism advisory teacher suggests sensory seeking activities. The EP says reduce demands, the teacher says maintain expectations. What do you do?

Resolving Conflicting Recommendations:

• Bring them together: Request a joint meeting or phone call where professionals can discuss directly
• Ask for clarification: Often apparent conflicts are actually about different contexts (home vs school) or timing
• Seek a second opinion: If truly contradictory, a third professional might help resolve the disagreement
• Trial and evaluate: Try one approach first, measure outcomes, then try the other if needed
• Trust your instincts: You know your child best—if an approach feels wrong or isn’t working, say so

When Team Members Leave or Change

Staff turnover is frustrating but inevitable. Teachers move schools, therapists change caseloads, educational psychologists retire. Here’s how to maintain continuity:

Managing Transitions:

• Request handover meetings: Outgoing and incoming professionals should meet to transfer knowledge
• Maintain your own records: You’re the constant, so your documentation becomes the continuity
• Prepare a briefing pack: One-page profile, recent reports, current strategies—ready to give to any new professional
• Re-establish relationships quickly: Don’t assume the new person knows everything—brief them thoroughly
• Be patient but persistent: New professionals need time to get to know your child, but they should also respect existing knowledge

Avoiding Team Burnout (Including Yours)

Coordinating a support team is exhausting. Between appointments, meetings, emails, phone calls, chasing responses, and implementing recommendations at home, it’s easy to burn out.

Protecting Yourself from Coordinator Burnout:

• Batch communications: Set specific times for emails/calls rather than responding constantly
• Use templates: Create standard updates you can quickly customize for different professionals
• Prioritize: Not every recommendation can be implemented immediately—choose the most impactful
• Share the load: If you have a partner, divide professional liaison responsibilities
• Use technology: Tools like Tediverse reduce the admin burden of coordination
• Say no when needed: More appointments and more interventions aren’t always better—balance is crucial

Final Thoughts: You Are the Expert on Your Child

While each professional brings valuable specialist knowledge, you are the expert on your child. You see them across all contexts, you know their history, and you understand them as a whole person—not just a case file.

Building an effective support team means finding professionals who recognize your expertise, communicate respectfully, and work collaboratively. It means being assertive about your child’s needs while building productive relationships with the people trying to help.

The team around your child is only as strong as its coordination. By taking an active role in facilitating communication, sharing information, and ensuring everyone is working toward the same goals, you transform a collection of isolated professionals into a true support network.

Related Resources

• SEN Register: What It Means and How It Helps
• EHCP Application Guide: Complete UK Process
• Occupational Therapy for SEN: Accessing Support in the UK
• SEN Parent Burnout: Prevention Strategies & Self-Care Guide