SEND - Local offer

To meet the criteria to access the portage service all children must:

• Live in Shropshire or Telford & Wrekin
• Be referred before the age of 30 months (a child will be considered in exceptional circumstances beyond this age)
• have two or more concerns within their learning and development (including cognition)

All children are referred by:

• Consultant and Community Paediatricians
• The Nurse Consultant for children with complex care needs covering Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin council
• Speech and Language Therapists associated with the First Links Pathway
• The Local Authority SEND Teams at Telford & Wrekin council

The team consists of a team leader, two full-time home visitors and one part-time home visitor. The team delivering the service are all Portage trained, experienced and have specialist skills in working with very young children with SEND.

Contact details

Telephone: 01952 385216
Email: [email protected]

Portage is a flexible support system for children and families that can be used at home and in early years settings. It has three key parts, forming a framework that respects each family's unique priorities. The model adjusts to the changing needs of the child and family over time.

Family Focus: This is time spent sharing and addressing the families' needs and priorities.
Structured Teaching: Time spent reviewing and planning play based teaching activities, using the Portage small steps approach to learning.
Child-led Play: Time spent observing self-initiated play to identify individual interests, strengths and emerging skills.

Telford and Wrekin and Shropshire Portage Service offers a range of support.

The type of support offered to a child varies depending on the pathway they are allocated once they have been triaged (assessed on priority and need) and the referral has been accepted. This is in line with the portage criteria.

Our offer includes:

• The portage advice line
• The short intervention programme
• Home visiting service
• Support, advice and visits to settings where portage children attend
• Organising and arranging multi-agency transition meetings prior to a child starting a setting and when moving on from portage
• One off advisory/play home visits to model activities and make suggestions for future activities to aid the child’s learning and development
• Attending Multi-disciplinary feedback meetings at the Child Development Centres
• Reports and Goal Programmes including reports to support Education, Health and Care Plans
• Supporting children who are receiving support through the Down’s syndrome pathway at the Child Development Centres and facilitating multi-agency professionals meetings and training for families and settings

The portage advice line gives parents/carers the opportunity to speak to a member of the portage team via telephone. Parent carers of all children referred into the portage service can access the advice line for one consultation once they have received their acknowledgement letter and their signed consent forms have been received by the portage service. This is prior to a referral being triaged and accepted or their being a non-acceptance.

The following is offered:

• Advice and Support
• Activity ideas to support the child’s learning and development
• Information about other agencies that may be able to help, give advice, guidance on a particular aspect of the child and family’s needs.
• An advisory home visit – if it is felt this is needed after the initial phone consultation

How does it work?

• Parents/carers can email [email protected] to request a phone call
• A member of the team will call the family to arrange a telephone appointment that is convenient for them
• The initial call will consist of taking a brief child history, giving practical ideas for activities to aid the child’s learning and development, focussing on the areas that have been discussed during the call, answering questions, addressing worries or concerns and signposting to other agencies
• Follow up calls - Parents/carers are encouraged to contact the advice line for further consultations when they feel their child is ready to move on or they are struggling with the suggestions already made. The call will consist of a recap to monitor progress and to enable the team member to offer further advice on parents/carers chosen area of concern.

Portage families are visited at home by their home visitor. The first three visits are usually fortnightly. This usually gives the family and the portage home visitor a chance to get to know each other, prepare materials and plan for future visits. Once this has been established visits become weekly and last for about an hour. The parent carers and home visitor work together to develop a programme that is specific to meet the child’s needs.

The home visitor designs appropriate teaching activities. Skills that are difficult, or take a long time to learn, are broken down into easy steps which can be practised daily. Once the portage home visitor has modelled the teaching method for a particular activity during the home visit, the family are left with the activity and practise it daily with their child for an agreed length of time. On the following visit, progress is reviewed and next steps may be introduced until the child has mastered the new skill being taught.

If a child is in a mainstream setting the home visitor will visit the child in the setting half-termly to observe and monitor progress, give advice and suggest outcomes and activities to help the child generalise skills learned in the home and develop new ones. Resources may be provided to support this.

Aims:

• To reach those children and families who meet our criteria but for various reasons have not been picked up onto caseload. This may be due to a late referral, due to late diagnosis, they are approaching the age where they no longer meet the criteria for Portage, have moved into the area after receiving portage at their previous location or the child has not been part of the First Links Pathway.  
• The Portage team lead’s initial assessment shows the need for a short intervention

How does it work?

Children receiving the portage short intervention programme receive a block of 8 or 10 visits depending on whether or not they are in a setting. The majority of the visits take place in the home and may include one or 2 visits to the child’s setting.

The focus is on particular areas of development which is agreed with the family during the portage initial assessment.  As with caseload, visits last for about an hour, the portage home visitor models activities and leaves them with the family to practice over the coming week, the home visitor will also make further suggestions for activity ideas.

At the end of the intervention the family will receive a report/summary which will outline the area of development worked on, the progress the child has made and recommendations to support future learning. Parents can share these reports with settings and other professionals. They can also be used to support the EHCP process.

• Every child and every family should be valued for their individuality as diversity brings strength to us all.
• Inclusion and participation of every individual in our community is a right that should be supported and nurtured.
• Parents play the key role in supporting their young child’s development.
• Families have the right to make informed choices and decisions for themselves about things that are important to them now and in the future, whilst remaining the child’s first ally.
• All children have the right to enjoy the widest range of play experiences, as these are the foundation of learning and development.
• Early childhood is the foundation on which children build the rest of their lives; it is not just a preparation for the next stage – it is vitally important in itself.
• Everyday contacts, relationships and activities are fundamental in nurturing development, quality of life and experience.
• Services for families are most useful when they support everyday living and are delivered within the child’s natural environment.
• All children are able to learn. Building on abilities and strengths, rather than focusing on difficulties, best supports their progress.

National Portage Association