Examples of good joint working practice

Effective multi-agency working

• Child Development Centres provide multi-disciplinary input and support for pre-school children with additional needs
• Child & Adult Mental Health Services provide a multi-disciplinary team approach.
• Communication & Social Behaviour Assessment Teams (CASBAT) - A group of Health and Children’s Services specialists who identify children with social communication difficulties to establish if the root cause is an autism spectrum disorder or not.
• In mainstream schools: termly Special Support Team meetings between the school’s Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, learning support teacher, speech & language therapist, and educational psychologist. Aim: joint planning, agreement on who will take the lead for individual children, reviewing progress, setting targets.
• In mainstream and special schools: Some schools designate key members of staff who develop a role in relation to supporting good communication practice in that school.
• Communication passports: these are in use in many settings, for children who have severe communication difficulties. They consist of a small booklet providing information which enables anyone coming into contact with the child to understand how best to communicate with them.
• Special schools in Worcestershire offer a range of provision and expertise within their own settings and as outreach within their communities.  Outreach projects are aimed at supporting mainstream schools to meet the communication needs of children with emergent language skills.
• External agencies such as Speech and Language Therapy Service (SLT), Learning Support Team (LST), Integrated Specialist Support Services (ISSS) and Educational Psychology Service (EPS) work collaboratively in partnership with all agencies in order to provide holistic support to educational settings.

© Worcestershire County Council and Worcestershire PCT 2011.

This page was last reviewed 23 April 2013 at 14:20.
The page is next due for review 20 October 2014.