Children with additional needs and learning difficulties may find learning a new skill harder than most children of the same age and they may need extra help to learn new things.

What difficulties could they have?

Children may have difficulties with understanding, speaking, seeing, hearing, and moving around or with their feelings or behaviour. Children may have difficulties with one or more of these areas.

How can they be supported?

Children with additional needs may be supported in different ways depending on the type and level of difficulty. For example, sessions with a speech and language therapist or advice from an occupational therapist.

Who can help if your child is under 5 and you think they may need additional support?

Swansea Council has a team of Early Years (EY) professionals who specialise in working with pre-school children (0-5s).

What does the Early Years Additional Learning Needs Lead Officer (EYALNLO) and Swansea's Early Years ALN Support and Inclusion Team do?

The Early Years ALN Support and Inclusion Team offer advice and support to help meet the needs of children who are under 5 years old with emerging or diagnosed additional needs. The focus of the team is to help explore and understand your child's development and to empower and support parents and childcare staff to create a positive change to meet your child's needs.

Please note if your child is below 5 years old but is at a school setting, they are supported by the school's additional learning needs process.

In Swansea there is an EYALNLO whose job is to make sure early years settings can identify ALN in children below the age of 5. They work with these settings to support them in the identification of additional learning needs and make sure that the right support is in place.

I am concerned, who do I contact?

If you have any concerns with your child's development, you should contact your health visitor. They will listen to your concerns and advise you accordingly.

If your child attends a school, you can discuss your concerns with your child's class teacher, Additional Learning Needs Coordinator (ALNCo) or headteacher.

If your child attends a childcare provider, as well as your health visitor, you can also speak to the manager or lead Additional Learning Needs Practitioner about your concerns. With your consent, your health visitor, childcare provider and other professionals who support your child, can discuss concerns with the Early Years ALN Support and Inclusion Team.

If your child is not at school and you want to talk to a member of the Early Years ALN Support and Inclusion Team, you can book an appointment on the Early Years ALN advice line. Booking an appointment can be done by contacting the Family Information Service (FIS)