Visual Impairment

Schools and settings implement early support as part of their Special Educational Needs (SEN) Offer.

The offer of support from schools and settings is described in the ordinarily available provision page.

Early Help team

Early Help is all about providing the right support to children and families at the earliest possible time; it brings together workers who can support the whole family to try and improve things for everyone.

Find out more on the Safer Children website.

Early Help Advice and support for professionals

Early Help advice and support is available from the City of York Council. Read more about Early Help for families.

Family Hubs

More details to follow.

Community support

Find out more about community support.

Health Visitors

Health Visitors are qualified nurses or midwives with specialist training in public health for children, young people and families. Health Visitor’s additional public health training enables them to effectively promote good health and prevent illness through assessing the health needs of individuals, families and the wider community.

Learning Support hub

There is Universal Offer of training and advice for children and young people, family and settings with Physical and Health Needs from 0 to 18.

Read more about the Learning Support Hub.

Portage team and Early Support Coordinator

A home visiting educational teaching service for pre-school children with disabilities and special educational needs.

Read more about the Learning Support Hub.

Educational Psychology Service

Working to improve the educational outcomes, emotional well-being and personal development of children and young people through the use of psychology. The Educational Psychology service work with children and young people, in partnership with parent carers and staff, in a variety of educational settings including pre-schools, schools and colleges.

Early Help Short Breaks offer

Short Breaks help children and young people with disabilities, as part of a regular and supported package of care for them and their family. A diagnosis is needed to access this service.

School Wellbeing Service

The School Wellbeing Service (SWS) is a school based early intervention mental health (MH) support service. It is jointly funded by Health, local authority and schools. The aim of the service is to work within educational settings to strengthen and improve the emotional and mental health support arrangements for children and young people. This is done using a universal, targeted and specialist offer.

You can also receive help from:

• Royal Society for Blind Children
• LookUK
• VICTA
• Guide Dogs
• Custom Eye - tailor books to your child’s needs by selecting the appropriate font size, paper colour and line spacing; books are available at recommended retail price
• Clear Vision Project - a free lending library of tactile and braille book
• Living Paintings - a free postal library of ‘touch to see’ books, providing access to the visual world for children and young people who have a vision impairment
• Blind British Sport - support and advice on making sport accessible for your child with Visual Impairments (VI); have-a-go days arranged in different locations throughout the year
• Better York - inclusive clip n climb and swim sessions available
• York Sport - accessible cycling sessions with a range of Visal Imapirment (VI) friendly bikes to try