Effective service provision and partnerships in service providers for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND): A mixed methods systematic review

In the United Kingdom, additional services are provided for children and young people aged 0-25 years, with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). These services, (referred to as interventions in our report) could be provided by healthcare, social care, or education organisations.

In this study, the research team were asked to answer three questions related to SEND provision in order to understand:

1. What effective activities or programmes (known as interventions) are provided to people with SEND?

2. Of those interventions provided to people with SEND which can lead to service improvements and why?

3. What helps healthcare, social care, or education organisations work together to provide high quality services for people with SEND?

We examined the literature to explore what helps healthcare, social care, or education organisations work together (partnership working) to provide high quality services for people with SEND. We found five key areas which help to improve partnership working for SEND. These included:

• Recognising the importance of being involved in a partnership, and feeling like your involvement is important and valued
• The need for personalisation and consultation with children and young people and their families in the design and delivery of SEND services
• The importance of respectful communication in partnership work
• The need to appropriately prepare to be an effective member of a partnership
• The importance of working across professional and organisational boundaries was also seen as essential in the delivery of effective SEND services.

Our findings offer a valuable contribution to the provision of services to children and young people with SEND services. We have identified the types of interventions which appear to be effective for service users and the ways in which those who provide SEND services can better work in partnership to generate service improvements.