Additional support in Scotland

All children have the right to access education and to have their needs met, this includes children with all types and levels of deafness. Understanding the additional support your deaf child can get in school and beyond can help you make sure that your child gets the support they need and the most out of their education.

We have more information about your child's rights in education in Scotland.

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) 

The government has put in place an early intervention policy, called Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC). GIRFEC is a national approach to promoting, supporting, and safeguarding the wellbeing of all children and young people, in order to uphold children's rights under the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). GIRFEC puts your child’s wellbeing first and helps them get the right support from the right people at the right time. 

GIRFEC provides a consistent framework, shared language and common understanding of wellbeing. It tracks the wellbeing of children against whether they’re Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible and Included. This is often shortened to SHANARRI. Your child’s school should use SHANARRI to measure and share your child’s progress against these wellbeing indicators. 

Additional support needs (ASN) 

A child or young person is said to have additional support needs (ASN) if they need extra support in order to benefit from education. Most, but not all, deaf children may be viewed by their local authority (council) as having ASN. Your child may have ASN if they have, or you think they are likely to have, more difficulty in learning than other children of the same age. 

The law 

How children and young people with additional support needs (ASN) should be supported in their education is set out in the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. The Act applies to all children and young people in public education, from the date they begin free nursery education until they leave secondary school. 

All schools that are funded by the local authority must follow the laws set out in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. They must also follow guidance called the Supporting children's learning: code of practice (revised 2010). These laws mean that they should: 

• provide an education that allows your child to achieve the best possible outcomes 
• have arrangements in place to support children with additional support needs (ASN)  
• listen to you as a parent, make sure you’re involved in all decisions about your child and give information to you on how the school will support children with ASN 
• make sure that your child gets help from specialist education services as quickly as possible 
• work together with other professionals, such as Teachers of the Deaf (ToD) and the local authority. 

Additional support for learning (ASL) 

Children and young people with additional support needs (ASN) will receive additional support for learning (ASL) in school. 

If you’re thinking about homeschooling your child, talk to your local authority, Teacher of the Deaf (ToD) or health adviser for more information about ASL at home.

ASN assessment

Local authorities must put in place arrangements for identifying and assessing which children and young people have additional support needs (ASN). Each local authority will have its own ASN policy giving details of local arrangements. You can download this from your local authority’s website or you can contact them and ask for a copy of their policy.

If your local authority agrees to assess your deaf child and decides that they have ASN, they must provide adequate and efficient additional support to meet these. They must also follow special rules that apply to placing requests for children with ASN.