Early recognition of children with special educational needs: report from a district

Health professionals involved in the pre-school child health surveillance programme need to identify those children who are likely to require a formal statement of special educational needs. Such children should be identified as early as possible, preferably by their fourth birthday. Each district needs to examine their programme and thereby identify factors associated with late recognition of such children. We report on our own practice and findings over a three-year period, including the factors associated with late recognition of special needs and efforts to improve the rate of early recognition.