Brighton & Hove Inclusion Support Service (BHISS) Educational Psychology Service

About our team

Our team works with pre-schools and nurseries to help support children and young people aged 0 to 25 who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) that significantly impact their psychological wellbeing and/or learning.

Examples of educational, social, emotional and mental health needs include severe difficulties in managing emotions and behaviour, inappropriate responses and feelings to situations.

We work with children and their parents and caregivers, staff in schools, colleges, and early years settings, as well as with other agencies.

Our team of educational psychologists:

• provide training for schools, parents and other professionals on approaches to support children with attachment, autism, separation and loss
• give advice, guidance and support to school teachers and staff
• support schools to deal with critical times in a child’s life, such as when someone close to them dies
• assess children to identify how they learn, think and feel
• share assessment reports with schools, parents and other professionals
• support schools with the Assess, Plan, Do, Review process
• provide support with Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessments and plans
• support children from Brighton & Hove who go to a school outside of the local area, when needed
• works closely with other BHISS teams

All Educational Psychologists have experience working in education, many as teachers.

We're all fully qualified and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

The range of needs a child or young person may have includes:

• Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC)
• general learning difficulties
• medical needs
• physical disability
• sensory impairment
• specific learning difficulties (such as dyslexia)
• speech, language, and communication difficulties
• social emotional and mental health (SEMH), including school refusal, where children and young people are at risk of exclusion, are offending or are at risk of offending

During our assessment, we can work with any agency involved with a child or family. We're part of the Brighton and Hove Inclusion Support Service (BHISS) and work closely with the other teams in this service, as well as:

• paediatricians
• health visitors
• speech and language therapists
• occupational therapists
• physiotherapists
• the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
• social workers
• the Youth Offending Service
• the Virtual School for Children in Care

We also help children and young people with SEND from Brighton & Hove who are placed by the Local Authority in schools outside of the Local Authority when needed.

What we do

The Educational Psychology Service promotes the educational, social, emotional and mental health needs of children and young people through:

Whole school support

We provide:

• training for schools, parents, carers and other professionals, such as on attachment, working with children with autism, separation and loss, solution-focused approaches, nurture groups, and learning approaches
• advice, support and guidance to teachers and school staff
• response and support for schools in the event of a sad event/critical incident, such as the bereavement of a child, parent or member of staff

Work to support individual children and young people

We provide:

• consultation with significant people in the child/young person's life to help problem-solve ways forward, including attendance at multi-agency meetings
• assessment, including writing psychological advice to help identify how children learn, think, and feel, looking at both strengths and areas which need support.
• training for schools, parents, carers and other professionals  on approaches to support individual children and young people with additional needs such as attachment, autism and separation and loss, based on solution-focused approaches
• direct interventions with a child or their family, such as using video reflection (Video Interactive Guidance), solution-focused approaches, and Motivational Interviewing
• advice for statutory assessment; in these cases, the involvement is a legal requirement and requested by the Local Authority SEN team as part of the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan needs assessment
• research and evaluation, such as research on exclusions from school

Read statutory guidance around school exclusion on GOV.UK.

How we work

Educational Psychologists follow an ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ cycle as highlighted in the SEN Code of Practice 2014. This means we complete some assessment and discussion about a child or young person’s needs, agree ways forward with those supporting the child, and then review the impact of this work after an agreed period of the support being in place. Parents and carers are included in this, taking into account a child or young person’s needs at home and at school.

The ways we assess children and young people vary with their age and needs. We often observe a child in their usual learning environment, as well as work individually with them.

We may use toys to play with the child to help us understand their learning, or use puzzles and talking to see what their strengths are and what they need help with.

Some assessments are standardised tests which give us an idea of how they are compared to their peers (such as literacy and language tests or tests of non-verbal thinking skills). We also use questionnaires, which help a child/young person tell us their views, thoughts and feelings.

When using assessment tools, we make it as comfortable as possible for the child or young person, who often report that they have enjoyed working with us, liking the individual attention. When a piece of assessment is completed, we summarise this in a report which we send directly to parents by post and share with schools and other relevant professionals.

The length of time we work with a child or family is variable and dependent on the needs and progress.

Accessibility of the service

We typically see children and families within the community at home and school, and we'll make arrangements to ensure we're fully accessible when appointments are arranged.

We use interpreters, translators, signers or accessibility equipment when needed.

How to get support from us

If a parent or carer is concerned about their child’s progress, they should speak with someone at the school or nursery in the first instance, who may request assessment by an educational psychologist.

We always get the consent of a parent or carer before working with a child.

The Educational Psychology Service does not have open referral access.