Free tool

Is This SEND, or Is It Something Else?

A first-pass thinking tool for the moment a concern lands on your desk, before you know which direction it's going in.

This is not a diagnostic tool, and it isn't meant to be one. Only qualified professionals (educational psychologists, paediatricians, speech and language therapists, and similar) can diagnose SEND conditions. What follows is a set of questions to help you think through what you're seeing before you decide whether a referral or assessment pathway is the right next step, not a checklist that tells you what a student "has."

Disruptive or defiant behaviour in class

Could be worth exploring as SEND

Undiagnosed processing difficulties making tasks feel impossible
Sensory overload in a busy classroom (ASC-related or otherwise)
Unmet communication needs, frustration expressed as behaviour

Could also be something else entirely

Home circumstances, a difficult period unrelated to any underlying need
A mismatch between the task and the student's actual starting point
Early-stage EAL, frustration at not being understood
Simply testing boundaries, a normal developmental phase

Questions worth asking before deciding

Does the pattern hold across all lessons and staff, or only specific ones?
What happened just before, every time?
Has anything changed at home recently that a parent might share if asked gently?

Poor or inconsistent attendance

Could be worth exploring as SEND

Anxiety severe enough to make attending physically difficult
An undiagnosed condition making the school day exhausting or overwhelming
School avoidance linked to unmet needs not yet identified

Could also be something else entirely

Family circumstances entirely unrelated to the student's own needs
Illness, genuinely just illness
A pattern that needs a welfare conversation, not a SEND one

Questions worth asking before deciding

Is the pattern tied to specific days, subjects, or social situations?
What does the student say when asked directly, gently, and without pressure?
Has attendance changed suddenly, or been a long-standing pattern?

Quiet, withdrawn, or “daydreaming”

Could be worth exploring as SEND

Attention difficulties presenting as inattentiveness rather than hyperactivity
Processing speed difficulties, the student is behind, not disengaged
Selective mutism or social anxiety in unfamiliar or busy settings

Could also be something else entirely

A genuinely introverted temperament, not every quiet child has a need
Boredom, the work may be under-challenging
A private personal worry unrelated to school

Questions worth asking before deciding

Can they tell you what just happened in the lesson, if asked one-to-one?
Is this new, or how they've always been?
Does it change in smaller or quieter settings?

Struggling academically despite apparent effort

Could be worth exploring as SEND

Specific learning difficulty (dyslexia, dyscalculia, or similar) not yet assessed
Working memory difficulties making multi-step tasks disproportionately hard
Undiagnosed sensory need affecting concentration

Could also be something else entirely

Gaps from missed schooling, not an underlying need
EAL, still building academic language in a second language
A mismatch between teaching style and how this particular student learns best
Giftedness and under-challenge, presenting as disengagement rather than struggle

Questions worth asking before deciding

Is the struggle specific to certain skills (reading, number sense) or general?
How does performance change with more time, or a different format?
What does the student's own account of the difficulty sound like?

If a pattern genuinely looks SEND-related after working through questions like these, the next step is your school's normal graduated response process, not a label applied on the spot.

Build your graduated response →