Preparing for adulthood

The move from being a child to growing into an adult is a significant change for all young people as they gain increased independence and make plans for the future. For young people with SEND, this transition is crucial. For families who have a young person with SEND, it can be an anxious and challenging time which needs more careful preparation and planning together than for other young people of a similar age.

Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) is about the focus on outcomes and taking steps to ensure that young people with SEND receive the right level of care and support to enable them to live as full and active an adult life as possible. The Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) programme sets out four main areas that young people with SEND say are important to them:

• employment, education and training
• independent living
• community inclusion
• good health

These areas will start to be discussed as part of transition planning which usually starts in Year 9 (13 or 14 years old) with the annual review/transition review of a young person's EHCP. However, in Gateshead, we will discuss the four areas from the early years with children and young people with a range of additional needs, including those with an EHC plan. The SEND thresholds describe the PfA outcomes from early years through to 25 under each of the SEND Code of Practice areas of need.