The Children and Families Act 2014 explains that a child or young person aged from 0 to 25 years old is said to have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) if they have:

• a learning difficulty
  • significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age
• and/or disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions
  • A disability is defined under the Equality Act 2010 as a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.
• which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her
  • educational or training provision that is additional to, or different from, that made generally for others of the same age in –
    • mainstream schools in England,
    • maintained nursery schools in England,
    • mainstream post-16 institutions in England, or
    • places in England at which relevant early years education is provided.
  • for a child under 2 years of age, special educational provision means educational provision of any kind.

A child under compulsory school age (aged 5 – 16) has special educational needs if he or she is likely to fall within the definition above when they reach compulsory school age or would do so if special educational provision was not made for them.

Post-16 institutions often use the term learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD). The term SEND is used across the 0-25 age range and includes LDD