Education Act 1981

Preliminary

1 Meaning of " special educational needs " and " special educational provision "

(1) For the purposes of this Act a child has "special educational needs " if he has a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for him.

(2) Subject to subsection (4) below, a child has a " learning difficulty " if—

(a) he has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of his age; or

(b) he has a disability which either prevents or hinders him from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided in schools, within the area of the local authority concerned, for children of his age; or

(c) he is under the age of five years and is, or would be if special educational provision were not made for him. likely to fall within paragraph (a) or (b) when over that age.

(3) " Special educational provision " means—

(a) in relation to a child who has attained the age of two years, educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of his age in schools maintained by the local education authority concerned; and

(b) in relation to any child under that age, educational provision of any kind.

(4) A child is not to be taken as having a learning difficulty solely because the language (or form of the language) in which he is, or will be, taught is different from a language (or form of a language) which has at any time been spoken in his home.