What is the Knowing ME profiling tool?
Knowing ME is a new tool being rolled out in schools and education settings that looks at a child/young person’s strengths and needs, focusing on neurodivergence, to help everyone understand them and meet their needs at home and at school.
A neurodivergent child’s brain processes information in a different way than others. They may have sensory differences, difficulty sleeping or adapting to a change in routine. They could find it hard to sit still, make friends or say how they feel. All of these things can make school or education settings very challenging.
Trained professionals will work with the child/young person and their parent or carer to complete the Knowing ME profiling tool after gathering information from people who know the child/young person well in their setting. This will not result in a diagnosis but will help the child to get the support they need.
The professional could be a teacher, special educational needs coordinator (SENCO), family liaison officer or another professional who works closely with your school and has been appropriately trained.
The tool is not an assessment. It is a tool to guide a collaborative conversation between a parent/carer, professional and child/young person that creates a visual record.
The tool is made up of 10 different areas that help build a full picture of the young person. These areas are always included in the tool because they provide a neuro-affirmative understanding of the way the young person’s mind works. It is designed to help young people to learn more about their strengths and needs so that they can find personalised help as soon as possible.
The 10 areas are:
- Self – Knowing myself, my body and my mind
- Emotion – Regulation of my emotions
- Energy – Energy levels in my body and my mind
- Coordination – Coordination of movement; brain-to-brain muscle messages
- Sensory – Sensory comfort and making sense of my sensory world
- Attention – Paying attention and switching focus
- Communication – Two-way understanding of ideas and feelings
- Flexibility – Flexible thinking and creativity
- Impulsivity – Impulsivity and overthinking
- Future – Getting ready for adulthood; doing things for myself
We are working with Local Authorities so that you can access resources, strategies, and advice for each of the 10 areas through your Local Authority’s Local Offer on their website. These are designed to be used with a Knowing ME profiling tool, but you may find them useful even if you are not completing the tool.
It is important to consider other areas, such as trauma, mental health and bladder/bowel control, so that they are also part of the conversation to understand the child/young person.
The tool provides a holistic view of a child or young person’s needs and helps to identify strategies or further sources of support to help manage those needs in different areas of their lives, such as at home, at their early years’ setting, school or college, and in the community. The process of completing the profile is done with the family, and not for, to or by the family.
The tool has been designed for the child/young person to be involved in tool completion as an empowering process for them to learn about their needs and develop strategies to help themselves.
If a child is waiting for an assessment for autism or ADHD, they will not lose their place on the waiting list by completing a Knowing ME profiling tool.
When the Knowing ME profiling tool has been introduced in a school, it will help inform the referral process for an autism or ADHD assessment. This means a child will get access to support before they have a diagnostic assessment, which may not be needed once the support is in place.
We want children and young people to access the support they need, whether they have a formal diagnosis or not. We are currently working with our education and healthcare partners to ensure this early help and support offer is as comprehensive and timely as possible. There is an expectation that all schools and educational settings make provision for all learners identified as having special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), regardless of whether they have a diagnosis of a specific condition.