SEBD, EBD and BESD

You might meet these initials on older paperwork, in your child's school records, or on the sign outside a specialist school. They were the official ways of categorising emotional and behaviour needs before 2014.

When England's SEND SEND SEND is England's word for children who need extra help to learn. The rest of the UK uses other words, and other rules. Read the full definition of SEND Code of Practice came into force, the category became social, emotional and mental health, or SEMH Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) SEMH is one of the four broad areas of need in England's SEND system. It is the category a school records when a child's main need is seen as emotional wellbeing or behaviour. Read the full definition of Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) . Dropping the word "behaviour" was deliberate: the new name treats behaviour as a sign of an underlying need, such as anxiety or depression, rather than as the need itself.

A record that says BESD or EBD is not void. It is simply written in older vocabulary, and it still describes real needs that were identified. If a document about your child uses one of these labels today, you can ask for the SEMH framing, because the category recorded shapes what support gets planned.

SEMH is the England category. Wales categorises needs under its additional learning needs Additional learning needs The term used in Wales when a child needs extra support to learn. It replaced the term special educational needs for children and young people in Wales. Read the full definition of Additional learning needs system, Scotland talks about additional support needs Additional support needs The term used in Scotland when a child needs extra support to get the most from school. A disability counts, but so do things like bereavement or being a young carer. Read the full definition of Additional support needs , and Northern Ireland has its own SEN categories, so outside England the current wording differs.