In February 2026, the Government released its Every Child Achieving and Thriving paper which outlines proposals to overhaul the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities system over the next 10 years. This 2026 Government SEND paper is long-awaited and could signal the start of one of the most significant shifts in how neurodivergent children are supported in the classroom.
The proposals outline the requirements for every school to create an Individual Support Plan (ISP) for any pupil with SEND needs. In the plans teachers would be required to describe the type of support a child receives, why they get it and their goals. The idea is that the ISP’s form a legal right to the child receiving the support they need, without the need for a formal statutory process to get the basic help.
The aim of ISPs within the 2026 Government SEND proposals is to standardise expectations across all schools so that children get access to earlier assistance for any learning differences such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia and ensure that parents don’t need to fight for everyday support for their child. It proposes a three-tier framework which should provide:
• Targeted support – adjustments made inside the classroom
• Targeted plus – specialist input alongside mainstream teaching
• Specialist support – for those with more complex needs in specialist settings
The model the Government sets out in the 2026 Government SEND White Paper is intended to ensure that support is better matched to individual needs. The objective being to make sure that neurodivergent learners are not pushed into one category and can get the help that best fits the level of support they require.
Neurodivergent children absorb information in a different way. For far too many years the traditional education system has been inflexible to those with different ways of learning and the reforms outlined in the 2026 Government SEND plans are a welcome step forward. While the proposals look good on paper, it will be telling to see how they play out in real life.
If the changes set out to do what they are meant to, it should in theory lead to earlier more flexible support for more children that need it within mainstream school settings. It should also mean that more specialist support will be available for children without always needing an EHCP in place. This should speed up what has become a lengthy and often archaic process.
For the new measures within the 2026 Government SEND reforms to work, training for all teachers will be required to ensure a greater understanding and support of neurodiversity, and how they can best manage everyone’s needs.
In saying that, we must be mindful of the pressure already on schools to deliver complex interventions when they are already stretched for resources. If the new measures are to work, the Government must find ways to better support schools so they can put the necessary steps in place to support the new plans. Much of what has been proposed will clearly depend on how the reforms are funded, regulated and how they are implemented in practice.
The paper aims to modernise and streamline the current SEND system, something that has been needed for a long time. And while it’s great to see that this sits high on the Government’s agenda, it’s imperative that our neurodivergent children, who deserve to have the right support in place, get what they need to enable them to thrive at school and learn the skills they need for a bright future.
Children are all unique and their Individual Support Plans should be just that – individual to every child.
