One of the commitments of the NHS Long Term plan has been to develop a Sensory Checks Programme to ensure that autistic children and young people, and those children and young people with a learning disability have access to free sight, dental and ear checks in special residential schools and colleges.

We know that autistic children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are more likely to have eyesight, hearing and dental problems compared to their peers.  They may also find it much harder to tell people if they are having any problems, or whether it is getting worse or causing them pain. They may also struggle to access existing services and need reasonable adjustments to help them to do that.

Therefore, children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in residential special schools and colleges across England are to be offered free NHS eyesight, hearing and dental checks.

The NHS sensory checks have been piloted in schools during 2022 and 2023, and are now to be offered to all special residential schools and colleges across England in 2025 – reaching around 18,000 children and young people.

The NHS has worked with people with a learning disability, autism or both, along with their families and carers, special schools, clinicians, and other stakeholders to develop and test the sensory check and ensure appropriate clinical guidance and commissioning frameworks are in place to support procurement and delivery of these services by local Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).

The new checks will help ensure issues are identified promptly, and that children and young people can get the right care and follow-up support as quickly as possible.

This work builds on the learning from work by SeeAbility at special schools in London which identified high levels of unmet need in eye care amongst children and young people.

Eyesight checks will be carried out annually for children and young people in day or residential special schools.

At least one annual face-to-face dental check as a minimum will be offered to children and young people in residential special schools and colleges, with in-person oral health advice and prevention visits taking place each term.  These check-ups will look for potential issues and undertake work such as applying fluoride varnish or demonstrating effective toothbrushing.

Hearing checks will also be carried out at in residential special schools at school entry and then at transition points, such as when a child moves from primary to secondary school, or secondary school to sixth form college. If any ear health or hearing issues or concerns are identified, then the child or young person will be referred to their GP or local audiology team as appropriate.

Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities attending special residential schools and colleges have a range of complex health and other needs and these checks will be for children and young people up to 25 years old. All staff carrying out the sensory checks will be appropriately qualified and have undertaken the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in learning disability and autism and have been trained in how to make appropriate person-centred reasonable adjustments.

Supporting health staff to carry out sensory health checks

To support this work, a e-learning programme has been launched by Health Education England. This will help support professionals to carry out sensory health checks for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and the special schools and colleges which support them.

The video-led interactive resource seeks to introduce the professionals who will be providing sight tests, dental and ear checks within a special educational setting with some awareness and understanding of the key considerations that they will need to take account of as.

Some children and young people with a learning disability, autism or both can have difficulties understanding, receiving, and responding to information and may experience sensory processing difficulties. Children and young people with these issues may have an adverse reaction to anything that under or overstimulates their senses, such as light, sound, touch, taste, or smell. This can affect their behaviour and ability to interact with other people making it more difficult for them to access health checks.

Participants will benefit from knowledge and understanding of the children and young people who they will be supporting and advice and guidance on how to personalise their service to meet their needs to facilitate sensory checks.

For further information on all three checks please visit implementing sensory checks in special educational settings on our FutureNHS platform.