Regional Integrated Support for Education NI (RISE NI) - SHSCT

RISE NI (Regional Integrated Support for Education) is a regional early intervention service which supports children in pre-school educational and mainstream primary school settings by working closely with parents and education staff to help children develop the foundation skills for learning i.e. speech, language, communication, sensory-motor, visual perception, social, emotional and behaviour skills.

The SHSCT RISE NI team consists of occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, clinical psychologist, behaviour therapists, dietitian and therapy assistants.

Our Aim

‘To reduce underachievement and improve life chances of children and young people by enhancing their educational development and fostering their health, wellbeing and social inclusion through the integrated delivery of the support and services necessary to ensure that every child has the best start in life’ (Hain, 2006)

Who do we support?

For children in mainstream Foundation and Key Stage 1, RISE offer a wide range of ‘universal and targeted’ levels of support including teacher & parent training workshops, whole class and small group programmes.

RISE supports a small number of children at the specialist level. Specialist support is for children with persistent needs, who haven’t improved with strategies that have been tried by school and assessment by RISE is indicated to help understand these needs.

Children referred for specialist assessment must have at least two areas of need that the team can assess and support e.g.

• language and motor skills 
• Social, emotional and behavioural
• Speech, language and communication
• Sensory processing, fine motor and visual perceptual
• Gross motor

What do we do?

• Consultation / liaison with Education staff
• Training / information to Education staff, parents and carers
• Targeted whole class / group programmes
• Multidisciplinary assessment
• Advice
• Short-term individual or group support
• Signposting and onward referral when appropriate
  

The RISE NI Parent Website https://view.pagetiger.com/RISENI/parents is for the parents and carers of children in mainstream nurseries and primary schools (up to P4).

It promotes development of:

• speech and language

• fine and gross motor skills

• social and emotional development

The website contains information leaflets, suggested activities / resources and parent training videos developed by clinical psychologists, behaviour therapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and physiotherapists.

Accessing the service -  Referrals accepted from schools through consultation process.

There is also more information on the Southern Trust Website : https://southerntrust.hscni.net/service/riseni/