Sign in to access your Salford customer account, or see our other accounts.
Sign in or register for an accountThe cognition and learning team are a team of specialist teachers and teaching assistants who work to support pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in mainstream primary and secondary settings.
Specific areas of SEND supported by the Cognition and Learning team include, but are not limited to:
Dyslexia
Dyscalculia
Speech, Language and Communications Needs (SLCN)
Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD)
Irlens/Visual Difficulties
Curriculum support for Down Syndrome
The team do this through:
Observing pupils in school
Assessing pupils in school (formal/standardised and informal/non-standardised)
Offering support and advice for teachers for specific pupils
Offering support and advice for teachers for groups of pupils
Targeted input for pupils referred to Learning Support Service
Support and advice for teachers with regard to whole class setting and quality first teaching
Bespoke training in school for (Numicon, Dyslexia, Memory, Dyscalculia
Specific training in school regarding individual children’s needs
Dyslexia Aware Consortium Quality Mark (DACQM)
Exam access arrangements
One to one SENCO support, both in schools through generic visits, and through dedicated email and telephone support
Meetings with parents to discuss assessments and next steps
Drawing and Talking intervention
From September 2025 prior to submitting a referral to the Cognition and Learning team please contact your link teacher to arrange a planning meeting. Email LSSReferrals@salford.gov.uk if you do not know who your link teacher is.
Whilst completing the online referral form you can save your form progress by clicking the 'Save and come back later' button if you need to.
The Cognition and Learning Team require the following documents to be completed before completing the online referrals form (see the bottom of the page to download the documents).
All referrals to the Cognition and Learning team require the following documents:
Evaluated IEP, Graduated Response or equivalent
Parental consent form and parent view
EP report (if applicable)
Speech Therapy report (if applicable)
Any other relevant reports, for example OT, PIT
Dyslexia referral required documents
Evaluated literacy packs (available from Learning Support Service)
Parental questionnaire and school/setting questionnaire
Dyscalculia referral required documents
Dyscalculia checklists
Parental questionnaire
School/setting questionnaire and Learning Support Service Maths Assessment Pack (or equivalent)
SLCN referral required documents
Response profile
SLCN school response profile
Irlen referral required documents
Irlen - self test
For further information, please send an email.
Referral to cognition and learning team
Access arrangement referral spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel format, 13kb)
Functional numeracy skills - Informal assessment process (Microsoft Word format, 24kb)
Learning Support Service parental consent form (Microsoft Word format, 20kb)
Student background information parent or carer questionnaire dyslexia (Microsoft Word format, 28kb)
If you are unable to view documents of these types, our downloads page provides links to viewing software.
This page was last updated on 3 August 2026