Tell Your Story Once Document Guidance

How to complete the Tell Your Story Once document Milton Keynes Council

This guidance is to support professionals and parents and carers of children and young people in completing the Tell Your Story Once (TYSO) document as part of the Special Educational Needs Support Plan.

Purpose of the document

The purpose of the TYSO document is to get a good sense of the child’s developmental history from a parental perspective and provide a clear and brief overview of important information together in one document. The information should be short, factual statements. If there is an area that you feel particularly important such as medical or family history, a little more information may be necessary. The document acts as a starting point for professionals such as Educational Psychologists to understand what might need exploring further. At this point, in-depth detail will be explored and therefore is not needed in the TYSO document. The document can be updated when necessary. However, the process aims to the remove the need for parents to repeat historical information as the child grows older. Asking parents to tell their story only once is a key principle of the SEN Code of Practice. This document may be shared with professionals and parents/carers with legal responsibility. Therefore, please ensure that parents and carers filling out the form only provide information that they are happy with sharing. Some sensitive topics may not be appropriate for this document and can be passed on through telephone or face-to-face conversations with relevant people involved.

Dos and Don’ts

DO 

  • Provide short brief bullet points of information
  • Provide an overview of developmental history

DON’T

  • Provide in-depth detail
  • Include main concerns and difficulties

Filling out each section

This document does not necessarily have to be filled out in the order that it is presented in. We would recommend that you use the structure of the document flexibly. For example, when discussing information in one section, you may find that some information comes up that belongs in another section and therefore go to this section for a moment to add that in. Below are some topics that may be included in each section. This can be used as a prompt for questions and information. Not all topics will be relevant for all children and young people and their families.

Chronology of important/significant events in the child’s life

Although this is the first page in the TYSO document, you may find that it is easier to complete this either last or as you are completing the other sections. Ensure that when filling the document out, you ask for dates (these do not have to be exact; month and year would be enough) of events that are discussed. You can then use the dates to put events in chronological order. The purpose of this section is to get an idea of the timeline of the child and family’s journey so far.

Family details

  • This section might include information related to some of the following topics:
  • History of learning difficulties, medical and health needs or developmental needs on either side of the family.
  • Who the child and young person currently lives with; has it always been this way? 
  • Siblings of the child. 
  • Parental employment status.
  • House moves.
  • Languages spoken in the home.
  • Significant events in the family (family deaths/illnesses, separation/divorce etc).

Health

This section might include information related to some of the following topics: 

  • Details of any diagnoses. 
  • Pregnancy and birth complications. 
  • Were milestones delayed or met at a typical time?
  • Any relevant health needs. 
  • Any relevant hospital stays.
  • Medication that the child is on. 
  • Concerns with hearing or eyesight.

Previous Professional Involvement

This section should include information relating to following topics: 

  • Whether the professional is still involved. 
  • When the professional was involved. (May also involve how many sessions/hours).
  • What the outcomes of professional involvement was.

This section may include some of the following professionals (and others not included on this list):

  • Speech and Language therapist
  • Specialist Teacher
  • Paediatrician
  • Occupational Therapist
  • Physiotherapist
  • Social Worker
  • Children and Families worker 
  • CAMHS
  • Other organisations/charities

Important things to remember! 

Ask for approximate dates of events throughout the document in all sections to allow a sequence of events to be developed.

Use the structure flexibly.

Only include information that the parent or carer is happy to share – some sensitive topics may not be appropriate to include.

Keep the information factual and brief. 

Not all sections and topics will be as relevant as others.