ABSTRACT
There have been several decades of exhortations and initiatives in multidisciplinary and multi-agency working for children who have special educational needs. Recent legislation in the human services encourages (but does not compel) co-operation between agencies. Local projects have been set up with joint funding, services have combined under a single manager and professionals have been gathered together under the same roof. There are many examples of good practice, ranging from child development and family centres to child protection teams and specific projects such as Leeds Early Years Partnership, Portage (Dessent, 1996) or the Pen Green Centre for families and young children in Corby (Audit Commission, 1994).
