The CRISP materials set out a means of describing not only special educational provision but also the special needs of children that correspond to that provision.  With CRISP it is possible to carry out an assessment of a child and also see the description of provision that is necessary to meet the child’s needs.

It is also possible for a school or setting to use the CRISP materials to describe the range of provision that they are making, or could possibly make, for children with special educational needs.  By collecting this information together, the Education Service is able to map the provision across Birmingham.

Since November 2000 CRISP has formed part of the process for deciding which children need special educational assessment and the provision they require arising from that assessment. By using CRISP in a staged approach to assessing and meeting children’s needs, schools and settings gather evidence about how children respond to targeted programmes of intervention that helps staff to decide whether to request additional resources from the Education Service.

CRISP is used by the Education Service to help decide the level of additional resources that schools require to meet a child’s needs. Education Officers use a table showing the cost of making the various arrangements to work out the provision for children.