Special Education and Inclusive Learning
Teaching Resources, Sensory Stories and SEND Information
Many "Sensory" resources can be created from free or existing material, bubble wrap, packaging foam, a little dot of oil on a radiator. Food is easy and usually cheap, rainbow rice or spaghetti. I am a fan of getting outside, feel the breeze, listen to the waves (my school is just above the beach). Sometimes you want something a bit different. These can be used in a sensory room or individually to encourage calming or even concentration. I would love to hear your ideas as well.
this post is specifically focused on strategies that may be effective for autistic children. This post draws heavily on the work of Damian Milton from who's writing I have learnt so much from over the last year or two. This booklet has particularly shaped my approach to teaching. Most of these strategies are really just aimed at reducing stressors throughout the day. I would like to stress these are interpreted through by teaching experience and context is very important.
Inclusive education is at the heart of education thinking in the UK but seems constantly challenged by policies such as Zero Tolerance behaviour and spending cuts that remove the support so important for our children to thrive in school.
I am aware this blog is quite niche to special education settings but I hope teachers from all settings will be able to find use for these suggestions.
In this post I am classing reluctant learners as those who often do not finish tasks, they may do the minimum to get by or even flat out refuse to take part. As inclusive teachers we constantly have to be mindful of the drivers of the child's behaviour. The key to creating engaged learners is to know the child and the barriers they face. Some issues may go deeper and require additional specialist support. A class teacher dedicated to engaging their students can have a huge impact on the students experience of education and their outcome in life. Engaging learners is as much about emotional confidence as intellectual propensity so make that bond and enable all to achieve
There are many many children out there who are crying out for help. There are many dedicated, enthusiastic, creative and compassionate people who are desperate to help. These people need help, we are increasingly facing highly complex issues that very few educational professionals are equipped to deal with. I am writing this as a teacher but I know there are CAMHS workers, social workers and support staff throughout the country who are feeling like this.
These are the resources I have made to use with my class to support learning about Remembrance Day this November. Poppy themed with a UK focus all use similar images and symbols . I hope they are of some use with your children.
These books are only those I have read and can recommend. They all follow an inclusive and positive support ethos. They all also focus on the only part of behaviour support we can control - ourselves. If your school has a zero tolerance behaviour policy read these and make it your mission to get that rewritten.I will get around to doing a second post but I need to get reading first!
This post will outline the role relationships play in behaviour support, I will also outline some of the research led practices I have used. Before I start I do want to say that I have read studies I do not agree with. I also know that a huge number of studies conducted ON Autistic children/adults focus on strategies intended to normalise social behaviours which is a huge ethical issue. Fortunately I have had the opportunity to listen to and discuss elements of my practice with actually Autistic academics and practitioners. This has greatly shaped my approach and ethos towards behaviour support, I will also admit this has slanted my view of a lot of studies that remove the human element from behaviour and reduce the children to purely objects to study. To this end I fully expect some of the approaches in the post and the presentation to be a bit controversial and I am 100% sure that at least some of them will contravene your school (or center's) behaviour policy.
Every day teachers, parents and carers are faced with potentially challenging situations. Many of these are defused through skillful behaviour support. These successful resolutions will have certain common characteristics. There are some essential conditions that must exist to deescalate an incident of challenging behaviour.
Update May 2021: Collaboroo is currently only in Archive form. This page now redirects to our internal posts or the Archive. I want to thank everyone who has visited Inclusiveteach.com, May has seen the most visitors ever! However I have not updated my site for a while. I have been working with a great new… Continue reading Articles for Collaboroo
Just a lighthearted blog for the end of half term. These are some lessons about teaching from the movies.
The interactive whiteboard may well be the greatest ICT resource available to teachers today. It can also be the biggest waste of money possible. If used as a display device just buy a cheap flat screen TV. However for students with SEN the whiteboard can provide some fantastic opportunities for interaction and really motivating activities.… Continue reading Effective IWB use in SEN
Christmas and the holidays can be a trying time for our young people. Lights and decorations have been up since mid November, Mince pies and decorations were in the shops before halloween and the Coca-cola truck is already on tour.
n my role as behaviour lead at my school I am increasingly interested in the impact of sensory processing on learning, engagement and what we perceive as challenging behaviour. I wanted to find out more so asked some questions of the twitterverse. This is a breakdown of some of the things I was able to take away from the chat.
In some schools there seems to be some rules teachers feel they need to follow. No one knows where these rules came from. The dusty typewritten rule sheet lies on an unreachable shelf in the geography cupboard with the old over head transparencies. So here are some rules that you have my permission to break.
We can all make use of a good quote, whether it's for a birthday card, to stick up on the wall or post to twitter/pinterest. Here are some quotes we hope you will find relevant to teaching.
Why Blogging is worthwhile This is my 100th blog post. So to celebrate I tried to come up with 100 reasons to blog. I have linked some to my blogs and a couple to external sites. I have loved blogging over the last 17 months, since my first post in March 2015 I have meandered… Continue reading 100 Reasons to blog
I am in a reflective mood this rainy August morning. This blog may stray onto a bit of a personal theme, so forgive me. Back in December I pledged to take up the #teacher5aday challenge and pledged to focus on 5 areas of my practice with the aim of improving my Wellbeing. The idea… Continue reading An update on my #teacher5aday pledges.
This blog is, and I will say it now - a bit of a ramble, a shambolic collection of half baked ideas. It was triggered by a recent change in my life that has left me carting car loads of stuff to the tip. Moving boxes to one room to tidy another then back &… Continue reading Are your resources holding you back?
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