Inclusion means ensuring every learner feels valued, understood, and supported. This category explores inclusive education principles, neurodiversity-affirming practices, accessibility, and whole-school approaches to equity and belonging.
Whether you’re an educator, leader, or parent, find insights and tools to foster truly inclusive learning environments where all pupils can thrive.
Removing Barriers to Inclusion: Making Our Schools More Inclusive As educational leaders, inclusion should be our top priority. However, multiple systemic obstacles still prevent equitable learning environments for all. In this article, I will analyse predominant barriers to inclusion, propose evidence-based solutions, and address common questions around transforming our schools into communities where every child … Read more
Table of Contents Understanding Low Arousal Environments Before we dive into the specifics, it’s important to define what we mean by a “low arousal environment.” At its core, such an environment minimises sensory, cognitive, and emotional overstimulation. This can be achieved through a variety of methods, including controlling physical elements like light and sound, managing … Read more
Developmental Delay: Early Detection and Intervention Child development proceeds rapidly in the first few years of life as critical cognitive, language and motor skills emerge. As such, the early years represent a crucial period for the detection and mitigation of potential developmental delay. Extensive research has shown that the earlier interventions can begin for children … Read more
Effective SENCO: Impact on School Culture Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) play a critical role in ensuring that every student in their school receives the support they need to thrive. In order to be effective, SENCOs must not only be experts in their field, but also have the ability to influence and drive change across … Read more
Things To Know About the Role of a SENCO What is a SENCO? A SENCo, which stands for Special Educational Needs Coordinator, is the key leader in supporting students with special educational needs and/or disabilities at their primary or secondary school. The SENCo works to ensure these students receive the right teaching and learning support … Read more
Sensory Processing Differences and Classroom Design ‘Sensory processing’ refers to how a person’s nervous system responds to sensory information and how they react to it. autistic individuals often find it challenging to prioritise the stimuli to process in their environment, making it difficult to focus on a single stimulus. Atypical sensory processing in autism involves … Read more
Definition of inclusive education We have discussed Inclusive education many times on inclusiveteach.com. Currently I am taking part in the Inclusion Leadership project for Kent County Council so have been reflecting on this more and more. Each school needs to determine what inclusion means to them, this shared vision for inclusion should be based on … Read more
The role of retrieval practice on the word learning and retention Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a language disorder that affects the development of language skills in children. In was previously known as Specific Language Impairment. These children often struggle with vocabulary acquisition and require targeted intervention to improve their language skills. This article will … Read more
Enhancing Joy and Wellbeing: The School of Joy! Education is the foundation of personal and societal growth. As teachers, it is crucial to ensure that every child, irrespective of their abilities or disabilities, feels included and happy in the school environment. Pupils with special educational needs, often face challenges that can affect their overall wellbeing. … Read more
The Importance of Inclusive Education In today’s diverse classrooms, inclusive education has become a critical component of effective teaching. Inclusive practice refers to the educational strategies, interventions, and adaptations that enable all students, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, to actively participate and succeed in the learning environment. As educators, it is essential to develop … Read more
What is Play? While there are various definitions of play, there is no consensus on its characteristics. Some commonly cited characteristics include enjoyment, focus on process over product, and freedom from external rules. However, even heavily theorized definitions can draw on completely different characteristics. The elusiveness of play’s definition has been attributed to its ambiguity … Read more
Developing pupil motivation using 10 evidence based strategies. Teaching Assistants (TAs) play a vital role in supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in the classroom. One of the most important aspects of their work is to help these pupils develop a strong motivation to learn. This is crucial because pupils with SEN may face … Read more
The Yoto Player – Screen Free Storytelling and More We bought a Yoto Player* for our daughter for Christmas as we wanted to reduce screen time and encourage her love of reading. My older daughter used to listen to story CD’s and this is an even better version of that as some stories are a … Read more
Why should you give children breaks during the day? This post was inspired by an overheard conversation and links two issues. Access to planned interventions and the provision of learning breaks throughout the day. A parent of an autistic child was questioning whether a school should have stopped their child from attending their sensory circuit … Read more
Understanding Dyslexia: An In-Depth Guide for Teachers Dyslexia is a common learning disability that causes reading, writing, and spelling difficulties. It impacts up to 20% of the population. This in-depth guide will provide teachers with a thorough understanding of dyslexia – from characteristics and challenges to tailored teaching strategies and classroom accommodations. With proper support, … Read more
This post on the design and delivery of an inclusive remote learning strategy for all our children is published in response to the latest Government lockdown. Many schools remain open to vulnerable and critical worker children. However for a significant number of children there is no on site access to education. This may be due … Read more
Blended Learning for SEN Learners To celebrate the launch of the Oak National Academy’s new specialist curriculum provision our #SENexchange discussion on the 23rd of September was on blended learning. The following post is a summary of the discussion by collaborators. This has been edited for readability but I have tried to quote where possible. … Read more
AR Phonics and SEND Developed by two teachers, who kindly sent me a pack to use at school these cards are pretty good as simple flashcards for use in your phonics lessons. Clear, well made and easy to use. However it is the innovative use of AR (Augmented reality) that brings these cards to life. … Read more
The UK SEND Policy Guide This document captures the discussion between, parents, carers, educators and people with SEND about the state of special education in Britain in 2019 and the messages they want to send to politicians. We asked 6 questions to include in the #SENexchange SEND Political Manifesto. The answers to which we have … Read more
Why sensory Learning? Sensory learning – Sensory activities are those designed by educators to facilitate exploration encouraging children to use all their senses while they, create, investigate and explore. This is usually conducted through play although in the settings I have worked in also through structured planned learning activities. The sensory activities allow children to … Read more
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