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.
There were so many important developments in the world of special education during the first part of 2019. Many seem to be focussing (and about time) on humanising the stories behind the labels and pushing for accountability of those in positions of power.
Every successful placement requires the best possible communication and working relationship between parents and carers and schools
Written for us by an Early Years leader, this post outlines a suggested phonics session, the activities and routine will be appropriate for all mainstream settings, and with a little imagination to any SEN setting. The phonics session mirrors what I taught to my class. Keeping the same routine really helped my autistic learners and is the key takeaway from this post.
Symbols can be used to support both receptive and expressive communication. They support word recognition in pre-readers and can be used in times of increased stress to communicate a need when word recall is impaired, for example showing an exit symbol for time out instead of having to ask or explain why.
f teaching is a vocation then working in the field of special needs is a calling.
I want to thank Elizabeth Jade for contributing this post on her journey into publishing her first book to Inclusiveteach.com. Please support Elizabeth by sharing her story widely and consider buying a copy of Akea – The power of destiny.
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.
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
Creating An Accessible Classroom Making sure your classroom is accessible to all learners is a crucial step in creating an inclusive learning environment. In part one of our posts, we explored the importance of setting up the right physical environment for all learners. From flexible seating options to visual aids and organization methods, there are … Read more
The importance of adapting inclusive school learning environments Every student, whether in special schools, an alternative provision or general education classrooms has a dream inclusive classroom. This utopian learning environment will be different for every learner. Some learners may need wide-ranging environmental adaptations requiring specialist input. There are some common environmental adaptations we can all … Read more
The interactions, bonds and relationships of a family unit are so diverse that what may help one family will insult another.
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.
If you have a recruitment crisis in your sector you work to encourage people to join that industry not make excuses for why the barriers exist.
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.
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.
A Guide to supporting transitions and changes with Autistic students within school.
Transition is a challenge that our students face on a daily basis. These transitions take place on a range of scales. From the micro transition of switching thoughts between tasks to major physical transitions between environments. The number of individual transitions an individual will undertake throughout the day is huge. Each one may well be a source of stress and anxiety for each student. The level of this anxiety and how it is communicated to us will vary dramatically. As with all the actions of our students this stress may not be easy for us to interpret. The quotes are from Autistic people I asked but are anonymised. I know I do not include enough Autistic voice, I will strive to expand this in future posts (I would welcome your comments.)
Written by the then 13 year old Naoki Higashida an Autistic young man from Japan The reason I jump is a fascinating insight into his views on how Autism has shaped his perspective of life. The book answers a series of questions put to Noaki which he answers using an alphabet grid devised by his mother.
Transition Resources for supporting Children with change “If a child is Autistic, they do not like change”. This is the biggest stereotype attributed to autistic people. The most widely repeated generalisation (In schools anyway). With any blanket statement it is inaccurate and too simplistic. A better comment would be “Change causes anxiety.” or “The thought … Read more
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.
Autism awareness is an essential concept with ever increasing need for us all to seek a greater understanding of what it means to be autistic. However it must be more than holding an assembly, or watching a video. We must make real and ongoing adaptations to ensure our learning environments and school communities are as inclusive as possible.
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