Special Education and Inclusive Learning
Teaching Resources, Sensory Stories and SEND Information
Advice for using visual timelines with ASD children Guest Post A child using Picturepath on the iPad It’s well understood that many children find comfort in routine, and that maintaining routine reduces problem behaviours. Equally visuals, such as PECS cards, and timelines are widely used alongside a strong routine across both home and school to… Continue reading Advice for using visual timelines with Autistic children
A Traditional Easter Sensory Story This is my attempt to capture the key themes of the traditional Easter story in the format of a sensory story. Being relatively complex I have had to remove a few elements and reduce some situations to single lines. I have not shied away from the more violent sections but… Continue reading An Easter Sensory Story
This blog is going to explore how just with a poundland power-bank we can create simple and affordable sensory lights. We can use these as a 1 off activity or to integrate into your multi-sensory storytelling. As we all know if you put "sensory" on the front of any product you can double the price.… Continue reading Sensory Lights: USB Power
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… Continue reading An Inclusive Blended Learning Strategy for SEND.
Let's Talk About Grief No one likes to think about death, let alone talk about it and who feels comfortable talking to children about death?! Being blessed with life means that we also have to cope with others dying and manage the associated emotions of grief. 2020 has sadly meant that we have all had… Continue reading Let’s Talk About Grief
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 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. What… Continue reading Blended Learning: Oak National Specialist Curriculum.
Maths: Big and Small Big and Small These concepts are generally taught together but we also use them to describe objects without a comparative object. "wow that's a big smile" "what a big yawn!". In fact, we throw around size-related mathematical language with scant regard to accuracy. "I've made a huge mistake." "You are a… Continue reading Maths: Multisensory Activities for Teaching Big and Small
Our Spitfire VE Day sensory story forms the third of a collection of sensory stories written to be delivered during the week of the VE day celebrations in May 2020. These have been written with a broader range of needs than some of our other stories. The vocabulary is a little more complex and the… Continue reading Spitfire: A VE Day Sensory Story
This will be an ongoing post where I upload the scavenger hunt AAC communication boards and other activity sheets I make. I hope you find these useful and please share if you like them. We also have a post outlining 150 sensory learning activities you may be interested in. All the boards are fully editable… Continue reading Scavenger Hunt Communication Boards
Free, Simple Sensory Home Learning Activities There are many options for home learning packs and ideas for children who can access worksheets and online teaching resources. Sensory learners need sensory learning ideas. Preferably simple and free ones. This list of 150 (ish) ideas should give you some ideas to try at home, EYFS settings and… Continue reading 150 Sensory Learning Ideas
This post outlines the questions and suggested strategies from the #SENexchange discussion on Life Skills: Health and Hygiene routines. You can download a PDF of the collated discussion below. Please share if you think this will help someone. Life Skills- Health and Hygiene in SENDDownload What barriers do people with Sensory Processing differences face with… Continue reading Hygiene Routines and SEND
Using Snack time to enhance communication. Snack time can be a great opportunity to develop a number of key skills for our pupils. Given the regular nature of mealtimes in school settings and the inherent positive nature of mealtimes for most children, this activity is an outstanding context for social communication intervention (Gauverou 2017). Primarily… Continue reading Snack Time: Communication & Interaction
Year Six into Year Seven Every secondary school runs a year 6 to year 7 transition programme of some sort, comprising a few visits, summer holiday events and open evenings. Children with EHCPs and on the SEN register generally get something extra. Fran from Square Peg shares her thoughts and led an SENexchange discussion. Read our… Continue reading Transition: Primary to Secondary
A Sensory Recipe/Poem for Pancake Day Just a little bit of fun for Pancake day. a sensory story/recipe for encouraging messy play or adding a little bit of literacy and fun into food tech lessons. As always written with SEND children in mind this is a simple recipe with poem/Sensory story to go with it.… Continue reading Pancake Day Sensory Story
School Anxiety, Signs, Causes, Support and Resources. The subject of school anxiety is often a source of frustration and conflict between schools and parents. This is unnecessary and unhelpful and does nothing to provide support to the child. Children are often labelled as being school refusers. Pressure from local authorities may be put onto parents… Continue reading School Anxiety: Signs causes & strategies
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.… Continue reading Talking Phonics Flashcards: Carters Yard
AAC Games for Communication Our next review for a game suitable for AAC users is Shark Bite. I bought this reduced at a supermarket. Shark does does tick the boxes for being suitable for use in communication and interaction sessions. It has a surprise movement to make you jump. The game has multicoloured accessories and… Continue reading AAC Game: Shark Bite
I couldn't resist this for £7 at Wilko. A fun little AAC game especially for children that find anything to do with Poo hilarious. This requires 2 aaa batteries for the moo or fart noises. The premise of the game is that each player chooses a boot colour. You then spin the spinner to decide… Continue reading AAC Game: Gassy The Cow.
Class changes in September are a huge source of anxiety for all involved. There is a range of activities you can undertake to make this transition easier. I have written a blog about supporting learners with day-to-day general transitions and this one on supporting Autistic children with class transitions.
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… Continue reading Sensory Learning Activities: An A-Z.
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