This guide will hopefully provide an insight into some of the questions you can expect to face when undertaking a student panel interview, remember that this part of the interview process is designed to compliment the other parts. Remember to ask questions back. If you have a student council – What do they think of you?
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 […]
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.
Recognising your own emotions and identifying effective strategies for managing these is a key skill for any child.
The appraisal process is an essential part of not only a member of staff’s professional development but also in the process of school improvement and review.
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.
World Book Day teaching activities As a parent, I am starting to dread the yearly costume hunt that World Book Day has become. So here is an A-Z list of possible activities and ideas that you could do instead. Of course, this is not just for schools, you may want to do some of these […]
You can call it challenging behaviour but these events really demonstrate is a highly anxious,frustrated or traumatic reaction to stress, Autistic children are not any more prone to behavioural incidents than other children so we need to look deeper if our interactions or environment is leading to issues.
f teaching is a vocation then working in the field of special needs is a calling.
It is that time of year when trainee teachers are finishing their placements and looking for a school to begin their teaching career in. I hope some of you consider moving into the SEN sector. It is a great opportunity to build so many essential skills. It is also a great way to get to know the child behind the label, behind the stereotypes and textbook generalisations.
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
This is part two of our post on making sure your classroom is accessible to all learners. Part one looks at making the environment right for all learners. This post looks at the essential human aspect that changes a room into a learning space that your children want to be in. Remember the biggest influence […]
This is blog post is primarily school-based and SEND focused, but can any education or care setting that strives to be truly inclusive should be able to use this as an environmental and relational approach based checklist or simple inclusion audit tool. Before you start looking at strategies or labeling a child’s actions as challenging […]
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.