Special Education and Inclusive Learning
Teaching Resources, Sensory Stories and SEND Information
I have been leading behaviour in schools for nearly 10 years now. My approach and ethos has evolved over that time. One area that I haven't changed is the idea that relationships are the key element in effective behaviour support. I know this is sometimes not enough, but if a strong trusting relationship (not friendship!)… Continue reading Relationships and Behaviour Support: A Reflection
The Town and Country Sensory Story was written for the cornerstones industrial revolution topic. This was designed to be meaningful for PMLD learners as well as their peers so they can all take something away from the shared experience of multi-sensory storytelling. If you are interested in finding out more about sensory stories have a… Continue reading Town and Country Sensory Story
Our Charles Darwin: Voyage of the Beagle multi-sensory story was Written for a Key Stage 4 class. To link with the cornerstones topic “Darwin’s Delight”. There is some quite complex vocabulary so this story fits into our stage 5 immersive storytelling band. I wrote this more for SLD pupils than PMLD but you can adapt… Continue reading Darwin: Voyage of the Beagle Multi-Sensory Story
If your child has a disability or issues with mobility, it's important to make the home environment comfortable, safe and accessible. The traditional home layout will not always work. Especially if your child uses a wheelchair. When it comes to modifying the home it's important to create a space where your child isn't just safe… Continue reading Ways of Making Our Homes Comfortable for Children with Disabilities
A new, free to download printable comic and colouring book and six-minute animated film - Charlie & the C Monsters - has been created. This is designed for the unique purpose of explaining non-verbally how Covid-19 is spread. It explains steps that can be taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus. It also shows children… Continue reading Covid-19 without words – Charlie and the C Monsters
An Egyptian Sensory Adventure This sensory story is for our Ancient Egypt topic. Pharaohs, pyramids and camels all feature in our Egypt sensory story. As with the other stories it is written with a certain need type group in mind. I am fortunate enough to have access to a Multi-Sensory room. This means I can… Continue reading Egypt: Sensory Story
This winter themed Sensory Story has been written for our "Time" topic where we are exploring the seasons. Snow Bear provides plenty of opportunities for exploring the cold of the Arctic. I have included a subtle message about climate change which depending on the age group you use it with may be useful to tie… Continue reading Sensory Story: Snow Bear
Over 30 suggested strategies for effective behaviour management. #Education #Teaching.
This guide will provide information about the meaning of over 100 widely used acronyms.
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.
f teaching is a vocation then working in the field of special needs is a calling.
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.
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… Continue reading Making your classroom Inclusive for all learners: Approach
The importance of an inclusive school learning environment 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 adaptations requiring specialist input. There are some common environmental adaptations we can all make… Continue reading Making your classroom better for all learners: Environment
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… Continue reading 13 Questions to ask to ensure you are an inclusive school.
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.
Social stories are a tried and tested way of teaching social skills but for some learners they are too much. I needed a way to remind a student of the rules but in a way that didn't single them out as being the focus of the story. Some people will say this won't work as autistic children can't generalise.... but anyone who has worked with autism knows a lot of what people say is actually a myth or just does not apply to an individual.
Many young people I have taught have found efficient and effective ways of communicating a need or a want at some point in the past that then becomes their primary way of communicating. Unfortunate as they grow and develop into young adults this communicative behaviour becomes a barrier to so many aspects of life. What… Continue reading Teaching Alternative Behaviours.
Newly Qualified Teachers - Please Consider Special Schools when you are Job Hunting. If you have recently qualified and looking for a teaching post I would urge you to consider working in a specialist provision, whether that be a PRU, special school, specialist unit or residential school. The children deserve your energy and passion. Why… Continue reading 10 reasons why NQTs should consider working in specialist provision.
Lynn McCann writes this post about developing an effective model for delivering continuing professional development courses. She supports a range of schools and other educational organisations with students with additional needs. Lynn runs a consultancy business, she is definitely concerned about the outcomes of her support on the children. She supplies a lot of free… Continue reading Guest Blog: Developing a CPD model
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