Stories about Emotions Teaching emotions and explaining feelings to children is essential. A child cannot self regulate without recognising and starting to understand how they feel. It is also important for children to start to understand how their actions affect others. There are many ways to approach this but one of my favourite ways is … Read more
A guest post on great SEN apps. For many children access to school ended in March 2020 due to the coronavirus. Now that the spread is slowing down, however, they’re allowed to reopen fully. But a survey conducted by the National Foundation for Education Research found that 60% of school leaders feel ‘unprepared for some aspects of … Read more
Covid-19 Response & Impact on Children’s Mental Health Update August 2023: This post now seems to be an artefact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The comics and resources created to support children through the pandemic were creative and continue to influence practice today. We now know there has been a dramatic negative impact on children’s mental … Read more
Waiting: Strategies for use at home & school Waiting can be a challenge for many children. As a teacher and a parent, I have had to find ways to teach children to wait for a whole range of things. Throughout the day in the SEN classroom, there are natural lulls in planned activity. This may … Read more
Free, Simple Sensory Activities For EYFS or SEN There are many options for embedding effective sensory learning curriculums for children who cannot 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 … Read more
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 … Read more
Making use of your sensory garden. Outdoor learning is an essential part of all children’s education. Getting out of the classroom provides endless opportunities for academic learning and personal development. This post will outline key possibilities provided by creating a sensory garden or even through utilising an existing outdoor space for learning opportunities. Whether that … Read more
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 … Read more
ECT Advice: Flipping the Narrative on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Collated by the inspirational Elly Chapple this list of top tips and ECT Advice (Early Career Teachers) and those working in education is essential reading. It features contributions from top educational authors, teachers, parents, SENCOs, school governors and caring passionate people. All of the … Read more
Rethinking Assessment for PMLD learners. In 2015, Cherry Garden School decided their assessment and reporting procedures were no longer fit for purpose. Although we had just received our third consecutive Outstanding judgement from Ofsted, we were aware that our assessment ‘data‘ wasn’t always meaningful, and that many of our children didn’t make typical linear progress. … Read more
This guide will provide information about the meaning of over 100 widely used acronyms.
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.
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 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
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.
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.
These books are only those I have read and can recommend. They all follow an inclusive and positive support ethos. They all also focus on the only part of behaviour support we can control – ourselves. If your school has a zero tolerance behaviour policy read these and make it your mission to get that rewritten.I will get around to doing a second post but I need to get reading first!
Internal Antecedents: Does Behaviour Really Come “Out of the Blue?” Often overlooked, internal antecedents are an important element in behaviour support. This article is based on my experiences working with Autistic children who also communicate in ways we find challenging. We do our best to find patterns, clues and reasons for episodes of challenging behaviour. … Read more
These are 10 simple ways to prevent challenging behaviour escalation by making small changes to your interactions. In our PBS training, these are called active interventions. In reality, there are thousands of these, the better you know the child the more adept you will become at identifying the most effective strategies in your teacher’s toolkit … Read more
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