Special Education and Inclusive Learning
Teaching Resources, Sensory Stories and SEND Information
In this post, we will look at two great resources to buy and two free to make maths manipulatives. As an SEN teacher, you will be used to making the most of what you have. Specialist sensory toys, resources, and equipment are usually very expensive. This means the SEN teacher needs to get creative when… Continue reading Make Your Own Maths Manipulatives
Re-connection and Relationships in the Post Lockdown Return to School Re-connection and relationships. This is a record of the #SENexchange Discussion following the wider reopening of UK schools for the easing of lockdown on March 8th 2021. Many schools had been closed to most pupils from January. Children with an EHCP, vulnerable pupils, keyworker children… Continue reading School: Reconnection & Relationships #SENExchange
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
We got our hands on these three great maths game resources from Learning Resources. I had seen a post on instagram with the pirate treasure game. It was being used by a speech therapist so I was very excited when I got a chance to have a play learning session with it. I am currently… Continue reading 3 Engaging Maths Games
Whether an activity or interest is age appropriate is an ongoing argument in SEND education. Frustratingly it seems to only apply to children with SEN. Particularly regarding activities for PMLD learners and the special interests of autistic children. Even more annoying is when we label something "not age appropriate". The person doing so is usually… Continue reading The Age Appropriate Argument and SEND
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.
Guest Post - Developing resilience in children Developing resilience in children is written for inclusiveteach.com by Jessica Robinson. Life is a beautiful journey, but it is not always a bed of roses. There are moments of sadness, stress and grief. These moments come in the lives of everyone. Although it is hard to accept, they… Continue reading Developing resilience in children
Why Developing Child Voice in SEND is a safeguarding priority it is essential you ensure child voice is a top priority in the inclusive classroom. You cannot overstate the importance of providing children with opportunities to demonstrate choices throughout their education. In early years education, this is acknowledged through EYFS documents (Early Years Foundation Stage).… Continue reading Child Voice, AAC, and Safeguarding
These multi-sensory Christmas songs take the concept of sensory stories and apply them to traditional Christmas songs. Using a range of sensory stimuli we reinforce the key elements of the songs and bring them to life! To aim is to enthuse our sensory learners and enrich the experience for all those taking part. These sensory… Continue reading Sensory Christmas Songs
Personalisation and Purpose I am a fan of personalised reward systems as a way to achieve a very specific goal. As a behaviour modification strategy I have struggled to find a suitable system. I have found star charts or token economy systems a good way for some children to focus on expected behaviour. They can… Continue reading Rewards and Natural Consequences
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… Continue reading 5 Interactive Apps Geared Towards Special Needs Students
All children have a tendency to display oppositional behavior at times. After 13 years working with children with Autism, ADHD, ODD and other needs I have seen a range of reasons for opposition. With my own children I can identify factors that can lead to oppositional behaviour. This doesn’t make it easier to deal with,… Continue reading Control, Anxiety, and Oppositional Behaviour at Home and School.
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
The influence for these early literacy sensory templates is the book Find Colours by Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford. It features die-cut pages which you "colour" yourself by holding them over different surfaces that become the colours. Early Literacy Activities One of the challenging elements of special education is finding or creating motivating and engaging… Continue reading Sensory Templates For Early Literacy
I wanted to do a more fun sensory story. Heavily inspired by Pete Wells And his very funny sensory stories I wrote "We are Knights" for our History topic. Just a bit of fun but I have included suggested sensory resources, movement opportunities and some follow up activities around positional language. As with all my… Continue reading Sensory Story: We are Knights!
Dunkirk: A sensory story compliments our Blitz story. They were written to support the teaching of the World War 2 history curriculum around the VE day celebrations in 2020. As with our other free sensory stories it was written for a PMLD group. Due to the nature of the content. This story does not link… Continue reading Sensory Story: Dunkirk
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
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
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
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