How we can help

Receiving a special educational needs diagnosis for your child can be overwhelming. We are here to support you to navigate this territory and get clear on what specific support your child needs. 

 

My work with specialists in speech and language, behaviour, play and sensory therapy, as well as educational and occupational therapists means I have a good understanding from the early observation and assessment stage, through to developing an Individual Educational Plan (IEP) and its implementation and integration into a child’s daily learning and routines.
 

As part of my Literacy Leader role I have also developed a reading initiative specifically aimed at raising boys’ interest in reading and addressing the ‘reading gender gap’

 

 Autism

 

We are very experienced in supporting children with Autism and ADHD both on a 1:1 basis at home and in a school setting. As part of these close working relationships we explore innovative ways to draw on the child’s strengths and interests to both tailor learning to their own unique personalities as well as allow them to access the curriculum. 

 

The children we work with time and again quickly begin to increase their engagement in learning and begin to develop more of a sense of autonomy and independence. With the right approach children can quickly change their attitude to learning and build a confidence that they have perhaps not experienced before. I’ve been able to support progress, improve confidence and develop self-esteem whilst cultivating a real love for learning and having plenty of fun in the process.

 

Examples of how we support this shift include:

 

•  being mindful of sensory needs and, where appropriate, creating an individual 'sensory diet'  

• integrating visual supports and other opportunities that allow more time to process information. 

• ensuring instructions are short, clear and succinct. 

•  focusing on topics of specific interest.

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ADHD 

 

Delivering lessons that allow for natural movement and are of a multi-sensory nature  often work best. Looking at strategies to approaching fidgeting can help and be a proactive approach opposed to challenging this behaviour. If a child is a reluctant writer it is often beneficial to take a step back and reduce expectations of written work and look at different creative ways to record what they want to say and then build up their writing stamina over time. Likewise, working on organisational skills can be so important for a child with ADHD. Working on study skills such as timetables, checklists and give them the skills to support their learning are all strategies that can help a child with ADHD. 

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Dyscalculia 

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Developmental Dyscalculia is not dissimilar to dyslexia in many ways. An individual having co-occurring learning difficulties is very common and is often observed alongside one or more other conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and/ or ADHD and mathematics anxiety. 

 

Unfortunately, Dyscalculia lacks research compared to dyslexia, and as a result some believe it is 30 years behind in research terms, which remains a concern as it is estimated that 3% – 6% of the people struggle with it.

 

When supporting children with Dyscalculia, whether at home or as part of delivering school support or interventions, it is important to consider what can be done to help support establishing a sense of number. 

 

My approach includes the use of resources such as concrete manipulatives like Cuisenaire Rods, Diene’s apparatus and Numicon. I will encourage the child to visually internalise what a number looks and feels like by getting hands on with the activity and opting for kinaesthetic approaches to learning that are fun and really engaging. 

 

In time the learner will match digits or numerals with visual quantities and understands how numbers can be deconstructed or taken apart to make other numbers, and likewise put back together to create new quantities. This is not dissimilar to the approach taken with teaching a child with dyslexia when reading and spelling a word.

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Enhancing memory, processing and comprehension

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Working memory plays a vital role in how children hold onto and process information stored in short-term memory. We have a lot of experience with children in both a school and 1:1 setting to help improve and develop this area of learning. 

 

We have helped many children improve their memory, processing and comprehension skills in fun and engaging ways. We do this through the use of games that use visual memory and active reading activities that engage the child in collecting and collating information. 

 

 

Addressing  speech and language delay

 

 We have a lot of experience working with children to improve and develop their speech and language. This has involved close work and collaboration with Speech and Language specialists to plan an approach that is tailored for the individual child around their needs, interests and personality in a way that is fun, engaging and offers the opportunity for the child to make ongoing progress with realistic and manageable steps and targets. I give the children I work with the encouragement and tools they need to promote and develop their communication within both their academic learning and social interactions. I have worked with children ranging from reception to year 6 in a school setting, and within a 1:1 home-school setting.

 

 

Support with Dyspraxia and helping develop fine and gross motor skills

 

In close collaboration with a range of Occupational Therapists (OTs) and Physical Therapists (PTs), I have worked with a range of children with challenges around fine and gross motor skills, motor planning and coordination. Our work involves planning activities, interventions and daily routines that can address the individual child’s needs.

 

Incorporating exercises and games that can aid the improvement of gross motor skills, balance and co-ordination can be a fun way of improving a child’s physical development and increase their ability and confidence to complete everyday tasks.

 

The importance of fine motor skills is often overlooked, but the use of the smaller muscles of the hands, used when undertaking daily tasks like doing up buttons, opening lunch boxes or writing or cutting with scissors is vital in a child’s development of their academic performance and self-esteem. I have done extensive work in both the UK and Middle East around supporting children in developing these fine motor skills. 

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Helping children build a foundation on which they can continue to develop skills such as hand and finger strength, hand eye coordination, hand dominance, hand division and how to best manipulate an object are instrumental in so many things a child needs in daily life as a student.

 

From planning subtle daily interventions involving activities such as threading and lacing, using Play-doh, science pipettes transferring water, to full termly plans using arts and crafts to address these fine motor goals, I ensure that we draw on these fun and engaging activities that can accelerate this fine motor progression.

 

 

Specialist dyslexia teaching experience

 

 Back at the beginning of my teaching career I chose to focus my Post Graduate dissertation on inclusion, this discussed the issues for ‘inclusion’ in the mainstream primary and Early Years setting. I looked closely at the on-going debate regarding inclusion, looking specifically within the context of Special Educational needs. As part of this research project I did a lot of work around a range of learning challenges, and I spent a considerable amount of time learning about Dyslexia.

 

This armed me with invaluable insight and the perfect foundation to build on. In my role as Literacy Subject Leader for Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 we did a lot of work around adapting teaching approaches and the use of resources and planning of bespoke interventions to support children’s learning styles that were linked to dyslexia. This role involved working closely with Education Psychologists and schools SENco to develop educational plans and interventions that incorporated a blended approach to learning that embraced a range of strategies that allow the teacher, or adult involved, to simultaneously give input to the child’s verbal, visual, motor and tactile memory centres.

 

This multi-sensory integration is aimed to maximise the child’s ability to make connections and associations between both visual and verbal information through linking them up via the other available senses.

 

In addition to these teaching approaches to specific learning goals we must also be very mindful to the emotional by product of dyslexia. Anxiety and frustration are often daily companions to this learning style and it’s vital that as adults and teachers we are aware of this, and foresee the ebb and flow of these emotions that the child will be experiencing during learning, and in fact daily life.

 

One particular initiative I launched was a boys’ reading club that looked at making reading appealing to boys, especially those that were reluctant readers and/or found it a challenge, often due to learning difficulties.

 

We employed a range of techniques and approaches that made texts more accessible, offered sensory support and ensured it was fun and engaging. We strived to really try and ignite that spark for reading, that others, that perhaps didn’t see reading as a negative experience, already had.

 

More recently I have been working 1:1 with a child who has a cognitive assessment report that indicates many red flags for dyslexia, and we have been employing a range of multi-sensory approaches to improve phonological awareness, which in turn, can contribute to helping improve the child’s reading and writing. In addition to this I have just completed The Open University ‘Understanding Dyslexia’ qualification that adds to my insight and experience learnt supporting children with learning difficulties and challenges.

 

I believe having a happy, engaged child that wants to learns is half the battle. It’s my job to get to know each individual child and understand what it is that interests them, excites them and makes them tick. I need to appreciate their strengths, areas for development and attitude to learning. It is only then that I can develop and deliver lesson that truly match their learning style, are fun and help them reach their true potential.

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