Differentiation handbook by Pete Jones

“A teachers’ job is not to make work easy. It is to make it difficult.”

Professor John Hattie 2

Contents: page Diﬀeren+a+on: A guide to this handbook

What is Diﬀeren+a+on?

Why is Diﬀeren+a+on Important?

5 Principles of Diﬀeren+a+on

Great Lessons and Diﬀeren+a+on by Tom Sherrington

The very simple art of great teaching

Making lessons more accessible to SEND students

Au+s+c Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

5 Things you need to know about Aspergers

Strategies for teaching ASD/Asperger's Students

Dyslexia(Speciﬁc Learning Diﬃcul+es/SpLD)

5 Things you need to know about Dyslexia

Teaching Dyslexic students

5 Things you need to know about Au+sm

Developmental Dyspraxia (DCD)

5 Things you need to know about DCD

Teaching students with DCD

AYen+on Deﬁcit (inaYen+ve) Disorder

5 Things you need to know about ADHD

Teaching students with ADHD/ADD

Diferentiation: A guide to this handbook We’ve heard governments repea+ng the same mantra for longer than most of us have been teaching. ‘No child le^ behind’, ‘equal opportuni+es for all’, the importance of ‘value added’, ‘every child must make progress’.. and the thing that underpins all of these grand statements? Differen'a'on. Let me men+on that word again. It strikes fear at the heart of all but the most seasoned of professionals; DIFFERENTIATION! But wait a minute, please don’t think that for one minute that we should expect to see colour coded, ‘learning-‐styled’ worksheets and lots of blue tack for your students to fiddle with whilst you explain in 5 different languages what happened during the BaYle of Has+ngs, very slowly for some and in an unbreakable code for your G&T students. Differen+a+on is just good old plain and simple effec+ve teaching. It’s about planning well, recognising the skills and abili+es of your students and adap+ng your paYer and probing to ensure that all of your students feel safe, feel like they can make progress and feel understood. Gegng this right cannot be underes+mated. The dark art of differen+a+on is the defini+ve challenge for teachers. It can take a great deal of +me to get it right for most students, but for all? It’s an art form. For those who master this, they have found the 25th hour in the day, but for the rest of us, it can be a daun+ng task. This booklet should go some way to helping you get to grips with the D word. The booklet comes in two halves. The first half explains what differen+a+on is all about and gives you informa+on of what we should be doing to ensure all your students have the opportunity to achieve. The second part of the booklet deals with the essen+al advice needed to help students with specific needs make progress in your lessons. Combining the advice here, with the informa+on provided on the Provision Mapper should, we hope will give you the confidence and exper+se to ensure that you can ensure that all students in your class can and will make progress. One of the greatest differences we can make for the benefit of our students is to share what we know works; with students, with how to explain something, with how to give feedback, with how to make the very best use of our LSA’s. This booklet, like the advice on growth mindset should be added to and adapted over +me from the real experts in the school; you. 4

What is Differentiation? Differen+a+on means that all students should be given hard work they can do and support usually will not come in the form of the teacher’s one-‐to-‐one help. For differen+a+on to be effec+ve, marking needs to be prompt.

“Differen/a/on is simple. It involves planning and teaching in a way that takes account of all learners in a class. By working in this manner, teachers ensure that every student has the opportunity to make good progress, regardless of their star/ng point. From this defini/on, you will note that differen/a/on actually encompasses a whole range of strategies, ac/vi/es and techniques. It goes from talking to students to elici/ng informa/on, to encouraging independence, to providing extension tasks…” Mike Gershon, 2013

Why is Differentiation Important? “Students who think highly of themselves tend to embrace challenging tasks that ul+mately improve their skills and enhance their chances of success in future ac+vi+es and tasks.” * If students, for whatever reason cannot access the same level of comprehension as others, or cannot work at the same pace or read from the whiteboard, or concentrate as long as others, it’s highly likely that these students are much more likely to be used to failing. Students self-‐esteem is directly linked to how competent we feel we are. The more +mes a student fails to achieve what’s expected, the lower their self-‐esteem will be and the more likely they will demonstrate a ‘fear of failure’. The importance of self-‐esteem to underpin a growth mindset cannot be underes+mated. The students who think highly of themselves tend to invest more effort and persistence in tasks. It’s a fundamental truth. Think of those students with poor self-‐esteem, they oên struggle to embrace challenges and lack the will to keep going in the face of difficulty. For students to build their self-‐esteem and their ability to be more resilient in the face of difficulty, they need to be successful. This does not mean a ‘prizes for all culture’ but it means we need to help them become successful; allow routes for them to acquire a level of success which says ‘I’m making progress’. Too many of our students demonstrate a ‘fear of failure’. These students will oên be the lowest scores, the homework strugglers, the ones who you rarely ask ques+ons to, the ones who far too oên say ‘I can’t..’ This is why differen+a+on is important. Differen+a+on, however it manifests itself for a par+cular lesson should allow everyone to make progress, build self-‐ esteem and ul+mately allow students to become cleverer. We need to build a culture of ‘success seeking students’ from the moment they enter the door every morning to ensure that any failures are not just brushed under the carpet or ignored, but we do something about it. And quickly. Don’t let things slip early on. Don’t let students accept failure, don’t let them accept being average or seYling for mediocrity. Allow them to fail of course. But let the students know that they can get there. It may be tricky, it may be painful at +mes, but they can do it. No maYer their star+ng point, progress can be made, they can be successful. We need to be relentless about this. Every day. Every lesson. No excuses. * From Andrew Mar+n’s “Building Success in the Classroom”

5 Principles for

Differentiated Instruction These five principles are fundamental to great teaching and thus differentaition. As a teacher, it’s essential that we know what these five principles look like in our subject and that this informs how we design lessons.

Building a Resepctful community

The need to feel safe and accepted by the teacher and by classmates. A community where questioning is encouraged for clarification and understanding. A need to know and respect every member of the class.

Quality Tasks

No ‘busy work’ at either end. Students should be ready to tackle the learning. An awareness of cognitive overload. High expectations for all. Challenge for all.

Continual Assessment

Without this, how can we know where students are in their learning and how to adapt our teaching to ensure students are catered for?

Flexible grouping

Allow for different groups to work together to support learning (peer support) or to differentiate via skill or understanding.

Clarity of learning

Instruction should be exceptionally clear for all. Exemplification of learning, including stages and worked examples to allow all students to see the expected route. Goals should be set for all students which ensure students see the route ahead and where they currently are.

“A systematic approach to planning curriculum and instruction for academically diverse learners”

Tomlinson and Strickland.

Great Lessons and Differentiation (Adapted from a blog post wriYen by Headteacher, Tom Sherrington)

Every class is a mixed ability class so, regardless of our views on selec+on or segng, all teachers need to cater for students with a range of skills, ap+tudes and disposi+ons. One student’s Deep End is another’s Shallow End and there is an important difference between a healthy period of struggling and drowning; our goal has got to be that all students make excellent progress, regardless of their star+ng point, without making things too safe, or beyond reach. Of course, the wider the ability range in a class, the more difficult and cri+cal it is. It’s an enormous challenge, but in great lessons, there is no ques+on that this is happening. In prac+ce, there are a number of modes of differen+a+on that teachers typically deploy through the resources used: • Extension Material: very typically, the ‘extra work’ students can do if they’ve finished the standard work. • Support Material: extra layers of scaffolding and simplifica+on to help students keep up. • ‘Differentiation by Outcome’: oên mis-‐understood and mis-‐used but actually a crucial form of differen+a+on where the same s+mulus leads to open-‐ended responses. • Completely different tasks: some+mes necessary but complicated. Then there are the classroom management methods with various groupings that can be adopted to facilitate differen+ated learning. However, in keeping with the theme of the blog series, I am interested in the spirit of differen+a+on as much as the techniques. For me, great lessons are characterised by teaching and learning where differen+a+on is integral to the en+re process. ie the no+on that one size does not fit all and that different learners will be progressing and different rates is absolutely explicit and embedded. (To those who think this is just obvious, well, you’d be surprised how oên it isn’t!). OK, so how does the spirit of differen+a+on manifest itself?

1. The teacher knows the students This is the bedrock. When we meet a new class, they may look different but as learners, they are faceless… we need to get to know what their learning looks like. The more students you have and the less oên you teach the class in a week, the harder this is and you need to work harder at it. Knowing their names is a start.. but knowing them as learners is crucial. In great lessons, the nuanced teacher knowledge of the students’ needs is always evident. This is where baseline data is very powerful. We have all kinds of data: prior aYainment measures, CATs, reading ages, SEN informa+on…. BUT, the data is irrelevant if it doesn’t change teacher-‐student interac+ons. The key is to study the data, to look for issues and to assimilate it into knowledge; ie the stuff you carry around in your head. It has to come off the page. Too much data can impede that process so we need to be wary of data-‐overload/over-‐kill. That said, if you only ever give a child books they cannot read…..

Then, of course, we need to re-‐evaluate con+nually. We can’t assume a child is defined by the spreadsheet we were given at the start of term. The most important sources of informa+on are informal lesson feedback from your day-‐to-‐day interac+ons, followed by the informa+on you glean from marking books and tests. We also need to be open to feedback from parents. Very oên students will report to their parents that they are finding work too easy or too difficult before the teacher has no+ced and we need to listen and encourage dialogue of this kind; to dismiss it is folly!

Assimila+ng all this informa+on so that lesson ac+vi+es and the level of challenge are ﬁnely tuned is the goal. Knowing your students is cri+cal. But, it is only the start. The point is that you do something with this knowledge…

2. The differentiation issue is explicit In great lessons, the language of differen+a+on permeates the whole discussion: The learning objec+ves are inherently differen+ated – and, no, I am NOT advoca+ng that you write these slavishly on the board! But it should be clear that there are various learning goals that different students should be aiming for. In great lessons, the teacher cuts to the chase, an+cipa+ng that certain students will need to push forward or need support, right from the start. At other +mes, it is sensible and desirable to see how people get on with a core ac+vity before they diverge. This requires some rou+nes: What do you do if you don’t know what to do? I love the Jim Smith (aka @thelazyteacher) idea of ‘three Bs before me’: brain, book, buddy). Teaching self-‐help learning strategies is a vital tool in the kit. What do you do if you’ve finished? Ideally, any ac+vity should be set up in advance so that there is no such thing as ‘finished’. In great lessons, you never see students wai+ng, hands up or killing +me, with nothing to do. More subtly, the classroom culture should encourage pushing on to the next level, if you’re finding this easy. Great teachers fuel this ‘can do’ spirit that gives student confidence to get into the deep end at every opportunity. I think it is legi+mate – actually it is necessary – to give students a degree of ownership and responsibility for direc+ng their learning in terms of the level of challenge. Teachers need to create the opportuni+es but students need to learn that, ul+mately, it is up to them to find their level; don’t suffer in silence and don’t coast….teachers are not mind readers and they’re not the ones signg the exams. Then there is also a considera+on of self-‐esteem. It can hold a student back to know they are on the ‘thick table’ (I have heard that phrase) but, at the same +me, the issue of ability can’t be +p-‐toed around. Again it comes down to culture. Mixing up the groupings over +me, using a range of differen+a+on strategies and crea+ng a general deep-‐end high-‐challenge spirit is needed; knowing how students deal with this on the self-‐esteem scale is part of that knowledge bank, just as much as their NC sub-‐level.

3. Differentiation is embedded and habitual Although I am interested in the no+on of a ‘spirit of differen+a+on’, in prac+ce it comes down to concrete strategies. There are lots of examples. In recent lessons I’ve seen some excellent approaches: • Self-leveling resources: Students able to tackle Pythagoras ques+ons of increasing difficulty, self-‐checking answers and moving through at different rates. • Bronze, Silver and Gold questions: Ques+ons on cards, at different levels with students able to self-‐select according to confidence and success.. with teacher promp+ng some to move on or consolidate. • Scaffolding frameworks at different levels: Essay wri+ng guidance with varying levels of structure. In this example three levels: one with no support; one with paragraph outlines and another with sentence-‐level starters. • Homework choices: This is a mock-‐up of a strategy I’ve seen where the overarching project had numerous op+ons for the tasks at different levels. I’ve made this generic but it would be specific to a subject in prac+ce.

• Leadership grouping: more able students given leadership responsibility in each of a number of mixed ability groups with a ‘group goal’ that required any group member to report back. Just one of many group structure strategies. So many strategies to choose. In great lessons, the strategies are woven into the fabric of the lesson with one overarching strategy that is common: Inclusive Ques+oning. This is the teacher’s great skill: to bring all students in a class into a ques+on and answer exchange.. adjus+ng the level of ques+oning to the student in a subtle way. Mini-‐whiteboards are brilliant for this...so you can feed oﬀ the answers. Think-‐Pair-‐Share is another superb method. But the spirit of diﬀeren+a+on makes these things completely automa+c, embedded, everyday features of lessons. Everyone engaged; everyone challenged.

4. No student is held back by any other Let’s not be under any illusions. This is the core of the challenge; this is the sharp-‐end. Can it be done? I believe so. If every class is a mixed ability class and, in all contexts, there are teachers delivering Great Lessons every day, the proof is there.

The Very Simple Art of Great Teaching This diagram perfectly illustrates the art of great teaching. If we get each of these parts right, students, ALL students will learn and make good progress. How we support and scaﬀold to ensure all students are equally challenged is what makes teaching such a challenging art to get right. Think of this diagram as a series of building blocks for planning great lessons to ensure that great teaching takes place.

Part 2: Differentiation for Students with Special Needs and Specific Learning Requirements

General ‘tips’ for making lessons

more accessible to SEND students 1. Pre-‐teach vocabulary, provide a glossary and use word walls in your classroom. Keep going back to specific key phrases and words. 2. Be aware that students find it hard to listen and to copy things down or take notes-‐they may have difficulty with doing one of those things at a +me. 3. Check their understanding by asking them what they need to do now/next, use scaling or self assessment throughout to find out how much they really ‘get’ the learning, and make +me at the end of the lesson to ask ‘What have you learnt today?’ This can be a really important +me and gives you feedback on things that need to be re-‐explained, reinforced or can indicate that you can move on more quickly. 4. When giving wriYen instruc+ons to SEN students, highlight key sec+ons and key words, and take +me to teach them how to do it themselves. Many students are unable to extract informa+on from text and will highlight anything and everything . 5. Provide students with a step by step ‘break down’ of the task, checklists, +melines etc.P plus clear indicators of success. Show them an example of what a good piece of finished work should look like. 6. Teach them planning and checking techniques and ensure it becomes part of their rou+ne. 7. Avoid over fussy, cluYered worksheets and white boards. If wri+ng on the board, make sure your wri+ng is clear and legible. Keep work sheets simple, use a clear dyslexia friendly, slightly larger, font (eg comic sans, calibri ) and only use good quality pictures that are relevant and provide visual reinforcement. 8. Make sure your lesson includes a range of ac+vi+es and resources in order to maintain aYen+on and interest. Mix verbal presenta+on with prac+cal work and visual cues. 15

9. Teach the bigger picture first, link it to other parts of the curriculum, make it relevant by introducing things that interest students and relate to them. 10. Use a range of recording techniques such as scribing, making posters, labelling diagrams, assis+ve technology. Mark for content and effort and decide whether your emphasis is going to be on work comple+on or the learning process. 11. Make good use of support assistants. Planning together before a lesson will be much more effec+ve. 12. Think about homework tasks-‐are they relevant, accessible, does the student understand them? 13. Check the reading levels of texts and modify where needed, or use audio tapes etc. 14. Make the learning inten+on really obvious, perhaps by using a ques+on on the board, asking it out loud and referring back to it throughout.

AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD) This category includes students with au+sm and Asperger's, and can also be referred to as Social Communica+on Diﬃculty.

5 things you need to know about autism: 1. Au+s+c students typically experience problems with social communica+on and social interac+on. 2. They can appear indifferent, aloof, separate or stand out with behaviour that may be ‘labelled’ weird by others. 3. They lack empathy and imagina+on, making it difficult for them to play or interact with other children, or to put themselves in the place of others either in understanding feelings or in crea+ng pieces of work where they have to ‘be’ somebody else. (The diary of a slave, for example). 4. Au+s+c students may have significant learning difficul+es, including very delayed speech and language with repe++ve ques+oning, peculiari+es of tone, pitch and grammar, and echolalia (a phrase repeated over and over). 5. They may have an obsessive interest that dominates their life and conversa+on. Au+s+c students usually need highly structured, intensive programmes with high levels of adult support. Students with Asperger’s are more likely to be educated in mainstream schooling, though they may share some of the above characteris+cs to some degree, however most students with Asperger’s do not have the high level of educa+onal need.

5 things you need to know about Asperger’s 2. Some Asperger’s students have problems with physical co-‐ordina+on, and may walk leaning forward slightly with their arms ‘swinging’ and hands curled. They can find PE difficult because of this and also because of their difficul+es accep+ng rules (such as being ‘out’) and playing as part of a team. 2. As with au+s+c students, they may be very sensi+ve to sudden loud noises, crowded and hot environments, par+cular colours and textures and smells, or to physical contact and touch. 3. Aspergers students have difficulty understanding inference, implica+on, metaphors etc. and will also find it hard to use expression, rhythm and pitching their voice. 4. They find non-‐verbal language very difficult, failing to pick up on facial expressions, body language, tone of voice etc. that provide social cues and aid communica+on. They can also be very literal when they hear expressions such as ‘pull your socks up’ and have difficulty making eye contact. 5. Change of rou+ne and unexpected events can cause anxiety and make them feel insecure, their thinking can be rigid and it may be difficult to persuade them to change their minds.

Strategies for teaching ASD/Asperger’s Students 1. Give instruc+ons one at a +me if possible, and accompany them with a wriYen checklist that can be ‘+cked off’. Check that the student understands a task, but don’t ask them if they understand instruc+ons otherwise they may not feel that the task applies to them. 2. Explain metaphors, double meaning, inference in texts and teach the student to ask for assistance when confused. Many Asperger’s students have rela+vely poor comprehension of wriYen text and may need support with this, and with abstract concepts. WriYen tasks that require imagina+on will need scaffolding or modifying. Show examples of what a finished piece of work should look like. 3. They may find it hard to accept things that they get wrong and do not always learn from mistakes, so will need to be encouraged and shawn how this can be a posi+ve learning experience and given clear targets in order not to keep repea+ng the same errors. 4. Asperger’s students need explicit Instruc+on in social skills, and may need you to explain that someone has been upset by a par+cular remark, and to ensure that they learn to take turns and not to dominate a conversa+on. If they want to talk about their current obsessive interest, it may be possible to set a +mer that the student can see, allow them to talk for 2 minutes and then stop them (agreeing these rules first). When watching videos or looking at pictures, point out facial expressions etc. and explain what emo+on this conveys. 5. Wherever possible prepare the student for changes in rou+ne, such as class visits, special acitlvi+es, cancella+on of rou+ne events such as assembly. Periods of transi+on are very difficult for these students and need early prepara+on, and if you know that you will be away and a cover teacher will be with the student, make sure they are aware of their individual needs and warn the student in advance. 6. Asperger’s students can daydream and lose focus easily, and will need 19

frequent teacher redirec+on and refocussing. Assignments are best broken down and given in ‘chunks’ with a +meline (or +me limit) for comple+on. Seat the student near the front but be wary of sensory s+mulus such as light, heat and noise. 7. Where possible, get the rest of the group to help with social interac+on and provide clear rules and expecta+ons, modelling situa+ons and ensuring that the student has a ‘buddy’ who will keep an eye on them at break +me etc. It is best to ensure that an Asperger’s student has access to a quieter place during lunch +mes etc and you need to be aware that they can become very anxious and may need to have somewhere to go, or know how to use breathing techniques to relax. 8. Help them with organisa+on by providing wriYen instruc+on sheets, stapling printed homework tasks into their planner or book, using colour co-‐ ordinated +metables and books and encourage them to use checklists at home. 9. Allow them extra +me to complete wriYen work if necessary, or modify the task as many Asperger’s students are not ‘self starters’ and may need prompts, wri+ng frames or a specific target ( I will start wri+ng within one minute of being given the instruc+on), use the computer and any assis+ve so^ware to help them. 10. Give an Asperger’s student a specific role when doing group work, as it is unlikely they will work collabora+vely but if given a clear task to do they will be able to complete it as their contribu+on to the group effort, give them +me to respond when asking ques+ons, and be aware that doing speaking and listening tasks, such as presenta+ons, may make them very anxious. They may be happier to be filmed by a teacher or LSA and for this to be shown. Role play is also very difficult for them.

Dyslexia (Specific Learning Difficulties/SpLD) Dyslexia can vary widely from student to student. However, it will usually be characterised by diﬃcul+es with wriYen language, reading or wri+ng it, Many parents are now saying that they think their child is dyslexie because they can't spell, but this on its own is not usually an indicator of dyslexia, and can be down to lack of acquisi+on of spelling rules, hearing problems etc.

5 things you should know about Dyslexia 1. Dyslexic students may be slow readers, with a poor knowledge of the alphabet and they may confuse leYers such as b, d, p, n, u. When they read they may only look at the start of the word and guess the rest. Reading aloud is usually torture for them. When reading back their work they may read what they think is there, not what is actually wriYen, They will need to re-‐read a text on average 3 +mes before being able to comprehend it, as they will be concentra+ng on decoding the words rather than understanding them. Copying from the board will be difficult, as they will not only lose their place and be very slow, but they will fail to comprehend the words they are copying and are really only wri+ng down shapes with no meaning as they do not have the +me to re-‐read for comprehension. 2. Handwri+ng may be very poor, with no spacing between words, incorrect leYer shapes and poor presenta+on. The same word may be wriYen differently in the same piece of work, and there may be no logical sequence or flow. Dyslexic students may be very ar+culate and able to explain in words very clearly what they want to write, but then experience severe difficulty in'moving'the words from their head onto paper. 3. Spelling can oên be bizarre, or over reliant on phonics. Punctua+on and grammar will also be poor and wriYen work will take a long +me to do. Typing does not help as the student will s+ll be unsure about how to spell words, and their work may be ‘dumbed down’ by their choice of easy 21

words that they can spell. Conversely, some dyslexic students are beYer at spelling long words than the short, high frequency words such as ‘me’ and ‘of’. 4. Dyslexic students oên have very poor working memories, finding it hard to remember the sounds in words long enough to match them, in sequence, with leYers for spelling. A dyslexie student will oên forget instruc+ons and have difficul+es remembering homework. This also affects their numeracy skills, and they will find +mes tables and number bonds difficult, while mathema+cal symbols may get confused. Telling the +me, knowing how a calendar works and keeping organised are also par+cular problems. 5. Dyslexic students can suffer from very low self esteem, that they may try to cover by ac+ng as the class clown, or by developing behavioural difficul+es because of their frustra+ons. Some+mes dyslexic students are s+ll labelled as lazy and can develop work avoidance tac+cs rather than try something and fail.

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Teaching Dyslexic Students 1. Always teach the ‘bigger picture’ at the start af a new topic or unit, and explain why it is relevant and how it links to other topics that have been covered. 2. Pre-‐teach subject specific vicabulary and its ‘meanings’, through a range of ac+vi+es which are backed up with a glossary stuck into the exercise book and a display of words and defini+ons in a ‘word wall’ (use very large, clear font). Check that these words are remembered throughout the dura+on af the unit. 3. Print out homework tasks and staple them in to the book or planner (or write it in clearly). Check that the student can read and understand the task. Modify the task if it involves a lot of wri+ng, so that the student can label a diagram, use bullet points, make a poster or mind map etc. Write the numbers of an agreed ‘phone a friend’ in the planner if possible so that the student can ring them to double check, but ensure that this does not become burdensome on the friend. 4. Sit the student near you and ensure that copying is kept to an absolute minimum. Give notes and handouts that are pitched at the correct level instead, or take a picture of what’s on the board and make it available to the student (through the VLE for instance). Break down tasks into easily remembered chunks and back this up with wriYen checklists. 5. When using texts in class, be aware that it may be impossible for the dyslexic student to read. Where possible provide them with an audio or simplified version, or use visual cues, videos, youtube clips etc. Be aware that most worksheets may be difficult to access as well and modify them accordingly. Don’t ask a dyslexic student to read aloud in front of the class unless they volunteer, or have prac+ced with some pre-‐selected material. Where possible, allow them to read with a buddy and work in pairs, though try to ensure that there is a fair exchange of ideas etc. within the partnership. 6. When marking a dyslexic student’s work, mark for content and effort as well as for presenta+on and quan+ty. It can be demoralising for a student to have every spelling mistake underlined, so pick out up to 5 errors and write 23

the correct spelling clearly. When feeding back to the student, ask them to write the spelling word several +mes, as this helps them to remember it. To encourage dyslexic students to proof read, which they find difficult, tell them you have found 4 spelling errors and 2 sentences with incorrect punctua+on, for example, then get them to iden+fy those specific errors. 7. A fully joined, cursive style of handwri+ng is best for dyslexic students, but if they are not able to do this by secondary school, it will be hard to encourage them to change. This will need specific intensive tui+on, which may require 1 : 1 sessions with support staff. Agree with the student that they need to handwrite a par+cular part of their work, and then allow them to type the rest, or encourage them to use alterna+ve methods to record their work. So^ware such as Dragon, or recording facili+es on tablet devices, enable dyslexic students to speak their thoughts without the difficul+es of wri+ng them, so their ideas are not inhibited. Once the ideas have been recorded, the student can be helped to put a logical structure to their ideas. Other planning techniques might also be useful for factual pieces of work, such as mind maps or use of s+cky notes. 8. Try to support and develop working memory in dyslexic students, ask them to tell you what they need to do aêr you have given instruc+ons, help them create mnemonics and checklists and where possible give them opportuni+es for repe++on and ‘over-‐learning'. Many dyslexic students have ‘word finding’ problems, so when asked a ques+on can forget what they were going to say, so give them ‘take up +me’ and come back to them. 9. For severely dyslexic students, homework can be very challenging as it will take them a lot longer, and they will be more +red than the average student at the end of a day. Ensure that they have relevant homework that is achievable and of benefit to them, so to ensure that It really reinforces their learning It may need to be tac{ully differen+ated.

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Developmental Dyspraxia (or Developmental Co-ordination Disorder/DCD) This is usually recognised only as an impairment or immaturity of movement and its co-‐ordina+on, however there are other aspects to the condi+on that aﬀect language comprehension and percep+on and thought processes.

5 things you should know about DCD 1. The student may have difficul+es with fine motor skills, such as cugng out, drawing lines and graphs and affec+ng artwork. They may also have problems with shoelaces and changing for PE and have poor handwri+ng and correspondingly bad pen grip. 2. They may have problems PE and prac+cal subjects such as DT. Running and walking may look awkward, there may be difficul+es with balance, catching and throwing etc. 3. DCD students can take longer than other students when acquiring reading and spelling skills, and they may struggle to present wriYen work neatly. 4. DCD students may be slow to respond to verbal ques+ons, may not comprehend text and concepts unless it is repeated and broken down for them. 5. Some have difficul+es with social skills and interac+on, and can appear isolated. There may be incidents of teasing due to their awkward movements etc.

Teaching students with DCD 1. Use alterna+ve ways of recording Informa+on, word processing helps to avoid ‘messy’ presenta+on but the student may be a slow typist and would benefit from touch typing lessons. Copying From the board and taking notes will also take +me, so provide hand outs, printed instruc+ons and homework sheets etc. instead if possible. 2. When the student is wri+ng, check their posi+on and encourage them to sit straight on their chair, with the paper at a slight angle to them when handwri+ng, Provide printed blank graphs etc. where possible. 3. When doing prac+cal subjects, be aware of health and safety issues and provide support where necessary, plus extra +me to complete workshop tasks or to change aêr PE. 4. Help them to plan their work, giving them +melines and checklists and use wri+ng frames and visual cues to help them, anything that helps them to organise their thoughts and retain informa+on will be helpful, as for students with dyslexia. Colour co-‐ordinated exercise books and +metables are also helpful. 5. Keep instruc+ons short, maybe give them one step at a +me and repeat them. Check that the student understands by asking them 'What are you going to do first/now?’ When they are responding to ques+ons, allow them +me to think and come back to them if necessary.

ATTENTION DEFICIT (hyperactive) DISORDER ATTENTION DEFICIT (inattentive) DISORDER Most people are familiar with the typical ADHD student who is impulsive, noisy, fidgety and can't concentrate. There is also a condi+on known as ADD, which means that the student will also have difficulty with concentra+on, but without the hyperac+vity of ADHD. Very oên this condi+on will be part of a ‘mix’ with other learning difficul+es such as dyslexia.

5 things you should know about ADHD 1. ADHD students oên leave tasks unfinished, or rush them and produce the bare minimum. They find it hard to seYle and stay focused and will make careless mistakes, being reluctant to plan and check their work. 2. They can frequently interrupt, shout out, make comments and noises, will find it hard to listen and take turns, or to wait when answering ques+ons in class. They are very easily distracted and will distract others. 3. ADHD students are disorganised, forgegng and losing things on a daily basis. They find it hard to follow a rou+ne or to retain instruc+ons, and to remember what they should be doing for homework. 4. These students are keen to move around and usually fidget constantly. They don’t think before they speak or act, and can put themselves at risk by not thinking about consequences. 5. ADD students will appear dreamy, unfocused and vague. Some can seem to be sleepy and will speak and think slowly, but they will also find it hard to organise their work and their day and will leave everything to the last minute. They are usually not good at thinking or planning ahead.

Teaching students with ADHD/ADD For an ADHD student, a classroom is probably one of the most challenging environments as they will be expected to do all the things that they find very difficult-‐ sit s+ll, not talk, listen and concentrate. These students can also be very frustrated as they oên want to learn, but end up in trouble and can become disaffected, with a reputa+on for bad behaviour. It is important to realise that in true ADHD/ADD students their difficul+es are caused by neurological problems, not unwillingness or ‘naugh+ness’. 1. It is important to have clear boundaries and structures, a rou+ne for entering and leaving the classroom and a posi+ve approach so that the ADHD student does not feel that they receive constant nega+vity. 2. Focus can vary throughout the day, and if students enter the classroom in an obviously ‘hyper’ state, start your lesson with an ac+vity that will help them to become calmer and keep the environment as quiet as possible to start with. 3. Sea+ng is crucial for these students, they need to be away from doors, windows, display boards and other chaYy students. Usually sea+ng them near the front with reliable, calmer students can help. Try not to isolate them by separa+ng them from their peers. 4. Ensure that your lesson is structured, preferably into ‘chunks’ of 20 minutes maximum, giving ‘brain breaks’ if possible. A range of ac+vi+es is important, as ADHD students will engage best with prac+cal learning experiences. 5. To control their impulsive outbursts, develop a signal that will tell them that they are interrup+ng, but let them know that you will give them your aYen+on when it’s their turn. Many ADHD students are afraid of forgegng what they were going to say which is why they want to shout things out as fast as possible. You can ask them to jot down a keyword, or give you a key word, so that when it is their turn to speak they will have a prompt to help them. 6. Recognise good behaviour out loud, but give bad behaviour immediate consequences with a specific explana+on of what the problem is. Ask the student what they should do differently next +me. Some ADHD students 28

respond well to ‘traffic lights’ where a coloured card is used to warn them about their behaviour. 7. Some+mes students with ADHD are helped if they have something small to fiddle with, however they must agree that this should be non-‐intrusive and should not take up more of their aYen+on than the lesson content-‐ some+mes rolling blu-‐tak into various shapes can take all the student’s aYen+on! 8. In common with students with other learning needs, ADHD and ADD students have difficul+es following and retaining instruc+ons. They may look as if they understand, and write things down, but then are unable to work out how to tackle a task. They need specific instruc+ons which break the task down into one step at a +me, and they need to learn a variety of planning techniques and decide which one works for them. 9. Keep instruc+ons short and specific, one step at a +me if possible. Reinforce them with visual cues, hand outs, check lists etc. Be ready to redirect the ADHD/ADD student frequently, but do so calmly and quietly, using their name to get their aYen+on, and asking them what they need to do now/next. Use phrases such as ‘tell me what's wrong, what are you stuck with and what do you need to be able to get on with the task?’ or 'How can I help with this? You seem a bit stuck at the moment’ rather than repeatedly telling them off. 10. Students with ADHD/ADD are usually ‘concrete’ thinkers. They will do best when allowed to take part in something, or by using objects that they can touch. If they have a par+cular interest or strength, it helps to relate the learning ac+vity to something that is relevant to them. 11. Homework and organisa+on will need support. Good communica+on with parents is important, use the VLE or ensure that wriYen instruc+ons are stapled into the student’s book, and that you have checked they understand the task and how to tackle it. 12. Encourage parents to help the student at home with +metables clearly displayed, a rou+ne of checking their planners with them, checklists and reminders also help stuck on the fridge or the bathroom wall. The student will lose equipment regularly so parents needs to help them to learn how to check their bags the night before and ensure they have a pencil case etc. Folders for loose work will help, preferably colour coded with the +metable 29

and exercise books. 13. In class work and with homework, using a +mer can work well. Agree with the student what they should have achieved in a certain length of +me and go back to them to check their progress. You can gradually increase the +me limits to encourage them to focus for slightly longer periods. 14. In summary, with ADHD/ADD students the following are key when teaching • Communica+on-‐ with the student and their parents • Try to be pa+ent, calm and posi+ve, their behaviour is usually not deliberate. • Re-‐think the sea+ng plan if necessary. • Keep things simple-‐ uncluYered work sheets, white boards, instruc+ons. • Know how to refocus-‐ move around your classroom in order to keep track of who has lost focus, and if you want to avoid using names, touch the desk to get their aYen+on and maybe agree a private signal that the student can use if lost or confused. • Mix the ac+vi+es, don’t expect longer than 20 minutes of concentra+on and plan in opportuni+es for movement/brain breaks. • Play to their strengths. Many of these strategies can be used with any type of student, in fact research shows that SEN teaching is in fact the same as high quality, inclusive standard teaching prac+ce.

Finally, a reminder that if you have any great advice or ‘things that seem to work with that kinda kid’, please share them. This is a working document, which we should all add to if it is to become something which we believe will be useful for all of us. You can speak to Gillian, Claire or Pete if you need any further advice on diﬀeren/a/on or have any sugges/ons on how we can make this booklet more diﬀeren/ated or just plain beNer.