SEN Magazine - Issue 104 - January/February 2020 by SEN Magazine

Embracing challenge Jan • Feb 2020 • Issue 104

Becoming school-ready Dyslexia in higher education

Empowering kids with SEN through outdoor activities

Supporting deaf learners Navigating post-16 options

SEN overseas • CReSTeD • autism • PMLD • specialist seating assistive technology • emotional literacy • SEN interventions consent • recruitment • CPD • SEN news and much more…

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XMA Technology

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Five awesome iOS features that are transforming learning for pupils with SEN Technology is shaping our lives. We all have our individual needs and we have all come to expect that apps will continually improve our daily experiences. The same is true for learning for those with SEN, where a whole family of apps and iOS features can assist, from the classroom to the home, providing a consistent interface whilst serving as empowerment tools for learning at the individual’s own pace.

Vision: VoiceOver VoiceOver is a built-in app which allows students with visual impairments to listen to their device, navigate without assistance and work through assignments. Students who have visual impairments can benefit from hearing a description of everything that is happening on their screen. This includes everything from battery level and which app they are on, to having the text on the iPad read aloud. This would be particularly beneficial in literature classes where students are required to read long paragraphs of content. The VoiceOver feature works in every built-in app, as well as many third-party ones that you may use in the classroom. VoiceOver doesn’t just read content already on the screen; it also reads out to the user what they are typing on screen, so the pupil can understand exactly what is appearing on the iPad. This can help improve their accuracy skills and empower them to write creative content without any limitations.

More focused learning There are a number of more focused features on iPad that can assist the learning of those with SEN. Customisable colour filters make everything easier on the eye. Dark Mode transforms every element on the iPad screen, allowing pupils to focus on the primary content. The iPad has features where you can reduce white points, enable grey scales and even choose from a range of colour filters that particularly support pupils who are colour blind. For some students, navigating the web on iPad can lead to sensory overload. Safari Reader reduces the visual clutter, making it easier for pupils to focus on specific content on screen. It strips away ads, buttons and navigation bars, allowing you to focus on just the content you want. iPad also has a built-in screen magnifier called Zoom that will let students enlarge sections of their screens.

Mobility: VoiceControl VoiceControl empowers pupils to tell an iPad exactly what they want it to do. Whether it is opening an app, navigating through content or adjusting screen displays, VoiceControl means students with mobility issues are not limited in using iPad. Some of the great features of VoiceControl include: • audio-to-text transcription • text-editing commands • dictation • navigating through virtually any app.

Learning: reading support Every student learns differently, and some find it easier to learn when they can hear what they are reading or writing. Adding auditory components to text gives students with learning difficulties such as dyslexia help to understand what words are being written on the iPad. The iPad also has the ability to highlight the words as they are being read aloud, which will enhance a student’s reading, writing and spelling. These are just five features of iOS, out of hundreds that have been developed, which show how powerful technology is when it comes to learning. If you want to discuss how iPad can improve learning outcomes at your school, contact one of our education experts to discuss your requirements. xma.co.uk/who-we-are/partners/apple/

Hearing: FaceTime FaceTime, which is installed on every device, allows deaf pupils to communicate with people both inside and outside the classroom. They can see every gesture and facial expression and it is a great iPad feature to help with the use of sign language. SEN104

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Welcome Jan • Feb 2020 Issue 104

Editor

Peter Sutcliffe editor@senmagazine.co.uk 01200 409810

Advertising sales Denise Williamson Advertising Sales Manager denise@senmagazine.co.uk 01200 409808

Administration Anita Crossley (left) anita@senmagazine.co.uk 01200 409802 Amanda Harrison (centre) office@senmagazine.co.uk 01200 409804/800 Dawn Thompson (right) dawn@senmagazine.co.uk 01200 409804/800

Design Rob Parry design@senmagazine.co.uk

Director

Jeremy Nicholls

In this issue of SEN Magazine, we look at preparing children with Down’s syndrome for staring school (p.39). Stuart Mills of the Down’s Syndrome Association outlines the types of support children with Down’s syndrome need to make them ready for the crucial transition from Reception to Year 1. Elsewhere, Robert Squirrell reveals why outdoor activities can be so empowering for children with SEN (p.70); in a piece on post-16 options (p.66), Clare Howard asks if councils’ local offers are meeting their responsibilities to young people with SEN; Rhiannon Packer examines issues associated with late diagnosis of dyslexia (p.54); and Emma Fraser discusses how to support pupils with hearing impairment at school (p.47). In our recruitment feature (p.86), Stephen Emsley looks at what schools need to do to tackle issues with teacher workload and wellbeing. In his regular column on SEN law (p.24), Douglas Silas explains how parents can name a school for their child with SEN in an education, health and care plan. And as always, SEN’s CPD, training and events section (p.88) includes details of the latest courses, workshops, conferences and exhibitions. Additional features in this issue include, SEN in Ghana (p.26), PMLD (p.30), emotional literacy (p.34), SEN

■ How can we ensure children with Down’s syndrome are school ready? (p.41)

interventions (p.44), consent (p.52), CReSTeD (p.57), assistive technology (p.62), specialist seating (p.76) and autism (p.79). If you would like to have your say on any issue relating to special educational needs, we are always keen to receive contributions for our point of view section. Please send me a short email if you’re interested.

Peter Sutcliffe SEN Magazine Editor editor@senmagazine.co.uk

Next issue deadline Advertising and news deadline: 5/2/20 Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in SEN Magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher. The publisher cannot be held liable for incorrect information, omissions or the opinions of third parties.

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CONTRIBUTORS Sonia Aboagye Kate Adams Paul Doyle Stephen Emsley Emma Fraser Joanna Grace

Nicola Hankey Clare Howard Sanjo Jeffrey Manar Matusiak Stuart Mills Mary Mountstephen

Rhiannon Packer Hannah Reeves Douglas Silas Robert Squirrell Caireen Sutherland Lorna Taylor

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January • February 2020 • Issue 104

Changing minds 26

The challenges of ensuring access to education for children with disabilities in Ghana

PMLD Should we always presume capacity for young people with PMLD?

In tune with learning

The role of emotional literacy in creating positive relationships between students and teachers

Becoming school-ready Supporting children with Down’s syndrome in the transition to Year 1

Interventions for a new generation Top tips for engaging today’s tech savvy learners with SEN

Supporting deaf learners

The barriers deaf children face at school, and how they can be overcome

A question of consent Capacity, consent and choice for young people with complex SEN

Dyslexia in higher education Is late dyslexia diagnosis preventing pupils from reaching their potential?

CReSTeD The Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils

Sitting comfortably? How the right specialist seating can aid children’s health and learning

Caring for carers How can families of children with autism get the support they need for themselves?

Regulars 8

SEN news

The latest products and ideas from the world of SEN

22 24 74 86

What’s new? Point of view Have your say!

SEN law Education, health and care plans

Book reviews Recruitment Looking out for the workload and wellbeing of school staff

CPD, training and events

SEN resources directory

About SEN Magazine

Tech support

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How understanding individual needs is central to employing the right assistive technology

Navigating post-16 options Are councils’ local offers meeting their responsibilities to young people with SEN?

Embracing challenge Using outdoor activities to empower children with SEN

In the next issue of SEN Magazine: World Autism Awareness Day/Week sensory rooms performing arts accessible vehicles short breaks/respite learning outside the classroom

ADHD Tourette’s syndrome transition to adult life dyslexia recruitment CPD and much more…

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Hearing impairment

Post-16 options

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Outdoor activities

Downâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s syndrome SEN104

SEN news

Damning inquiry prompts Government response on care in mental health hospitals Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights has condemned the “horrific reality” of the treatment of many young people with autism and learning disabilities who are detained in mental health hospitals. It said the conditions some young people face, and the abuse they endure, inflicts “terrible suffering on those detained” and causes “anguish to their distraught families”. The Committee found that the evidence to its inquiry into the detention of young people with learning disabilities and/ or autism was so “stark” and consistent that it has “lost confidence that the system is doing what it says it is doing and the regulator’s method of checking is not working”. Referring to the Care Quality Commission, which regulates these facilities, the Committee said that “a regulator which gets it wrong is worse than no regulator at all”.

■ Some young people with learning disabilities and/or autism face “nightmare” conditions in mental health units.

The inquiry found that in too many cases the families of those with learning disabilities and/or autism are considered to be the problem when they should be part of the solution. Families must be recognised as “human rights defenders”, it said. Amongst individual witness reports given to the inquiry, one young man with learning disabilities described his experiences as “like some sort of nightmare”. He said he did not feel safe in the hospital and that he did not receive assessments or treatments. “There was no care. I was just put in this room, and I lay there and went to sleep”, he said. Julie Newcombe, whose son was detained for 19 months, said that his arm (the right humerus bone) was broken in a restraint: “His arm was wrenched up behind his back until the bone snapped. He was then not taken to accident and emergency for 24 hours, even though his arm was completely swollen.”

“Inhumane treatment” The learning disability charity United Response said the Committee’s inquiry “paints a devastating picture of inhumane treatment of young people with learning disabilities and autism in mental health units.” The charity’s Chief Executive Tim Cooper said that “Time after time we hear of wrongful detention, of segregation and restraint causing terrible suffering and violating the rights of vulnerable people, and targets to reduce the number of people in mental-health hospitals not being met.” Mr Cooper also pointed to the failures of successive Prime Ministers, Health Secretaries and Care Ministers to act on the recommendations of a series of reports and accounts

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highlighting this problem. “Time after time recommendations and solutions have been ignored or badly implemented by Government”, he said. The Committee called for the establishment of a “Number 10 Unit”, with cabinet level leadership, to urgently drive forward reform and safeguard the human rights of young people with learning disabilities and/or autism. It said there should be changes to the law to: create legal duties on clinical commission groups and local authorities to ensure the right services are available in the community; amend criteria used under The Mental Health Act to avoid inappropriate detention; and reform the Care Quality Commission’s approach and processes. The Government has responded to the Committee’s findings with an announcement that every inpatient with a learning disability or autism in a mental health hospital will have their case reviewed over the next 12 months. Each patient is to be given a date for discharge or, where this is not appropriate, a clear explanation of why and a plan to move them closer towards being ready for discharge into the community. For those in long-term segregation, an independent panel is also to be established to oversee the case reviews. The Government’s move has been broadly welcomed by the National Autistic Society, whose Director of External Affairs Jane Harris feels that hundreds of families will be “relieved” to see plans to review inpatient care. She cautions though, that “To make any of these plans a reality, [the Government] must also invest in social care and community mental health services”.

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SEN news

Relationships and sex education is not meeting needs Fewer than half of young people rate the relationships and sex edition (RSE) they receive at school and at home as good. With RSE becoming a statutory requirement in every child’s education from September 2020, a new survey suggests that teaching of the subject at school is showing little improvement, and instruction from parents is not “filling in the gaps”. Commissioned by the Sex Education Forum, the survey asked 16 and 17-year-olds to rate aspects of their RSE at school and home. Around 41 per cent rated their school-based RSE as “good” or “very good”, which was down from 45 per cent in similar poll in 2018. The RSE they received at home was rated as “good” or “very good” by 48 per cent. ■ Young people say they are not getting adequate RSE.

One in six children judged their school RSE to be “bad” or “very bad”, while 19 per cent said the same of their parents’ instruction. The Sex Education Forum says the poll shows that a fear of addressing more sensitive topics, and lack of consistency in the messages used, is depriving some young people of learning that would support their safety and wellbeing. The topics that were found to be covered most adequately in schools were bullying, puberty, how babies are conceived and born, condoms and contraception, the medically correct terms for genitalia and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The topics where young people were least likely to say they had learnt all they needed to at school were sexual pleasure, pornography and female genital mutilation. Any deficiencies in RSE education can be particularly problematic for some young people with SEN and disabilities. For example, those who have a learning disability or complex needs can be much more vulnerable to exploitation. Issues of consent are also crucial for those young people who may not adequately understand the possible consequences of their actions or the nature of the situations they find themselves in. The report also flagged-up teaching about LGBT+ issues as another area of concern, with 18 per cent of young people saying they learnt nothing about them at school. A further 28 per cent said they had not learnt all that they needed to about LGBT+ issues.

Schools and families Young people said parents were more likely than schools to fully discuss marriage and other committed relationships with them, with nearly three-quarters of 16 and 17-year-olds saying they had learnt everything they needed to about this from discussions with their parents. Parents were also reported to be a more likely source of adequate learning about healthy and abusive relationships than schools. senmagazine.co.uk

Information about how babies are conceived and born is more likely to come from schools than home, with 14 per cent of young people not having learnt about this from parents or carers at all, compared with only three per cent who didn’t learn this at school. “As we rapidly approach a new era in relationships and sex education, young people are making it loud and clear that school and parents both fall short in discussing issues that are pressing and relevant for them”, says Lucy Emmerson, Director of the Sex Education Forum. The Forum is calling on the Government “to confidently lead the way, to make a proper investment in teacher training in this specialist subject”. Young people want to learn about RSE from both home and school and research shows that RSE is more effective when both are involved. “We’d like to see future Ministers being ambitious and setting out a strategy to support parents in their role as educators and commitment to see through the changes in schools”, says Lucy Emmerson. In this issue of SEN Magazine, Kate Adams, Head of Nursing at St John’s Catholic School for the Deaf, discusses the issues of capacity, consent and choice for young people with complex SEN (page 52).

SEN news

Personal health budgets available to 100,000 more people Everyone who qualifies for an NHS wheelchair and those who need aftercare services under section 117 of the Mental Health Act now have the legal right to a personal health budget. These budgets, which are optional, are designed to give people more choice and control when it comes to managing their own healthcare. More than 70,000 people already use personal budgets and the system has been extended by a change in the law, introduced in December 2019, to include 100,000 more people. Personal health budgets are planned and agreed by individuals and the local NHS team involved in supporting them. They can be spent on: personal care assistants trained to meet the individual’s needs; specially adapted wheelchairs designed to aid independence; and exercise classes to help maintain health, reduce stress and promote confidence. The NHS Long Term Plan aims to further increase access to personal budgets so that up to 200,000 people can receive one by 2024. The disabled children’s charity Newlife campaigned for the new rules regarding personal wheelchair budgets (PWBs). “We welcome the change in law that will mean disabled children across England have the legal right to a PWB”, says the charity’s Campaigning and Public Affairs Manager Clare Dangerfield, who sat on the NHS national steering group that advised the Government. The old wheelchair voucher scheme is being replaced by PWBs in England as part of the NHS’s Personalisation Agenda. Families will continue to access the same services as before; they will be assessed and supported by the same clinical team, local wheelchair services and occupational therapists, but the new

regulations are intended to produce a better, more outcomesfocused system for users. The aim is to enable disabled children, their families and the professionals supporting them to take more of an overview of the support they need and consider what they want to achieve from the equipment provided, such as greater independence, and how equipment provision can be tailored to make this happen. Newlife believes that PWBs should also increase the size of budgets for individuals because, rather than relying on NHS funding as under the voucher system, they will “bring together funding from social care, access to work, education, and charity funding”. Children’s wheelchair charity Whizz-Kidz was also involved in pressing the Government for changes to personal budgets and it too has welcomed the new rules. Its Chief Executive Ruth Owen says, “Now that the right to Personal Wheelchair Budgets has been enshrined in law, we hope that all wheelchair services will adopt a truly holistic approach to the needs of disabled people, and give wheelchair users the control that they deserve.”

Reading skills and wellbeing suffer when children don’t own books Children who don’t own their own books are less likely to enjoy reading and are falling behind their peers in terms of their reading skills.

Previous research from the charity suggests that children who own books are more likely to report higher levels of wellbeing than those who don’t own books.

Research published by the National Literacy Trust calculates that 383,775 UK children between the ages of nine and 18 (6.3 per cent) do not own a single book. The charity warns that these children are missing out on numerous benefits of book ownership. Around 22 per cent of children who own books are reading at a level above that expected for their age, compared to just 3.6 per cent of non-book owning children, the research finds. Children who own books are nearly three times more likely to say they enjoy reading, and more than twice as likely to agree that reading is “cool”, than those who do not have any books of their own.

Disadvantaged children are more likely than their peers to not own a book, but this gap has halved over the past six years, from 6.1 percentage points in 2013 to 3.3 percentage points in 2019

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SEN news

Children say widespread change needed to tackle bullying Children want governments, tech companies, the media, schools and families to initiate changes to prevent bullying, according to a new poll. Published by the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA), the survey of over 1,000 11 to 16-year-olds suggests that many of them miss school and avoid social interactions to get away from bullying. Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of those surveyed say they have been bullied at least once a week during the last six months. Nearly one child in every classroom (three per cent) said they are bullied every day. Ten per cent of children reported missing school because of bullying, while 14 per cent say they have changed their route to school as a result of bullying. Fear of bullying causes 19 per cent of children to avoid spending time with friends and 19 per cent have also avoided online gaming and social media for this reason. The ABA says these figures highlight the serious repercussions of bullying, that can last well beyond childhood. While 83 per cent of the children who had been bullied said it happened in school, 26 per cent said it occurred on their journey to and from school and 30 per cent said bullying took place when they were online. “If one in ten children have reported missing school because of bullying, we clearly have a problem”, says Martha Evans, Director of the ABA. “To turn this around, it’s important to bear in mind that everyone has a part to play in reducing and stemming the impact of bullying.”

Children in the survey highlighted some of the key areas for change that they believed could help to reduce bullying: 76 per cent called for social media and gaming platforms to do more to change the way they address bullying; 48 per cent said their schools should do more; 44 per cent said that the media and influencers had the power to reduce bullying; and 73 per cent of children said that adults needed to get involved to help tackle the problem. A quarter of children said grown-ups were not good role models for online and face-to-face behaviour. Some children reported having seen grown-ups bullying each other either in the community (ten per cent) or online (nine per cent).

“Shocking lack of resources” is hitting councils’ support for visual impairment Underfunding of local authorities (LAs) is leading to failures of provision for thousands of children with vision impairment, according to new research by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). The report, Left Out of Learning, shows that 44 per cent of LAs have cut or frozen funding for specialist education services supporting 10,925 children with vision impairment over the last two years. A further 7,539 children and young people are accessing services that have failed to keep their budgets in line with inflation, meaning real term cuts to funding. There has been a seven per cent rise in the number of children and young people requiring and accessing specialist support. Despite this increase, 43 per cent of local authorities (LAs) have reported a decrease in the number of Qualified Teachers of Vision Impairment (QTVI), who are key professionals involved in enabling access to mainstream education for visually impaired pupils. senmagazine.co.uk

The report also revealed serious issues with workloads, with QTVIs having a caseload of more than 100 students in 28 per cent of LAs. QTVIs provide specialist support to help children and young people with vision impairment to access the curriculum, find their way around school and take part in sports and other activities alongside their sighted peers. “Our research has revealed a shocking lack of resources for local authorities to deliver this crucial provision”, says Keith Valentine, Director of Development at RNIB. “… With more than £14 billion being promised for primary and secondary education between now and 2023, we are urging the Government to act now and correct this funding gap to ensure every child with vision impairment is able to fulfil their potential.”

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SEN news

Huge regional variations in inclusive education for children with SEN Your chances of receiving an inclusive education, if you are a child or young person with SEN or disabilities, vary greatly depending on where you are in England. This is the finding of a new report by education consultants Mime.

After London, there is a sizeable gap before the next regions, Yorkshire and The Humber and East of England. The authorities that showed the most improved scores over three years are Camden, Ealing, and Merton.

The company created an “inclusion index”, using published information from 150 local authorities (LAs), to understand which areas have the most inclusive schools. They explored 12 indicators across areas including, the proportion of pupils with SEN and disabilities supported in mainstream schools, attainment, exclusions and overall numbers of pupils with education, health and care (EHC) plans.

The main themes that emerge from the study reveal large variations across England for pupils with SEN and disabilities, including the number of EHC plans issued by LAs, and that deprivation plays a key role in levels of attainment and exclusions.

For an area to have a high score on the “index”, it would have a high percentage of pupils with SEN and disabilities supported in mainstream education. Pupils with SEN and disabilities would also have fewer exclusions, plus good attainment and progress. The regions of inner and outer London showed the best inclusion score and the LAs with the three best inclusion scores are all in the capital – Westminster, Barnet and Kingston upon Thames.

“An inclusive education is one where every pupil has equal access to opportunities to learn and fulfil their potential”, says Mime Managing Director Steve Preston. While acknowledging that an education in a mainstream school will not suit every child, especially those with more complex needs, Mr Preston believes it is important for schools to monitor the progress of pupils with SEN and disabilities in all areas of their development, not just their academic attainment. He is also calling on the Government to publish off-rolling statistics in order to provide a fuller picture of inclusive education in England.

Rising employment rates for disabled people don’t mask inequalities The gap in employment rates between disabled and nondisabled people is narrowing and pay rates for disabled workers are improving, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However, analysts and campaigners are warning that much more needs to be done to ensure parity in the workplace. In 2013, 43.4 per cent of people with a disability of working age were employed, compared with 77.6 per cent of those without a disability. This represented a gap of 34.2 per cent. By 2019, the gap fell to 28.6 per cent, with 53.2 per cent of working-age disabled people in employment, compared to 81.8 per cent of non-disabled people. While unemployment among people with disabilities has fallen by around 50 per cent in this period, it is still double the unemployment rate among people without disabilities. “The employment gap falling over the last six years is good news. It shows that employers are moving from good intentions to making a tangible difference on the disability and wider inclusion agenda”, says Tom Hadley at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. Mr Hadley cautions though, that greater efforts are needed from employers to encourage inclusive recruitment. “Recruitment professionals have a pivotal role to play here”, he says. “90 per cent of businesses say that what they are looking for from an external recruitment provider is access to expertise”. SEN104

The ONS figures show that the disability pay gap is also narrowing slightly, though disabled workers are still paid 12.2 per cent less than their non-disabled colleagues, down from 12.7 per cent in 2017. “The disability pay gap is a damning symptom of disabled people being hindered in the world of work”, says James Taylor of the charity Scope. “Plenty of things stack up against disabled people to prevent them from getting into, staying in and progressing in employment. Negative attitudes and assumptions about disabled people, and a lack of reasonable adjustments are holding disabled people back, Mr Taylor believes. “Sometimes it’s a simple lack of understanding or know-how from employers”, he says. senmagazine.co.uk

SEN news

Pay increase needed to tackle teacher recruitment crisis, say unions The four education unions representing the vast majority of teachers in the UK have come together to demand a “significant, above-inflation pay increase for all teachers and leaders, in order to reverse the real-terms cuts to salaries since 2010”.

Adoption rate continues to fall The number of children adopted from care in England has fallen for a fourth successive year, as revealed by the latest official figures. The Department for Education figures show the number of looked-after children who were adopted during the year ending 31 March 2019, has fallen by seven per cent since 2018, to 3,570. Adoptions have been consistently falling year-on-year, from 5,360 in 2015. The fall in numbers of adoptions is partly offset by increases in kinship care placements – where children are still leaving care for loving homes – but this does not explain the whole drop in the figures. “We urgently need to see improvements in the way adopters are recruited, trained and supported to ensure these vulnerable children find the loving, stable homes they deserve”, says Dr Sue Armstrong Brown, Chief Executive of Adoption UK. The charity is also concerned that delays in court processes and low numbers of prospective adopters are leading to long waits for children needing a permanent family. Children with SEN and disabilities and those from the black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) community can be amongst the hardest to place. Abuse or neglect was the highest (74 per cent) main category of need of children who were adopted, while family dysfunction was the second highest (14 per cent) main category of need. The number of children ceasing to be looked after through a special guardianship order (SGO) increased by 11 per cent to 3,830, when compared to the previous year. Most SGOs were to relatives or friends (90 per cent) and the remainder were largely to former foster carers (nine per cent). “We are calling on the [new] government to give us an adoption sector that provides adoptive families with the support they really need”, says Mrs Armstrong Brown.

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In a joint statement to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), the NEU, NAHT, ASCL and Voice say that school leaders, teachers and students are all suffering because teachers’ pay has fallen in real terms, with a drop of 15 per against RPI inflation since 2010. As a result, schools are missing their recruitment targets, retention rates of school staff are “plummeting” and class sizes are going up. This follows the release of new research from the Education Support Partnership which showed that workload and stress for education professionals are at an all-time high, with more than half of education professionals considering leaving the sector in the past two years. The statement argues that the Government’s proposal to significantly increase pay for new entrants into the profession needs to be extended to all teachers. “A significant, above-inflation pay increase, applied to all pay scales and allowances, and fully funded by the Government, is needed to begin to repair the damage to teacher and school leader pay, and to address the recruitment and retention problems the profession faces”, it says. “Higher pay for teachers and school leaders is not just essential, it is richly deserved”, says Paul Whiteman of the NAHT. Teaching needs to be repositioned as an attractive career option for new graduates, and existing teachers need to see proof that their contribution to educating the nation’s children is valued, the unions stress; better pay would provide “an important first step” in these processes. “We will be looking for [the new Government] to make a clear and early statement that they recognise the urgency of this situation and that they will put their money where their mouth is”, says Geoff Barton of the ASCL. In this issue of SEN Magazine, Stephen Emsley of the Classroom Partnership discusses teacher wellbeing and workload (page 86).

News deadline for next issue: 5/2/20.

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What’s new?

Be the teacher who understands autism The new AET Good Autism Practice Guidance from the Autism Education Trust helps teachers and education professionals understand the challenges autistic pupils and students face is mainstream or specialist early years, schools and post-16 settings. It helps them to identify adaptations they can make to their classroom environments and teaching to enable autistic children and young people to thrive. It empowers them to be the teacher who understands autism. The new Ofsted linked resource is available to download free of charge from autismeducationtrust.org.uk

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Fairfield Farm College working with Centre Parcs Five students from Fairfield Farm College have started a 12-month work placement project at Centre Parcs Longleat Forest. The College, based in Dilton Marsh, delivers programmes to support young people with learning disabilities to learn new skills for the world of work. This new project enables students to work in various areas of the popular tourist destination, whilst learning skills that will help them with their future career aspirations. Students have been taking on a variety of roles across the resort, from the staff kitchen to the bike workshop. ffc.ac.uk

Free downloadable primary and SEN resources

Teaching children with Down syndrome to use longer sentences

An Apple For The Teacher “free tier registration” gives you access to many different resources to try before you buy.

Available as an app and as a printed kit, See and Learn Sentences 1 is designed to help children with Down syndrome learn to read, understand and to use longer sentences in speech. It teaches new vocabulary, sight words, new ways to combine words to express ideas, and some of the first rules of grammar.

The resources have been designed by highly experienced teachers from both mainstream and special education settings, and they cover all subjects across the primary curriculum. The aim is to help reduce teacher workloads while providing children with resources that are fresh, exciting and inspiring. SEN activities have been created to work alongside the pre-key stage curriculum, and to support those working with children on P-levels. Applefortheteacher.co.uk

See and Learn Sentences 1 uses printed words and sentences to provide a concrete and visual representation of language concepts to support the development of spoken language skills. seeandlearn.org/language-and-reading/sentences-1

Childcare and Education Expo 2020 Childcare Expo is back for 2020 with a new name – Childcare and Education Expo. The launch event at Olympia London on 20 and 21 March is set to include a jam-packed programme of inspiring seminars, workshops and activities. Visitors can also discover thousands of new resources and products. New for 2020 are the two seminar theatres featuring leading experts on topics such as SEN support, the Curiosity Approach, empowerment, wellbeing, creative environments, synthetic phonics and more.

My Outdoor Scheme of Work – new from EQUALS This brand new Scheme of Work from EQUALS covers all ages of education from two to 25 (and beyond) and has been written for learners with severe learning difficulties (SLD) and moderate learning difficulties (MLD). This scheme of work is developmental in nature and is open to personalisation. For more information, visit equals.co.uk

For additional information and to register for free, go to childcareeducationexpo.co.uk or call 01425 838393.

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What’s new?

promotional content

Inclusive touch screen mounts Loxit’s electric table mount trolleys are touch screen table mounts that make interactive screens more inclusive. They electronically raise and lower the screen, creating access for everyone. The mobile trolley function adds further versatility as the screen can be relocated with ease.

Schools rising to mental health challenge The 2017 Government Green Paper on Children’s Mental Health Provision stated: “There is evidence that appropriately trained and supported staff... can achieve results comparable to those achieved by trained therapists in delivering a number of interventions addressing mild to moderate mental health problems.”

The universal mount system accommodates all screens, manufacturers and VESA patterns. Discrete, on-board mounts for devices and media players including Apple, Solstice Pod and Intel NUC are available as optional extras. The Trolleys have a small footprint, which aids collaborative engagement, and includes four-way power distribution for peripherals.

Trauma Informed Schools UK report that, in many of the 450 schools where they have provided training, schools are showing improvements in whole-school mental health informed approaches to learning, discipline, nurturing staff, student voice and parent engagement – with fewer exclusions and increased attendance, attainment and staff retention.

loxit.com

traumainformedschools.co.uk

SEND assessments

Hackney Council needs foster carers

GL Assessment provides tools to support pupils with barriers to learning. Their assessments identify issues relating to speech and language, dyslexia, reading, literacy, numeracy, working memory and mental health, allowing you to track pupil progress, measure the impact of interventions and engage learners.

Each year many of us make resolutions to change our lives. This year, Hackney Council are calling on people to consider fostering and change their life by helping children in care.

Products include speech and language toolkits WellComm Early Years and WellComm Primary, YARC (which identifies difficulties with word recognition, reading fluency and comprehension) and PASS (to spot sensitive, often invisible attitudinal barriers to learning). Their new digital platform, GL Ready, hosts the popular screeners Rapid, CoPS and LASS which support early identification of dyslexia. gl-assessment.co.uk

Fostering has a positive impact on children and young people when they can’t remain with their birth families. Hackney Council is seeking people with patience, resilience, loving qualities and a spare bedroom who care about the wellbeing of children and who want to make a difference. For information on fostering with Hackney Council, call 020 8356 4028 or visit hackney.gov/fostering

Vocational studies at White Rocks Farm College

New legal guide to disabled children’s rights

White Rocks Farm College, a small specialist centre offering vocational courses, has acquired an extra 76 acres of land. It’s putting in new facilities including a machinery barn and, from September 2020, is offering mechanics training (cars and agricultural vehicles).

Disabled Children: a legal handbook is an authoritative, yet accessible, guide to the rights of disabled children, young people and their families. The law is complex and frequently misunderstood by those who have duties and responsibilities towards them.

The College is expanding its equine facilities with a new 100m by 80m arena, gallops and a carriage driving course. It also offers a vocational studies program, up to two days per week, for students aged 14 to 16. The stool (pictured) was made by a student at the College. whiterocksfarmcollege.co.uk

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This book is essential reading for those working with disabled children and their families, and young people themselves. It informs them about legal matters which substantially affect their lives and how the law can assist them. The third edition is available now. To order, visit lag.org.uk or email lag@lag.org.uk

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What’s new?

promotional content

Access Arrangements workshop training

What’s new at Naidex 2020?

Are you looking for up-todate support on the JCQ Access Arrangements and expert guidance on what evidence to obtain? On Friday 7 February 2020 in London, schools publisher Hodder Education and leading author Lia Castiglione are providing a comprehensive overview of the process, detailing what evidence is required and how to make the most of the standardised tests.

Naidex will see visitors flooding into Birmingham’s NEC on 17 and 18 March 2020.

SEN Magazine readers can take advantage of 20 per cent off the course fee, meaning you can book a place for just £199.20 + VAT. For more information and to book your place, visit hoddereducation.co.uk/accessarrangements

Visitors will be able to shop from 400 suppliers and attend seminars from renowned names such as Microsoft, Sainsbury’s, Stanley Security, BBC, Monzo and more. The show will also see the launch of new features, such as the Naidex Junior Trail, that will provide children and their parents with paediatric solutions created specifically with children at heart. With all this lined up, Naidex will once again become the hub of the disability sector. Tickets are free at naidex.co.uk

Bringing the magic of theatre to school

Autism Professionals Conference 2020

There is clear evidence that attending theatre performances can help enhance social bonds and play a useful role in helping children develop emotional intelligence. However, this can be an organisational minefield, incurring transport costs and accessibility issues.

The National Autistic Society is holding their annual Autism Professionals Conference on 27 to 28 February 2020. It is a unique opportunity for education professionals to discuss best practice and share learning.

M&M Theatrical Productions transform gyms and dining halls, creating a fully immersive and authentic theatrical experience using state-of-the-art lights, sound and special effects. Their inclusive, cross-curricular productions can be relaxed and tailored to meet audience needs, ensuring children of all ages and abilities are equally engaged, educated and entertained. magicoftheatre.com

Electronic daily routine planning to help families with autism The new MemRabel 2i by Medpage is an electronic calendar clock which can be used to play videos created on your smartphone. There are various options for timing playback of the alarm/ reminder, including single, daily, weekly or monthly. It’s easy to create a series of tasks with video, photo or vocal instruction. As an aid for cognitive impairment the MemRabel 2 is a revelation. For more information, visit medpage-ltd.com and search MemRabel 2.

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Highlights from the programme include: Dr Brenda SmithMyles – “Hidden Curriculum: Practical solutions for understanding rules in social situations”; Gareth Morewood – “Low arousal approaches in schools”; Dr Jacqui Shepherd – “Reforming the curriculum”; and Richard Mills – “Children at risk of social inclusion: building capacity in local schools or support services”. Live streaming and on demand services are available for this conference. autism.org.uk/conferences

Play Therapy Pod loans Newlife’s Play Therapy Pods provide fun play opportunities while supporting children’s development. Newlife pods include: Sensory Pod (suitable from birth); Adventure Pods (from 18 months) in four themes – Space, Animal, Underwater and Transport; Discovery Pods (from three years); and Explorer Pods (from five years). They encourage visual, auditory and tactile stimulation while developing communication skills. Pods are accessible to children of any ability and are themed to group toys for play. Families can apply for different pods, loaned for 12 weeks, to better understand their child’s needs and toys they respond to. newlifecharity.co.uk/play

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What’s new?

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Free 30-day trial of Rapid Plus online A Rapid Plus online subscription gives you and your students access to all of the Rapid Plus texts in online eBook format, both in-school and at home. Designed to give maximum support to struggling readers, each eBook contains a wealth of features to help your students become more confident with their independent reading. In the Reports section, teachers can also monitor student reading progress and track their performance in comprehension activities, helping to identify areas of difficulty. You can request your free trial at pearsonschools.co.uk/SENRapidtrial

Slindon College independent boys’ school Set in the South Downs National Park, Slindon College provides a calm and stimulating setting for dedicated professionals to fully understand and support their pupils. A CReSTeD accredited learning support centre, their specialist tuition is tailored to specific learning difficulties, developmental language disorders and associated conditions for boys aged eight to 18. They work with each boy on a rounded social and educational development foundation, offering pathways for the boys to find their own role in life. Slindon College’s next Open Morning is Saturday 7 March. slindoncollege.co.uk 01243 814320 registrar@slindoncollege.co.uk

Raven’s 2 is available to order

England international visits St John’s

Raven’s 2 provides a measure of clear-thinking ability and intellectual capacity that minimises the impacts of language skills and cultural differences. Raven’s 2 is available in both print and digital format via the Q-global platform. This European standardised non-verbal assessment of general cognitive ability is suitable for children and adults.

Rising England rugby star Jodie Ounsley, who is deaf, joined students at St John’s Catholic School for the Deaf in Boston, West Yorkshire to officially launch their refurbished Sixth Form.

You can order now for a ten per cent discount until 31 January 2020. pearsonclinical.co.uk/ravens2sen

The School supports young people who are hearing impaired and is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Head Teacher Ann Bradbury said: “We were delighted to welcome Jodie to the school and her story is so inspiring for our students. She is a hugely inspiring young woman and her successes show that with hard work and determination, you can achieve your goals.” stjohns.org.uk

Ruskin Mill Trust’s new programmes This year, newly developed programmes and provisions will extend the specialist education and social care offer from Ruskin Mill Trust. Operating for over 30 years, to reimagine the potential of learners through its Practical Skills and Therapeutic Education model, Ruskin Mill Trust offers people with learning difficulties, including autistic spectrum conditions and complex needs, a range of provision from schools, colleges and gateway to independence programmes, to adult social care. To find out more, or become part of the team at sites throughout England, Scotland and Wales, contact 0330 055 2653 or admissions@rmt.org

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In-ground Rebound Therapy trampoline The first wholly UKmanufactured in-ground Rebound Therapy trampoline has been launched by Sunken Trampolines. Two sizes have been made, a standard school trampoline size (15’ by 9’) and a 12’ by 8’. Both comply with sporting equipment safety standards, meaning schools and residences can have an easily accessible sunken option instead of a heavy and clumsy above ground trampoline. Compatible for outdoor and indoor use, the ST100 and 110 are perfect for Rebound Therapy and recreational use with great responsiveness and power combined. For more information, visit sunkentrampolines.co.uk

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What’s new?

Would you like to create an outdoor sensory space but have no funding? The outdoor sensory space in any setting should be fully inclusive and provide the same opportunity for everyone to explore regardless of their ability or special need. It should be a place where diversity is respected and valued, enabling children of all abilities to explore their surroundings in a safe childcentred inclusive environment. Timotay Playscapes have a free funding guide and free inspiration guide to outdoor sensory play spaces and outdoor sensory play equipment. For a free copy, email enquiries@timotayplayscapes.co.uk or call 01933 665151.

promotional content

SEN Law Conference 2020 Following the success of previous sell-out events, IPSEA, Douglas Silas Solicitors and Matrix are again staging the annual SEN Law Conference on Tuesday 3 March 2020 in London. This one-day specialist conference will provide legal updates across all aspects of this fast-moving area of law. It is aimed at those working within and advising on the SEN law framework, including: lawyers and advisers in SEN law; local authority decision-makers; IASS advisers; SEN professionals (including EPs, SaLTs and OTs); school and college staff and; NGOs/campaign groups. senlawconference.co.uk

Premier League star at SEN football tournament

Kingsley School’s day of action against climate change

Former England footballer Leighton Baines was present for Everton in the Community’s first SEN tournament at USM Finch Farm, where 17 teams from special schools across Merseyside took part.

Kingsley School, Devon is breaking new ground in response to the climate change crisis, by creating an Earth Centre in the school grounds and putting environmental sustainability and climate change at the heart of school life.

Students from 11 to 16 years old where invited to Everton’s training ground to take part in the one-off Everton SEN Schools Cup. Everton in the Community’s disability programme dates back to 1999 and provides football and physical activity opportunities to more than a thousand disabled children and adults each year. evertonfc.com/community

Students recently took part in an Earth Day, when they stopped normal timetables and spent the day being curious about the world around them, their part in it and how we can all be more observant and deliberate in our actions to take much better care of our planet. kingsleyschoolbideford.co.uk

LGfL schools supercharge bandwidth for free

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill returns to school

EdTech charity LGfL is supercharging connectivity across its 3000-strong consortium of UK member schools, enabling them to use cloud computing, 4K streaming and virtual reality in the classroom.

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill has urged schoolchildren to use sport to make numeracy more fun and engaging.

The project entitled Pledge 2020 will see all members receive on average a 200 per cent increase in bandwidth at no extra cost to their subscription. The minimum connection speed for a primary school will be 100 MBPS and for secondary schools 500 MBPS. Free secure storage for disaster recovery will also be given to all schools.

The former heptathlete returned to her old high school in Sheffield to discuss the importance of numbers in later life, meeting with her former maths and PE teachers along with current pupils. The visit comes after research by Santander UK revealed 43 per cent of Brits wish they had concentrated more on maths at school, and four in ten parents avoid helping their children with homework because they know they will struggle. santandernumbersgame.co.uk

lgfl.net

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Play

Advertisement feature

Pentagon Play launch a new playground range for children with SEN Pentagon Play are the UK’s number one inclusive school playground specialist. We design, make and install outstanding playground products for outdoor learning, play and sports in primary schools and nurseries. From stimulating and challenging, physical and educational curriculum-focused spaces, to calming and regulating outdoor environments – that balance all of your pupils’ needs whatever their age or ability – we can create the most engaging, inviting, inclusive playground for your school. With over 20 years’ experience under our tool-belts, we’re excited to introduce our innovative new range of SEN playground resources, designed to support children with moderate, specific and profound multiple learning difficulties. This range is truly unique and second to none.

Why is this new range unlike anything else on the SEN market? Because as much as children learn from hands-on experiences, so do we! To make sure that we design the best products, that we know will genuinely benefit pupils’ and effectively support teachers in their work, we go to school ourselves. Our product designers work with teaching professionals and occupational therapists across a broad range of mainstream and specialist schools. They listen and observe during lessons and playtime. They talk to teachers to find out where resources are needed and where innovation and clever design can make a real difference. They’re full of brilliant ideas for products that evolve with the curriculum and stay relevant too.

Highlights of our new SEN range • Sensory Circuits, In-Out Shapes and our magnificent Sensory Castle, which support fun, physical play and therapy through heavy work and regulatory activities. Features promote motor-sensory processing and help children learn how to organise their bodies. They can practise balance and coordination, crossing the midline, proprioception and spatial awareness while climbing, hanging, stretching, swinging, stepping and rolling across, up and down levels. • Calming and alerting sensory products that encourage exploration and enhance memory, stimulating all the main senses and promoting self-regulation. They can be used as break-out spaces, to practise mindfulness and to help children to focus, feel centred and ready for learning. • Exciting STEAM learning products such as our fabulous accessible Ball Run, which promotes logical thinking and problem-solving. Our Nesting and Fine Motor Tables for cognition are hugely popular. On wheels and at various heights to accommodate everyone, they’re great for maths and sorting activities, allowing good eye contact and supporting communication and language development. senmagazine.co.uk

Our specialist playground consultants have backgrounds in education, science and sports, including former teachers with SEN teaching experience. They understand what schools want and are expertly placed to help our customers in planning and designing their ideal outdoor learning facility. We promote inclusivity, paying close attention to creating playgrounds that all pupils can enjoy together cohesively, comfortably, safely and independently. We look at surfacing and spacing. We consider social interactions. We provide sensory stimulation, appropriate physical and educational challenges and clearly zoned learning areas equipped with a choice of accessible and adaptable products. Because each school has different requirements, we’re flexible in our designs so that we can cater for your needs. Our skilled in-house craftspeople and installation team always rise to a challenge! When you choose to have your playground installed by Pentagon, we will help to manage the entire process from design through to completion. If you would like us to visit you for a free playground consultation, please email info@pentagonplay.co.uk or telephone 01625 890 330 (North) or 0117 379 0899 (South). You can also contact us through our website pentagonplay.co.uk, where you can view our full range of products, case studies and testimonials. SEN104

Point of view

Point of view: specialist teacher of VI

Expert provision We need to reverse the trend of cutting specialist support roles, writes Caireen Sutherland It is estimated that 80 per cent of what we learn is through what we see. Children learn a lot about the world by watching what other people are doing and how they are interacting and talking about the things around them. As well as this incidental learning, formal education is typically delivered through very visual means. For children with vision impairment, this means that everyday learning experiences must be carefully adapted by trained specialists who understand the different ways in which children with reduced or no vision learn and develop. This vital support, delivered by Qualified Teachers of Vision Impairment (QTVIs), goes beyond enabling them to learn alongside classmates. It also allows them to develop essential social, mobility and independence skills that they will need as adults. However, the Left Out Of Learning report, published in October by the Royal National Institute of Blind People, showed that more than a third of local authorities (LAs) in England have reported a decrease in funding for QTVIs over the last two years. This is despite a seven per cent rise in the number of children and young people with vision impairment who require this specialist support. As a registered QTVI, I am naturally concerned about the development of the 11,000 children and young people who the charity estimates will be missing out on provision due to cuts or funding freezes. But I am also worried that the needs of these children and the value of specialist expertise is not being recognised in policy and funding decisions.

Overwhelming demand With cuts taking their toll and services being stripped back, QTVIs are facing an unprecedented crisis. Just over a quarter of LAs in England now have an average QTVI caseload ratio of over 100. Although vision impairment is a low incidence disability, a high level of intervention is often required and many QTVIs are being overwhelmed by the number of children that need support, which will invariably result in the reduction of input quality. Increasingly, there is a focus on upskilling mainstream teachers to work with VI children. While it’s good to see an understanding that specialist training is required, this should SEN104

About the author Caireen Sutherland is the Specialist Lead for Education at the Royal National Institute of Blind People and a Qualified Teacher of Vision Impairment. RNIB.org.uk/left-outlearning @RNIB

@rnibuk

Qualified Teachers of Vision Impairment are facing an unprecedented crisis not be considered a substitute for specialist staff and provision. A QTVI’s work is also not just about supporting children to access learning, it’s about helping children learn to access all that is around them. By teaching a child to read Braille, use a cane, or take turns in conversations without visual cues, QTVIs are equipping these children with vital skills for life. QTVI is a specialism that is struggling to recruit new staff. Where many QTVIs in post are nearing retirement age, the profession is quickly reaching a point where staff are being lost faster than they can be replenished – making posts even easier to cut. The situation is also becoming off-putting to graduates, who may not want to make the expensive and timeconsuming commitment of QTVI training for a profession that is consistently losing posts and seeing increased caseloads. With more than £14 billion being promised for primary and secondary education between now and 2023, we need the Government to fully recognise the high needs of children with sensory impairment and the specialist input that is needed to support them. senmagazine.co.uk

Point of view

Point of view: parent

This farming life Living on a farm is working wonders for her son with autism, writes Hannah Reeves I think farming has evolved in recent years, not just as a career opportunity or a way of living, but also as a form of therapy. It can provide so many areas of education and learning, and help children and adults with their emotions. It can also provide people with coping mechanisms when they are struggling. For me, farming has been so beneficial to my son’s mental health. He has autism and choosing to learn in an outdoor environment has been amazing for him. We, as a family, took on an allotment and taught our son how to grow fruit and vegetables. This enabled him to engage in sensory activities in his own space and in his own time. He learnt how things are made and where they come from and the activities provided plenty of fresh air and exercise for him. More recently, we took on a small holding farm close to where we live. For a child with autism, this can be such a positive experience. School, on the other hand, can be really anxiety provoking for pupils with autism – very institutionalised and loud – so providing children with open spaces, outdoors with animals and plants, can really help with their education.

About the author Hannah Reeves is the mother of two children, one of whom has autism. @hannah.louisemontgomery

He uses the animals to help calm himself down during potential meltdown episodes

Our son struggles with his school attendance and he suffers extreme anxiety, but when he is on the farm with his animals in a safe, comfortable environment, he is like a different child. He uses the animals to help calm himself down during potential meltdown episodes, and he talks to them about how he feels. He struggles to show affection towards people, even his family, but with animals he can really open up about emotions that he sometimes didn’t even know he had.

In addition, my son won’t socialise with other children; he doesn’t have many friends that he can play with at the weekends, so if he didn’t have this outdoor space where he can communicate with the animals, he would become a recluse within his own home. This is one of the key reasons why farming has been such a positive experience for us all as a family. It means we can work together as a team, each taking our own role on the farm, and it therefore gives the children some responsibility.

Sensory learning

It also helps with relationships between the siblings, because when we are on the farm our two sons work together to do jobs, helping and bonding with each other. I think it is so important that siblings of children with SEN don’t always feel like a carer, or that they are left out in any way. I believe that a farming lifestyle has so many benefits for children with autism, and it provides a positive focus for the whole family.

On the farm, we provide lots of opportunities for sensory learning, including planting in the soil, sand and water play, stroking the animals, and nurturing and tasting the different fruits and vegetables that we grow. There is also lots of open space to explore or to take respite in when our son needs some time out. The farm also provides education within all areas of the curriculum – for example, measuring out the animal feed for the day. For children with SEN who either can’t go to a specialised school or are too anxious to attend any school, farming can be a great way of learning without the pressure that school can cause. senmagazine.co.uk

What’s your point of view? Email editor@senmagazine.co.uk

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SEN law

The right to choose a school Douglas Silas outlines legal duties relating to the naming of schools or other placements in an EHC plan

General requirements The SEN and disabilities Code of Practice (CoP) states that education, health and care (EHC) plans must record in Section I the name and type of school, maintained nursery school, post-16 institution or other institution to be attended by the child or young person (or at least the type of school/institution to be attended by them). Under the heading: “Requests for a particular school, college or other institution”, it says that if a child’s parent or a young person makes a request for a particular nursery/school/post-16 institution, the local authority (LA) must comply with that preference and name the school/ college in the EHC plan unless:

When a preference is refused, it is normally because the school or other placement is full or too expensive SEN104

• it would be unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or SEN of the child/young person, or • the attendance of the child/young person there would be incompatible with the efficient education of others or the efficient use of resources. However, this only applies to: • maintained nursery schools/schools • any form of academy/free school • non-maintained special schools • further education/sixth form colleges • an independent school/specialist college which has been approved by the Secretary of State.

Does the LA have to name the preferred placement? As is often the case with these things, the answer is both “yes” and “no”! “Yes” because, if it is one of the types of school/ placements listed above, they are usually required to name it, provided it complies with the provisos also described above. But, “no” where it is not one of those schools/placements senmagazine.co.uk

SEN law

The LA must be sure that the independent institution will admit the child or young person before naming it

About the author Specialist SEN solicitor Douglas Silas is the Managing Director of Douglas Silas Solicitors. SpecialEducationalNeeds.co.uk @douglassilas

referred to above, or if it is but it falls within the exceptions. When a preference is refused, it is normally because the school or other placement is full or too expensive, although sometimes other reasons are given as well.

How do I express a preference for a school/other placement? This is done by the child’s parent or the young person being sent a draft EHC plan after an EHC needs assessment, with Section I left blank, to allow them to express a preference for a school or other placement within 15 calendar days of receipt of the EHC plan. The CoP says that if a child’s parents or the young person request one of the schools/placements above then, provided the exceptions do not apply, it should be named. However, they may also request a place at a non-maintained early years provision, independent school, specialist college or post-16 provider and the LA must consider their request. The CoP adds that the LA is not under the same conditional duty to name the provider, but must have regard to the general principle in section 9 of the Education Act 1996 that children should be educated in accordance with their parents’ wishes, so long as this is compatible with the provision of efficient education, instruction and training, and does not mean unreasonable public expenditure. It also says that the LA must be sure that the independent institution will admit the child or young person before naming it in the plan, since these providers are

@douglassilas

not under a duty to admit a child or young person even if it is named in the plan. Where a parent or young person does not make a request for a particular nursery, school or college, or does so and the request is not met, the LA must specify mainstream provision in the EHC plan unless it would be: • against the wishes of the parent or the young person or • incompatible with the efficient education of others. Where the LA considers a particular mainstream place to be incompatible with the efficient education of others, it must demonstrate that there are no reasonable steps that a mainstream nursery, school, or post-16 institution in its areas could take to prevent incompatibility.

Does this mean a child/young person has a legal right to mainstream education? In theory, yes. Mainstream education cannot be refused by an LA on the grounds that it is not suitable. The CoP says that an LA can only rely on the exception of incompatibility with the efficient education of others in relation to maintained nursery schools, mainstream schools/post-16 institutions, taken as a whole, if it can show that there are no “reasonable steps” it could take to prevent that incompatibility. Therefore, where a parent or young person’s request for a particular mainstream school/post-16 institution has not been met, the institution in question then becomes a possible candidate for consideration by the LA. As the right to mainstream education is such a complex subject, I will dedicate my article in the next issue to looking at the legal duties relating to the naming of mainstream schools or other placements in an EHC plan.

■ Parents can request a particular school for their child when they receive a draft EHC plan.

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SEN overseas

Changing minds Sonia Aboagye looks at the challenges of ensuring access to education for children with disabilities in Ghana

t’s thought that there are between 90 and 150 million children with disabilities in the developing world. An estimated 90 per cent of them do not attend school.

In Ghana, many of those with the severest disabilities may not be allowed to live beyond birth or are kept hidden away in their homes, away from the critical and superstitious eyes of a society which believes that disabilities are caused by curses or evil spirits (Gadagbui, 2010), that children with disabilities are a source of shame, and that they are “objects of charity” who are “incapable”, “economically unproductive” and of “diminished value” (Global Partnership for Education, 2018). Children with disabilities encounter numerous practical barriers to accessing schooling, such as getting money to pay for uniforms and access to suitable transportation, especially from rural areas. Many school buildings are physically inaccessible and lack appropriate seating. Toileting is a black hole – literally. Many schools do not have toilets and those which exist may be nothing more than pit latrines which can be perilous for children with or without disabilities to access.

Many schools do not have toilets and those which exist may be nothing more than pit latrines Learning opportunities are problematic due to large class sizes, lack of skills and knowledge among educators, and little time to provide tailored support. Children with disabilities have been found to receive less attention from teachers compared to their typically developing peers (Obeng, 2007). Many teachers, including those with SEN training, have no idea what to do with children who cannot speak or who struggle to grip a pencil. These children may also face social ostracisation from their peers. Some parents have removed their non-disabled children from schools to avoid “contamination” by disabled pupils who are placed there. These factors may explain why children with disabilities are less likely to go to school, are more likely to drop-out, and have lower primary school completion rates than non-disabled peers (WHO, 2004).

■ Muwunyo, who has athetoid CP, has spent much of her life in a plastic basket. Photo by Kekeli Foundation (kekeli-ghana.org).

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SEN overseas

Bernard’s father abandoned his mother when he discovered she had given birth to a disabled child Increasing attendance The goal of inclusive education has been adopted by many countries since the 1994 UNESCO Salamanca Statement. The Ghana Education Strategic Plan 2003 aimed to increase school attendance of pupils with disabilities to 50 per cent by 2008, 80 per cent by 2012, and 100 per cent by 2015. However, by 2011/12, only 26,207 of the estimated 862,160 children with disabilities aged four to fourteen years (UIS, 2013) attended schools – approximately three per cent. 11,800 of the pupils with identified “mild to moderate disabilities” (visual, hearing and intellectual disabilities) were in schools without support. Those attending special schools had to wait several years to get a special school place, often not attending until aged ten to 11 years. By 2011/12, only 34 of 170 districts (MoE, 2012) provided inclusive education and they reached only 8,000 students. In 2015, Ghana launched an inclusive education policy and action plan to promote access and learning for all children, particularly those from excluded backgrounds including street children, orphans, children with HIV/Aids, autism or multiple disabilities. As part of this policy, all children with “mild to moderate disabilities” are to be included in mainstream schools, with special schools being for those with severe needs or resource centres providing equipment and expertise to local schools. Despite laudable goals, and some developments in provision of regional assessment centres, a two-credit SEN module on all initial teacher training courses and sensitisation of communities, NGOs continue to lead the way in provision for children with disabilities (UNESCO, 2016) especially in relation to children with severe to profound multiple learning disabilities, who present some of the greatest challenges to inclusive education.

About the author Sonia Aboagye is a UKtrained speech and language therapist and teacher. She is the Head of the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Volta Region, Ghana. uhas.edu.gh @uhasspeechaudiologyhub_gh #kekelighana

■ Adaklu mountain, Bernard and his mother by Kekeli Foundation (kekeli-ghana.org).

In July 2019, UKAid funded a project led by the NGOs Cerebral Palsy Africa and Multikids Africa. Entitled, Enabling access to education for children with cerebral palsy, it involved SEN teachers from each of the ten regions of Ghana taking part in a three-week workshop where they learned about cerebral palsy (CP) and were taught how to make resources including special seating and standing frames using Appropriate Paperbased Technology. Teachers are expected to disseminate this knowledge to their colleagues and will be followed up by trainers with onsite visits and online support.

unlikely ever to do so. He lives with his mother and grandmother in a tiny village perched on the side of Adaklu, a mountain on the outskirts of Ho. Bernard’s father abandoned his mother when he discovered she had given birth to a disabled child. Since then, she has single-handedly raised their son through growing and selling tomatoes. Every day since he was an infant, Bernard has been carried on his mother’s back along the steep paths and trails that criss-cross the mountain. While she weeds, plants and harvests, he lies in a metal washing bowl propped up by pillows.

Bernard’s story

Bernard is non-verbal, but makes occasional vocalisations and sometimes smiles; his mother has learned to interpret his small repertoire of sounds and gestures and is responsive to his needs. Bernard is dependent on her for all activities –

It may take time for the impact of these initiatives to take effect. Meanwhile, life continues unchanged for children like Bernard, a six-year-old boy with intellectual disability and spastic quadriplegia stemming from cerebral palsy. Bernard was identified by the Kekeli Foundation, an NGO in the Volta Region of Ghana. Bernard has never been to school and is senmagazine.co.uk

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SEN overseas

from feeding to toileting and bathing. Bernard cannot access education because schools require children like him to be accompanied by a carer who is subsidised by the child’s family. Bernard’s family simply don’t have the money. As Bernard has grown older and heavier, his mother has found it harder to navigate the steep mountain with him on her back. It is unclear what will happen when she becomes too old to carry him.

Ultimately, family survival supersedes educational aspirations

Muwunyo – the “basket girl” Even when a school place has been secured for a child, attendance is often problematic. In parts of Ho, the livelihoods of many families are dependent on subsistence farming and market trading. During planting season, harvesting or on market days, children may be absent from school because there is no-one available to take them there. Ultimately, family survival supersedes educational aspirations. There is also the perceived benefit of educating children with disabilities. Muwunyo, known as the “basket girl”, has athetoid CP and has lived the majority of her life in a plastic basket in the corner of a room in her family’s mud-brick home in Abutia Tetei, a rural area about 20 minutes outside of Ho. She is multilingual and can understand and speak three local dialects, but her only access to education came when she was 16 years old and she was supported to attend school for a year. Despite this being a positive experience for her, her grandmother decided to withdraw her after a year because she couldn’t see the benefit of it as she would never get a job. Additionally, the family was burdened by the time and expense of getting her to school and back each day.

Selorm’s story Another perspective on inclusive education is provided by Selorm, a 28-year-old male shoe repairer, also based in Abutia Tetei. He was born with ataxic CP and he always dreamt of going to university and becoming a teacher. At basic school, his educators felt he had lots of potential, but he was hampered at junior and senior high school by teachers who were unable to adapt teaching methods to suit him, implement classroom strategies or facilitate exam concessions such as oral exams and access to a scribe or reader. During his high school exams,

his exam centre was not aware that he had a disability until he spoke up. Hearing his unclear speech, they felt sorry for him and gave him ten minutes extra time, although he qualified for time and half because of his disabilities. When this was later queried, the examiners reported that according to their guidelines, only the visually impaired qualified for extra time. Since Selorm was not blind, they didn’t feel his disability was severe enough to warrant extra time. Selorm’s dreams of attending university were thwarted and he eventually received a government grant which he used to set up a roadside shoe repair shop called Ebe ye yie (It shall be well). More recently, he has also set up a poultry farm. In a quest to use his experiences to benefit others, he has become involved in self-advocacy and is Ho West District’s self-advocate representative for Inclusion Ghana (part of the Ghana Federation of Disablity Organisations). He educates parents of children with disabilities about the importance of sending their children to school and has formed support groups for people with disabilities within the Ho West District. If we are to bring about the shift needed to make inclusive education and a more inclusive society a reality for all in Ghana, we are going to need the combined efforts of individuals, NGOs and government agencies all working together with local communities. We will also need to continue to tackle the negative attitudes towards disability that are still prevalent in Ghanaian Society today.

References

■ Selorm (centre, with walking stick) and people with disabilities in Ho West by Kekeli Foundation (kekeli-ghana.org).

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Ametepee, L. K., and Anastasiou, D. (2015). Special and inclusive education in Ghana: Status and progress, challenges and implications. International Journal of Educational Development, 41, 143-152. Gadagbui, G.Y., 2010. Inclusive Education in Ghana: Practices, Challenges and the Future Implications for all the Stakeholders, Report of Ghana National Commission for UNESCO. Global Partnership for Education (2018) Disability and Inclusive Education. A Stocktake of Education Sector Plans and GPE-Funded Grants. Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of Ghana (2003), Education Strategic Plan 2003 to 2015. Policy, Targets and Strategies. Ministry of Education (MoE), Republic of Ghana (2013), Education Sector Performance Report 2013. Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS), Government of Ghana (2003), Education for All National Action Plan: Work Programme 2003 to 2015. Obeng, C. (2007). Teacher’s Views on the Teaching of Children with Disabilities in Ghanaian Classrooms. International Journal of Special Education, 22(1), 96-102. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (2013). Public Reports: Education. UNESCO International Bureau of Education (2016). Reaching Out to All Learners: A Resource Pack for Supporting Inclusion. Wodon, Q., Male, C., Montenegro, C., and Nayihouba, A. (2018). The Challenge of Inclusive Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Health Survey, Geneva. World Health Organisation, 2002-2004: https://www. who.int/healthinfo/survey/en/

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PMLD

A dangerous assumption? Joanna Grace provides a personal view on whether we should always presume capacity for young people with PMLD

have often heard it said that the best thing for children with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) is that we start from a position of believing that they can understand everything we say and are fully capable. In other words, people advise that we assume they are not people with PMLD but are instead people with profound and multiple barriers to learning (PMBL) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that is, they have full intellectual capacity but it is masked by their physical impairments. Why do people believe presuming cognitive competence is the best thing to do? Is it because we want to believe others are like us? Perhaps this why I find the assumption difficult. As someone who is neurodivergent, I have personally suffered from, and continue to battle against, the risks inherent in that presumption of â&#x20AC;&#x153;like-me-nessâ&#x20AC;?. People assuming I am like them does me harm. SEN104

Why do people believe presuming cognitive competence is the best thing to do?

Presuming children with PMLD are actually children with PMBL is heralded as positive, as having high expectations, as being respectful, but it can be ableist. Linking the assumption with a narrative of high expectations says very clearly that to have cognition is best, and the more of it you have, the better you are. The high expectation is that the children will be cognitively able. senmagazine.co.uk

PMLD

Are your “high expectations” actually a front for a prejudice hidden in you?

About the author Joanna Grace is a sensory engagement and inclusion specialist, author, trainer, TEDx speaker and founder of The Sensory Projects. TheSensoryProjects.co.uk @Jo3Grace

See them as they are The “profound” of profound and multiple learning disabilities was originally there to indicate the level of intellectual disability as being profound. If a child truly has profound intellectual disabilities, they are not capable of learning formal methods of communication. I have met children who have only the top of their brain stem – the ability to blink and smile – but quite literally no brain in their heads. By saying they will not learn formal communication, I am not having low expectations of them, I am acknowledging them as they are. It is the same as me pointing out that you do not have wings, so you cannot fly. I am not making a judgement on this. If I go on to say that I have high expectations that you will in time fly, then I am adding in judgement and saying flying is best. It may well be true that the majority of children currently labelled with PMLD are in fact children who face PMBL, but that is not the same as saying children with PMLD do not exist. There are children whose intellectual impairments are so severe that they will never be able to master formal methods of communication. And there are also children who have degenerative conditions that mean they will lose the skills they have mastered. A narrative of aiming high does these children no favours. Imagine you have a class with nine children facing PMBL and one child with PMLD. That lone child is at enormous risk if they are presumed to be understanding everything around them. Consider their experience, and that of their family, as they are told they can understand but we just have to find a way. All the time we do this, we miss connecting with them as they truly are. Notions of a sensory curriculum may seem dated in a technological age but they still very much have their place in our classrooms.

Wasted time Consider how precious the time of a child with PMLD is, as it is likely that this is a person who is life limited, making the hours of their day amount to a bigger percentage of their life than ours do. If we spend an hour a day for two years on a communication device that they cannot access, that amounts to a lot of time of not being able to connect. To waste anyone’s time is unkind; to waste time this precious is worse still. Even if after those two years they are able to indicate a simple “yes” and “no”, was it really worth the time? Were they not already indicating their preferences through their own idiosyncratic communication methods? Could we not have saved them time by simply paying attention to the way in which they already communicate? senmagazine.co.uk

@TheSensoryProjects

Imagine the family, who have had to go through the trauma of those initial messages about their child with PMLD and the journey of acceptance they have been on. Telling them that their child can communicate, that it’s just a matter of time and equipment, invites them to pick up hope again when this might not be realistic. What’s more, there’s a hidden message in that invitation – that if their child can master this, they are in some way “better”? What if they can’t master the strategies you offer? What if they fail? Do you keep trying, as blind optimism is better than acknowledging their reality, because their reality is so awful to you and their decline so apparent? Are your “high expectations” actually a front for a prejudice hidden in you that says to be cognitively disabled is terrible?

What is the alternative? Of course we must make every effort with alternative and augmentative communication (AAC); amazing things are possible, but we must do this in a reflective way. If any setting or organisation tells you they do this for everyone with PMLD, let it be a red flag to you. We are all different, and within the population of people caught under that umbrella term of PMLD the variance is huge. We should always have high expectations but they should be measured against a guide that is relevant to that particular child. We might have high expectations that the child will engage, connect and socialise, that they will be present in a moment and that they will love and be loved. And yes, we might measure these expectations against cognition, but only if we are sure that for the individual child this is the best measure. In a world of high expectations we need to be absolutely sure that the measures we choose are chosen in a child centred way, and not placed there by edicts from on high or influenced by generalised assumptions of what is best for everyone. Value each life as it is. Value the hours within it. Value the skills already present. Measure against measures meaningful to the person, and watch out for those “everyone must” or “everyone can” red flags. SEN104

Clinical assessments

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Emotional literacy

In tune with learning Sanjo Jeffrey looks at the role of emotional literacy in creating positive relationships between students and teachers

motional Literacy and emotional intelligence focus on people getting along because they understand their own emotions and those of others. Interacting positively with one another, especially now that we are citizens of a global community, is crucially important and emotional literacy seems to be the key that opens this door. These days, being brilliant and having a very high IQ are not enough to achieve success in the world. In fact, Goleman, an advocate of emotional literacy, emphases emotional quotient (a measure of the level of a person’s emotional intelligence) as essential for excellence in any field. Today, there is a greater need for people to connect and make use of their social skills, above and beyond their “book intelligence”. In the corporate world, employers have recognised that making use of these qualities can have a big impact on their profit margins.

The key to success Research in South America, Germany and Japan suggests that the managers and businesses that succeed are those utilising emotional intelligence or emotional literacy in their daily business with others. In a world where change is as sure as daybreak, “a lack of emotional intelligence in such an unstable environment means certain failure” (Goleman, 1998). Employers recognised that there was a missing component in their business plans so they had to make a change and SEN104

If schools are to continue to be relevant and useful, they too have to focus on the emotions

review their recruitment policies. Schools also had to make a change. They had to change the product they were creating by changing the process of production. Instead of just teaching students how to undertake a task, they also needed to teach the children how to talk about their emotions so they could get “in tune” with themselves and others and work together to solve the problem. According to a study of 80 PhD students in the 1950s, which was followed up in 1994 (quoted in Goleman, 1998), “Emotional Intelligence abilities were about four times more important than IQ in determining professional success and prestige”. It stands to reason then, that if schools are to continue to be relevant and useful, they too have to focus on the emotions. This approach is both appropriate and complementary to the National Curriculum. Research findings from Antidote (2003), a campaign for emotional literacy, show that “emotional literacy senmagazine.co.uk

Emotional literacy

Situations that could have been volatile or unproductive were easily turned around

About the author Sanjo Jeffrey is a SENCO in a North London secondary school. She has worked in education since 1989.

ensures young people are ready to absorb the knowledge and develop the skills laid down in the curriculum… [other processes] do not stimulate young people’s desire, and capacity, to learn. That is why we argue that, ultimately, emotional literacy needs to be practised within the study of every curriculum subject”. Schools all want their students to absorb knowledge and develop skills and if there is a tool that will encourage this happening, surely it should be used with great enthusiasm. Rudd (2003) posits that “The years between the ages of about twelve and twenty are dense with changes for young people… Emotions are particularly changeable during this time… importantly, the way teenagers are at present can mould them into what they become as adults. For this reason now is a good time to allow teenagers the opportunity to increase their emotional intelligence, not only to enhance their health but also in order to become good citizens”.

Transforming feelings

■ A good pupil-teacher bond can greatly aid learning.

When students are helped out of emotional states that are not conducive to learning and are given opportunities to create a positive learning space, they will be able to achieve general success and excellence while being positive, responsible citizens.

Emotional literacy in action

Antidote’s (2003) research confirms this. The “capacity to transform feelings is enormously useful in fostering learning power. By becoming more emotionally fluent, students can find ways of putting themselves into the sort of states that are most appropriate for whatever task they are engaged in – whether it is trying to analyse a problem, absorb masses of information, write an essay, prepare for an exam or come up with a creative idea”.

WL was the usual reticent student whose responses to requests, statements and overtures were generally “dunno” or “no”. Week after week, the same things happened in lessons: little work was undertaken and there was little change in the relationship. One day though, I noticed that while we sat in the IT room he was busy at the computer. His eyes were closed and he was typing rapidly. I moved over to the side of him and was amazed to see that he was typing with great accuracy, so I quietly commended him on his typing. His response was not the usual. He eagerly invited me to dictate something to him to see if he could type it error free. We spoke about his interest in typing and had a very good conversation, free from his usual responses.

But is this only possible in the books researchers write or do ordinary teachers practise emotional intelligence in their everyday classrooms beyond the prying eyes of graduate students and Ofsted inspectors? Indeed they do. When I taught at a pupil referral unit, my students did not always handle their emotions in a very positive way. Sometimes they lacked the vocabulary to express how they felt. However, when students knew that staff members were truly interested in them as people and as individuals, situations that could have been volatile or unproductive were easily turned around. As Steiner (1997) stated: “to be emotionally literate is to be able to handle emotions in a way that improves your personal power and improves the quality of life around you. Emotional Literacy improves relationships, creates loving possibilities between people, makes co-operative work possible, and facilitates the feeling of community.” senmagazine.co.uk

When it comes to emotional literacy, I have to confess that I do not always get it right myself, but when I do, I can see what a huge difference it can make to students.

I had shown an interest in him, and in his interests, and so began a positive relationship between WL and myself which although it did not move him to write copious amounts in my English lessons, it did see him working with me on an activity for the school newsletter. He suggested that he lead the activity and I agreed, so he made all the final decisions for the jokes in a section of the paper; this new relationship also led to WL allowing me to talk with him when he was angry, to help him calm himself down.

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Creating a dialogue SF was a Year 9 student. She had a very low reading age and therefore struggled in lessons. In a science lesson, the teacher had prepared a session on reproduction. SF was very interested and began asking a lot of questions. The questions soon focussed on parenting and specifically the relationship between the science teacher and her children. Although SF was actively participating, not all her questions were developing the topic the way the teacher had wanted the lesson to go; however, the teacher realised that a conversation was taking place, and a dialogue was ensuing that could be used to develop a stronger rapport with the student for the future. The conversation moved towards how the teacher in question raised her daughters, the activities she participated in with them, what she did for them, how she treated them, how she disciplined them and other similar topics. The conversation between teacher and student offered this young person something she was not getting from adults at home – a listening ear and time to talk and be listened to. This example seems to support the conclusions of research by Park (2003) that “It is through dialogue that emotional literacy develops and makes its contribution to learning… Dialogue does not involve particular skills or techniques, just a genuine interest in one’s fellow participants”. This teacher’s interest in the student’s questions, even though it did not develop the lesson objective, went a long way in developing a relationship with the student. It also needs to be stated that learning does not only occur when you learn hard cold facts; learning occurs in all interactions and the more abstract they are, the more transferable the learning will be. “Emotional awareness starts with attunement to the stream of feeling that is a constant presence in all of us and with

We need to get our students engaged with learning, sometimes without them even realising it

recognition of how these emotions shape what we perceive, think and do”, says Goleman (1998). “From that awareness comes another: that our feelings affect those we deal with”.

Motivating students Students can often be heard to say to an unsmiling sternfaced teacher that they should smile and make the lesson more interesting. If the teacher does not create a positive environment for learning by modelling positive “vibes”, they are defeating the purpose of being in the classroom. They are not able to facilitate learning or set the tone – the emotional atmosphere – that is conducive to learning. I believe it is essential that we all, as educators, use emotional literacy to motivate students. We need to get our students engaged with learning, sometimes without them even realising it. We need to create safe havens for them in classrooms where they will want to come and learn, and where they will enjoy learning. When teaching students who may be disaffected or troubled, those with low self-esteem, and students for whom learning is difficult, the use of emotional literacy is an effective and powerful tool to assist both teacher and students to get the most out of the day (and their lives as a whole). Schools need to equip students with more than the three Rs. They need to make a commitment to teaching the fourth “R” (relationships) – “life and social skills of problem solving, empathy, cooperation and emotional literacy” (Rae, 1998). The best advert for emotional literacy is the teacher who models it for their students every day. As a translation of the famous quote by Goethe says, “If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.” References

■ Pupils need to feel classrooms are “safe havens” for them.

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Goleman, D. (1998), Working with Emotional Intelligence, London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Park, J. et al. and Antidote (organization) (2003). The emotional literacy handbook : promoting whole-school strategies, London, David Fulton Publishers in association with Antidote, Campaign for Emotional Literacy. Rudd, B. (2003), Talking is for teens: Emotional Literacy for Key Stages 3 and 4, Bristol, Lucky Duck Publishing. Rae, T. (1998), Dealing with Emotion: an Emotional Literacy Curriculum, Bristol, Lucky Duck Publishing. Steiner, C. (1999), Achieving Emotional Literacy: A personal program to increase your emotional intelligence, London, Bloomsbury Publishing.

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Naidex

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put its focus on the key topics taking the industry by storm; from inclusion and accessibility to mobility and employability, Naidex 46 has you covered. Visitors will be able to shop from 400 world-class suppliers and try before they buy, but Naidex has always been much more than a marketplace where visitors can find the latest innovations; it is a place where people come together and learn about the industry’s future. As the epicentre of the disability and healthcare world, Naidex 46 will also boast an unparalleled speaker line-up, providing you with 300 inspirational seminars from renowned names such as Microsoft, Sainsbury’s, Stanley Security, BBC, Monzo and more. Throughout both days, seminar theatres will be brimming with information and advice, leaving audiences uplifted and empowered. What’s more, the most loved features will be making a comeback. Visitors will be able to test the very latest mobility products on the Mobility Test Track, get involved in the Live Sports Arena, get CPD points in the Moving and Handling Lab, or discover the latest in digital and physical accessibility, courtesy of the Accessibility Summit. If this wasn’t enough, the 46th edition of the show will also see the launch of new features, such as the Naidex Junior Trail, which will be providing children and their parents with paediatric solutions created specifically with children at heart. With all this lined up, Naidex will once again become the hub of the disability sector. And the best part? Tickets remain completely free at naidex.co.uk

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Down’s syndrome

Becoming school-ready Stuart Mills outlines the types of support children with Down’s syndrome need in the transition from Reception to Year 1

earning with same-age peers in mainstream primary schools has changed the quality of life for children and young people who have Down’s syndrome, through raised expectations, improved outcomes and better inclusion in society. Inclusion has, I believe, played a significant role in raising awareness and altering public perceptions of people with Down’s syndrome for the better. Pupils with Down’s syndrome in mainstream settings have also consistently demonstrated how inclusion impacts positively not only on them, but also on the whole school population. In recent years though, the Down’s Syndrome Association’s Helpline has seen an increased number of calls for advice and support regarding the transition from Reception into Year 1 classes. The main thrust of these calls is that children cannot be included in Year 1 classes because they lack the necessary skills to access the curriculum. There has also been a resurgence in school requests for pupils to return to younger classes, and in proposals for these very young learners to continue their education in specialist provision rather than to progress through primary school. The majority of these enquiries have been for children who are progressing well and who are developing in a typical way for learners of their age who have Down’s syndrome. Most learners who have Down’s syndrome will show development of attention skills and learning habits in the first two years of school that can enable teachers to include them in class more easily as they get older, provided teachers differentiate learning objectives and activities in suitable ways. The need for teachers to differentiate to engage learners with same-age class peers is likely to increase with each new school class; however, gains in attention, learning behaviours (for example, engaging in table top/seated learning activities) and more advanced understanding of language and school routines can all help to increase learning opportunities with peers. For many learners, this means they can be included in junior classes, with less time out of class on focused individual activities than when they were in infant classes.

There has been a resurgence in school requests for pupils to return to younger classes senmagazine.co.uk

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Down’s syndrome

Learners who have Down’s syndrome are likely to have a spiky learning profile

An understanding of Down’s syndrome, and the uniqueness of each individual person with the condition, across the school environment will support inclusive practice.

About the author Stuart Mills is Information Officer at the Down’s Syndrome Association, which provides a wide range of resources covering issues discussed in this article, including its Celebrating Success (Primary) resource. downs-syndrome.org.uk   @DSAInfo

@DownsSyndromeAssociation

Planning and preparation Positive attitudes, planning, support and differentiation will go a long way to ensuring the successful inclusion of a child with Down’s syndrome. During the term preceding the move to KS1 school staff should meet to share information and look at what support should be provided for their pupil with Down’s syndrome to make a successful transition. For example, are the learner’s strengths and support needs clearly documented for the new teacher to understand and to be able to use them? What are the qualities of the class member’s peer relationships, and the learner’s relationships with additional needs support staff? Can the learner spend short (successful) periods of time in their new classroom with their existing support staff? Support from additional needs support staff, sourcing of resources, seating arrangements, and supports for hearing, vision or any other relevant adjustment for health and learning needs should be discussed with the SENCO, parents and supporters, so everyone is clear about what is going to happen. The SEN and Disabilities Code of Practice says that “Transition should be seen as a process which involves parents/carers, child, setting and receiving setting. (EYFS 2008) A child’s transition from home to a preschool setting or from a setting to school can be an anxious time, particularly if there are additional needs with regard to their development of speech and language and communication, health and physical needs or general development. Periods of change can be made less daunting if parents’ and carers’ views are respected and they feel that they have made a suitable contribution to what will happen when their child moves to a new setting.”

■ Teachers need to understand each pupil’s skills and development.

who have Down’s syndrome are likely to have a spiky learning profile and their learning opportunities should not be based on preconceptions about developmental readiness.

Understanding the individual

As for any pupil, the starting point for the teacher is knowing where their new pupil is in their development and skills, as well as their motivation and interests, and to decide what their next steps forward are likely to be. The teacher will then need to aim for these next steps through adapting objectives and activities to suit the learning needs of the pupil, while including them as much as possible in the class with their peers. The teacher must be prepared to make adjustments according to individual need. Making adjustments might mean that, for example, should a child need a play break during class time for five minutes, they can have this.

Every child with Down’s syndrome will be different. Each learner will have their own learning preferences, as well as some of the learning strengths associated with Down’s syndrome. Learners

It is vital that the child’s learning activities are designed and monitored by the class or subject teacher, who can plan and

There will be measures schools put in place for all children making the move to KS1 that will be of just as much benefit to children with Down’s syndrome. These might include introducing some of the more formal aspects of learning from Year 1 at the end of Reception year and carrying over some practices that will be familiar to the children from Reception.

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Down’s syndrome

then delegate tasks and activities to the additional needs support assistant to carry out. Time spent liaising between the class teacher and the assistant, with some input from another member of staff with knowledge and experience, will reap huge rewards. The child can be given prepared meaningful activities to carry out with the assistant in small groups, with a partner or on a one-to one basis within the whole class session.

Visual supports can be used for every area of learning

Learning styles Hopefully, it will be reassuring for teachers to know that they already have the skills to successfully include pupils with Down’s syndrome and to meet their individual learning needs. What teachers may need support around is with information about the specific learning profile of children with Down’s syndrome (see SEN Magazine Jan/Feb 2016 SEN80)¹. This knowledge will help you to support your pupil’s learning strengths and to put strategies in place to overcome the barriers they face.

The learning style for most children with Down’s syndrome includes using visual-spatial information and supports and language they can understand. This means modelling activities or showing children, using: pictures/photos; gestures/signs; manipulatives for written letters, words, sentences and numerals; computers and tablets; objects; practical number equipment; number lines; and more – everything that can be considered a “visual support”. Teachers will be fully conversant with these as they are used for other children, often younger. Schools often subscribe to resource providers to get some of these, although photos, pictures and school-made visual resources are useful as well. Visual supports can be used for every area of learning, to help children to understand language and to know what they are being asked or expected to do.

About Down’s syndrome • Around one in every 1,000 babies born in the UK will have Down’s syndrome. • There are approximately 40,000 people in the UK with the condition. • Although the chance of a baby having Down’s syndrome is higher for older mothers, more babies with Down’s syndrome are born to younger women. • Down’s syndrome is caused by the presence of an extra chromosome in a baby’s cells. In the majority of cases, Down’s syndrome is not an inherited condition. Down’s syndrome usually occurs because of a chance happening at the time of conception. • Down’s syndrome is not a disease. People with Down’s syndrome are not ill and do not “suffer” from the condition. • People with the syndrome will have a learning disability. The learning disability affects a person’s ability to learn, it does not mean they cannot learn. • Today, the average life expectancy for a person with Down’s syndrome is between 50 and 60 with a small number of people living into their seventies.

■ Pupils with Down’s syndrome respond well to clear routines.

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Down’s syndrome

The child should be enabled to learn with peers for as many parts of lessons as possible

• Using visual-spatial learning strengths, so the child can see a series of visual information, for example, as in a visual timetable, visual plan or story board format. This can help with all aspects of learning, from positive behaviour to story comprehension. • Establishing a clear and consistent routine and ensuring the child knows it well. • Having additional tasks ready as learners may not attend to activities for as long as their peers, and their levels and physical energy can differ from day to day.

Inclusion does not necessarily mean working on the same activity as peers; the tasks for a child with Down’s syndrome may be related to those of peers. Activities will have to be adapted and modified to the pupil’s level of interest and ability and, although it may mean that the child will be working at a different level, it doesn’t mean that they can’t be working on the same topics in the same room but with more visual and simplified materials and explanations. The vital element is that the child should be enabled to learn with peers for as many parts of lessons as possible. The cognitive and linguistic differences between learners with Down’s syndrome and the majority of class peers should not be the focus for decision making about inclusion; the focus should be on celebrating learning and the individual achievements of each child.

What helps? The reference guide below provides some useful ideas about what helps (and what doesn’t help) the successful inclusion of children with Down’s syndrome. • Practising targeted skills daily. It is better to practice for short periods daily than for longer periods, less often. • Teaching reading of whole words and also phonic teaching, with letters and sounds.

• Using role models. Pupils with Down’s syndrome copy and take their cue from their peers, so place them with good role models as often as possible. • Allowing for remembering issues associated with short-term and working memory, such as forgetting instructions and being easily distracted. Offer visual supports the learner can refer to, such as visual timetables and memory aids. • Engaging in regular communication with parents. This is a helpful way to discover motivators and strategies that do/don’t work with the child. • Asking for expert support when needed. • Trying to understand why a behaviour might be occurring; this can often be down to the child trying to communicate something.

What doesn’t help? • Keeping children back another year after they have entered Year 1. • Taking children out to lower year groups (because that’s closer to the level they’re at).

• Targeting vocabulary learning for language across the curriculum. Use written words and sentences as well as pictures.

• Sending them home because they appear too tired (it’s amazing how tired a child can look until you get them home in front of their favourite TV show or computer game!).

• Using pictures and photos to support learning about new concepts.

• Working one-to-one in the corridor (because the topic in the classroom is just way above their head).

• Teaching number symbols and linking these to number words and quantity.

• Working on “life skills” instead of taking part in curriculum activities.

• Ensuring there is more than one additional needs support staff member who can work effectively with the child in the classroom.

• Removing them from the National Curriculum, in part or as a whole (because they won’t understand it all).

• Keeping a home/school communication book and using it positively. • Taking advice from a hearing specialist and implementing it. The majority of children with Down’s syndrome will have at least fluctuating hearing and some will have serious hearing impairments. • Checking that they have had their eyes tested regularly and are wearing correctly fitting glasses.

• Working only alongside their assistant with little or no direct interaction with their peers. • Support that is too intense, with no breaks in between tasks, and not allowing the child space to work, sit or play on their own even for brief periods of time. • Scribing for children for too long; they need to be encouraged to construct their own sentences and text as much as possible through aids such as sentence strips, flash cards, mind maps and writing frames.

• Including targets for positive behaviour and independence within the learning plan.

Footnotes

• Giving jobs and responsibilities to encourage selfesteem and self-worth.

1. Bird, G., Helping children with Down’s syndrome to learn, SEN Magazine Jan/Feb 2016, SEN80, available at https://senmagazine.co.uk/home/articles/senarticles-2/ helping-children-with-down-s-syndrome-to-learn

• Celebrating success – rewarding positive behaviour and taking time to explain things. SEN104

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Down’s syndrome

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SEN interventions

Interventions for a new generation Nicola Hankey shares her top tips for engaging today’s tech savvy learners with SEN

hey’ve used tablets from the age of two and are budding software developers by the time they are ten, so it’s no wonder many of today’s cohort of pupils with SEN are more at home with technology than their teachers. For these children, a different approach to interventions is essential if we are to engage them in ways that are meaningful to them.

Getting the basics right Although a new approach is needed, the first step is to get the basics right; no matter what challenges to learning they face, and to which generation they belong, the most important element is establishing a positive relationship with each child, getting to know them, and how they learn, individually. Start by bringing the team together – the parents or carers, the teachers, the SENCO or intervention teacher and, of course, the child. For interventions to work, the whole team has to pulling in the same direction, towards the same goals. It’s hard for the teaching team to move forward if the parents have no idea what is going on or how they can help at home. Likewise, the adults in the process will fail if the child is not aware of their goals or the steps needed to reach them. SEN104

The most important element is establishing a positive relationship with each child

Be equipped Part of building an effective team is ensuring everyone feels confident to deliver their part and has the skills to do so. Do the teachers need more training? Do parents need more support? Do children need additional support from external professionals with more specific areas of expertise? In times of tight budgets, talk of additional training or staffing could bring a head out in a cold sweat, but as part of the School Development Plan schools can move mountains to support their pupils. Training and support can come from a more experienced SEN colleague, or over a coffee with a teacher in a school down the road who has experience of pupils with similar challenges. senmagazine.co.uk

SEN interventions

It’s crucial to help children recognise their own strengths and areas they want to improve in

Tips for successful interventions Once you have the basics in place, what are the cornerstones of successful interventions for today’s children with SEN? Here are a few of my top tips.

About the author Nicola Hankey is a teacher and the SEND Coordinator at Ludworth Primary School in Cheshire and a @LexploreUK consultant. ludworth.org.uk @Ludworth

Make them pupil-led As children today are perhaps more independent than previous generations, it helps if teachers involve the child in the decisionmaking process and guide them to set their own targets. One example of a straightforward yet effective way to do this is to use a smiley face questionnaire to help you understand the child’s view of their barriers to learning and the types of support they need. This can be extended, if appropriate, with more probing questions about how a specific intervention helps. The smiley faces are a fun and easy way to help children self-evaluate, communicate their feelings and get their voice heard without them having to use unfamiliar vocabulary or write anything down. For some children, emojis may not be the ideal solution, so voice activated software that records their views might be a better option, and it ties into their love of tech.

■ Activities outdoors can be highly engaging for pupils with SEN.

under them. Activities such as gardening club or forest school are often great for those who struggle with communication, as they begin to interact with teachers in different ways and get to work as part of a team with their classmates.

Praise often and build confidence This is a generation that, on the whole, thrives on praise and rewards. It’s crucial to help children recognise their own strengths and areas they want to improve in. Praise often but always explain what specifically you are pleased with, for example, effort, mindset, resilience or problem-solving skills. Build confidence in pupils by asking them to recommend a book to another student or help out in class. Your trust in them will speak volumes.

There are lots of specialist resources and equipment available to schools to encourage and facilitate inclusive outdoor learning and ensure all pupils can benefit from time outdoors.

Mix it up Look for free resources and support online to help you change and develop the way you teach. Social media can be a great source of tips and ideas for teaching staff, and talking to colleagues at your own school and further afield can help you find new ideas and look at what you do in a different light.

Keep things interesting With a shorter attention span than previous generations, today’s children can be challenging to engage and motivate. Technology can help here, as it allows you to speed through some of the more mundane tasks to get to the stuff they will really enjoy. For example, eye tracking software can be used to assess progress in reading before and after interventions, as it only takes a couple of minutes. Using technology can also cause less anxiety in some children with learning difficulties than pen and paper, so it’s a lower stress way to find out how they are doing.

Venture outside Although tech is great at making the mundane more interesting, this is a generation that spends more time on screens than is probably good for them, so getting outside the classroom can have a huge impact on them. For those children who struggle with instructions or are hard to motivate, it’s like lighting a fire senmagazine.co.uk

A more creative approach to what we do can also help us to support children with SEN to develop life skills, such as using money, cooking meals and catching the right bus. Sometimes, it’s good to flip lessons and play games rather than sticking to rigid structures. If children are engaged and are enjoying the activities, they are likely to get a lot out of them – and you will too.

Support the individual Every child is unique, with their own needs and their own responses to interventions. A child may not respond to an initial support plan that has worked well for ten other children identified with similar barriers to learning, but there will be something that helps unlock their learning. By keeping an open mind, trying new ideas, and drawing on the support and expertise of colleagues and specialists, you will find something that works for them, and for you. SEN104

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Ade Adepitan fronts BBC films for the SEN and disability community TV presenter Ade Adepitan (pictured) has teamed up with BBC Ten Pieces to help increase access to classical music for young people with SEN and disabilities. BBC Ten Pieces unveiled a series of bespoke new films, in partnership with the BBC Philharmonic and Drake Music Scotland, designed specifically for SEN and disabilities settings. This initiative is part of “Ten Pieces Trailblazers”, which is showcasing composers and works that have redefined classical and orchestral music. Ten Pieces Trailblazers tells new stories and opens musical worlds, featuring composers and pieces that broke new ground and left an imprint on the musical world. The pieces convey that there is no one type of “classical music” and no one “orchestral” sound. This new activity spotlights young musicians and organisations across the UK who are leading the way in classical music education for those with SEN and disabilities. bbc.co.uk/tenpieces

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Hearing impairment

Supporting deaf learners Emma Fraser looks at the barriers deaf children face at school, and how they can be overcome

he term “deaf” refers to all levels and all types of deafness, both temporary and permanent. Deafness may be a hidden disability, but it isn’t a learning disability. So why is it that so many deaf children fail to do as well in mainstream education as their hearing peers? After many years in education as a teacher, SENCO and qualified Teacher of the Deaf, supporting deaf children of all ages, I know there’s no magic wand. However, with some careful thought and planning, there are many things that can make an important difference to a deaf child at school.

Children learn through language; their brains are shaped by it and it helps them form meaningful and fulfilling relationships

Many children will experience either a permanent or temporary hearing loss during their time in education, and this can have a significant impact on the development of their language and communication skills. These vital skills lie at the heart of deaf children and young people’s social, emotional and intellectual development and they’re the key to future success. Children learn through language; their brains are shaped by it and it helps them form meaningful and fulfilling relationships. Developing, monitoring, assessing and adapting language and communication in order to meet a deaf child’s needs is therefore crucial.

places. Noise affects not only our ability to listen, but our ability to process information efficiently. It can raise stress levels and leave us feeling tired and frustrated by the end of the day. For deaf children, even those with hearing aids or other hearing equipment, this can be a particular challenge. The younger they are, the greater the impact of the noise on their ability to make sense of spoken language. This noise can come from everywhere – other children talking, traffic and building works outside, or even the whirring of equipment, such as a heaters or fans. It’s worse in rooms with lots of hard surfaces or in open plan spaces.

Language, communication and noise Around 78 per cent of deaf children are educated in mainstream schools. Schools, by their very nature, are busy, lively and noisy senmagazine.co.uk

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Hearing impairment

Deaf children need to use all the clues available to them to be able to understand what’s being said

While this is a challenge, there are some simple steps that can be taken to improve the listening environment. Where is the noise coming from? When is the child struggling to listen? Sometimes simple things can make a big difference, like changing a seating position, closing a door, putting up display boards or using a screen to create a designated quiet area. Remember, it’s not just in the classroom where learning takes place, but in the canteen, the school hall and especially in the playground. Stopping to teach the rules of a game, or allowing a deaf child access to a quiet space with a friend, can help form friendships and reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation.

The language and communication environment We all know that children, whether using sign language or spoken language, need a language-rich environment in order to develop and learn. However, immersing a child in language isn’t enough if the language environment isn’t accessible. Deaf children often have fewer opportunities to overhear what’s being said. I remember trying to set up a picnic activity in an early years setting with a little deaf girl, not realising that she didn’t know what a picnic was. Lots of concepts we take for granted are acquired through conversation, including overhearing other people talking.

About the author Emma Fraser worked as a teacher, SENCO and a Teacher of the Deaf for more than 20 years. She is now Policy Advisor and a Teacher of the Deaf at the charity National Deaf Children’s Society. ndcs.org @NDCS_UK

@NDCS.UK

Deaf children need to use all the clues available to them to be able to understand what’s being said. They need to be able to see the speaker’s facial expressions, body language, lip patterns, gestures and signs. They also need to be close enough to the speaker so they can hear, as even hearing technology has a range. Extra visual information will help children to know what’s being talked about, such as subtitles on a film, text, pictures on the smartboard and real-life examples of new and unfamiliar things. But remember, deaf children can’t look at you and the smartboard and record information at the same time. Thinking about how key information and lesson content is delivered can make a big difference, so keeping instructions short and to the point and giving out a lesson plan with a list of important vocabulary beforehand, helps the deaf child prepare for the lesson. Pairing up or grouping children carefully is also important. In my experience, I have never met a deaf child that finds group work easy. Teach all the children how to communicate effectively and appropriately in a group situation. Simple things such as taking turns, signalling before speaking and allowing the group to meet in a quiet place will all help. Deaf children may spend a lot of their day pretending they have understood something, or that they know what’s expected of them. Take time to check their understanding and give them the opportunities, time and tools to ask for what they need. With a little bit of extra thought and support, they can be fully active and most importantly, independent learners.

Language and communication ability Deaf children who use spoken language often start school with lower levels of language than their hearing peers and we can’t assume that they’ll catch-up. It’s important to fully understand their language profiles and help them acquire any of the skills they’re lacking.

■ All children need a language rich environment in which to thrive.

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Many deaf children have good functional language skills and because of improved hearing technology, they will talk and sound just like any other child. However, they may not have the sophisticated language levels they need in order to learn senmagazine.co.uk

Hearing impairment

effectively or make and maintain friendships. It is so important that we know a child’s language ability, where the gaps are and what the impact of their language delay is. I have met many deaf children over the years who face the daily challenge of learning and socialising with language levels years below other children of their age. Deaf children may have reduced vocabulary, challenges acquiring phonological skills, difficulties constructing grammatically correct sentences and they may struggle with more complex language. They may also find it difficult to

Deaf children may spend a lot of their day pretending they have understood something

remember large amounts of spoken information and experience challenges with working memory. Think about how to involve deaf children in whole school learning interventions, such as phonics or spelling programmes, and always seek advice and support from specialists like a Teacher of the Deaf or speech and language therapist.

Language, communication and socialising Having friends, getting your needs met, feeling accepted for who you are and being able to talk about your feelings and understand those of others are all key to being resilient, independent and developing good emotional health and wellbeing. Deaf children may struggle with social communication, especially pragmatic language (understanding not only what is said, but how and why it’s said) and this can lead to misunderstandings and sometimes bullying. These children will benefit from practising social skills in a safe environment, and can respond positively and successfully to social interventions. Using everyday situations, books and stories to talk about their feelings, and the feelings of others, will help them to develop positive strategies to overcome problems and give them the confidence to inform others about their needs.

■ Books and stories can help with practicing vital social skills.

Every deaf child is different, but they all have the potential to be successful in education. Have high aspirations, be deaf aware and most importantly work together with everyone to create a deaf-friendly language and communication environment.

School achievement: key facts about deaf and hearing children Deafness isn’t a learning disability, and with the right support, deaf children can achieve anything their hearing classmates can. However, deaf children are arriving at school with all their enthusiasm and amazing potential only to fall behind at every stage of their education. • All children are assessed after their first year of school, but just 38 per cent of deaf pupils reach “a good level of development”, compared to 77 per cent of their hearing classmates. • At Key Stage 1, hearing children are around 1.5 times more likely to reach the expected standard in reading, writing, maths and science. The largest gap is in

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maths, where just 52 per cent reach the expected standard compared to 84 per cent of hearing children. • At Key Stage 2, just 43 per cent of deaf children reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths compared to 74 per cent of hearing children. • At GCSE, deaf children fall an entire grade behind their hearing classmates on average. The National Deaf Children’s Society calculates this gap in achievement will take 21 years to close. • Just 44 per cent of deaf students get two A-levels or equivalent by the age of 19, compared to 63 per cent of hearing pupils.

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Hearing impairment

Community engagement celebrated A long-standing partnership with a local community deaf group has been celebrated at the University of Wolverhampton. Sandwell Deaf Community Association (SDCA) presented a “Working in Partnership” plaque to the University to celebrate seven years of working together. The partnership enables students on the University’s BA (Hons) Deaf Studies and Interpreting courses to gain valuable work experience, volunteering opportunities and placements. A number of University graduates have also secured jobs with the Association on completing their studies. Sarah Bown, Senior Lecturer in Interpreting and Deaf Studies, said: “We are honoured and proud to receive a ‘Working in Partnership plaque’ from Sandwell Deaf Community Association, which is a shining example of our long-standing reciprocal relationship between SDCA, the academic subjects, staff and students. We look forward to many more fruitful and enjoyable years of working together. “These special relationships are immeasurable in their value to the students who study this discipline and in turn, enrich programme delivery, student employability opportunities and scope of service to the respective deaf and hearing communities.” SEN104

Leanne Hickenbottom-Marriot, Chief Executive Officer at SDCA said: “It is a fruitful and mutually beneficial relationship that we have fostered throughout the years we have been collaborating. We have employed alumni of the course during this period as a result of our confidence in the quality of the candidates graduating. We have also been able to support interpreting students during their training via for example, volunteering opportunities with our Deaf community and provided valuable contributions to the development of those who have undertaken a final year work placement with us. “Here at SDCA, our staff in turn benefit from supervising these interpreting placement students, which contributes to their continual learning and professional practice.” wlv.ac.uk/deafstudies senmagazine.co.uk

Hearing impairment

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Consent

A question of consent Kate Adams explores capacity, consent and choice for young people with complex SEN

ex and money are two tricky subjects no matter what your age. They are made trickier though, where a young person’s “capacity” to make decisions in these key areas of their life once they turn 16 is in question or where they may be made vulnerable through their choices. Working with, or parenting, children with complex SEN (or indeed, any child) can present challenges and as they grow and mature, those challenges evolve and change. All young people gain additional legal rights at the age of 16 – they can choose how to spend their money, to seek medical advice confidentially, to consent to medical procedures and, of course, they can choose to have sex. As most young people mature, they are able to understand advice and take more responsibility for the consequences of their decisions in these and other areas – whether we as adults approve or not – but those with complex SEN may not reach that level of maturity at the age of 16, and in some cases may never reach it.

Protecting or restricting? As parents or professionals, when a young person reaches 16, we may find ourselves having to balance our role as protectors against the young person’s wishes to have new adult experiences but which, given their complex challenges, may put them potentially at risk. How do we protect them and what support is available to do so? SEN104

All young people gain additional legal rights at the age of 16

Let’s think about the delicate issue of consenting to having sex when a young person may not fully understand the potential consequences of sexual activity – exploitation, pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease, for example. This naturally brings with it an added level of complexity and concern for the adults around the young person, who need to consider carefully whether or not the young person has the “capacity” to consent and whether or not additional support may be needed to help them make the best choices for them. The guidance and legislation that can help parents and professionals in assessing whether a young person is able to make decisions which are in their own best interests is detailed in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 (which was fully implemented in 2007). This applies to people aged 16 and over and it is designed to make sure that decisions are made in a person’s best interests and in the least restrictive way, while protecting them from risk where necessary. senmagazine.co.uk

Consent

Burying our heads in the sand and avoiding the subject can have a highly detrimental effect

About the author Kate Adams is Head of Nursing at St John’s Catholic School for the Deaf in West Yorkshire. stjohns.org.uk @stjohns4thedeaf

For most young people, decisions they are comfortable with can be reached with support from agencies including the NHS and adult social care teams; however, in some cases, it may be that there are still areas of dispute or disagreement and this is where the Court of Protection, which exists to make decisions about financial or welfare matters for people who can’t make those decisions for themselves at the time that they need to be made, can help. Everyone is deemed to have capacity unless it is proven otherwise and any decision around a person’s capacity must be both time and decision specific; for example, a person can’t be deemed to generally “lack capacity”. In the case of a sexual activity, the question should be “does X have the capacity to consent to a sexual relationship at this time?” and not, “Can X have sexual relations ever?”

How is mental capacity assessed? Assessing capacity can be done both formally and informally and often involves liaising closely with the professionals and others who know the young person well, before any decisions are made. There are two stages to assessing this: does the person have an impairment of mind or brain and then, does that mean the person isn’t able to make the decision at the time it needs to be made?

@stjohnsschoolforthedeaf

The MCA says a person is unable to make a decision for themselves if they can’t do one or more of four things: • understand information given to them about a particular decision • retain that information for long enough to be able to make a decision • weigh up information available • communicate their decision. Relevant information is then gathered and this includes evaluating the risks and benefits. In terms of sexual activity, the risks include exploitation, STDs or unwanted pregnancy, but the benefits might be being happier, feeling loved, appreciating your body, greater self-esteem, expanding a new relationship and enjoying new experiences. The assessment will look at whether these out-weigh any risks. The Court will consider all of this information as well as looking carefully at any relevant case law before making a decision. The Court is keen to make sure that the rights of a person to act autonomously are protected unless there are very good reasons for those rights to be curtailed.

Planning ahead Acknowledging a young person’s emerging sexuality is a challenge for all parents and for many professionals working with young people. However, burying our heads in the sand and avoiding the subject can have a highly detrimental effect. Facing the prospect of difficult, and perhaps embarrassing, conversations about sexual activity is best done incrementally and care givers at school, in care or at home should think ahead. It is better to consider in advance the freedoms young people may seek, planning how to manage potential disagreements, rather than dealing with detrimental outcomes.

■ Adults should try to anticipate the freedoms young people may want.

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Preparation for adulthood should begin early, especially if young people are likely to need support throughout their lives. Our emphasis should be on protecting the young person while improving their life chances, helping them gain skills to become as independent as possible. SEN104

Dyslexia

Dyslexia in higher education Rhiannon Packer asks if late dyslexia diagnosis is preventing pupils from reaching their potential

ccording to the British Dyslexia Association (BDA), ten per cent of the British population may have dyslexia, meaning that there are likely to be three pupils with dyslexia in every school class. It is currently estimated that four per cent of students in higher education (HE) have a specific learning difficulty (SpLD). While some will have been diagnosed in school, there are a number of students every year who, realising that they are struggling more than their peers, seek dyslexia diagnosis at this stage. If nearly a tenth of the population may have dyslexia, yet only four per cent of students enrolled on HE courses have SpLD, what has happened to the rest? Many will have opted out of university to focus on apprenticeships or go straight into work. However, if students with dyslexia have not received a timely diagnosis, this can have a serious impact on their self-esteem and confidence in terms of academic achievements. When dyslexia remains undiagnosed it can influence an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wellbeing: many experience a sense of failure, which can lead to lower feelings of self-worth. Diagnosis at any age can be empowering, as it offers an explanation for the difficulties experienced and enables individuals to seek support for their struggles. Not having a diagnosis can cause pupils with dyslexia to feel they are not good enough academically, and may discourage them from applying to HE.

The importance of an early diagnosis Identifying dyslexia at an early stage helps pupils get a clearer picture of their own needs and areas in which they require

Diagnosis at any age can be empowering and enables individuals to seek support for their struggles SEN104

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Dyslexia

A number of small adjustments incorporated into every-day practice can make a big difference

support. Ideally, identification should be as early as possible, but earliest diagnosis usually occurs around the age of eight, when pupils are expected to be reading and writing quite confidently. If teachers in primary schools can identify characteristics of dyslexia, they can provide the appropriate interventions that may not only reduce the impact of dyslexia, but also ease the pupil’s transition to secondary school. They can also ensure pupils receive the right support in the following years and stages of their education.

The challenges of dyslexia Dyslexia is complex and difficult to identify. More often than not, there are overlapping or co-occurring difficulties in aspects of language, motor-coordination, mental calculation, concentration and personal organisation. This could be attributed to an overlap with other conditions such as dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Symptoms are on a continuum and dyslexia can impact learners in various ways and to different degrees. SpLD and neurodiversity are used as umbrella terms in acknowledging the overlap. Early signs an individual might have dyslexia are delayed speech development compared with other children, difficulties with expression and understanding rhyming words – though of course these factors might be due to other causes. Signs of dyslexia become more apparent as the learner begins school and starts to focus on learning to read and write. These can include: confusion with letter and number recognition, such as “b” and “d” or “6” and “9”; unpredictable and inconsistent spelling; difficulty with sequencing, such as learning the days of the week or months of the year; reading slowly or making errors when reading aloud; being able to explain well orally but experiencing difficulties when transcribing to paper. Challenges faced by learners with dyslexia include maintaining the same working pace as their peers, time management and organisation. These difficulties can lead to frustration and potential disengagement from learning.

Aiding independence Some students struggle to adjust to university life. In HE there is a focus on independent learning; it is the student’s responsibility to prepare and submit work by set deadlines – a marked contrast to the guidance and support provided in schools. To help pupils with dyslexia and to encourage them senmagazine.co.uk

About the author Dr Rhiannon Packer is a lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cardiff School of Education and Social Policy, specialising in additional learning needs. She is currently carrying out screening tests on children’s eye movement, using new technology that could lead to earlier and more precise dyslexia diagnoses. cardiffmet.ac.uk @cardiffmet @MetCaerdydd

into academia, we need to support them in their independent learning, making them more confident in their own abilities. An earlier diagnosis can start this process, as pupils can adapt their learning style to their own learning needs. Being aware of the potential signs of dyslexia in primary and secondary school means early diagnosis is more likely. This can help build pupils’ confidence in their academic abilities and potential.

Supporting learners It is essential that schools meet the needs of learners with dyslexia (whether they have a diagnosis or not). While specialist interventions and tailored support focussing on the individual needs of the learner are important, a number of small adjustments incorporated into every-day practice can make a big difference. Here are a few useful examples. Use a dyslexia friendly font in texts, such as Arial or Comic Sans, and avoid using cursive scripts or fonts like Times New Roman. Make sure that presentations have a coloured background and if possible ensure all handouts or photocopies are offwhite. Chunk information where possible, so that learners are not overwhelmed with information. Develop a multi-sensory approach when teaching, so that the pupil’s brain can take in, process and store information in a variety of ways, and make more connections. This aids the transfer of information from the short-term to the long-term memory. Other useful strategies include: pre-teaching key vocabulary; exploring word derivations and explaining connections between words; modelling good language, both orally and in writing; and exploring different spelling strategies to encourage learners to remember how to spell tricky words. Of course, these adjustments are beneficial not only to learners with dyslexia but to all learners. They can help all educators to develop effective strategies to support learning. SEN104

Dyslexia

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CReSTeD

Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils The Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils (CReSTeD) is a charity founded in 1989 to help parents and those who advise them, choose an educational establishment to support a student with specific learning difficulties (SpLD). These include dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and ADD/ADHD, as well as pragmatic and semantic language difficulties. The CReSTeD Council includes representatives from the British Dyslexia Association (BDA), Dyslexia Action, DyslexiaSpLD Trust, the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity, educational psychologists and schools.

Category

CReSTeD maintain a Register of schools and teaching centres accredited for their provision for students with SpLD. These establishments are visited by a consultant, selected for their experience in the field of SpLD, to ensure that the criteria set by CReSTeD are met. All schools and centres are revisited every three years or earlier in certain circumstances. If successful, they are placed into one of six categories according to their type of provision.

Description

Dyslexia specialist provision (DSP)

Established primarily to teach pupils with dyslexia.

Learning support centre (LSC) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; formerly Dyslexia unit (DU)

Offers a designated unit that provides specialist tuition on a small group or individual basis, according to need.

Maintained schools (MS)

Local authority schools able to demonstrate an effective system for identifying pupils with dyslexia.

Specialist provision (SPS)

Specifically established to teach pupils with dyslexia and related specific learning difficulties.

Teaching centre (TC)

Designated centre providing specialist tuition on a small group or individual basis, according to need.

Withdrawal system (WS)

Helps dyslexic pupils by withdrawing them from appropriately selected lessons for specialist tuition.

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CReSTeD

Schools listed on the CReSTeD Register (as at 1 December 2019) Abingdon House School (SPS) London abingdonhouseschool.co.uk

Centre Academy London (SPS) London centreacademy.net

Holme Court School (DSP) Little Abington, Cambridgeshire holmecourt.com

Appleford School (SPS) Salisbury, Wiltshire applefordschool.org

Centre Academy - East Anglia (SPS) Ipswich, Suffolk centreacademy.net

Kilgraston School (WS) Bridge of Earn, Perthshire kilgraston.com

Avon House School (WS) Woodford Green, Essex avonhouseschool.co.uk

Clayesmore Preparatory School (LSC) Blandford Forum, Dorset clayesmore.com

Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School (LSC) Bruton, Somerset kingsbruton.com

Clayesmore School (LSC) Blandford Forum, Dorset clayesmore.com

Kingham Hill School (LSC) Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire kinghamhill.org.uk

Cobham Hall School (LSC) Cobham, Kent cobhamhall.com

Kingsley School (The Grenville Dyslexia Centre) (LSC) Bideford, Devon kingsleyschoolbideford.co.uk

Ballard School (LSC) New Milton, Hampshire ballardschool.co.uk Barnardiston Hall Preparatory School (LSC) Haverhill, Suffolk barnardiston.com Bedstone College (LSC) Bucknell, Shropshire bedstone.org Bethany School (LSC) Cranbrook, Kent bethanyschool.org.uk Blossom House School (SPS) London blossomhouseschool.co.uk Bloxham School (LSC) Banbury, Oxfordshire bloxhamschool.com Bredon School (DSP) Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire bredonschool.org

Dowdales School (MS) Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria dowdalesschool.co.uk Ellesmere College (LSC) Ellesmere, Shropshire ellesmere.com Emerson House (TC) London emersonhouse.co.uk Ercall Wood Academy (MS) Telford, Shropshire ercall-online.co.uk Fairley House School (DSP) London fairleyhouse.org.uk

Kingsmead School (LSC) Hoylake, Wirral kingsmeadschool.com Kingswood House School (LSC) Epsom, Surrey kingswoodhouse.org Knowl Hill School (DSP) Woking, Surrey knowlhill.org.uk Laidlaw Hall (TC) London laidlawhall.co.uk Leehurst Swan School (WS) Salisbury, Wiltshire leehurstswan.org.uk

Brockhurst & Marlston House Schools (LSC) Newbury, Berkshire brockmarl.org.uk

Finborough School (LSC) Stowmarket, Suffolk finboroughschool.co.uk

Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School (SPS) Orpington, Kent brownsschool.co.uk

Frewen College (DSP) Rye, Sussex frewencollege.co.uk

Bruern Abbey School (DSP) Chesterton, Oxfordshire bruernabbey.org

Fulneck School (LSC) Leeds, West Yorkshire fulneckschool.co.uk

Mayfield School (MS) Portsmouth, Hampshire mayfield.portsmouth.sch.uk

Calder House School (DSP) Near Bath, Wiltshire calderhouseschool.co.uk

Hazlegrove Preparatory School (LSC) Yeovil, Somerset hazlegrove.co.uk

Mayville High School (LSC) Southsea, Hampshire mayvillehighschool.com

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Lime House School (LSC) Carlisle, Cumbria limehouseschool.co.uk

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CReSTeD

Millfield Preparatory School (LSC) Glastonbury, Somerset millfieldprep.com

Thames Christian School (WS)

Millfield School (LSC) Street, Somerset millfieldschool.com

The Dominie (DSP)

Mitchells Dyslexia Facility (TC) Rustington, West Sussex mitchellsdyslexiafacility.co.uk

The Dyslexia Teaching Centre (TC)

Moon Hall College (DSP) Reigate, Surrey moonhallcollege.co.uk Moon Hall School (DSP) Dorking, Surrey moonhallschool.co.uk More House School (SPS) Farnham, Surrey morehouseschool.co.uk Pipers Corner School (LSC) High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire piperscorner.co.uk

London thameschristiancollege.org.uk

London thedominie.co.uk

London dyslexiateachingcentre.co.uk The McLeod Centre for Learning (TC) Londonamandamcleod.org The Moat School (DSP) Fulham, London moatschool.org.uk The Sheila Ferrari Dyslexia Centre (TC) Woodford Green, Essex avonhouseschool.co.uk Thetford Grammar School (WS) Thetford, Norfolk thetgram.norfolk.sch.uk

Sackville School (WS) Hildenborough, Kent sackvilleschool.co.uk Shapwick School (DSP) Bridgwater, Somerset shapwickschool.com Sidcot School (LSC) Winscombe, North Somerset sidcot.org.uk Slindon College (LSC) Arundel, Sussex slindoncollege.co.uk St Davidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s College (SPS) Llandudno, Conwy stdavidscollege.co.uk

Trinity School, Rochester (SPS) Rochester, Kent trinityschoolrochester.co.uk Unicorn School (DSP) Abingdon, Oxfordshire unicorndyslexia.co.uk Walhampton School (LSC)

Dyslexia Friendly Quality Mark The MS category now includes schools approved by the BDA as Dyslexia Friendly Quality Mark Schools. These schools have demonstrated a high commitment to dyslexic learners and undergone rigorous scrutiny in order to achieve the Quality Mark award, which they hold for three years before being re-verified by the BDA. They are identified on the CReSTeD Register with the BDA Dyslexia Friendly Quality Mark logo.

Lymington, Hampshire walhampton.com Wycliffe College Preparatory School (LSC) Stonehouse, Gloucestershire wycliffe.co.uk Wycliffe College Preparatory School

St Lawrence College (WS) Ramsgate, Kent slcuk.com

(LSC)

Tettenhall College (LSC) Wolverhampton, West Midlands tettenhallcollege.co.uk

Ysgol Aberconwy (MS)

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Stonehouse, Gloucestershire wycliffe.co.uk

Further information

The CReSTeD Register is available to view at crested.org.uk

Conwy aberconwy.conwy.sch.uk SEN104

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CReSTeD

BDA launch advice for parents on the legal rights of their dyslexic child The British Dyslexia Association has launched Empowered Parents, a guide on how to work collaboratively with schools. It includes practical advice on supporting a child with dyslexia at home and it shows parents how to apply for an education, health and care (EHC) plan, if they feel the school is not meeting their child’s needs. Helen Boden, CEO of the British Dyslexia Association (BDA), said: “The pack is launched following years of budget cuts, leaving parents finding it almost impossible to access adequate support if their child has dyslexia. “EHC plans give a way for parents to access support for a child they know or suspect has dyslexia. Yet, most parents are unaware of this, and due to the budget pressures from central government, we hear of many schools and local authorities giving mixed messages, leading parents into thinking you can’t get an EHC plan for dyslexia. “Long term, we want a better system where support for dyslexia is freely available on the front line. But to help parents manage the system now, we are launching Empowered Parents, giving parents practical advice on supporting their child, working with their school and advice on how to access the EHC plan system.” senmagazine.co.uk

The guide is part of the BDA’s ongoing work to help parents access the support the Children and Families Act (2014) entitles them to. Whilst the charity advocates for working collaboratively with a child’s school first, due to the extreme budget pressures schools are under from central government, often this doesn’t work. The pack has been developed following feedback from parents contacting the charity’s Helpline and attending Parents’ Roadshows across the country for the last two years. bdadyslexia.org.uk SEN104

Assistive technology

Tech support Understanding individual needs is crucial in employing the right assistive technology, writes Paul Doyle Sometimes, we don’t know that we don’t know something. I once carried out an assistive technology assessment for a young man who had sustained a traumatic brain injury and was thought to be totally blind. His eyes were uninjured but the area of his brain that processed the raw data gathered by his eyes had been damaged to the extent that even though his eyes were “seeing”, his brain was not. He was diagnosed as being cortically blind. Following discussions with his parents and carers though, it became apparent that something was in fact “going on with his vision”; they described instances of him responding to events like a carer walking across the room or a football rolling across the floor as if he was able to see something. What I eventually realised during this assessment period was that I was dealing with something that I did not know I did not know. While I was initially at a loss to understand what was going on with this young man, it became apparent that a common feature in most of the accounts of him “seeing” was that the SEN104

It became apparent that something was in fact “going on with his vision”

object of his attention was moving. This was borne out when I attempted to engage the young man with an eye gaze based “shoot ‘em up” game. The game involved the player using an eye tracking system to aim and fire at a target displayed on a computer screen. Initially, a version of the game where the targets remained static produced no response from the player. However, as soon as moving targets were introduced, a very different outcome was observed. This version prompted him to fully engage with the game to the extent that he was observed moving his whole body in an attempt to align himself with a specific target. senmagazine.co.uk

Assistive technology

Just having access to assistive technology in the classroom is not enough

What I did not know at that point was that, of the many different elements of vision that comprise what we commonly know as sight, one specific element and corresponding part of the brain deals exclusively with movement. It had simply not occurred to me. I did not know that I did not know it. This “epiphany” has since led me to consider the challenges facing those teaching and supporting students with PMLD, particularly in relation to the assistive technology used to support them. The young man who prompted this thought process was unable to tell me whether the screen I was using was in the right place to accommodate his field of vision, or if the objects on the screen were the right type or size, or that they were not being “drowned out” by a busy or crowded background. I have also found this when working in other SEN settings. Indeed, when collaborating with teaching staff working with young people with PMLD, it is easy to feel as if we are all fumbling around in the dark as we try to work out how to engage a student.

Meeting needs Coming from an engineering background, I am a great believer in using the right tool for the job and eye gaze technology is very much a part of my assistive technology toolkit. However, just having access to assistive technology in the classroom is not enough. For example, positioning an eye gaze system directly in front of the user (midline) at eye level is a naturally intuitive thing to do but, if we are unaware that a student has little or no central field of vision, we won’t know that we have just effectively hidden the content from them in plain view. Similarly, choosing the wrong object or stimuli can lead to false outcomes, as happened to me when working with another young person with PMLD. When using a particular software package, the student appeared to be unable to see any of the different shapes, animals or vehicles displayed on screen. However, after a chat with this young lady’s carer and a bit of copying and pasting, we were able to elicit a totally different response; she was now wholly engaged with the activity and was able to track a smiling Ainsley Harriott bobbing around the screen. Teaching and support staff not only need to be shown how to set up and use technologies like eye gaze based systems; they also need to know how to employ them in the correct educational context, based on an in-depth understanding of the access needs and preferences of the individual students they are working with. By adopting a holistic approach to using and embedding technology in the curriculum, teaching staff will achieve better senmagazine.co.uk

About the author Paul Doyle is an expert witness for assistive technology at Bush & Co., a council member of the British Assistive Technology Association (BATA) and a Director of the Karten Network. bushco.co.uk @pauljcdoyle

@Bush_Company

outcomes. They will also be better placed to use the technology in ways which help to secure effective and meaningful baselines from which individual progress can be recognised, measured and rewarded.

Team work When the expectations of the professionals involved are not wholly aligned, this can lead to the sad situation of students “falling through the gaps” between what the teaching staff expect the technicians to do and what technical staff thought teachers were doing. This issue is particularly important in the domain of PMLD, as students are often unable to let you know that something is not working for them. The burden of understanding the nuances of a pupil’s sensory perception should not be placed solely on the shoulders of already hard-pressed teaching and support staff. The benefits of multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) are well recognised and we should always seek to utilise the relevant expertise of team members, as well as the input of those who have the best clinical knowledge and experience of the student to consider how their impairment might affect their capacity to participate in the classroom. If one uses visual technology, for example, one might ask how it might be perceived by the student, where the best location is for placement of the screen or printed resource, as well as the effects of ambient lighting conditions on the student’s ability to see and focus. We should also be careful not to restrict ourselves to employing just one type of technology, such as eye gaze, in isolation. If we are to use the right assistive technology to meet the learning needs of each student, meaningful discussions and the sharing of expert knowledge between professionals is essential. And, of course, we should always be open to the possibility that there may be factors at play about which we don’t know we don’t know. SEN104

Assistive technology

Who’s Challenging Who? The Who’s Challenging Who training course is a half-day course from Warwick University for social care staff designed to improve staff attitudes towards people with learning disabilities who display behaviours that challenge. A two-year research project carried out by CEDAR and the Centre for Trials Research at Cardiff University with support from Mencap evaluated the impact of the course on care staff and on the people with learning disabilities who co-developed and co-delivered it. The project team has compiled and published online a range of resources to help communicate why the research was carried out, why it was important for the training to be co-created and co-delivered by people with learning disabilities, and what a large-scale trial discovered about the effectiveness of the training. warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/cedar/whoschallengingwho senmagazine.co.uk

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Post-16 options

Navigating post-16 options Clare Howard looks at whether councils’ local offers are meeting their responsibilities to young people with SEN Transition from school to college and into the adult world can be a difficult time for all young people, and particularly for those with SEN and disabilities. Some of them will have been in the same school from a very young age; moving to a more adult education setting with an eye to future employment or more independence in their living arrangements can feel like a very big and daunting jump.

This should provide “clear, comprehensive, accessible and up-to-date information about the available provision and how to access it.”

The Children and Families Act in 2014 set into statute the concept of “preparing for adulthood”, together with planning for transition from Year 9 onwards. Yet when the majority of young people in Year 9, with and without SEN, have little or no idea what they want to do when they become adults, how can we ensure they receive effective advice and guidance, and give them all the appropriate post-16 options? The right choice at 16 or 19 can be critical in determining long-term life chances and the wellbeing of young people with SEN.

• programmes to assist children and young people in preparing for adulthood

The local offer

Comprehensive?

Enshrined within the Children and Families Act was the requirement for each local authority to produce a local offer.

According to the SEN Code of Practice, the local offer “must include provision in the local authority’s area. It must also include provision outside the local area that the local authority expects is likely to be used… This could, for example, be provision in a further education college in a neighbouring area or support services for children and young people with particular types of SEN that are provided jointly by local authorities. It should include relevant regional and national specialist provision, such as provision for children and young people with low-incidence and more complex SEN.”

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For post-16, the local offer must include information about: • the full range of post-16 education and training provision • apprenticeships, traineeships and supported internships

• arrangements for travel to post-16 provision. This year, Natspec undertook a review of the local offer websites of 56 local authorities to discover whether the information is comprehensive and accessible and meets the requirements of the legislation. This article presents the findings of the review, together with some top tips for navigating local offer websites.

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Post-16 options

Information about work-based learning, apprenticeships or supported internships is not generally listed

But are local offers this comprehensive? We found that many did not include provision outside the area, and even provision inside the local authority area was sometimes missing, particularly specialist colleges. More than a third of local offers did not include all specialist colleges and sometimes even the mainstream colleges were difficult to find. Information about work-based learning, apprenticeships or supported internships is not generally listed at all.

About the author Clare Howard is the Chief Executive of Natspec, a membership association for organisations which offer specialist further education and training for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. natspec.org.uk @Natspec

@NatspecVoiceOfSpecialistFE

When searching for comprehensive post-16 information in local offers, here are some key points to consider: • Don’t limit your search to “education” as often this takes you to schools rather than colleges. Try searching under “post-16”, “further education” or “preparing for adulthood”. Some websites use other terminology such as “transition to employment”, which also includes options for training for independence. • Sometimes you will find that general FE colleges or mainstream options are listed in one part of the site, and specialist colleges in another part. For example, specialist colleges are sometimes incorrectly placed in an external community directory, or under adult care or support services. • Local offers that do not include specialist colleges sometimes publish the “S41 list” instead; this is a list of independent schools and colleges that have been approved by the Secretary of State and are therefore subject to the same duties as all other schools and colleges under the Children and Families Act. You should check the S41 list for specialist colleges that might provide different options and specialisms to those listed in the local offer.

• unclear headings on the local authority’s website making it difficult to find the local offer in the first place

Clear and accessible?

• missing links or “file not found” error messages

The Code of Practice also states that “Local authorities must involve children with SEN or disabilities and their parents and young people with SEN or disabilities” in planning and publishing the local offer. Councils must also involve schools and colleges, including specialist providers.

• filters in large directories that return hundreds of entries that are not always relevant, such as a “post-16” filter that returns all adult education or a “specialist services” filter that returns everything from playgroups to colleges, and befriending services to charities.

Unfortunately, this consultation is not always in place and as a result, some local offers are fiendishly difficult to navigate. The review of local offers found:

Many of the local authorities are working to improve their sites, and there is always a feedback button for you to make comments about the ease of navigation or the quality of information on the site.

• poorly formatted design, with large pictures in the background hiding text or making it very difficult to read • poor menus with long pop-up lists which require dexterity to hover over part of the menu to select another section, and if you slip off it at any point you need to start again

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■ Photos courtesy of Queen Alexandra College (qac.ac.uk).

As well as the local offer, you can get advice and guidance from your local SEN and disabilities Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS). This is a statutory function of local authorities and provides support to children and young people with SEN and their families. SEN104

Post-16 options

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Outdoor activities

Embracing challenge Outdoor activities can be so empowering for children with SEN, writes Robert Squirrell

ime spent outdoors plays a fundamental role in the development of almost every child. For children with SEN and disabilities, outdoor activities offer wonderful opportunities for promoting physical health, improving wellbeing and understanding the natural world. They can also be great for boosting confidence and helping children to develop social and other skills. In a world where many children and young people spend a great deal of their time indoors, often staring at screens, getting outside and being active is more important than ever. Working at an outdoor education charity, I have seen first hand the benefits that getting out of the classroom can have for all concerned. I have met thousands of children, parents, teachers and carers and seen them all learn something about themselves, each other and the world around them. Outdoor activities enable children to break out of their typical routines, often with spectacular results. I have seen children who their teachers would describe before a session as â&#x20AC;&#x153;problematicâ&#x20AC;? being the most engaged pupils in the class. They become the ones leading the team around the activity course or dishing out jobs at shelter building. These children

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Parents and teachers also get to learn something about their children often seize the opportunity to discuss things more informally and use trial and error to explore options without the fear of failure. Just as importantly, parents and teachers also get to learn something about their children, which can help them to improve relationships in the future.

Independence The chance to learn independently is incredibly worthwhile. Despite the best efforts of families and professionals, all children, and particularly some of those with SEN, can display a degree of learned helplessness. They may be used to the familiar relationships and routines of school, and being told what to do much of the time. Getting outdoors can change that completely. Giving students with SEN the freedom to explore and exert control over their activity choices can be liberating.

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Outdoor activities

About the author Robert Squirrell is Community Education Manager at The Sayers Croft Trust, an outdoor education charity in Surrey. sayerscrofttrust.org.uk

■ Children enjoy the independence of being outdoors.

I always love seeing the look of amazement, excitement and slight apprehension on the faces of children when they are told that a pair of them will be following a compass trail by themselves. It’s also great for the teacher or parent to see their children rise to the challenge. Getting outdoors also helps to broaden young people’s horizons. They can, for example, learn about conservation whilst taking part in planting trees, clearing brambles, raking leaves and laying paths. This is the sort of endeavour many pupils get really engaged in, as they enjoy the natural environment while learning valuable life skills. Pupils can even work towards formally recognised awards. For some, this may be the first certificate they have ever earned and the recognition of their achievement can do wonders for their self-esteem. Being involved in conservation, and other activities associated with the outdoors, can help children to develop a new perspective, and may even offer them a career to aspire to.

Achievement Outdoor activities also provide a chance for young people to see their own progression. Reaching the top of a climbing wall, making it through a cave and completing a ropes course are all amazing accomplishments that can be seen, felt and shared with the whole group. I remember one pupil who, initially,

@sayerscrofttrust

Outdoor activities provide a chance for young people to see their own progression was reluctant to take part in a ropes course run for students with autism. In the first week, he wouldn’t get off the minibus. Next week, he got off the bus just to look at the course, but no more. Then, over subsequent weeks, he put on a harness, then a helmet, learnt how the karabiners worked and eventually got up onto the course. Even though he didn’t complete the whole course, the progress he made was something of which he could be really proud. Outdoor activities can take many forms and they don’t have to focus on being adventurous. Even getting out into woodland, with all the new sights, smells and sounds involved, can be a big achievement for someone who is not used to it. It’s ideal for those who prefer kinaesthetic or tactile learners to get outside and actually handle something, rather than just hearing about it in a classroom or reading about it in a book. Changing weather and seasons provide additional levels of unpredictability to any activity and additional tests to meet.

Reward It is incredibly rewarding to see children and young people enjoying taking part in something they never thought would be accessible to them. Staff need to be creative to take account of everyone’s needs and it can take careful planning to ensure all pupils are included. On one overland expedition that involved a team member with a wheelchair, a route was planned that followed bridleways and canals so she could travel everywhere with the group. They travelled more than 20 kilometres over two days and camped out overnight. The students were all so thrilled to complete their expedition, and the additional challenges they overcame only added to their sense of accomplishment.

■ Completing outdoor challenges can feel hugely rewarding.

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Over the years, I have seen a great deal of hesitation from parents and teachers about taking part in outdoor activities with young people with SEN and disabilities. However, while it can be a daunting experience, it can also be so rewarding, and for some, even life changing. SEN104

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Innovation Award for Woodland Adventure Zone Portland College’s Woodland Adventure Zone was announced as the winner of the Innovation Award at the Chad Business Excellence Awards. The Woodland Adventure Zone is a fully accessible forest adventure, purpose-built within the grounds of Portland College. Set amongst acres of pine trees within Sherwood Forest, it includes a seven metre climbing tower, 90 metre zipline, bushcraft activities, indoor archery, a gravity trail and woodland walks. The Zone offers facilities for students at Portland College – a specialist college working with disabled people to develop their employability, independence and communication skills – and it is also open to the public. One day a week has been set aside for local schools and community groups to use the facility free of charge. The College is also hoping to welcome local families and groups to the Woodland Adventure Zone at weekends, and it is working with local companies to deliver corporate training days. With access for wheelchair users and people with disabilities, the Zone aims to provide an inclusive experience for visitors. At the Chad Business Excellence Awards, the College was represented by staff, senior leadership, the Chair of Governors, a Portland College resident and a dedicated volunteer, who jointly collected their Award. “We’re thrilled with the recognition SEN104

the College has received for its innovative Woodland Adventure Zone”, says Portland’s Principal and Chief Executive Mark Dale. The new facility also picked up an Active Place Award at a recent ceremony at Nottingham Trent University. The Woodland Adventure Zone is open for public bookings from January 2020. For more information and bookings, call 01623 499159 or visit woodlandadventurezone.com senmagazine.co.uk

Introducing…

online

SEN Magazine’s baby sister New for 2020

The specialist online magazine bringing you up-to-date news and bite-size reports on special educational needs is released monthly to an audience of around 90,000, and includes news and quick-to-read features related to SEN policy, practice and personal experience.

Advertise online in Contact Denise Williamson on 01200 409808 or email denise@senmagazine.co.uk Advantages of advertising in • Large readership with a personal or professional interest in SEN. • Wide circulation by email and social media. • Options for all budgets. • People zoom! Even when viewed on a mobile phone, a small eye-catching advert can be highly effective. • Far and wide and forever! The content of your SENextra ad is indexed by search engines and will remain findable indefinitely. • Analytics: get useful statistics about views and clicks on your ad. Advertsers: for a sneak preview of

please email denise@senmagazine.co.uk

Book reviews

Book reviews 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Interventions L. O’Leary

This book focuses on low-effort, high-impact interventions that can be used at Key Stages 3 to 5. The author is an assistant headteacher at a Nottingham secondary school, where she is responsible for leading teaching and learning, and professional development.

to achievement; Boosting the pupil premium; Supporting SEND pupils; and Being a self-improving teacher.

O’Leary stresses the importance of identifying the fundamental issues for students in terms of making a difference and securing progress. She identifies some key themes to support staff in preparing teaching and wider intervention plans, and ideas to build stretch and challenge into lessons.

O’Leary provides many strategies for new and experienced staff to implement with their students. She even suggests that toilet doors can provide a useful place to reinforce concepts.

The book is divided into 12 sections that include: Preparing for intervention; Removing common barriers

The section on SEN and disabilities provides practical advice on the effective use of teaching assistants, the use of scribes for exams and the use of displays in the classroom to support understanding of key words and concepts that pupils may encounter in examinations.

Promoting a culture of high expectations, this is a useful source of tried and tested strategies.

Bloomsbury Education £16.18 ISBN: 978-1-4729-6325-3

Great Expectations:

Leading An Effective SEND Strategy in School

Editor: D. Bartram

This is a compilation of articles from leading educationalists and school leaders who are recognised as experts in improving outcomes for children and young people with additional needs. Its emphasis is on the significant role that leadership plays in shaping effective practice in SEN and disability (SEND). The book stresses that all staff have a responsibility to ensure high expectations are set for all children. It is aimed not only at those working with children with additional needs, but as a whole school resource to support inclusion.

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Bartram has led on SEN and disabilities in London schools for over 15 years and was awarded an OBE for his work in 2016. Contributors cover topics including: leadership; improving outcomes; assessment and identification; monitoring, tracking and evaluation; and efficient use of resources. This text raises key questions for school leaders, based on current research and practice. As each section links to broad, national perspectives, it provides the reader with the bigger picture and would be useful in enabling all staff to understand how leadership impacts on classroom practice. The book condenses a huge amount of expertise into a concise and accessible work.

John Catt Educational Limited £15.00 ISBN: 978-1-911382-48-5

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Book reviews

by Mary Mountstephen

Education and Girls on the Autism Spectrum: Developing an Integrated Approach

Editors: J. Hebron and C. Bond

Hebron and Bond are university lecturers specialising in education and psychology. Here, they draw on the expertise and experience of contributors from other academic settings and educational institutions, as well as a first-hand perspective from a postgraduate student with autism. They also acknowledge the contributions from “many autistic girls and young women” and refer to the concept of autistic girls as being “twice excluded”, as girls are less likely to be identified with autism than boys and less research has been conducted on their needs. In the first of two parts, the book focuses on personal perspectives. The second, more extensive section,

looks at school-based approaches, from early years to higher education. Areas covered include: transitions; psychiatric and neurodevelopmental aspects; mental health challenges; speech and language difficulties; and the role of educational psychologists in supporting girls with autism. This book draws together what is currently known about the educational experiences of, and support for, autistic girls and how support can be provided at individual, family, community and wider levels. It combines research and practical experience to promote understanding of a collaborative and integrated approach to supporting girls with autism.

Jessica Kingsley Publishers £22.99 ISBN: 978-1-78592-460-6

The SENCO Handbook:

Leading Provision and Practice

S. Martin-Denham and S. Watts Based at the University of Sunderland, the authors have written this book in consultation with practicing SENCOs, and with contributions from Dr Helen Benstead, the Director of Inclusive Classrooms.

The authors provide much useful information about a range of learning differences and link the facts to supporting research and teaching approaches. They also list relevant contact details for support organisations. They define four broad areas of need: communication and interaction; cognition and learning; social, emotional and mental health difficulties; and sensory and/or physical needs.

A substantial text, with over 300 pages and supporting online and downloadable resources, the book opens with a useful list of acronyms and a glossary of terms associated with SEN. It closes with an appendix containing assessment and checklist templates.

Reflective activities enable the reader to review processes and systems within their setting in order to develop a deeper understanding of where changes might be effective.

It is divided into three parts: Professional knowledge and understanding; Leading and coordinating provision; and Personal and professional knowledge.

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In an accessible format, this book provides an in-depth guide to understanding policies, provision and practice in meeting the diverse needs of children with SEN and disabilities.

Corwin £28.99 ISBN: 978-1-5264-6569-6

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Specialist seating

Sitting comfortably? Lorna Taylor explains how the right specialist seating can aid children’s health and learning

ppropriately assessed and individually adjusted seating offers tremendous benefits to everyone’s health, concentration and function. For non-ambulant children in particular, the right seating can really help improve many aspects of their lives, in addition to those of their carers and teachers. There are many conditions which can lead to a variety of different needs from seating, especially for non-ambulant children. Each child’s physiotherapist and occupational therapist (OT) will be best able to advise for their patients and I’d encourage regular, open dialogue between education and therapy staff for the best possible outcomes for children.

Benefits of improved seating Let’s look at the benefits of specialist seating and how posture and ergonomics can help to create enabling environments for us all. Posture Specialist seating will focus on body symmetry, enabling function, ensuring hip joint congruity and minimising future potential pain (especially hip and back) which can develop with asymmetric, unhealthy postures. When positioning children in their chairs ensure their bottom is as far back as possible in the seat and if you have any concerns, speak with the child’s physiotherapist or OT. SEN104

Correct seating improves digestion and optimum posture assists feeding safety in terms of swallowing Digestion Correct seating improves digestion and optimum posture assists feeding safety in terms of swallowing. If children are PEG fed, ensure the member of staff working with them has an adequately supportive chair for their back health too. Respiration Non-ambulant children can develop scoliosis of the spine which can compromise lung capacity and function. Correct posture for all children can assist respiration by giving the best potential for lungs to expand with every breath. This in turn helps oxygenation of vital organs which can improve concentration and wellbeing. Communication When children are well positioned in an upright posture, they can better engage with their environment, peers and senmagazine.co.uk

Specialist seating

Practical considerations for teachers Regular dialogue between physiotherapists, OTs and education staff will help to ensure the best outcomes for children – in terms of health, safety and learning experiences – and for the health and safety of practitioners. Here are some often over-looked areas which can cause challenges for children and their practitioners if not considered early on. Depending on your setting, your SENCO, physiotherapist or OT may be the first port of call with any queries or concerns. • Moving and handling – ensure you have adequate practical training which covers moving and handling of children and equipment. This is a legal requirement under The Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974. Be sure to have regular updates, use equipment provided (such as hoists) and raise any concerns with your employer if you are unsure about equipment use or are experiencing muscle or joint ache and pain. • Equipment maintenance – all equipment (therapeutic, mobility and moving and handling) will need servicing at intervals recommended by the manufacturer and/or supplier. There will also be recommended pre-use safety checks which must be adhered to. Ensure there is a lead contact in your organisation to coordinate and oversee this process, and for insurance compliance. • Swimming – many children enjoy being in the water, especially non-ambulant children; to save any delays, check with the pool if any measures are needed to enable children who may have potential sites of infection (to themselves and others) – for example, tracheostomy, PEG feeding tube or incontinence. It’s also worth checking changing tables, hoists and access, including a knowledge of emergency procedures. • Transition – multidisciplinary team communication and planning are essential for smooth transitions for children and their families. Try to give required information as soon as possible to new organisations and voice any concerns you have. For example, building adaptations can take a year to enable full curriculum access and training of new staff can take several months to ensure competencies. • Contact details – update your SENCO and other required staff details with members of the multidisciplinary team and check you have their current details too.

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About the author Lorna Taylor is a paediatric physiotherapist and a director of Jolly Back, which provides seating, consultancy and training for schools and other organisations. jollyback.com

@jollybackseating jollyback

Changes of position are important to stretch and strengthen joints and muscles supporting adults. Correct posture can aid head control and eye communication for children. Improved airway position can assist with vocal communication too. Just small amounts of adjustment can make significant differences. If you feel improvements can be made or you have any queries, contact the child’s or school’s speech and language therapist who can liaise with the multidisciplinary team to make improvements or answer any queries you may have. Access to curriculum Appropriate positioning enables every child to access the curriculum at a level appropriate for them, whether it is at floor level, table height, standing or outdoors. Arm function is improved with adjusted sitting. Research proves movement is beneficial to learning and health. For non-ambulant children, changes of position are important to stretch and strengthen joints and muscles, in addition to resting others. When assessing for seating, considerations need to be made to understand how children will safely move into and out of different positions, what equipment is needed and what training supporting staff require. As practitioners, you are likely to have great ideas about how you’d like a child in your care to access certain topics; if so, speak to your school’s or child’s physiotherapist who should be able to explore how to make it possible. A safe space For children with disabilities the world can be a confusing place and interaction can be exhausting. Many children feel comfortable and secure in their familiar, individually tailored seating and can relax when appropriately located in their “safe haven”. SEN104

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Autism

Caring for carers Manar Matusiak looks at how families of children with autism can get the support they need for themselves

utism brings with it both strengths and challenges. For those caring for a child or young person with autism there will be joyful moments but, no matter how wonderful the good times are, there will probably also be times when the challenges seem almost insurmountable. Whilst searching for the right support for the child with autism, it is important to remember that carers need support too. Enlisting the right support at the right time is crucial, but before we explore some of the types of support available to carers, let’s take a quick look at how autism can affect people.

Characteristics of autism Autism is a life-long neurodevelopmental condition. As is often said, the brains of people with autism are “wired-up differently”, so they experience the world in a different way to people who do not have autism. This can also lead to behaviour that does not appear to fit in with conventional social norms. People with autism generally exhibit differences in terms of their social communication, a rigidity and repetitiveness in their preferences and behaviour, and differences in their responses to sensory stimuli.

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Children with autism can take longer than you might expect to respond to what you are saying Social communication You might notice that an autistic child or young adult will often take things literally or “blurt out” what they are honestly thinking. This can make them seem pedantic or rude. They might look away from you when you are talking to them. Although this could be because they are concentrating on listening to you, it can appear as if they are not paying attention. Children with autism can also take longer than you might expect to respond to what you are saying, because they are processing so many things in their mind at once. It may seem to you though, as if they are not listening.

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Autism

The challenges for parents and carers of autistic children and young adults can be profound

About the author Manar Matusiak is the Managing Director of Living Autism, which helps autistic people and their families find services, advice and support. livingautism.com @livingautism

Some autistic children and young people are non-verbal and will need to use their behaviour to communicate with you. They might have a meltdown or a shutdown. It could appear to you as if their behaviour is volatile and erratic.

@Bush_Company

On the other hand, autistic people are usually open and honest. They communicate clearly and unambiguously, they follow rules and can be model students.

Rigidity in behaviour and sensory differences Autistic children and young people commonly find changes in routine difficult to cope with. This can be because the challenges they face with executive functioning make it difficult for them to make up a new plan, especially in the moment. In addition, routines provide familiarity and stability in what can be a confusing world. When changes in a plan are explained in advance and a new plan is presented (so they do not have to worry about formulating a new plan themselves), this will often be accepted, once processing time has been provided. You might experience rigidity with the foods an autistic child or young adult will tolerate. Sometimes, this is because of their sensory differences. Tastes and textures can be either repulsive or enjoyable and the slightest difference in a recipe can make a whole meal intolerable to eat. Just as with food, you might find that a child or young person might be rigid with their clothing preferences. They might only wear clothes made out of certain fabrics, or ones that do not affect their movement in specific ways. Again, this could be a result of their sensory differences. You could find that to self-regulate or for sensory enjoyment, an autistic child or young person engages in repetitive movements, such as rocking, spinning, flapping or making vocal sounds. These repetitive actions are called stimming and they help autistic people to calm themselves or to shut out sensory overload. Of course, the need for routines and structure means that autistic people can follow structured programmes very well; they are often good at working on projects and tasks with a clear beginning and end. Also, because autistic people see the world differently, hear it differently and experience it differently, they can be extremely creative and there are many examples of brilliant artists, SEN104

■ Caring for someone with autism can be stressful.

musicians and authors on the autism spectrum. They bring different perspectives, different creative approaches and different points of view.

Types of support for carers Whilst it is important to recognise and celebrate the positive qualities associated with autism, the challenges for parents and carers of autistic children and young adults can be profound. They also need support to enable them to manage the demands of their caring role and protect their physical and mental wellbeing. The types of support available to carers include: financial, professional, legal, emotional and therapeutic support; the provision of practical and technical information; and respite from being a carer. Financial support As a carer you might be entitled to a Carer’s Allowance. This is a taxable benefit and is paid if a carer fulfils certain criteria, such as being over 16 years of age and looking after someone for over 35 hours per week. It is definitely worth checking if you are eligible for this financial benefit. senmagazine.co.uk

Autism

Whatever you are going through, chances are someone else has come across the same challenges

impacts significantly on your wellbeing and if the care you provide is deemed necessary.

Professional support At various times you might need to consult a professional about a specific issue which is concerning you regarding the person you are supporting. The individual might be displaying behaviours you are unused to or which you would like to understand better, or you might like to help them develop skills which will assist them in their day-to-day living. You might need to consult a GP, a psychologist or a therapist to get the help, information and tools which could help the individual with autism, and you as their carer.

Respite However successful you are at stress management and relaxation techniques, from time to time you will need a proper break from caring, to recharge your batteries or to enable you to pay attention to other people or duties that may be getting neglected. A number of charities and other organisations offer respite services that are designed specifically for children or young people with autism.

Emotional support There will be times when you feel unduly stressed. You might wish to visit a counsellor or find a stress management or mindfulness course. Alternatively, you might find, for example, that yoga or relaxation classes work for you. If you can’t get to a class or a course, you might be able to find useful DVDs or online videos to help you relax in the way that suits you. Paying attention to your stress levels might help you through some of the difficult times. Legal support The Care Act 2014 aims to support carers. The Act, which came into effect in April 2015, ensures you, the carer, have the right to have your own needs assessed to identify the support you may be entitled to (if you meet the national criteria). You can be assessed regardless of the number of hours you spend supporting the individual, your financial means or the level of need for support. To obtain an assessment you need to contact your local authority’s adult services and ask for a carer’s assessment. You should receive a list of the questions you will be asked in advance of the assessment so that you have time to prepare your answers and formulate any questions or queries you may have. You will be asked about: • how being a carer impacts on your health and wellbeing • your feelings and choices about caring • your work, study, training and leisure • your wishes, choices and the outcomes you want to achieve • your relationships, social activities and goals • your housing situation • how you plan for emergencies. Although there are national rules, the local authority will decide whether you have what the law calls “eligible needs”. You will be considered eligible if it is decided that your caring role senmagazine.co.uk

Once your needs have been identified, a care plan should be put in place and you should be offered the support services identified. If you are above the financial threshold, you may have to pay for these services. If you are below the financial threshold, you can request a direct payment so that you can organise the services yourself.

The website of your local authority must, by law, detail its “local offer”, which should include details of the services available in the area to people with SEN and disabilities and their families, including respite services. For the council to consider funding respite care, both the carer and the person with autism will need to have an assessment. There are many different types of respite care, ranging from the provision of volunteers or paid staff to take over caring for a short period of time, to residential stays in custom facilities. The reality, in these times of financial austerity, is that respite care can be more difficult to access than it is supposed be. Information Whether you are wanting to find out more about autism or wanting to explore a specific aspect of the condition or related topic, it’s important to know where to go to get the information you need. Reading articles on the subject can be very useful, and there is a wealth of information available online. Meeting with others who are, or have been, in a similar situation to you can also be invaluable. Local support groups for families living with autism can be found in most areas and online chat groups and discussion forums are often very popular with families. In recent years, social media has become a much used medium for parents and carers to share information and experiences about autism and to provide support and understanding for those experiencing difficulties. Whatever you are going through, chances are someone else has come across the same challenges. It can be comforting simply to know you are not alone and you might find it very helpful to know how they managed the situation. When caring for someone with autism, it’s crucial to remember to look after yourself so you are in a good state to look after others. You will have wonderful times with the autistic person you are caring for and supporting. There will also be challenging times which will take all your energy and effort, so access as much support as you can to help yourself. SEN104

Autism

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Autism

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Transition

Advertisement feature

Giving young people the tools they need to transition We all know that the building blocks for a successful transition from children’s to adult services start at a young age. It’s why at Hesley Group, the core skills required for transition, such as the ability to communicate, start at day one. Their support of Richard is a great example of this.

So the classroom tables were replaced by the counter of a busy local bakery. The teacher was replaced with a sales assistant, briefed and ready to offer Richard the extra time he needs. It was a challenging environment at first, but over time he has learned to feel calm and safe in this place.

For his first years at school, Richard regularly practiced the PECS book system of communication in his classroom. Over time, he built his understanding to include a wide range of words and became more confident choosing the correct symbol. Through body language, respectful waiting and appropriate use of Makaton for “please” and “thank you” he was also able to communicate with others in an effective and respectful way.

Looking forward

These simple yet vital skills were invaluable in Richard’s transition into an adult setting. As he neared the end of his school life, a decision was made to move PECS sessions into the community. With the backing of his support team and therapeutic staff, the sessions were created to give Richard the skills and confidence needed for a fulfilling adult life.

Over the next two years, plans are in place to take this learning further. Leisure centres, doctors, libraries, museums, supermarkets and pharmacists are just some of the environments teachers have identified as useful for Richard to be comfortable and effective in. On his work placement, he is learning how to request the right equipment and animal feed to help him in his animal care role. In each of these settings, the planning specifies how there will be close support initially to provide reassurance and modelling, but then how over time this support will fade into the background as Richard’s independence develops. This is where his education aims to have lasting impact – making him comfortable in environments he will experience in life, giving him the learning skills and behavioural techniques to participate alongside others in the community, and helping him to communicate his wants and needs effectively when away from the school environment. To get Richard to a place where such community experiences are options has not always been quick or easy. A consistent and persistent approach has been required by care, education and clinical staff towards self-esteem building, skills development, behavioural improvement, sensory support and increasing communication skills. Through this, Richard first grew the confidence to succeed where before he had struggled in school and now is pleasing others by showing these skills and strengths in the everyday community settings where his adult life will be spent. You can find out more about the work we do here at Hesley Group by visiting our website at hesleygroup.co.uk or call our freephone referrals line to discuss any requirements or to arrange a visit on 0800 055 6789.

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Recruitment

Looking out for colleagues School staff workload and wellbeing are in crisis, writes Stephen Emsley The Teacher Wellbeing Index 2019 has just been released and is a profoundly depressing read. 74 per cent of education professionals describe themselves as stressed. 78 per cent have experienced behavioural, psychological or physical symptoms due to their work, and of those, 81 per cent believe there are signs of anxiety or depression. A GP has formally diagnosed more than half of these. There has been much comment on why staff feel this way, with causes such as workload, leadership, pressure from Ofsted and government interference often cited. As leaders, governors, heads and CEOs, we all need to realise that a stressed workforce dilutes outcomes. At the very least, it leads to presenteeism (feeling pressured to be at work despite poor physical or mental health), and at worst it forces people into long-term illness or a career change. This all makes it harder to recruit and maintain school staff. Let us hold up a mirror to our practice. Have we looked properly at reducing staff workload? Have we talked to staff about what they think might help? When launching new initiatives and practices, have we first looked at the impact of this on staff, and what we could get rid of? Ultimately, workload is a function of leadership, either at department, school, trust, LA or national level. Are we as leaders robust enough to say no when asked to do anything that has a workload implication, but little or no impact?

Wellbeing Do leaders talk openly about wellbeing, provide information and really listen to staff when they have issues? 60 per cent of staff say they would not feel confident disclosing unmanageable stress or mental health issues to their employer. Imagine not being able to speak up about something that impacts health – especially when 84 per cent of senior leads also report feeling stressed.

■ The mental health of staff is a big issue for schools.

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Most importantly, have we looked at our behaviour and how it influences our

About the author Stephen Emsley is the Group Director of specialist teaching agency the Classroom Partnership and a school Chair of Governors and trustee. Views expressed in this article are his own and are not endorsed by any company or trust.

Let us hold up a mirror to our practice. Have we looked properly at reducing staff workload? colleagues? Simple things like sending an email on a Sunday evening, because that’s when you work, could make a member of staff feel pressured to respond straight away, even though you don’t expect anything. Isn’t it better to use a delay on our emails, so staff feel less pressure outside work? We have probably all seen the school where the Head stays late every night, and staff feel pressured into staying as well, but have we considered the flip side? For example, requiring staff to go home at 4pm once a week could lead to a similar pressure to just take work home instead. Ultimately, we need staff to feel they have some control over their work lives, and that work will not intrude on their private life. We need to be forthright in providing the right support and communication channels to staff who feel stressed, anxious or depressed, and deal with them with respect, understanding and compassion. Our staff are our greatest resource and we need to protect them. senmagazine.co.uk

Recruitment / situations vacant

The most important words for education bosses Education business leaders who thank their staff experience reduced staff turnover, improved staff retention and more successful talent acquisition. A study of 1,253 workers, carried out by workplace and incentives provider One4all Rewards, surveyed workers on the impact existing and potential employers have when they say “thank you” or express gratitude for a job well done. It revealed that 57 per cent of education workers said that a company that rewards their staff with an individual cash bonus or gift card at regular intervals is a more desirable place to work. 66 per cent stated that they would be more likely to apply for a job with a company who gift staff an annual cash bonus or gift card. Individual non-cash rewards such as treats, or gifts shared at regular intervals, would make a company a more desirable place to work for 57 per cent of respondents in the education sector. one4allrewards.co.uk

Find new people... ...through

SEN is read by special needs teaching and support staff throughout the UK. If you are recruiting special needs staff, advertise in SEN Magazine’s recruitment section. If you have training courses to publicise, let people know about them through the pages of SEN Magazine. With a targeted audience of over 36,000 special needs professionals, it’s the obvious choice.

Call Denise on 01200 409808 or email denise@senmagazine.co.uk

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CPD, training and events Your indispensable guide to SEN courses, workshops, conferences and exhibitions

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CPD, training and events

Rebound Therapy Training Courses ‘ReboundTherapy.org’ – the official UK body and international consultancy for Rebound Therapy. Responsible for the development and delivery of the genuine ‘Eddy Anderson model’ accredited and approved training courses. Founded 1972

01342 870543 reboundtherapy.org

MEd Professional Practice in Dyslexia and Literacy This programme is designed for professionals who are passionate about supporting learners with dyslexia. The programme is quality assured by Middlesex University and you will receive a Middlesex University award upon completion. dyslexiaaction.org.uk

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MA in Education (Early Years) modules

Online learning

Centre for Research in Early Childhood

Autism Spectrum Disorder course

Supporting Wellbeing and Mental Health in Schools course

CREC offers a flexible way for trainees and early years practitioners to gain a post graduate Masters degree in Early Years Education. All modules are designed specifically for early years practitioners and leaders in the early years. They are offered as part-time courses which can be fitted around a busy, full-time working life. crec.co.uk/ma-in-education

Online learning

Dyslexia course This supported online CPD course provides an understanding of the impact dyslexia can have on a learner. Available guided or with tutor support. Quote SENMAG for a ten per cent discount.

Learn how to make your

ten per cent discount.

Create a wellbeing culture in your school that supports mental health with OLT’s new CPD certified course. Available guided or with tutor support. Quote SENMAG for a ten per cent discount.

01273 286 224

classroom and practice more inclusive for autistic learners with this CPD certified course. Available guided or with tutor support. Quote SENMAG for a

info@oltinternational.net oltinternational.net/senmag

Online learning

Attachment and Trauma course Build upon the model of attachment training and research carried out by Bath Spa University. Available guided or with tutor support. Quote SENMAG for a ten per cent discount.

01273 286 224

info@oltinternational.net

oltinternational.net/senmag

info@oltinternational.net oltinternational.net/wellbeing

Online learning

Speech, Language and Communication Needs course

This supported CPD certified course looks at the impact speech, language and communication needs can have on a learner. Available guided or with tutor support. Quote SENMAG for a ten per cent discount.

1273 286 224 info@oltinternational.net oltinternational.net/senmag

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CPD, training and events

Part-time training

30 January

4 to 6 February

11 February

Diploma in Trauma and Mental Health Informed Schools and Communities

Introduction to LEGO Braille Bricks

EarlyBird Plus Licensed Training

An introduction to a brand new resource soon to be available for children in the UK with a visual impairment. £80 with lunch and refreshments included

EarlyBird and EarlyBird Plus are programmes for parents whose child has received an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis aged 0 to nine.

Learning to use the Therapy Outcome Measure (TOM)

Ten-day training over two terms in many regions. University validated 12-day training in London. Also available in your venue. info@traumainformedschools.co.uk traumainformedschools.co.uk

January 2020 23 January

ncw.co.uk

February 2020 1 February

Semi-Formal (SLD/ MLD) Curriculum by Peter Imray

Blossom House School, Station Road, London, KT3 6JJ Twilight training – 4 to 6.30pm equals.co.uk

25 January

How to Respond to Children and Teenagers Suffering from Depression and Anxiety

Conference 10.00 to 17.00. Cost: £183. The Centre for Child Mental Health

020 7354 2913

info@childmentalhealthcentre.org childmentalhealthcentre.org

28 and 29 January

PECS Level 2 Training Workshop Manchester

Learn practical ideas for advanced lessons in expanding language and communication within functional activities, plus tools for identifying communication opportunities across the day. Successfully problem solve PECS implementation and take it to the next level.

01273 609 555

01905 763933

pecs-unitedkingdom.com

Intense Emotions and Unbearable Experiences: How to Heal Without Resorting to Diagnosis and Pills Conference with international attachment expert Dr Dan Hughes and clinical psychologist Dr Lucy Johnstone. 10.00 to 17.00. Cost: £183. The Centre for Child Mental Health

020 7354 2913 info@childmentalhealthcentre.org childmentalhealthcentre.org

autism.org.uk/training

5 February

The Southern Education Show

Newbury Racecourse Leading UK education show, attracting 200+ school decision-makers and over 70 key exhibitors. Free to attend! southerneducationshow.uk

5 February

New College Worcester Outreach Open Day

Practical support and advice on teaching young people who are visually impaired. Specific curriculum areas such as maths, PE, music, science and Braille. £80 with lunch and refreshments included.

01905 763933 ncw.co.uk

3 and 4 February

PECS Level 1 Training Workshop

University of Leeds Postgraduate Open Day

Plymouth PECS is an approach that teaches functional communication skills using pictures. This workshop will give you all the practical details you need to start implementing PECS immediately, including: demonstrations, videos and opportunities to practice.

01273 609 555 pecs-unitedkingdom.com

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IBIS Hotel (New Street), Birmingham One-day training workshop with Prof Pam Enderby. Delegate fee £175. For further details, visit communitytherapy.org.uk

11 to 12 February

Teen Life Licensed Training London A programme for parents of young people on the autism spectrum aged between ten and 16 years. autism.org.uk/training

13 February

Autism and continence London One-day course which focuses on the common toileting difficulties in autistic children. autism.org.uk/training

7 February

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Nottingham

University of Leeds

Discover how a postgraduate qualification from the School of Education could enhance your practice working with individuals with special educational needs. Full-time and part-time study options available.

17 to 21 February

TEACCH Autism Programme Meadowgate Academy, Cambridgeshire Five-day classroom training led by TEACCH consultants from North Carolina. £1395. Contact Lisa Gill:

01945 461836

leeds.ac.uk/pgopenday

lgill@meadowgate.cambs.sch.uk

7 February

18 February

Confidently Assessing for Access Arrangements in GCSE and FE

Understanding stress and anxiety in autism and their impact on behaviour

Central London

Comprehensive overview of the access arrangements process with JCQ expert Lia Castiglione – the evidence required and making the most of standardised tests. hoddereducation.co.uk/ accessarrangements

London Learn how you can help autistic people to reduce stress and anxiety, understand their behaviour, and support them during difficult times. autism.org.uk/training

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CPD, training and events

Record attendances for Into Film Festival The film education charity Into Film has received record-breaking attendance figures for this year’s Into Film Festival, with over 500,000 attendees across 3,000 screenings and events in 580 UK cinemas. This makes it their most successful event yet, and probably the largest free cultural event for children and young people in the UK. The Festival opened on 6 November with 40 simultaneous pupil premieres of climate change documentary 2040, in collaboration with UNICEF and in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Into Film Festival Director Sam Wilson said: “We are thrilled to have hosted the most successful Into Film Festival to date reaching a wider audience than ever before and we are particularly proud that, over the past two festivals, we’ve been able to give over 50,000 children and young people their first experience of a trip to the cinema, which they loved!” The Festival programme included film previews, filmmaker guests, industry events, and the best films of the past 12 months for five to 19-year-olds. This year’s Festival highlights included: a special screening of Mary Queen of Scots in Stirling Castle, presented by the film’s star Jack Lowden, where it was announced that he was Into Film’s new Ambassador for Scotland; Welsh

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language film Deian a Loli having its pupil premiere in Wales with the actors and filmmakers present for a lively Q&A session; a wide selection of events across the UK in celebration of the half centenary of the moon landings, including screenings of Apollo 11, Armstrong and First Man with the UK Space Agency, as well as a special collaboration with Live Cinema UK at Leeds Town Hall, where live NASA footage was shown alongside a live musical performance to 800 guests. intofilm.org/festival

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CPD, training and events

19 and 20 February

27 February

3 to 5 March

7 March

Essential Autism Licensed User Training

The Eastern Education Show

EarlyBird Plus Licensed Training

From Ace Aware to Ace Informed Practice: Therapeutic Conversations That Change Lives

London A two-day train the trainer course that licenses autism experienced professionals to deliver the NAS Essential Autism course to their staff teams. autism.org.uk/training

20 February

Sensory considerations Edinburgh One-day course to understand the autistic sensory world and its impact on people’s daily life and behaviour. autism.org.uk/training

22 February

How to Have a Mentally Healthy School, Community or Organisation: Transformational Change from Unwell to Well Cultures Conference 10.00 to 17.00. Cost: £183. The Centre for Child Mental Health

020 7354 2913

Newmarket Racecourse Leading UK education show, attracting 200+ school decision-makers and over 70 key exhibitors. Free to attend! easterneducationshow.uk

27 and 28 February

Autism Professionals Conference

Birmingham

EarlyBird and EarlyBird Plus are programmes for parents whose child has received an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis aged 0 to nine. autism.org.uk/training

3 to 5 March

Special Yoga and Mindfulness for Autism and ADHD

Birmingham

London

The annual two-day

Equip yourself with a comprehensive toolkit allowing you to inspire children to develop a mindful and self-regulating approach towards their wellbeing.

conference is a unique opportunity for professionals to discuss best practice and share learning. Live streaming and on demand service available for this conference. autism.org.uk/conferences

March 2020 3 March

SEN Law Conference Central London This one-day specialist SEN Law Conference will provide legal and policy updates across all aspects of this fastmoving and developing area

info@childmentalhealthcentre.org

of law.

childmentalhealthcentre.org

senlawconference.co.uk

specialyoga.org.uk

4 March

Kidz to Adultz Middle Ricoh Arena, Coventry

Kidz to Adultz Middle is an event by Disabled Living dedicated to children and young adults with disabilities and additional needs, their parents, carers and the professionals who support them. kidzexhibitions.co.uk

4 March

Understanding and supporting autistic people London

This one-day introductory course builds your knowledge of autism and how to support autistic children and adults. autism.org.uk/training

4 and 5 March

020 7354 2913 info@childmentalhealthcentre.org childmentalhealthcentre.org

11 and 12 March

Inside Screen Readers Attend one or two days for basic through to advanced exploration of screen reading technology. £150 per day with lunch and refreshments included

01905 763933 ncw.co.uk

17 and 18 March

Naidex

Birmingham NEC Naidex is Europe’s most established event dedicated to the future of healthcare and independent living. The show is back at Birmingham NEC for its 46th anniversary on 17 and 18 March. Register for free tickets at www.naidex.co.uk

19 March

PECS in Your Curriculum Workshop Brighton

Music & Drama Education Expo London is a free-toattend event on 4 and 5 March. Take advantage of over 60 CPD sessions, 150 creative brands and endless networking opportunities.

Updated for 2020 – a highly practical workshop which will help you maximise teaching time for learners with autism and complex communication difficulties. Develop effective learning environments, which emphasise functional communication and learn how to use reinforcers effectively in the classroom.

musicanddramaeducationexpo. co.uk/london

pecs-unitedkingdom.com

Music & Drama Education Expo London

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Conference with awardwinning author and expert Dr Margot Sunderland, covering topics including witnessing domestic violence, being a young carer, sexual/ physical abuse, neglect, multiple moves, being bullied, traumatic loss. 10.00 to 16.30. Cost: £183. The Centre for Child Mental Health

01273 609 555

senmagazine.co.uk

CPD, training and events

People with learning disabilities and autism call for greater representation New research uncovers the extent of exclusion faced by people with learning disabilities and autism across the country.

challenging stereotypes and entrenched social prejudices, to make communities better for themselves and others.

The research, by not-for-profit support provider Dimensions uncovers a widespread sense of isolation, with 96 per cent of people with learning disabilities and autism having felt misunderstood by others. Despite nearly all (98 per cent) believing they should have the same opportunities as everyone else, over half (54 per cent) believe they do not.

“It should be a wakeup call to all of us that people with autism and learning disabilities feel misunderstood and underestimated. We all need to do better, to make society more welcoming and inclusive”, says Sarah Clarke, Campaigns Manager at Dimensions. “We’re incredibly proud to be celebrating this year’s Leaders, who are not only challenging perceptions but also inspiring others and showing the world that everyone can make a difference. We can all learn so much from them.”

The research coincides with the publication of the Dimensions’ 2019 Learning Disability and Autism Leaders’ List – which recognises people with learning disabilities and autism who are

With 99 per cent thinking society doesn’t understand what people with learning disabilities and autism are capable of, the achievements of this year’s Leaders serve to challenge outdated perceptions. Celebrated on this year’s List are, among others, Matthew Hallett (pictured), a filmmaker, performer and Head Programmer for Oska Bright, the leading learning disability film festival in the world, and Shauna Elise Hogan, who has Down’s syndrome. Shauna was deemed a health and safety risk at school and has gone on to win hundreds of medals at Down’s syndrome and Special Olympics events, pursuing her passion for swimming. dimensions-uk.org

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CPD, training and events

20 March

25 March

Equals Spring Conference: Curriculum at the Heart of Learning for Learners of all Ages with PMLD, SLD and MLD

The new Ofsted inspection framework – implementation, impact on schools and the next steps for the curriculum

University of Manchester equals.co.uk

20 and 21 March

Childcare & Education Expo London 2020 London Olympia

Two days of workshops, seminars, activity zones and innovative suppliers for early years and primary educators. Seminar topics include SEN, creativity, leadership, selfregulation and literacy.

01425 838393

21 March

NAPLIC Conference and AGM

Central London

Conference with Matthew Purves (Ofsted), Catherine Anwar (Summit Learning Trust), John Blake (Now Teach), Dr Tom Harrison (University of Birmingham), Emma Knights (National Governance Association) and Dan Morrow (Woodland Academy Trust) and others. westminsterforumprojects. co.uk

April 2020 20 to 26 April

Special Yoga For Special Children London

In-depth seven-day course to provide you with the confidence and tools to encourage the child’s full potential to flourish. No yoga experience necessary. specialyoga.org.uk

Sheffield

DLD: Moving Forward Together. Speakers include: Caroline Rowland, James Law and Marie Gascoigne. Practitioner presentations include: Making use of evidence and sharing best practice. Exhibition. Members £105 to 10 January or £165 after. Non-members welcome.

01273 381009 carol.lingwood@btopenworld.com naplic.org.uk/conferences

23 and 24 March

PECS Level 1 Training Workshop Darlington

PECS is an approach that teaches functional communication skills using pictures. This workshop will give you all the practical details you need to start implementing PECS immediately, including demonstrations, videos and opportunities to practice.

01273 609 555 pecs-unitedkingdom.com

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May 2020

June 2020

September 2020

9 June

26 to 28 September

Supporting Primary School Students

Education Egypt 2020

Practical support and advice on teaching young people who are visually impaired who are at primary school. £80 per day with lunch and refreshments included.

01905 763933 ncw.co.uk

26 June

14 to 25 Education – What does independence mean for young people with PMLD, SLD and MLD?

Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo Your gateway to the largest student population in the MENA region, Education Egypt is inviting the industry to take a step beyond the classroom and discover pioneering education solutions. education-egypt.com/SEN_ Magazine

NCVO, Central London equals.co.uk

July 2020 9 July

Sex and Relationships Education – What does this mean for children, young people and adults with SLD, PMLD and ASD?

Please check all details with the event organiser before you make arrangements to attend.

NCVO, Central London equals.co.uk

7 May

Kidz to Adultz South

Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre Kidz to Adultz South is an event by Disabled Living dedicated to children and young adults with disabilities and additional needs, their parents, carers and the professionals who support them. kidzexhibitions.co.uk

20 May

PECS to Speech Generating Devices Interactive Workshop London

Learn to identify students ready to make the progression to an SGD. This full-day interactive workshop will teach you how to select a device, prepare the learner, teach functional use of the device and trouble shoot.

01273 609 555

pecs-unitedkingdom.com

senmagazine.co.uk

CPD, training and events

NetSupport Radio is official broadcaster of Bett 2020 NetSupport Radio has been chosen to be the official broadcaster of Bett 2020, taking place at ExCel London from 22 to 25 January 2020. Providing an interactive forum for visitors to explore, debate and reflect on the show’s six new themes, NetSupport Radio will broadcast an engaging and informative mix of interviews, analysis and debate on the biggest issues in education throughout the show. Powered by Anderton Tiger Broadcasting and hosted by Bett legend and schools radio broadcaster Russell Prue, visitors to the show can get involved by sharing their “best of Bett” thoughts via Twitter using #NetSupportRadio and #BettShow throughout the four days. Show attendees are also encouraged to visit the radio station at stand NL44 for a chance to feature on the show. The station is broadcasting daily at 3pm throughout Bett 2020, and visitors can download the NetSupport Radio app to their smartphone to listen live. The app also features pre-Bett podcasts and regular features throughout the year. The educators, leaders, and EdTech pioneers featuring on NetSupport Radio this year include: Nicole Ponsford, awardwinning digital educator, CEO and co-founder of the Gender Equality Collective; Dr Sue Black OBE, award-winning computer

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scientist, Professor of Computer Science and Technology Evangelist at Durham University; Al Kingsley, Managing Director of NetSupport, Chair of a Multi Academy Trust and expert in edtech impact and digital strategy; and Dr Ger Graus OBE, Global Director of Education at KidZania. Commenting on plans for Bett 2020, Al Kingsley said: “Bett is an amazing opportunity for educators and industry to listen, learn and discuss the role technology has in supporting schools to deliver positive impact. We are thrilled to be the official broadcaster of Bett 2020, ensuring there is a channel for delegates to reflect, respond and have their voice heard throughout the show.” netsupportsoftware.com/radio

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SEN resources directory

Sen resources directory Information, advice and support for all things SEN

ADHD ADHD Foundation Training and awareness raising around ADHD. adhdfoundation.org.uk

National Attention Deficit Disorder Information and Support Service Resources and information for ADHD. addiss.co.uk

Autism Ambitious about Autism National charity for children and young people with autism. ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk

Autism Alliance Network of 16 UK autism charities. autism-alliance.org.uk

Cerebral palsy Action CP

Epilepsy Action

Charity raising awareness of issues facing children and young people with cerebral palsies. actioncp.org

Advice and information on epilepsy. epilepsy.org.uk

Scope UK Help, advice and support for those affected by cerebral palsy. scope.org.uk

Child support Childline Confidential advice and support for children. childline.org.uk

Down’s syndrome

Autistica

Down’s Syndrome Association

Autism research charity. autistica.org.uk

Information, support and training on Down’s syndrome. downs-syndrome.org.uk

National Autistic Society Help and information for those affected by ASD. autism.org.uk

Brain conditions Cerebra UK Charity for children with brain related conditions. cerebra.org.uk

Child Brain Injury Trust Charity supporting children, young people, families and professionals. childbraininjurytrust.org.uk

Bullying Anti-Bullying Alliance Coalition of organisations united against bullying. anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk

Bullying UK Support and advice on beating bullying. bullying.co.uk SEN104

Epilepsy

Down’s Syndrome Research Foundation UK Charity focussing on research into Down’s syndrome. dsrf-uk.org

Dyslexia British Dyslexia Association Information and support for people affected by dyslexia. bdadyslexia.org.uk

Driver Youth Trust Charity offering free information and resources on dyslexia. driveryouthtrust.com

Dyspraxia

Young Epilepsy Support for children and young people and training for professionals. youngepilepsy.org.uk

Hearing impairment Action on Hearing Loss Charity for people with a hearing loss. actiononhearingloss.org.uk

National Deaf Children’s Society Charity supporting deaf children and young people. ndcs.org.uk

Learning disability BILD Charity offering support and information on learning disabilities. bild.org.uk

Choice Forum Forum for discussing issues affecting those with learning disabilities. our.choiceforum.org

Mencap Learning disabilities charity. mencap.org.uk

Learning outdoors Council for Learning Outside the classroom Awarding body for the LOtC quality badge. lotc.org.uk

Literacy

Dyspraxia Foundation UK

National Literacy Trust

Dyspraxia advice and support. dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk

Literacy charity for adults and children. literacytrust.org.uk senmagazine.co.uk

SEN resources directory

Mental health MIND

Advice and support for people experiencing a mental health problem. mind.org.uk

NHS National Health Service nhs.uk

Department of Health Northern Ireland health-ni.gov.uk/

Health in Wales wales.nhs.uk

Special educational needs nasen Organisation for the education, training and advancement of those with SEN. nasen.org.uk

SEN.fyi (App) Everything You Wanted to Know About SEN – all in one place! Download this app free to your smartphone or tablet for iOS (on Apple App store) or Android (on Google Play store). specialeducationalneeds.co.uk/ senfyi-app.html

NHS Health Scotland healthscotland.scot

Rebound Therapy ReboundTherapy.org

The UK governing body and international consultancy for Rebound Therapy. reboundtherapy.org

SEN law Douglas Silas Solicitors

Douglas Silas Solicitors are the legal experts specialising exclusively in SEN, helping parents successfully throughout the SEN process. SpecialEducationalNeeds.co.uk

IPSEA

Spina bifida Shine Information and support relating to spina bifida and hydrocephalus. shinecharity.org.uk

Tourette’s syndrome Tourette’s Action Information and advice on Tourette’s. tourettes-action.org.uk

Free, legally-based advice for parents of UK Government children with SEN. ipsea.org.uk For Department for Education, Department of Health and Social Care SLCN and other departments. Ace Centre gov.uk Advice on communication aids. ace-centre.org.uk

Visual impairment

Afasic

Help and advice on SLCN. afasicengland.org.uk

Communication Matters

Support for people with little or no clear speech. communicationmatters.org.uk

I CAN

Children’s communication charity. ican.org.uk

The Communication Trust Consortium of charities raising awareness of SLCN. thecommunicationtrust.org.uk senmagazine.co.uk

New College Worcester Advice and support for those teaching children who are visually impaired. ncw.co.uk

Royal Society for Blind Children Support and services for families and professionals. rsbc.org.uk

RNIB Support and advice for those affected by visual impairment. rnib.org.uk SEN104

About SEN Magazine

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In the March/April issue of SEN Magazine: • World Autism Awareness Day/Week • sensory rooms • performing arts • accessible vehicles • short breaks/respite • learning outside the classroom • ADHD • Tourette’s syndrome • transition to adult life • dyslexia • recruitment • CPD

and much more...