Supporting ASD student with focusing strategies

What Was The Young Person's Story?

The student was referred to SENsational Tutors for five hours of weekly English language tuition by the London Borough of Harrow in 2020. The student – who was seventeen at the time – had an ASD diagnosis and had previously been home-tutored and hadn’t been within a school setting for many years.

He had problems with focus and concentration as well as anxiety – which needed to be understood to minimise potential for dysregulation during sessions.

How Our SEN Tutor Made A Difference:

Tutor Jane initially worked with the student for four lessons per week during term-time, providing advance lesson plans to the local authority. The goals were for the student to study Level One Functional Skills in English and also to be able to write in formal and informal formats such as letters, e-mails, reports and articles. The aim was also to increase his concentration.

It took a couple of weeks for the lad to settle into the routine and to build a rapport with Jane but once this was established, they worked well together. The student had a habit of diverting any questions to his favourite topic and talk about that instead. Jane realised that he needed to do this to self-regulate. Allowing him to talk about his topic for a limited amount of time, she found he was more able to focus on the actual lesson.

What Was The Impact:

Although the student found learning English challenging, he persevered for a year, mostly staying regulated. Even so, he has made progress in many areas – his spelling has improved and he can better-understand differences in formal and informal language and fact and opinion. He can also find information from a piece of text, write an e-mail, appreciate different tones in conversation, use synonyms, antonyms and literary techniques, and understand the meaning and usage of many idioms and common phrases.

The specialist SEN tutor below provided the support described in this case study.

Jane

Harrow

(8 reviews)

BA HONS, PGCE (Specialising in English/SEND)

Over 30 years of experience as a teacher, focused on personalised learning and confidence.

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