As a highly qualified specialist teacher, diagnostic assessor and SEND consultant, I have extensive experience supporting children with specific learning difficulties across all four broad areas of need: cognition and learning; communication and interaction; social, emotional and mental health: and sensory and/or physical needs. Supporting children and young people with neurodiverse needs has been a focus of my entire career. I work alongside families, schools, and professionals to offer practical advice, tailored teaching and training that helps every child thrive.
I believe that every child learns best when their unique strengths are recognised and nurtured. My approach is centred on building a clear understanding of how each learner thinks, feels and processes the world around them. By using their strengths as a foundation, I support children in developing confidence, independence, and strategies that make learning more accessible and enjoyable. I strive to ensure every child or young person feels understood, supported, and empowered in education and life.
I specialise in profiling both cognitive and academic skills to build a detailed picture of each child or young person’s unique strengths and areas of difficulty. Each assessment is thoughtfully analysed to build a clear picture of the individual’s learning profile and how they process and retain information. This in depth understanding of the child’s cognitive profile, builds the information for the evidence – based intervention and practical strategies. This helps to harness cognitive strengths to support academic progress and equips the learner with strategies that are personalised to their profile, ensuring that they are meaningful.
Initial Cognition and Learning assessment; Informs Programme of Study.
Using my expertise in assessment, I begin the process of getting to know the child or young person using both summative and formative assessments. Standardised assessment tools, yield results with 95% to 99% accuracy. The cognitive areas assessed include working memory, sequential memory phonological awareness, phonological processing, including auditory and visual processing along with the individual’s underlying ability levels and potential to learn and achieve. This information is combined with academic data to create a comprehensive profile of the learner’s strengths, challenges and areas for development.
Specialist support for Literacy, (Dyslexia) reading, writing and spelling
As a specialist teacher in dyslexia, I bring in-depth knowledge and expertise in identifying a child or young person’s strengths and areas of need. I use assessment outcomes to design tailored, evidence- based intervention plans that support meaningful progress. I have expertise in the teaching of reading, including phonological awareness, decoding strategies, and reading comprehension. I also specialise in the teaching of spelling, sentence structure, handwriting, and writing fluency. All the key elements required for comprehensive literacy development.
The customised intervention will leverage the child’s existing strengths to effectively address areas of weakness and support their learning needs. The intervention or programme of learning will be systematic, cumulative and multi-sensory, with a focus on the underlying skills that underpin fluent literacy development.
Mathematics support for individuals with dyscalculia and assistance in developing mathematical skills and building confidence.
As a specialist teacher in both literacy and mathematical development, I use assessment effectively to clearly understand the learners’ barriers. The mathematic assessments are designed to identify the underlying neurocognitive processes that contribute to mathematical difficulties. They will be used to evaluate working memory, executive function, and visual spatial processing.
The results will identify, areas such as ability to visualise, perception processing skills, spatial ability, sequential thinking, linking, estimation skills, and memory, and understanding of mathematical language. All component skills and cognitive areas needed for proficient mathematical development. Once the learners’ strengths and areas of difficulty with mathematics have been identified, a personalised programme of study can be created to match the individual learning profile in this subject area.
Specialist Support for ADHD, ADD, levels of engagement and independence
As a specialist in specific learning difficulties, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and ADD are often found to co-occur with other specific difficulties such as dyslexia. The executive function (mental processes) that enable us to plan focus, remember instructions and manage multiple tasks are often interrupted and need to be specifically taught to enable the learner to sustain and manage learning tasks independently. I use assessment to ascertain the level of need, or challenges that the learner faces in these areas. A customised programme will be created to address the learner’s academic needs, supporting areas such as working memory, impulse control, emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility, planning, task initiation, organisation, and sustained attention.
Specialist support for speech language and communication, including verbal dyspraxia
I have extensive experience working with children with speech and language disorders and have worked alongside speech therapists to support children in mainstream and specialist provisions. I am an ELKLAN Trainer and have delivered whole-school training with speech and language therapists.
I use assessment in the first instance to establish the information needed and assess the severity of the need in this area. For example, the British Picture Vocabulary Scale Third Edition (BPVS 111) can assess receptive language understanding. The results of the assessments would then be used to build a programme to support receptive, expressive, language skills and how these are used to support literacy development for example language comprehension when reading.
Specialist support for sensory processing, including auditory processing and developmental coordination disorder
A sensory profile and checklist will be carried out on the child or young person , and additional assessments may be completed as needed to determine the learner’s sensory profile, sensory processing, and approach to information processing. Once this has clearly been established tailored resources, approaches and strategies can be complied and integrated into the learner’s academic areas of strengths and weaknesses. This holistic approach will ensure that the way the learner processes the world, via auditory, physical or visual pathways forms the foundations for the programme of study and aligns with the academic areas that need to be developed.
Specialist support for social communication difficulties (ASD)
As an adviser in a multiple of special schools I have extensive experience of working with children and young people in the autistic spectrum. Assessment will be used (If appropriate to the individual) to ascertain the level of challenge that that the learner faces in this area. Skills based lessons focussing on areas such a reciprocal conversation, joint attention, turn taking, understanding and using non-verbal communication and initiating and starting conversations, understanding social cues and context and perspective – theory of mind. Along with strategies to support emotional regulation, problem solving, will be built into a programme of learning alongside skills-based approaches.
Support for individuals with social, emotional, and mental health needs, as well as profiles associated with low confidence and self-esteem.
I help children and young people with low confidence, anxiety, and self-esteem by creating a safe, predictable environment and developing trusted relationships, ensuring they feel heard and valued. Offering small achievable steps to success that gradually rebuild their sense of capability. It is important to validate their experiences without reinforcing avoidance and use positive reinforcement to highlight their strengths. Tailored strategies to support with emotional resilience and to promote self-belief over time are created and developed and incorporated into a bespoke programme of study and support.
