Jeanie

My specialist experience working with young people with SEN to develop trusting and meaningful relationships

I came into teaching through my personal connection to neurodivergence and SEND, and I specialise in supporting students who find school challenging academically, socially and emotionally.

My approach is neuroaffirming and trauma informed. I celebrate my students’ special interests, engage with them wholeheartedly and include them in lessons wherever possible, and I use humour where appropriate to help students feel at ease.

Alongside teaching academic content, I focus on learning strategies, emotional regulation, confidence and self-worth in a world that does not always accommodate difference. I am warm, empathetic and skilled at building genuine connections with young people. Many of the students I work with have had difficult experiences in traditional education, so I create calm, structured learning spaces where they feel safe, capable and respected. My lessons are interest-led and personalised, combining patience and kindness with clear, consistent boundaries.

For eight years, I worked at a NAS-accredited SEN provision as a sixth form teacher, delivering Maths and English Functional Skills, PSHE, and BTEC Life Skills and Managing Relationships through ASDAN. Over the past five years, I have worked privately with students unable to access the mainstream curriculum, supporting those on Education Otherwise Than at School programmes as well as providing supplementary support. In every setting, my focus is on helping students grow academically, socially and emotionally through trusting, supportive relationships.

Two small changes beyond what you asked for. I took “neuroaffirming” and “trauma informed” out of the lessons sentences, since they now appear once clearly at the top and the repetition was starting to dilute them. I also left Animal Care out of the list, as you wanted earlier. If you’d rather keep either of those as they were, I can put them back.

My experience working with young people with Autism

 I have worked with autistic young people for over eight years in specialist provisions and for the past five years in private tutoring. I have a deep understanding of how autistic students process information, manage sensory experiences and navigate social demands, and I adapt my teaching accordingly.

I use visual supports, clear and direct language, and predictable lesson structures to reduce anxiety and cognitive load. I allow generous processing time and never pressurise students to respond quickly. I understand that what can appear to be challenging behaviour is almost always driven by overwhelm, sensory difficulty or anxiety rather than defiance, and I respond with curiosity and calm rather than consequence

I incorporate special interests as central tools in my teaching, not as rewards or additions, but as the genuine scaffolding through which learning happens. A student who loves trains, animals or a particular video game will find those interests woven throughout our sessions. I believe autistic students thrive when their unique ways of experiencing the world are understood, respected and valued.

Experience Working with Young People with ADHD

 I have worked with many young people with ADHD across both school and private settings, and I have a thorough understanding of how ADHD affects attention, working memory, emotional regulation, motivation, and executive function. My sessions are structured to work with the ADHD brain rather than against it. I use short, focused tasks, varied and energising activities, movement breaks where helpful, and material that connects to the student's genuine interests.

From my experience, there is much more to ADHD than what is described in the DSM. Almost all children I know with ADHD are sensitive and compassionate, and I use praise, positive framing, and celebration of effort and progress. I also help students understand their own ADHD and develop personalised strategies for focus and self-regulation.

My experience working with young people with PDA

I have 15 years of experience supporting young people with a PDA profile, both as a classroom teacher and as a private tutor, and working with PDA students has fundamentally shaped how I think about teaching. I have developed expertise in collaborative, neuroaffirming, trauma informed, demand-reduced approaches that prioritise autonomy, choice and psychological safety above all else.

My practice with PDA students is built on the understanding that the anxiety driving demand avoidance creates behaviours that can seem challenging, but are in fact a young person’s way of preserving their autonomy. This requires a completely different response from traditional teaching methods. I reframe, offer choices, follow the student’s lead and find indirect routes into learning. For example, rather than asking a student to sit down, I might ask whether they would prefer this chair or that one. Rather than setting a task directly, I might wonder aloud about something interesting and see where their curiosity takes us.

Boundaries remain consistent and clear, but they are maintained through relationship and trust rather than authority. I am patient, flexible and genuinely interested in the student as a person, which is the only foundation from which PDA students can begin to feel safe enough to engage. I have also attended numerous professional development courses on PDA to ensure my neuroaffirming, trauma informed approaches are informed, current and respectful of each young person’s individual needs.

One of my favourite techniques, and one that PDA students respond to particularly well, is offering a carousel of activities. The content we need to cover remains the same, but the student chooses where we start and how we move through it. For example, if we are working on spellings, they might choose which list to begin with; if we are doing maths, I will offer three different activities covering the same concept and let them pick. This takes a little extra preparation, but it is always worth it. Even the most demand-avoidant students I have worked with become noticeably more willing to engage once they have genuine choice and autonomy in their learning. I am also explicit with students that our work together is collaborative: we are figuring it out as a team, not following a script I have written for them.

My teaching is collaborative and highly personalised, and no two students are taught the same way. For example, instead of an assessment, we might do a quiz together, with the student leading the answers while I scaffold as though we are working it out together. Everything depends on knowing what will avoid triggering anxiety, which comes from knowing each young person and years of experience. Trust comes first, and I weave in each student’s interests so that learning feels relevant, enjoyable and genuinely theirs.

My experience working with young people with anxiety

Anxiety is present in the majority of students I work with, whether as a diagnosed condition or as an understandable response to years of feeling misunderstood, behind or out of place in educational settings. My entire approach is designed to be anxiety-reducing: I create predictable, calm and low-pressure learning environments where students know what to expect and feel in control of their experience.

 My counselling training gives me a solid grounding in understanding how anxiety manifests in young people, how avoidance behaviours develop and how genuine safety and attunement can begin to shift long-standing patterns. I never use pressure, time limits or comparison as motivators. Instead, I celebrate small wins, make tasks feel manageable and give students the experience of genuine competence, which is the most powerful antidote to anxiety about learning.

 I also teach practical self-regulation strategies where appropriate, helping students to understand their own nervous systems and develop tools they can use independently beyond our sessions.

My experience developing confidence and self-esteem

Confidence is essential, and I have found in every case that students make the most progress once their confidence is in place. It grows through real experiences of competence and through students being celebrated for exactly who they are, which is central to my neuroaffirming approach. Any difficulties are met with practical support, through regulation strategies and personalised learning strategies that help each student feel in control of their learning.

My level 3 counselling qualification gives me a strong foundation in understanding how self-esteem develops and how it can be rebuilt over time. I help students recognise and reshape their inner narratives, celebrate their actual progress, and develop a more accurate and compassionate understanding of themselves. Students I have worked with consistently grow more confident over time, learning to regulate their emotions, advocate for their needs and recognise their own capabilities.

Experience Teaching Catch-Up Maths and English

I specialise in helping students catch up on core Maths and English skills so they can pass assessments such as Functional Skills and GCSEs. I have around 10 years’ experience delivering Functional Skills from Entry Level 1 to Level 2, and my students have done really well. I can help bridge the gap towards Year 10. Catch-up work is the heart of what I do: I identify exactly where gaps in understanding began, rebuild those foundations step by step, and then move towards the qualification that best suits each student, whether that is Functional Skills as a pathway to practical independence, or GCSEs where that is the right goal. During my eight years at a NAS-accredited SEN provision, I delivered Maths and English Functional Skills as part of a specialist curriculum, and I continue this work in private tutoring.

I teach Maths and English across Key Stages 1 to 3, with a particular specialism in supporting students who have found these subjects difficult or distressing and have fallen behind as a result. I use interest-led approaches and connect abstract concepts to real-world contexts that feel relevant to each student. I use memory techniques including mnemonics, acronyms and visual methods, and I break complex concepts into manageable steps, celebrating small wins and focusing on genuine understanding to support deep learning. Because progress is built on confidence as much as content, students experience real success early on, which helps them close the gap more quickly and approach assessments feeling capable rather than anxious.

My skills and experience supporting young people to develop their independence

Independence is the long-term goal underlying all of my work. I equip students with strategies, self-knowledge and confidence that will serve them long after our sessions have ended.

This means teaching self-regulation techniques, helping students understand their own sensory and processing needs, and building problem-solving skills alongside academic content. It means supporting students to advocate for themselves, communicate their needs clearly and develop a compassionate understanding of how their brain works.

I help students build practical life skills and the ability to make decisions for themselves. This may include developing organisation and study skills, managing their time and gradually taking more responsibility for their learning. Through patient guidance and encouragement, students come to recognise their capabilities and navigate challenges independently, both in education and in everyday life.

My support is holistic: I address emotional and social development alongside academic goals, because these are deeply intertwined. All of my students at my previous school achieved their EHCP outcomes in both academic progress and social and emotional wellbeing. True independence is built on self-knowledge, self-worth and the belief that one’s own strategies are valid and sufficient.

My specialist experience providing engaging sessions to inspire a love of learning

 I believe that every young person has the capacity to be curious, to be interested and to experience the satisfaction of understanding something new. My sessions are designed to tap into that capacity by making learning feel relevant, enjoyable and genuinely connected to each student's world.

 I use a wide range of teaching techniques across visual, kinaesthetic and auditory modalities, and I assess understanding through quizzes, games and conversation as well as more formal approaches. I incorporate each student's special interests as a central learning tool: if a student loves cats, cats will feature heavily in their Maths problems, their English writing prompts and their PSHE discussions.