Jess

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

I have personal lived experience of both brain injury and autism within my immediate family, which has informed my understanding and empathy when working with children and young people with SEND, as well as their families. This insight allows me to build meaningful, trusting relationships and is something I consider the most rewarding and impactful aspect of being a tutor. Throughout my career, I have been fully committed to each and every student I’ve supported, even within the demanding environments of busy special schools. I’ve consistently been commended for this dedication, and I take great pride in the positive difference I’ve made during my students’ learning journeys.

• My experience working with young people with ASC;

I have a patient, calm manner with my students and I have taught children/ young people with autism in a range of educational settings. I create relevant and purposeful learning experiences for these students, whilst keeping to routine and using symbols and visual aids where appropriate. My brother has autism and complex needs and I have been a carer to him all his life. I therefore bring a personal experience to my professional work.

My specialist experience supporting children with ADHD: The students that I have taught with ADHD have required a number of different strategies in order to keep them engaged, focused and be able to retain information. For example the tasks need to be; personalised as much as possible, use symbols or images, created for short bursts of attention and need to be built up very progressively. Repetition and consolidation are vital for ADHD and other SEN needs. It is also key to provide reward time and identify the students’ motivators.

• My experience working with young people with Anxiety;

Most of the children and young people that I have worked with, have been anxious or have been suffering from varying levels of an anxiety disorder. I will have approached this differently for each group or individual but have always done so with kindness and compassion. Gradual approaches are required, depending on the student and situation. As a teacher, I am creative and come up with different solutions to support the mental health needs of my students. For one of current students with complex needs and anxiety, this has meant a gradual and planned approach to source an Equine provision, liaising with parents and professionals, writing progressive targets and the student now being able to engage with horse riding each week.

•          My experience supporting young people with sensory and/or auditory processing needs;

The students that I have taught with these needs have required different strategies to keep them engaged, focused and able to process and retain information. For example, the tasks need to be: personalised as much as possible, use symbols or images, created for the sensory needs of the learner and built up progressively. Repetition, overlearning, interleaving and consolidation are vital for students with any processing needs. 

•          My experience supporting young people with speech and language needs;

I have worked alongside Speech and Language Therapists (SALTs) in my years within Special School settings and am currently tutoring a Year 2 student whose primary need is Speech and Language. We are slowly building up her sentences through play and I model the correct language in a non-pressured and supportive way. 

•          My experience teaching young people with SEMH/anxiety/mental health needs;

Most of the children and young people that I have worked with, have been anxious or have been suffering from varying levels of anxiety. I will have approached this differently for each group or individual but have always done so with kindness and compassion. As a teacher, I am solution focussed and come up with different creative strategies to address the mental health needs of my students, including; considering the sensory environment, breathing/relaxation techniques such as yoga/ ‘Peace Out’, drawing and journaling, exercise and laughter. 

•          My experience supporting young people with executive functioning skills, working memory and study skills;

Throughout my Special Needs teaching experience, I have had to explore and deliver a variety of strategies for different levels of executive functioning, working memory and study skills. For Primary ages, I have taught reading and phonics, English and Maths including; using visual aids and holistic project-based learning activities; adapting the National Curriculum to make it engaging and functional. Online teaching requires an adapted version of this, which Is done through various learning platforms, interactive media such as visualisers, gaming and live Microsoft document sharing.

•          My experience supporting young people with dyspraxia;

I have taught students where dyspraxia is a co-existing condition with other diagnoses. From this experience I understand that students with dyspraxia need an increased level of support with their fine motor skills and proception. 

•          My experience supporting young people with social interaction and friendship skills;

These skills are fundamental for an individual’s personal development; the ability to develop relationships and to interact effectively with those around them. They have been a core part of my teaching philosophy, across all subjects, in schools and now into tutoring. I have experience teaching these skills through role play activities, life skills, PSHE sessions and interactive/ scenario based learning tasks. The introduction of social media has created a new way of communicating and I have experience helping students navigate these communication challenges in safe and effective ways. 

I use the ‘Zones of Regulation’ within my practice for children and young people with complex needs, which is a framework that supports a students emotional regulation and understanding the behaviour of others.

•          My experience developing confidence and self-esteem;

I have a positive and caring nature, which allows me to form bonds with students very quickly. I originally trained as an Art & Design teacher before I specialised in SEN teaching. This career pathway provided a creative edge to my tutoring and I have found that students with high anxiety levels have been able to benefit the most from these sessions. 

I give plenty of praise if the student responds well to it and will go out of my way to make students feel ‘seen’ and ‘heard’. I believe that praise can boost confidence in students when it is well pitched and genuine, and especially when there needs to be specific consideration for those individuals with a PDA profile.

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

I have 15 years of experience within various learning environments and I make my tutoring sessions engaging and relevant to the needs of the student. During the pandemic I led sessions online that were well planned and interactive. I went above and beyond by sending out learning ‘packs’ of resources, I ran group lessons and 1-2-1 sessions during a very turbulent time; with a focus on re-engagement, wellbeing and recovery.

•          My skills and experience supporting young people to develop their independence;

I believe that developing a student’s independence is one of the most fundamental aspects of my job and it is integral to not just their learning but to their life chances and future prospects. It is something that needs to be built up gradually and I have experience of doing this through writing personalised learning plans, delivering and reflecting on lessons and creating holistic learning opportunities. Any task can be broken down into multiple steps and built up over time; increasing the independence level gently. It is vital that a student is proud of what they have done at each step and has some ownership over their learning.