- My specialist experience working with young people with SEN to develop trusting and meaningful relationships;
I have specialised in working with students with SEN for most of my teaching career. My first student had a ‘statement’ for SEMH and deliberately tested my resolve and commitment to him. I never waivered. He taught me so much, especially how important and transformative our relationship was for him. I have always put the relationship with the student first and I am fiercely committed to the young people that I work with. I am able to earn the trust of all the students that I work with, including those considered hard to reach. I also work very effectively with parents and outside agencies. I have an 18 year old daughter with ASC (with PDA traits) who received EOTAS in years 10 and 11. I know the daily family experience as well as the educational perspective.
- My experience working with young people with ASC (autism);
I have taught children with ASC most of my career; as a class teacher and as a SENCO I have been responsible for the educational journey and support of students with ASC both in primary and secondary schools. I have worked with schools to develop an inclusive approach that accommodates the challenges that students face rather than expecting the student to ‘fit in’ with the school, including facilitating the integration of a non-verbal child with ASC into a reception class; facilitating the training of a LSA in Makaton to assist the student’s communication and negotiating uniform accommodations to acknowledge sensory difficulties. I have always worked from the perspective of the student as much as possible, working with their strengths and interests and supporting any difficulties by using multi-sensory methods of teaching, routine, visuals, tapping into their special interests and partnership with the pupil. I have accompanied my daughter through her educational journey and experienced the difficulties, and strategies that supported her.
- My experience working with young people with PDA;
I have always supported and protected students with PDA traits, even before they were identified as such. I encourage a collaborative approach where the student is aware of what we are aiming to achieve and is able to exercise choice over how or what they are doing. I work at the pace of the pupil and never force things. If we need to have down time then we do. I always have a collection of alternative activities that are low demand but purposeful and involve the pupil’s special interests. We return to the more academic task when they are ready, even if that is on another day.
- My experience working with young people with dyslexia;
My first ever 1:1 SEN student had undiagnosed dyslexia. The negative impact that this had on him convinced me of the importance of looking at the pupil as a whole, not just the presenting issue. Addressing his literacy difficulties transformed his self esteem, his school experience and his life direction. This motivated me to complete a Diploma for Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties which qualifies me to assess students for dyslexia; to support students 1:1 and in small groups; to assess for exam access arrangements to help them when sitting exams and to train and mentor teachers to effectively support students in the classroom. I encourage students to own their difficulties and learning styles and to know what works for them and to use it. I use a multi-sensory approach to developing literacy skills; focussing on phonics while progress is being made and incorporating some rules of spelling and varied multi-sensory ways to learn spellings to add fun. I also train teachers on the impact of dyslexia in the classroom and coach them to develop dyslexia friendly teaching practices. I encourage the use of technology to support students, to improve access to material and to provide alternative forms of recording of student knowledge.
- My experience working with young people with sensory and/or auditory processing needs;
I have supported students to learn strategies to help them to understand and manage their sensory sensitivities; introduced sensory diets to school; supported schools and teachers to develop their understanding of the impact of these issues and how to accommodate them in the classroom through the use of visual supports, scaffolding, movement, technology and other accommodations. I have also supported students with visual and hearing impairments, ensuring that the necessary accommodations are in place for them and material is being presented in a manner that they can access, particularly encouraging the use of technology.
- My experience working with young people with ADHD;
I have worked closely with many students with ADHD. I have attended various training sessions on understanding ADHD and supporting students. I have provided training for teachers on working effectively with students with ADHD in their classroom and I have worked with students of all ages to develop individual, age appropriate understanding of their ADHD, to help them to take ownership of it and to develop strategies to support academic success and the development of strong self-esteem. Experience has taught me that more than ever relationships are so important for these students and I always encourage teachers to see the strengths and the good in the student, to look beyond the behaviour, to build their relationship and to protect the student’s self-esteem. I have two children with ADHD and I know how tricky the educational experience is.
- My experience teaching Primary Maths;
I am a qualified Primary teacher and have taught Maths to a variety of ages. I have also supported students with GCSE Maths using very much the same approach. The key to Maths is confidence and practise. I provide physical manipulatives where possible to aid visualisation and kinaesthetic learning then move from tangibles to the written problem and make sure that all of the accompanying language is fully understood, again using visuals to support learning. Finally, repetition is key,providing the opportunity for overlearning and for confidence to develop. Providing examples that make Maths relevant to everyday life also makes it more purposeful and less scary.
- My experience teaching Primary English;
As a qualified Primary teacher I have taught English across the age phase to children with and without SEN. I have also taught a lot of English in my role as a dyslexia support teacher, up to GCSE level. Recording their ideas can be scary for children with SEN. I aim to overcome this by using alternative recording methods if they are helpful, scribing for them, using video, dictation, mind maps, power points, whatever works for them. I aim to make activities varied, creative, imaginative, colourful, active. I read to and with students often, frequently revisiting beautiful picture books to show that any reading is valuable and enjoyable. I use Colourful Semantics to help young writers to develop their writing and to structure sentences. Above all, I vary my approach to keep the student interested and engaged.
- My experience teaching social communication and language skills;
I teach social communication and language skills through games, role play and kinaesthetic activities as much as possible. For SEN children these activities can be very challenging so they must be fun, as well as relevant to their everyday experiences. Where possible this input is woven into the content of other lessons to make it part of everyday practice and not a ‘bolt on’.
- My experience teaching community support and outside activities;
As a Primary school teacher I have always taught PE as part of the curriculum. I am an active person and love sport so I was very happy to do this. I successfully led the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme within a secondary school at Bronze and Silver level for several years. As a SENCO I organised life skills support and preparation for adulthood for students which included community activities. I have also arranged for children struggling at school to listen to younger children read once a week; sometimes this was different year groups in a Primary school, others it was Secondary School students visiting a Primary school. This was a positive, affirming experience for the children involved. I like to think outside of the box. To be creative. To encourage children to go out and be part of the world. I am also mindful that this is tricky for many students and therefore any community work is carefully planned, scaffolded and supported.
- My specialist experience providing engaging sessions to inspire a love of learning;
For all students learning experiences must be engaging or they do not learn. This is even more true for students with SEN. For many students with SEN overlearning is key so one has to be creative in order to present the same information in a variety of different ways. Students will not repeat work for the sake of it. Children with SEN often have specific interests that will hold their attention for hours. I tailor lessons to include their areas of interest where possible, vary lesson input in content and activity, not doing anything for too long. I like variety in my life and I try to provide this for my students.
- My skills and experience supporting young people to develop their independence.
Students need to have the confidence to risk independence. I offer the safe base that they need from which to explore the world. I also aim to equip them with the skills and understanding that they need and I will practice activities with them until they are confident to try it independently, with me close by to catch them if they wish. I make self-esteem work central to my teaching practise. I will have sessions that are explicitly designed to develop self-esteem and confidence and other times I simply operate in a manner that is designed to build student self-esteem, spotting success, providing specific, positive praise. Any corrective feedback that is required is always sandwiched between positive comments. I have worked with students of all ages to develop independence, including toilet training young children; taking children to the shop to buy their own things; planning and taking bus and train journeys to practice independent travel. Whatever task has been identified for the student to achieve independently is broken down into parts that are then analysed for the necessary skills and these skills are taught and practised until they are secure. The task is practised together before they try it independently.
