Kay

Special Educational Needs Experience:

I have always had a great interest in learning about SEN since studying A-Level psychology which followed through to my degree and into my career as a SEN teacher with QTS, Curriculum Lead at an ASC Special School, through to a Deputy Headteacher at a Special School. I have great enthusiasm and passion for the work that I do and seeing the progress pupils make, whether its considered big or small, continuously provides me with the drive and commitment in all of my roles. My interest in understanding SEN and imparting this knowledge still continues to grow and my role as a Specialist Leader in Education for Special Educational Needs, allows me to deliver SEN knowledge on a teachers and TA training programme affords me the opportunity to do this.

Knowledge and experience:

I have a number of years of experience working in education with pupils who have Special Educational Needs, ranging from Early Years up to college age pupils working at various points within the curriculum. I have immense knowledge of a variety of child development initiatives including behaviour management, academic progress, and social and emotional needs, parental support as well as extensive knowledge in the autistic spectrum. I work in a multi disciplinary way ensuring that decisions made are pupil led and at the centre of all decisions made when it comes to supporting pupil need. I am equipped with the knowledge needed to support children and parents and I have formed robust and effective relationship and gained valuable knowledge from a variety of professionals including speech and language therapist, occupational therapists, CAMHS, social workers and borough officials. Children have made significant progress within all roles I have held and have also developed a variety of academic, social and functional skills to help them flourish not only in their day to day but also in their future.

Autism Knowledge:

My specialist area is Autism and through my decade plus experience within schools I have obtained a range of information, resources and knowledge in supporting individuals with Autism including the understanding and use of Augmentative and Alternative communication. I have been trained by pyramid and I am proficient in the use of PCES for phase 1 through to 6, core boards and electronic communication such as prolo2go. My experience as a SEN classroom teacher at an ASC school (including other secondary diagnoses) across a range of need and cognition, as well as previously being curriculum lead at an ASC through special schools, mainstream settings and Independent schools has equipped me with extensive knowledge of the national curriculum, Pre key stage standards, the Early years framework and P-levels, as well as vast knowledge of adaptive curriculums including  creating and implementing a personal curriculum throughout a school to support individuals with ASC, ADHD and a variety of other needs through the use of the engagement model and those that follow a pre, semi and formal curriculum.

Having a great understanding of need, especially those individuals with ASC, has allowed me to tailor my teaching and delivery to be accessible by the pupils, this includes the use of sensory items to support with regulation during learning and breaks, incorporating movement breaks into the structure of lessons to enable the young person to remain in a space that allows them to be ready to access learning, and using sensory activities to hook and engage the young person, capture their engagement and encourage participating in learning. I use these approaches when teaching all subjects including core subject learning such as maths and English and incorporate cross curricular approaches using elements from other subjects and topics to make core learning accessible. I am a great believer in learning being largely down to the teacher to capture the engagement of the young person and adapting core learning to include sensory elements and interests of the young person. By doing this it then fosters an environment promoting involvement and leading to learning and progression taking place, whether it is big or small, it is important to capture and celebrate all wins.

Communication:

I believe that a big part of learning for anyone with a diagnosis/SEND is to support the areas of communication. Communication can take many forms and I am true believer in all forms of behaviour  are communication. I am proficient in a number of communication styles such as Makaton, Pyramid trained in PECS levels 1 – 6, Core boards and other Augmentative and Alternative Communication approaches. By working in a Multi-Disciplinary way, I have been exposed to a number of strategies used by professionals enabling learning to support the growth of social communication, language skills and boost confidence through sensory elements and lesson hooks to captivate pupils and produce engaging session to demonstrate the progress all pupils are capable of.

My approach to learning:

I work with a range of professionals using a multi-disciplinary approach supported by Occupational therapists, Speech and language therapists, specialist teachers in areas such as dyslexia and psychologists, to provide a pupil led approach to teaching and learning making sure to incorporate sensory elements, take into account sensory needs including proprioception and vestibular support and ensuring behaviour is always viewed as a form of communication to best understand the young people I support.

Learning will always involve an element of establishing independence for each individual as that for me is the over goal, especially for those with SEN. Within teaching it is part of our duty to help foster independence in a functional way through learning to help embed key concepts that individuals with Autism may find harder to understand and grasp due to potential cognition and communication factors. By doing this it provides teaching and learning through all 4 areas of needs and starts to prepare the young person for adulthood. Consistent sessions and sequential planning following a structured routine that will help the young person engage and that is the philosophy I adhere to when teaching.

Structuring Sessions:

Being pupil led and having the young person at the centre of all that is done is very much how I structure my sessions. I always make sure I take time to get to know the young person and build a rapport with them, to find out their interests and use this as a central part of my planning and lesson structure, ensuring I create engaging lessons that young people want to engage in. I use the information provided by the closest people to the young person to create a cohesive approach to provide routine and structure. I also make sure that I look at the strategies that may be beneficial such as reward systems, praise, sensory items and self reflective practice to create a holistic approach to learning.