Having worked as a Primary Classroom Teacher, Assistant Principal and Learning Support Teacher for the past twenty years, I have a wealth of experience teaching neurodiverse children with a range of learning needs. I have particular expertise and interest in working with children who are dyslexic and/or autistic, as well as having experience supporting children with ADHD, dyspraxia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia.
Additionally, I am very interested in supporting children’s mental health and well being. I am a trained Mindfulness in Schools Mindfulness Teacher for children aged 3 – 6 years, and I often draw on these skills to support children in my teaching.
My specialist experience working with students with SEN to develop trusting and meaningful relationships; When working with a child, I always aim to establish a foundation of trust by being consistent, calm and patient. I aim to design sessions which are engaging, whilst also meeting the sensory and learning needs of each child. I build in movement breaks, but I am also led by the child and my sessions are flexible. If I sense a child beginning to lose concentration or becoming dysregulated, I quickly adjust my session to allow for the child’s needs to be met. For example, I might introduce a sensory activity, movement break or take a moment to practise mindfulness. This allows each child to achieve success in their own time.
My experience teaching autistic young people; In my role as a Classroom Teacher and Learning Support Teacher, I have worked with autistic children for a number of years, both in the classroom and one to one. My aim is to support each child to be the best they can be and to support their wellbeing by helping them to develop a positive autistic identity.
To support my autistic students, I ensure that I understand each child’s sensory processing differences and offer accommodations and alternatives where possible. I understand that many autistic children have different learning preferences, such as preferring to move or fidget whilst learning, which I am happy to support in my sessions. I encourage children to listen to their bodies and to use their accommodations independently to meet their own needs.
As children’s abilities can fluctuate depending on their well being and how regulated they are, I keep my expectations flexible, so I am able to adapt the level of challenge in each session accordingly.
My aim is for all autistic children to feel safe and supported in my sessions. To increase engagement, I encourage children to share their interests with me and try to incorporate these interests into my sessions.
My experience teaching social interaction skills; I understand that social interaction can look different for children with additional needs and that miscommunications and misunderstandings can often occur between children, especially between neurotypical and neurodivergent children if they do not have a good understanding of each other’s communication styles. My aim is to teach all children about differing social interaction skills and how misunderstandings can lead to problems occurring. My aim is to bring awareness to social interaction differences, without shaming children into feeling that their own communication style is wrong.
My experience teaching English and Maths; I am a very experienced primary teacher, having taught children from ages 4 – 11 years old in both state and independent schools in UK and Australia. I have an excellent understanding of English and Maths curricula and I am able to successfully differentiate learning to cater for a broad range of needs. My sessions are designed to be interactive and fun, incorporating children’s own interests and needs.
My experience teaching young people with executive functioning needs; When working with children with executive functioning needs, I aim to provide practical supports that will help a child to build on their existing skills and enable them to independently support themselves in the future. For example, I provide visuals to remind children of instructions or the steps to complete a task. To support with finishing a task within a given time, I might provide a timer to give a visual reminder of how much time left on a task, if this is helpful for the particular child. When planning an activity, I might support a child to organise the items that they will need to complete the activity, referring to visual images if helpful and we will then make a plan of the steps needed to complete the task.
