I have 18 year’s experience as a specialist SEN teacher and have an OCR Level 5 Diploma in Teaching children with Specific learning difficulties and Dyslexia. I also obtain PDA level 2 Supporting children, teenagers and young people with Pathological Demand Avoidance. With a strong focus on meeting the academic, social and emotional needs of my pupils while recognising and respecting their individuality, my experience includes teaching children with a range of needs including Sensory Processing Disorder, Dyspraxia, PDA (demand avoidance), Autism, ADHD, Behavioural difficulties, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Speech and Language difficulties, Global Developmental Delay, Health, Emotional difficulties.
Throughout my career as an ASD teacher, I have specialized in supporting autistic students with a range of profiles, including those with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), as well as speech and language difficulties. I have received extensive specialist training, including TEACCH, PECS, Makaton, Widgit web tools, Clicker, and behavior therapy. These tools have helped me support students in areas such as visual processing, verbal communication, social skills, attention, and executive functioning.
My work with speech-delayed students has involved a variety of targeted strategies and interventions, developed in collaboration with speech and language therapists and occupational therapists. For example, I used approaches like LEGO therapy, playdough therapy, and Therapy Box, which provided structured and enjoyable ways for students to work towards their communication goals and experience the rewards of expressing their needs.
With students displaying PDA traits, my approach has focused on building a trusting, respectful relationship where the student feels safe, understood, and empowered. Children with PDA often experience high levels of anxiety around demands, which can trigger behaviors rooted in panic rather than defiance. To help students manage these responses, I employed the PANDA approach (Pick battles, Anxiety management, Negotiation and Collaboration, Disguise and manage demands, and Adaptation), which focuses on minimizing anxiety and fostering a sense of autonomy. This approach allowed me to better understand each child’s triggers, adjust demands to reduce stress, and create a more collaborative and supportive environment.
Outdoor learning has also played a significant role in my work. Many of my students who struggled with focus, task completion, or confidence flourished in outdoor settings, where they felt more engaged, motivated, and open to experimenting. Additionally, I incorporated mindfulness exercises—such as breathing with a pinwheel, blowing bubbles, and five-senses exercises—that helped students develop self-regulation, attention, and coping skills.
Understanding that challenging behaviors often stem from communication difficulties, sensory sensitivities, or overwhelming anxiety, I used a patient, skill-building approach to help students with emotional regulation and coping strategies. For students with PDA, I treated challenging behaviors or meltdowns as expressions of extreme stress or panic. I found that viewing these episodes through this lens allowed me to respond with empathy, identify underlying triggers, and collaboratively address their needs in a calm, respectful manner.
By keeping a record of behaviors and their triggers, I developed deeper insights into each child’s unique responses, allowing me to anticipate and alleviate potential stressors. Through this tailored, empathetic approach, I have supported many autistic children, including those with PDA, to make progress academically, socially, and emotionally.
My experience working with children with a sensory processing disorder, ADHD, anxiety and difficulty with self-regulating: More recently I have been working 1:1 with a student who was diagnosed with ADHD, sensory processing disorder, anxiety and difficulty with self-regulating. He has experienced difficulties handling sensory input which affected his academic performance, his self-esteem, and his confidence. To help him to overcome his difficulties, I have employed a range of multisensory approaches such as jumping activities, brain breaks, using alternative seating, visual schedules, handheld fidgets, visuals with pictures of sensory input choices, providing a quiet workspace, redirection, sensory box, breathing techniques and lots of reassurance. All my lessons were planned around his interests which give him the incentive to engage with activities in a meaningful way and it has proved to be a real success. I also worked on helping him to improve his self-regulation skills when he needed help to control emotions, handle frustrations and resist impulsive behaviour. Consistency, predictability and follow-through were important for creating the structure of our sessions which helped him to decrease the level of his anxiety.
My experience working with children with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia: My passion for helping children with special needs haven’t stopped and because I wanted to reach out to children with specific learning difficulties such as Dyslexia and Dyspraxia as well, I decided to continue with my professional development. Five years ago, I gained the OCR Level 5 Diploma in Teaching children with Specific learning difficulties and Dyslexia. In my current teaching role, I work as a Specialist Dyslexia teacher. I’m qualified to conduct informal, curriculum-based assessments and deliver specialist teaching programmes to learners with dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia. My sessions are based on a personalised, multisensory, structured and cumulative teaching programme full of games, interactive activities, as well as visual aids and strategies to keep children engaged and progressing.
Many children with dyslexia are kinaesthetic learners (they learn by doing), therefore I engage them in purposeful movement, using rhythm and visual activities to stimulate memory and trigger recall. As many dyslexic students struggle with working memory, and short- and long-term memory I’ve created many memory games and have taught students different memory techniques.
My specific experience working with children with Dyspraxia, handwriting and organisational challenges: Many dyspraxic children experience difficulties with handwriting, writing, planning, organisation and presentation of their work. Therefore, I focus on teaching different multisensory strategies such as ‘bumpy paper’, ‘wet-dry-try technique, ‘space kid’ to help with handwriting and presentation. For students who have difficulties organising their thoughts and expressing them effectively in writing I first introduce the ‘ Thinking C-A-P-S’ code (content, audience, purpose, style) where we investigate all aspects of writing. Secondly, I focus on the planning of writing. Students need to learn and use different types of plans for different types of writing and I try to match planning strategies to their individual learning styles. Learning to plan and use planning strategies when writing is a crucial skill.
I use two different approaches to planning- written plans which are written in note form (spidergram, skeleton essay plan) and graphic organisers which come in many forms such as pictures, shapes, mindmaps, frames, tree diagrams, and webs. They are extremely effective for stronger visualisers as many children rely on visuals to help them think about what comes next and what to say when they write. Next, I introduce different writing frames as scaffolds to help students to organise their writing, build their own writing skills and reduce the fear of ‘blank paper’. They can consist of starters, connectives and sentence modifiers which offer students a structure for communicating what they want to say. Lastly, I focus on drafting, review and revision, I teach C-O-P-S proofreading strategy (capital letters, omissions, punctuation, spellings) and ‘writing detective’ (checklist of questions for good writing).
During my years as a primary teacher in Early Years (reception) and KS1, and KS2 in private and state settings I realised that my passion was helping children with special learning difficulties and children with Global developmental delays. I always made sure that all my students were able to progress and maximize their potential, by incorporating a range of communication methods into teaching sessions with the flexibility to change and develop educational activities. With some of my students, I used visual timetables, prompts gestures, Makaton, written instructions to reinforce the spoken words and to aid understanding, social stories, interactive games and lots of practical hands-on activities. I supported students in accessing the curriculum through scaffolding activities, breaking down tasks and instructions into manageable chunks, with step-by-step symbols and picture cards to back up short, clear verbal explanations.
I always took into account the interests of my students and planned lessons so that they were full of a variety of engaging activities. For instance, very often in my teaching, I used role-play which I found an extremely strong method in helping my students to develop their social and communication skills, and emotional skills and often improve their self-confidence. To be able to imagine a different world through creative play is a very important feature when it comes to expanding thought patterns, developing language, sharing, and expressing themselves, as well as empathy for each other.
My general specialist SEN teaching experience, teaching Early Years (reception) and KS1, KS2: I’ve had the privilege to teach and take part in an incredible journey that children go on in those first few years in school settings. I loved teaching phonics, reading and early math through creative role-play. To a child, play is serious work and the motivation to learn is intrinsic. Teaching phonics and reading was always a rewarding part of being an Early Years teacher as I helped many children to open the doors to an amazing world of books, different worlds and all learning. I helped to run the phonics and early math workshop to support parents in understanding how their children learn. My phonics and math sessions are fun sessions involving lots of speaking, listening, investigation and games.
My skills and experience teaching reading, phonics and maths: Reading is one the most important life skills that serves as a basic building block for learning, regardless of the school subject. I strongly believe that all SEN children are capable of learning to read and I always have high expectations of my students. The key to success is to use the right approach and strategies. Therefore I always create a personalised, structured and cumulative phonics programme for my students. I use the ‘80/20’ rule. The balance of 80% revision/overlearning with only 20% new learning introduced has been found to be the most effective. This overlearning will provide enough consolidation opportunities to allow learning to be transferred to long-term memory so that the student can retain information more easily. I do multi-sensory teaching with small incremental steps delivered one at a time and plenty of opportunities for repetition, so learners can proceed at their own pace and receive positive reinforcement as they learn. I teach a range of strategies to help children learn letter sounds and spelling rules.
As an SEN teacher, I support children who struggle with math by using various approaches tailored to their individual needs, such as hands-on activities, visual aids, and interactive games, to make learning engaging and accessible.
My experience working with children with writing challenges and reluctant writers: Since many of my MLD students struggled with writing exercises I planned a lot of activities that helped them to develop fine motor skills- muscle control in their hands and shoulders (grasp and release with tweezers, tongs, screwing/unscrewing lids, paper tearing, finger games etc). I also ensured that I included activities which particularly aid in the development of gross and core skills (such as hopscotch, target tossing in phonics, jumping, and skipping to teach counting in 2s, 5s, math scavenger hunts…) All these exercises helped to improve hand/eye coordination, the strength of hand, wrist, shoulder, and arm; balance, body and spatial awareness of my students. Many students, especially boys, find writing very challenging and they become soon reluctant writers. To help my students overcome the fear and ‘hate’ of writing I experiment with different strategies. I always try to choose a topic that gets a student excited and gives him authentic writing experiences. I often incorporate art into writing. First, I ask the student to draw his pictures, then label them, write the sentences and then short paragraphs. The key is to break down the task of writing into achievable parts. Sometimes I give the student a camera and let him tell a story through his pictures and then have him write captions for each image. Another strategy I use is guided writing where I do the physical activity and the student helps me to think of and organise the sentences and reminds me of the rules we are working on. Many boys love comics, so drawing and writing comic strips is another way I use to promote enjoyable writing experiences, especially if we turn their comics into their own books.
10 Reviews on “Miriam”
SENsational Tutors personally selected you for us as a family to consider you as a SEN family tutor after listening to all my worries about my lovely grandson Louis, aged 5. I personally want to thank you SO MUCH for professionally taking Louis under your wing for SEN tutoring and blending in with all our family absolutely superbly. Especially, after I personally said to Joanna that Louis couldn’t even focus on learning for more than 10/15 minutes with us, or anyone at a time & that his “first year reception school” teacher said he was really struggling (and absolutely sinking at school) since starting his first year & that Louis was falling so far behind. Understandably no family ever wants to make that SEN call with anyone, but Miriam , I am and our whole family are so pleased I did! As Grandad to 6 beautiful young grandchildren I know Louis now IS getting great (SEN) specialist tuition support from you. I know louis has learning difficulties but Louis has some lovely traits and qualities as well First time Louis met you Miriam amazingly you had him totally focused for the whole one & half hours. We were totally & absolutely shocked as a family, but so very pleased & relieved. We did not think that was ever possible Miriam! In just 3 weeks (only 3 lessons) you have engaged & transformed Louis (and our families confidence together) & Louis absolutely loves you Miriam and is so very proud of his learning folder & teach papers you personally make and have given to him. Louis really believes it’s BIG BOY stuff to have a tutor as his cousins have had them on occasion. He really is proud and looks forward to his time with you ( as he really does want to please you) Miriam, you should just see the lovely marvellous smile & growth of his personal confidence in himself already in 3 weeks! – even his school teacher is amazed at his development & progress. Yes Louis has SEN needs, but Miriam, I really think he personally feels much much more confident now because you have found ways for him to develop and understand learning & schooling and that has given him confidence. His teacher has said he is coming to school much MORE confident & that’s really FANTASTIC! You have been absolutely superb, you are so extremely professional and have Louis totally engaged for the whole one and a half hours you spend with him each week. You are now identifying what Louis can do reasonably well at & what he does really struggle with and needs support on. We as a family are taking it all on board, carrying on your tutoring advice during the rest of each week. We are working together as a family team so well with You so we can ultimately, establish what Special Educational Needs Louis will require in his long term future. We realise, he will definitely need a “solid long term educational plan” In time, following expert consultant paediatric reviews we will be able to establish what exactly Louis really has to contend with in SEN and what we can work to and plan for his very best future. We do know now Miriam it is going to be long term! Miriam thank you so much for your SEN tutoring skills, as all of your skills and support have given us (and Louis) so much more confidence for the future. There must be so many worried parents & grandparents out there and I can only hope they too, make that first call and gain your tutoring SEN skills & advise that can help other families and their children! Very best wishes and again REAL thanks for your personal support to us for Louis, you have been a real star and asset for us as a caring family. Kindness & Best Michael (Grandad to Louis)
Understandably no family ever wants to make that SEN call with anyone, but SENsational Tutors, I am and our whole family are so pleased I did! As Grandad to 6 beautiful children I know Louis now is getting great specialist tuition support.
First time Louis met Miriam, Miriam amazingly had him totally focused for the whole one & half hours. We were totally & absolutely shocked, but so very pleased & relieved.
In just 3 weeks (only 3 lessons) Miriam has engaged & transformed Louis (and our families confidence together) & Louis absolutely loves her and is so very proud of his learning folder & teach papers Miriam made and gave to him.
Joanna, you should just see the smile & growth of confidence in himself already in 3 weeks!
Miriam has been absolutely superb, she is so extremely professional and has Louis totally engaged for the whole one and a half hours she spends with him each week.
Miriam is now identifying what Louis can do reasonably well & what he does struggle with and needs support on. We as a family are taking it all on board, carrying on Miriam’s tutoring advice during the rest of each week. We are working together as a family team so well with Miriam so we can ultimately, establish what Special Educational Needs Louis will require in his long term future. We realise, he will definitely need a “solid long term educational plan”
In time, following expert consultant paediatric reviews we will be able to establish what Louis may have to contend with and what we can work to and plan for his very best future.
Joanna thank you so much for that first personal call I had with you. Thank you for your real professional, honest & totally focussed advise and thank you again so much for placing Miriam in front of us, as all of your skills and support have given us so much more confidence as Louis’s family.
Their must be so many worried parents & grandparents out there and I can only hope they too, make that first call to You.
Joanna, Very best wishes and again REAL thanks for finding Miriam for us for Louis.
Michael (Grandad to Louis)
Miriam is a fantastic tutor and our daughter loves the sessions. All sessions are very well planned and Miriam has increased our daughter’s confidence immensely.
Miriam has been tutoring my son who is 6 years old. He has been struggling in school and finds concentration really tricky. Miriam has been so lovely with my son and she always has new ideas to engage him in learning, lots of physical games which he absolutely loves. He is developing a love of learning I could have only hoped for before Miriam started working with him. This week he raced to the table as soon as the door bell rang. He was excited to get started! He is really coming along well and Miriam is so patient with him. I listen to the lessons and hear him laughing, engaging and learning. She is so calm with him, he is a fidget and expert at avoidance. Not with Miriam, he is fully engaged, no more toilet breaks or running to me for a quick hug. He is so relaxed with her, this is a big step for my son. He is starting to remember words they have been working on and his reading has really developed. She has him jump for the number syllables in each word and it has truly helped him with his reading. Before he would talk quietly struggle with words, replace them with other words and try and cut short the reading session. Now he is reading confidently with no stumbling and reads the whole book. He has even asked if he can read more! I am incredibly grateful to Miriam for her hard work and dedication to helping my son.
Miriam is such a superb tutor, both me and my wife cannot thank her enough.Our son who is 5 has only been working with Miriam for about 5 months now and I must say we noticed an improvement with in the first 2 session.Miriam is so kind caring & friendly no wonder my son loves learning with her
Miriam has tutored my daughter for the last year. She had been struggling at school as she had not received enough support with GDD and so had significant gaps in her English knowledge. Miriam quickly and accurately assessed where she was at. She put her at ease and their lessons have always been full of fun! Her word knowledge and grammar have improved beyond recognition and she feels very proud of what she has achieved with Miriam’s support. I never have to nag to do the homework as it is always fun and enjoyable and just the right level. My daughter has been able to translate all this learning to her school work and has much more confidence in school. She’s now in a place to move forward with confidence but if we need support in the future we will not hesitate to come straight back to Miriam.
Miriam at SENsational tutors has helped our son to develop and learn in new ways. Miriam’s patience, creative ways of teaching and deep understanding of how children learn in different ways, has helped build our son’s confidence and his academic abilities. We are always impressed by how much Miriam covers during the session. Miriam is hugely experienced and empathetic and we have appreciated her taking the time to talk to us after each session and help us to problem solve, as well us giving us reassurance about any issues we may be facing. We truly value the help that Miriam provides and appreciate her
Miriam is a star! After searching the internet to find some support for our son who we homeschool, I came across SENsational Tutors. There were lots of tutors to choose from but I felt an immediate connection with Miriam, so I clicked on her lovely photo and as if by magic her description seemed to almost match our son’s needs! I made contact and we had a chat on the phone
– I knew early on into the conversation that my instincts were right. Miriam sounded caring and understanding of our needs for our son and she had a genuine interest to help him, and us. Miriam has been working with our son for 6 months now, twice a week, and the change in him has been extraordinary. He is happy and flourishing and his reading and writing has come on leaps and bounds. Miriam always makes her sessions fun and engaging, she is patient and kind and she really really cares. I call her our very own Mary Poppins as she has not only brought a change to our lives but she brings such happiness and balance too.
Miriam is a fantastic tutor for our daughter. She is extremely thorough in everything she does. Our daughter’s progress in maths has really improved since we started using Miriam about 8 months ago and her confidence in this area has improved greatly. We could not recommend Miriam highly enough.
I started with our home education journey march last year as my son has very complex needs and adhd also he finds it so hard to sit, listen and concentrate and was not coping in a school setting at all he was a shell of himself not your average 7 year old boy. School did traumatise my child and it gave him terrible anxiety and confidence issues.
He was adamant he would never read or spell or do anything.
I knew I needed help with this home education so I started looking for tutors with absolutely no ambitions of this going well if I’m honest however.. along came Miriam and our life saver! my son was 7 years old when we started he could not read write or anything else really he had zero confidence in any aspect of his life it was horrible but Miriam came into our home and lives and changed this drastically within a year my son has become so confident in himself and his learning and ability’s I can not put into words how amazing this is and how amazing he feels family members have commented on how confident he is and how much he has changed and all for the better Miriam is not only our tutor but our friend,our therapist, our family really, what this women has done for our son and family is above and beyond it’s nothing short of a miracle and this is no exaggeration. My son can read,write, everything and he is so confident in learning now he even wrote me a whole mother day card this year and I will cherish this forever as it is something I never thought I would get.
Thank you Miriam you truly are an amazing person and I don’t know how I would have got through this without you. Please don’t ever leave us !!