J is for Jungle, Jargon, Joy and Jigsaws

Jungle – you may well be asking - what on earth does that have to do with special needs education?  Well it’s a really amazing blog by Tania Tirraoro - Special Needs Jungle – that I came across when I began life as a SENCO (Special Needs Co-ordinator).  It can be a jungle out here in Special Needs for parents so she brings together plenty of news, reviews and insights in to how parents can receive the help their child is entitled to.  Sometimes it makes for difficult reading as a teacher because we don’t come out in a very positive light but it is always beneficial to see things from parents’ perspectives and I think it is an amazing blog – so even though she’s is not taking part in the challenge go and check it out!

Jargon – is the bane of everyone’s life.  I remember in my first IPM meeting (called and organised by my predecessor) having to ask the other professionals who had gathered there in the room what the initials actually stood for (Initial Professionals Meeting!)  We all agreed we would probably get along well as I was obviously not too shy in showing my own ignorance and I had a great desire to learn!  Please feel free if there is anything in these snippets I write you don’t understand just comment and  ask me because it is so easy to fall in to the trap that everyone knows what you’re talking about.

Joy – I have already talked about the immense pleasure you get in seeing a child understand something for the first time or be able to write a word independently using their phonics or learn how to use the number square to help themselves work something out.  I have been in other professions before I became a teacher and there is nothing like it.  My husband always says he sees my job as being his way to giving back to our community – he supports our family financially with a job that pays well but is for its own means – whilst I go out to give the support and fun the children in my school need for a very poor salary compared to the hours I work.  I think I get what he’s on about and I certainly wouldn’t trade his job for mine whatever the financial incentive!

And finally Jigsaws - which I love to use with all children either doing numbers 1-20 and the alphabet in their early years.  Children love jigsaws and finding the right piece is a skill all by itself.  For special needs children, jigsaws can be a very good way for independent learning or assessment and I love using them as an interactive resource for many things.  My freebie TpT product today is my "One Less than" jigsaws - can the child find the number that goes before the given number between 11 and 19?  Enjoy!!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/One-less-Than-Jigsaws-1202011

IEPS and Inclusion

An IEP is an Individual Education Plan that should be used to help everyone in a school plan and teach specific targets related to an individual child. It should be reviewed on a regular basis (once a term) to review the targets that have been set and consult with all those involved with the child on next steps.  In the UK there isn't a standard format for IEPs but they should include targets that are SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

Note the word individual.  I have worked in schools where there have been more than half the class on IEPs but there have been groups of at least six children with the same IEP targets – this is not IEP territory!!  Provision Mapping for children on School Action (the first tier in Special Needs) is the way I prefer to do things – which means that those children who need some specific help in certain things e.g. learning phonic digraphs – are placed in smaller groups either within the class or given outside class support and therefore learn with others according to their needs but these are not individual needs.  I am not a lover of paperwork - I prefer action – so wasting precious time on writing IEPs which will do nothing is not my cup of tea.  Planning and timetabling extra support and resources for a group of children who can then progress through their particular learning difficulty is important and works well.  My paperwork then only needs to record the provision I have created and the children who are receiving it.  Parents are notified so that they can talk through any anxieties or concerns they may have and any extra support they may wish to give at home.

IEPs are therefore drawn up with the child in question to work on skills and learning objectives specific and individual to that one particular child.  I am pleased to report that all twins at my school with the same diagnosis receive individual IEPs because all children have different strengths and weaknesses – they are INDIVIDUALS!!!!!

I recently talked through an IEP that had been given to a child who has just transferred to our school with medical needs.  My own initial response to it was that that it didn’t appear to match the child I had observed over the first couple of weeks at our school and I was not best pleased when discussing it with the child it came to light that they had had no say in what it proposed as targets!  This child is an articulate 10 year old and quite capable of setting the goals they want to achieve and feel they need.  Needless to say, she and I are much happier with the targets she has now set and when these were discussed with parents they too felt they reflected their child’s needs to a much greater extent.  They were also proud that their own child had taken the lead on setting them!  One of my main concerns is that the school the child has transferred from has been classed as Outstanding!!

This child also hi-lights what Inclusion should mean in a mainstream school.  Talking over with them what they liked or disliked about school brought up a disturbing picture that this child had not been given opportunities to join in the same activities as their peers and had actually undergone bullying within their own class.  In my own school, I am responsible for the spiritual, moral, social and cultural cohesion of our school and all of my children who exhibit special educational needs are vital members of their respective classes.  The children are given a weekly dose by me in our assemblies of how we take care of each other, we celebrate our unique abilities, we take responsibility for our actions and we celebrate the wonderfulness of our world and our places in it.  I am incredibly proud of the children at my school because of their caring nature and their love of all things – our future looks bright with them in it and many of them come from less than perfect backgrounds – and we are all included.  No-one is left out and as I have previously blogged if provision does not meet the needs of particular children then other provision is sought out that does.  

Inclusion means we are all together as a school – every child is equal – every child has rights and responsibilities – every child is given empowerment – every child is part of a class that supports one another and when there are problems for some children being able to do this we step in and support them to learn how to rebuild those bridges and make a cohesive unit.  However, inclusion does not need to mean that we all do the same thing at the same time – as individuals we have different needs and so we are supported in accessing those and if this means time outside the classroom that is what we do (this goes for our gifted and talented children too so there is no stigma attached). 

I’d be delighted to know your thoughts on today’s topics either as parents of children with SEN or as educators so please share.

Today’s resource is I for Interactive – get children learning phonics by reading and manipulating cupcakes on plates for a tasty treat in small group work (part of my Provision Mapping phonics programme) – Enjoy :)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cupcake-Phonics-Onset-and-RimeWord-Families-Phases-2-3-4-Preview-1135069

H is for Hearing, Hard work and Happiness

Since I began teaching, I have always had children in my class who had hearing problems or were classified as deaf.  In main stream education, the deaf children have all used hearing aids and had specialist speech and language provision on at least a half termly basis if not more.  But for those children who suffer from ear, nose and throat infections, glue ear or just “lack of hearing” within a normal classroom there is very little provided except the normal to be sitting near to the teacher at the front of the class.

Loss of hearing can badly affect a child’s ability to learn – just think how much auditory information is passed about a classroom each day! 

If a child suffers hearing loss then they will  experience problems with vocabulary as it will develop much slower and a gap will be created between them and their peers that without intervention will widen each year.  They will not understand abstract words (those words we cannot put a visual to) or those words with multiple meanings.  Often they will talk in much shorter and simpler sentences and struggle to hear the endings of words so that they have major problems using phonics to help them spell words and even more problematic misunderstand or misuse verb tenses, plurals and possessives when speaking and writing.  If they cannot hear correctly this may cause their own pronunciation problems and lead their own speech being difficult for others to understand so isolating them from their peers and leading to frustration when trying to communicate within class.

All of this means it is vitally important for parents to discuss possible hearing loss and catch up/intervention programs as soon as possible with teachers rather than wait and to be more forceful with those doctors who allow children to just drift along stringing medical appointments out months apart without realising the amount of work within the class that children are not able to understand and are significantly missing out on.

I am introducing a whole class speech and language program aimed at the early years to screen and implement extra provision for those children who need this and for some it will be due to hearing problems.  Ensuring that children catch up with their peers and are successful in overcoming medical problems is essential for the best possible start to their education.  I am hoping this will show the extent to the problems we have in school over speech and communication as well as provide methods for closing the gap.

Hard work and happiness are linked I feel when you work in special needs as everything takes longer and is harder to break in to small steps, diagnose the problems and then try to solve them. As I have stated before, the vast majority of the children with special needs work and try so hard it is truly awesome to be in the same environment as them.  This also means that their triumphs lead to blissful happiness.  Shiny eyed teachers recounting their SEN children’s breakthrough moments to me is wonderful to behold.  Is it any wonder that parents tend to shed tears at our review meetings due to the immense pride they can feel about their child’s attitude and perseverance in trying to overcome their learning differences? Happiness drives us through the hard times.

Let me know your thoughts and feelings please and as always share your insights to help others and myself improve as teachers to these special children.

TpT provides loads of specialist speech therapy freebies which I use at school so a big thank you to those professionals who share their expertise so freely.

Please check these wonderful individuals out:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Speech-Therapy-Games

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Jenna-Rayburn-26

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lets-Talk-Speech-Language-Pathology

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Thedabblingspeechie

To have children focus their hearing and processing skills on individual sounds in words I devised a phonics card for 3 and 4 phonic sounds in words – check it out at:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonic-3-sound-4-sound-button-card-969237

G is for Goals, Groups and Games

As I have previously blogged, funding appears to be decreasing for those children with special needs as more enter mainstream school so it is my job to ensure they are still getting or improving upon the provision they deserve.  My goal has been to ensure that all children on my special needs register have greater than their “required time” i.e. a child on school action has no extra support than that given by their class teacher and assistant, a child on school action plus is entitled to 50 mins outside the classroom working on targets on their individual education plan and a child with a statement has additional adult support for hours specified within the classroom.

My main way to improve the provision for many of the children has been to allow mixed year groups for maths and literacy outside the classroom delivered by members of my team.  Working in small groups of approximately six children or less automatically allows each child more time to interact with an adult, ensures less noise than in a classroom of 30 children so allowing better hearing and less distractions and disruptions and allows the focus to be on their specific learning needs rather than a one size fits all delivery which is inevitable when there is just one teacher in a classroom.  Although children receive differentiated work in class, this is still often only 30 mins out of every hour lesson and a lot of the standard “teaching” is above their level.  Small group work allows each child to have immediate feedback and praise over their success.  The problem I still have is showing that this is accelerating their learning as most of my special needs children have problems with speech and language, short term memory, long term memory and cognition so their progress is tiny steps often not really measurable on a half termly basis.  The reality is that many of them will not catch up with their peers and the gap continues to widen but for me my goal is that they will enjoy coming to school and they will have lessons that engage them and that they feel good about and that they are working hard in rather than at the back (or front) of the class disengaged and unable to get anything out of the lesson at all.  In the past, it appeared to me that assistants seemed just to be getting the children to jump through hoops (telling them each thing to do) rather than help the children become independent in showing what they were learning.  It also means that whether they are on school action, school action plus or a statement they all have meaningful lesson time and are learning.  Also those children who have the capacity to learn quickly do make rapid progress in a small group situation and are able to return to class now secure in their phonics, their understanding of basic maths, their new found confidence or their ability to control their behaviour.

A major part of making learning fun has been making activities into games so that the children do not really know they are learning or practising their skills.  I have to say a big shout out to all the teachers who contribute such freebie games on TpT (Teachers Pay Teachers) as this has made my life so much easier being able to download and then make these rather than think up new ones and design everything from scratch.  I also tour our charity shops and visit car boot stalls each weekend to supplement games and activities at a fraction of the price of buying new and as it all comes out of my own pocket who can blame me – I so wish we could claim back from such places as we’d save a fortune on school supplies!

Come on – share your educational games and ideas here.  What do you think of children being taught in small groups outside the classroom by a teaching assistant?  What goals would you set for children with special educational needs?

TpT product for G is for Games is:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Telling-the-Time-Half-Past-Matching-Mittens-Game-945275

F is for Funding and Frustration

Children that have special needs within a mainstream school need different things to help their learning than can be found in the everyday mainstream classroom.  This may be:

other resources such as modified equipment (e.g. larger keys on computer keyboard)

differentiated planning (and the resources to go with it) so that they can follow their own specified 

programmes of education (normally in small groups of less than six pupils and in some cases 1:1)

or the support of an additional adult within the classroom or particular lessons (e.g. PE).

 

And all of these additional resources require money to be spent on them from the school’s budget.

In theory, the school receives extra money to provide this but the actual reality is that due to funding cuts we receive way less than the actual cost of what we seek to implement.  My planning and creating of all special resources for all the special needs classes that are delivered by my team is done in my “own” time outside of the regular school hours that I work 8am-5:30pm – I work most days without a lunch break because that is the time I can see other teachers or children when they are not in class working!  I get up at 5 a.m and work most weekends and as for the long school holidays well that is the time I get to do more research on what might work for those children who do not learn the same way other children do.  Please don’t tell me teachers have an easy life!

Funding is the bane of my life as there seems to be so little extra for all the extra provision that is required – it does not follow those children who need it - and due to changes in the UK it is now not even demarcated in our budget so actually knowing what has been provided gets harder too so no way to check if we really have received what we should have.  Our funding per pupil also changes dependent upon whether you are an academy, a secondary school, a special school and for us as a primary school we receive the least amount and yet are expected to provide what the other schools do.  Parents are not really aware of any of this as the Local Authority tells them that a child with special needs will be catered for adequately in mainstream as money is available as well as specialist resources.  It used to be that a child who was given a statement (normally 15 hours per week for a support assistant to work with them during the mornings) was given the funding by the Local Authority – this has now changed and the school is expected to provide those 15 hours from their own budget and then if any additional hours are needed this will be funded by the authority (except that the money they give is not actually enough to pay the assistant their actual wages plus the school’s employer taxes so we lose out again!)

Frustration comes from not having the answer to all the myriad of problems I deal with and that these children (through no fault of their own) are desperately trying to work within classrooms that have widening gulfs and expected levels that are way too high for them to achieve and no satisfactory ways of recording this (on national systems the SEN child has achieved 1APS point  in a year – other children should achieve this in one term – therefore their statistic looks awful – however for them this is an amazing achievement that everyone who actually knows that child recognises – but the government would treat this as a failure in teaching staff!!)  Do you see where I’m coming from?

Sorry this post is such a wail but I just needed to vent.  I just want the children I work with to be recognised for the effort they put in everyday – the adults they work with to be acknowledged for the time and effort they put in (many of my team are doing many things above their actual pay level – for the love of the kids!) and for there to be adequate funding so that these children can work to the best of their ability with the support that is needed throughout the day rather than just pockets here and there!

Let me know what you think and please if you can offer any solutions or you are a secret millionaire and want to donate leave your comments below.

My TpT product is to do with F is for French (something lots of my children with special needs actually enjoy because it’s new learning for all so not such a wide gulf between them and their peers!!)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Tell-the-Time-in-French-penguin-mini-unit-948892

E is for Epilepsy

Some children at my school suffer from epilepsy.  This has an effect on their ability to concentrate in school and take in information if they are experiencing absence seizures.  Luckily, no child has experienced an epileptic fit whilst at my school.

We tend to use buddy systems in the classroom where other children fill them in on anything they have missed if they have “zoned out” or report to a teacher if the child has been “out” for longer than normal.  Children are always asked if they want to share information about their condition with others and sometimes they want the whole class to know and understand, other times they only want a few trustworthy friends to know – I have yet to come across any child who did not want to share information with at least one other child in class.

Working with parents is paramount to helping these children succeed – either by informing them of the lesson content when their child zoned out a lot so they can go over things again at home, ensuring good self-esteem so they do not believe they are not as bright as their peers (their epilepsy means they have to work harder as they keep missing things) and obviously relaying any particular bad episodes or days and limiting stress which does appear to trigger more incidents.

As always, I would be delighted to have any useful tips shared by other educators or maybe those that suffer from epilepsy of how best teachers can help them learn and retain knowledge.

TpT resource is E is for my newest resource uploaded today! – “ee” phonic jigsaw cards

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ee-phonic-digraph-jigsaw-puzzles-1195397

On another note – E is also going to be for exercise – 15 minutes a day starting from today!

D is for Dyslexia, Discalculia, Dyspraxia & Diplegia (plus dreaded Diet!)

So many D’s for this post – so little time – so please forgive me as I whistle through.  It will only be a short touching upon each one I’m afraid and yet I know how important they are and how common they are to be found in mainstream schools everywhere.

Dyslexia is thought to affect about 10% of the population (that’s three children in any normal classroom!) with about 3% severely affected.  In the early years, it is often difficult to spot as children are still learning and make many of the mistakes commonly associated with dyslexia e.g. b and d reversals.  However, a child who struggles to read and write along with their peers and yet displays a high intelligence may well have a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia. 

A really good grounding in phonics will help all children particularly those with dyslexia but it must be remembered that they will need at least twenty times the amount of repetition that most children need to retain all of the complicated vowel patterns and ways of writing we have.  It has been most noticeable at my school that since phonic teaching has improved using a multi-sensory approach (Jolly phonics actions linked to Letters and Sounds) we are starting to pick up those children with major difficulties much earlier as well as noticing a whole class improvement in reading and writing which will include the 10% who have dyslexic tendencies.

I have undergone dyslexia training (off my own bat) but have found that in reality there is not the capacity for 1:1 tuition within mainstream school to really help those children badly affected.  The cost is far too prohibitive (at least 2 hourly sessions a week 1:1 is what is needed for a child to have a chance of keeping up with their peers) and I never heard of a child being given a statement for dyslexia in all of the different authorities I have worked in – let’s face it some authorities don’t really believe it exists!

 

We use the Nessy program at my school for some children to gain confidence and use something they enjoy doing but the main thing is good phonics and spelling tuition and the understanding that some children find it a lot harder than others and they are NOT lazy.  In my experience, chatting with children about the possibility of dyslexic tendencies and what this means and how they are intelligent but that their brains are working in different ways to that of their peers allows them to have confidence to keep persevering and know they are “special” in a positive way!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Dyslexia-common-miscues-1094105

For multi-sensory resources check out:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Dyslexia-And-Multisensory-Education

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Dyslexia-And-More

Dyscalculia

We have recently begun to develop ways to work with children who might have dyscalculia.  This is a condition similar to dyslexia but with numbers so they have major problems in recalling and understanding maths.  The British Dyslexia Association lists these typical symptons:

·         Counting: Dyscalculic children can usually learn the sequence of counting words, but may have difficulty navigating back and forth, especially in twos and threes.

·         Calculations: Dyscalculic children find learning and recalling number facts difficult. They often lack confidence even when they produce the correct answer. They also fail to use rules and procedures to build on known facts. For example, they may know that 5+3=8, but not realise that, therefore, 3+5=8 or that 5+4=9.

·         Numbers with zeros: Dyscalculic children may find it difficult to grasp that the words ten, hundred and thousand have the same relationship to each other as the numerals 10, 100 and 1000.

·         Measures: Dyscalculic children often have difficulty with operations such as handling money or telling the time. They may also have problems with concepts such as speed (miles per hour) or temperature.

·         Direction/orientation: Dyscalculic children may have difficulty understanding spatial orientation (including left and right) causing difficulties in following directions or with map reading.

We have been using the Dynamo maths profiler and then following the dynamo maths program in small groups outside the classroom to build up greater understanding for those children who are lacking in certain areas of maths – going back to basics in many cases.  It is proving very popular with the children who are using it and they enjoy going out for these lessons.  Knowing that children, who before really dreaded the hour of maths each day, are now happy and looking forward to it speaks volumes I think even if they might never catch up with their peers.

Dyspraxia affects fine and/or gross motor skills and sometimes social and emotional behaviours and speaking and language too.  There are many exercises that have been found to help these children and at my school we are currently working with health professionals to gain training for teachers so that short bursts of exercises can be delivered to children throughout the week.  Once again it is a condition that affects more children than are likely to be known about in a class and any help that can be given is always beneficial in the greater scheme of things.

Diplegia

In my school, we have a number of children with diplegia (a form of cerebral palsy) that affects the lower body limbs and makes movement and walking difficult.  Those that are badly affected have assistants to help in lessons such as PE where there may be mobility issues.  Children with this condition do everything that their peers do (Sports Day, school trips, drama, PE & Games etc) albeit with modifications where necessary, however a recent addition to our provision has been my successful attempt to get swimming sessions at the local special school’s hydrotherapy pool whilst the rest of their class go to the normal pool.  This has been an outstanding success and the children are benefitting in so many ways but my gripe is that the Local Authority had no provision - it was left to me to get it all organised as well as school once again footing the bill to get the children there (the special school has given their pool facilities for free) and the specialised swimming teacher is also providing provision freely!  I know how to plead!!!  This venture has now spread and other children who need specialised provision are also attending these swimming sessions so I am so proud – from small acorns mighty oaks grow.

My TpT products today are:

D is for Donuts – a booklet which allows children to practise their number bonds/addends to 10 using donuts http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Donut-Number-Bonds-Addends-to-Ten-1091271

D is for Dragons – two dot-to-dot pages to practise number order http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Dragon-dot-to-dot-math-1-20-999139

and finally on my longest post ever DIET - I will begin my diet to lose the necessary two stone needed before the summer holiday begins at the end of July!