SEN/D Experience Flashcards
What is your experience with SEN/D children?
I have worked 1:1 with six children with special educational needs or additional needs. The common denominator for working with all of those children was endless love, support and patience. But really it was also time. Each one of those children was unique within themselves as a person and in their diagnosis as well. No one was alike and all needed different methods and techniques to help them access mainstream schools.
Give an example of how you adapted tasks so an SEN child could access the activity.
- Anastas was a boy with very complex, high sensory needs and was non-verbal. While he was waiting to be accepted by a more appropriate school I learned how I could change some of the tasks so he could access them. For example, the children were learning and writing about the velveteen rabbit with the learning objective being to use adjectives. Anastas can’t write but instead, I found a story with illustrations which I would read for him and I could ask a simple “who” question to gauge his understanding. He could then point to the character when I asked “who is the velveteen rabbit?”. I then got some material that felt like velveteen. So as I went over the adjectives that described how the velveteen rabbit felt, Anastas could use the material to help him understand the adjective.
- Edgaris could access more of the curriculum compared to Anastas. But he didn’t cope well with adult-led learning in the classroom and had some speech and language difficulties. . I would adapt the tasks to focus on his main interests which tended to be monkeys or toilets. For example, when children had to use non-chronological non-fiction writing to describe how to look after a rabbit, I gave Edgar the choice of whether he wanted to choose rabbits or monkeys to write about. This gave him control and also exposed him to what the other children were doing but let him ultimately lead his own learning even if in a minor way.
- Sawsane was able to work towards the curriculum but had delayed coordination and movement. So she could do most activities but she struggled with her letter formation due to her coordination and movement difficulties. To make things more accessible I supplied her with a suitable pencil grip and I would scribe her answers for her in a yellow felt tip pen which she could then trace over with her pencil.
Give an example of how you adapted tasks so an SEN child could access the activity.
- Anastas was a boy with very complex, high sensory needs and was non-verbal. While he was waiting to be accepted by a more appropriate school I learned how I could change some of the tasks so he could access them. For example, the children were learning and writing about the velveteen rabbit with the learning objective being to use adjectives. Anastas can’t write but instead, I found a story with illustrations which I would read for him and I could ask a simple “who” question to gauge his understanding. He could then point to the character when I asked “who is the velveteen rabbit?”. I then got some material that felt like velveteen. So as I went over the adjectives that described how the velveteen rabbit felt, Anastas could use the material to help him understand the adjective.
- Edgaris could access more of the curriculum compared to Anastas. But he didn’t cope well with adult-led learning in the classroom and had some speech and language difficulties. . I would adapt the tasks to focus on his main interests which tended to be monkeys or toilets. For example, when children had to use non-chronological non-fiction writing to describe how to look after a rabbit, I gave Edgar the choice of whether he wanted to choose rabbits or monkeys to write about. This gave him control and also exposed him to what the other children were doing but let him ultimately lead his own learning even if in a minor way.
- Sawsane was able to work towards the curriculum but had delayed coordination and movement. So she could do most activities but she struggled with her letter formation due to her coordination and movement difficulties. To make things more accessible I supplied her with a suitable pencil grip and I would scribe her answers for her in a yellow felt tip pen which she could then trace over with her pencil.
What are some general methods you have used with SEN children?
- Love, patience and support
- Working with parents and SENCO so we are all being consistent and working as a team to provide the best practice for the children.
- Reduce my talking speed and modify some language using simple phrases like now and next or stop.
- Pick up on body language and talk to parents in the morning about how they slept, have they eaten anything yet? Of course, some struggle with both of those basic tasks and I might adapt how I am that day. For example, if I felt they might struggle with something completely novel then I might adapt it slightly so it still had some familiarity until I knew that child’s basic needs had been taken care of.
- I set high expectations for my SEN children. Even if they need a bit more time or need some different strategies to get to their goal then that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of extraordinary and great things just like every other child.
What is your experience with emotional regulation?
Anastas and Edgaris needed a lot of emotional regulation. For Anastas, I could pick up on his body language, when he started biting down on his bandana a lot I knew that he could do with some emotional regulation. I always try to be as preventative to avoid meltdowns as much as possible for the welfare of the child. His preferred method would be for me to sing him a familiar song and go for walks around the school or outside.
Edgaris could get quite angry and sometimes violent if things felt out of his control. When he has become violent towards other children I would need to show him clearly that his actions were unkind and had caused his friend to feel sad. This might be accompanied by using resources from the worry monster for example to help him understand the emotions involved with the situation to provide some intrinsic motivation to try to regulate next time if he could.
How would you promote inclusion amongst peers during an activity?
