Week 5: Special Educational Needs

Self-Study Tasks

Read the "Making Best Use Of Teaching Assistants" reports from the Education Endowment Foundation. What recommendations does the report make?

• TAs should not be used as an informal teaching resource for low attaining pupils. The evidence on TA deployment suggests schools have drifted into a situation in which TAs are often used as an informal instructional resource for pupils in most need. This has the effect of separating pupils from the classroom, their teacher and their peers.

• Use TAs to add value to what teachers do, not replace them.Schools should try and organise staff so that the pupils who struggle most have as much time with the teacher as others. Breaking away from a model of deployment where TAs are assigned to specific pupils for long periods requires more strategic approaches to classroom organisation. Instead, school leaders should develop effective teams of teachers and TAs, who understand their complementary roles in the classroom.

• Use TAs to help pupils develop independent learning skills and manage their own learning. TAs should aim to give pupils the least amount of help first. They should allow sufficient wait time, so pupils can respond to a question or attempt the stage of a task independently. TAs should intervene appropriately when pupils demonstrate they are unable to proceed.

• Ensure TA's are fully prepared for their role in the classroom. During lesson preparation time ensure TAs have the essential ‘need to knows’:

Concepts, facts, information being taught

Skills to be learned, applied, practised or extended

Intended learning outcomes

Expected/required feedback.

• Use TAs to deliver high quality one-to-one and small group support using structured interventions. Research on TAs delivering targeted interventions in one-to-one or small group settings shows a consistent impact on attainment of approximately three to four additional months’ progress. Crucially, these positive effects are only observed when TAs work in structured settings with high quality support and training. When TAs are deployed in more informal, unsupported instructional roles, they can impact negatively on pupils’ learning outcomes.

• Adopt evidence based interventions to support TAs in their small group and one-to-one instruction. Schools should use structured interventions with reliable evidence of effectiveness. There are presently only a handful of programmes in the UK for which there is a secure evidence base, so if schools are using programmes that are ‘unproven’, they should try and replicate some common elements of effective interventions:

  • • Sessions are often brief (20–50mins), occur regularly (3–5 times per week) and are maintained over a sustained period (8–20 weeks). Careful timetabling is in place to enable this consistent delivery

    • TAs receive extensive training from experienced trainers and/or teachers (5–30 hours per intervention)

    • The intervention has structured supporting resources and lesson plans, with clear objectives

    • TAs closely follow the plan and structure of the intervention

    • Assessments are used to identify appropriate pupils, guide areas for focus and track pupil progress. Effective interventions ensure the right support is being provided to the right child

    • Connections are made between the out-of-class learning in the intervention and classroom teaching

• Ensure explicit connections are made between learning from everyday classroom teaching structured interventions. Interventions are often quite separate from classroom activities. Lack of time for teachers and TAs to liaise allows relatively little connection between what pupils experience in, and away, from, the classroom. The key is to ensure that learning in interventions is consistent with, and extends, work inside the classroom and that pupils understand the links between them. It should not be assumed that pupils can consistently identify and make sense of these links on their own (Sharples, Webster and Blatchford, 2018).

How should schools use adaptive teaching to make sure all pupils are included and can access learning?

As pupils learn at different rates and have different skill sets, the levels of support that they require from a teacher will vary. In adaptive teaching, the teacher’s role is to monitor each child’s learning and to set them tasks based on each individual. As the child becomes more confident with a concept, the less guidance the teacher is required to give. Students become more responsible for their learning processes over time.

Children with Special Educational Needs are more likely to require higher levels of support from teachers, particularly those pupils who struggle with: communication and interaction, cognition, sensory issues, behaviour and social and emotional development. The ‘Special Education Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years’ states that teachers must “ensure that children and young people with SEN engage in the activities of the school alongside pupils who do not have SEN”. (Department for Education, 2015). Therefore, the teacher must ensure that they are removing the barriers to learning for these pupils. This can be done by:

• Providing high quality, differentiated teaching

• Providing SEN pupils with extra support in lessons through the use of a TA

• Offering extra support sessions for SEN pupils to target areas of weakness (however, additional intervention and support shouldn’t compensate for a lack of good quality teaching)

• Continually assessing pupils on a regular basis to monitor progress

Outline what elements you think are important to an effective behaviour policy

• A clear punishment and Reward system to show the children what will happen if they misbehave or show good behaviour and this behaviour is being recognised

• A policy that all teachers and parents are aware of and agree with

• Have different rules for low level behaviour like shouting out as these are minor and need addressing but not punishing for

• If a child has a recurring behaviour monitor it and find solutions for them

• Possible individual behaviour plans

Choose one foundation subject for your group to focus on next week

In your school, investigate: The school behaviour policy. What are its key features, e.g. reward systems, routines? How does your school spend its Pupil Premium funding?

Nicol Mere believes that positive school values greatly impact on pupils' behaviour. Children are encouraged to be aware of their behaviour, and how this can be changed through the use of rewards. The school values are integral to behaviour and rewards for the pupils. During each Friday celebration assembly, children receive a reward linked to the school values. As well as this, staff consistently make use of Dojos as a reward system, handing out dojos to positive behaviour that they want to reinforce. Additional behaviour support is also given to SEND children who require it.

At Nicol Mere, each class has a behaviour file, containing records of incidents of behaviour for each child. The file is passed to the following year group in September, so children can be monitored. At the end of each term, each child with a file is reviewed to see if there are any issues that need picking up. Behaviour in this file is the higher-level incidents, as opposed to low-level disruptions. There are also individual behaviour plans in place for children whose behaviour needs monitoring, which uses targets. This is reviewed termly.

At Nicol Mere, the majority of Pupil Premium funding is spent on staffing (£137,000), to increase the adult / pupil ratio, so focused intervention can be given. As well as this, funding is spent on general resources (£2000), learning resources (£14,000), IT equipment (£2000) and trips to widen children's understanding of the world (£5000). As a result, Pupil Premium children at Nicol Mere attain higher than their peers nationally. Nicol mere is recognised as one of the few schools nationally identified as a system leader for Pupil Premium. Pupil Premium children are tracked closely in terms of academic achievement, attendance and punctuality, and a wide range of intervention groups are delivered (Nicol Mere, 2021).

Questions:

1. What are the "4 broad areas of need?"

• Communication and interaction

• cognition and learning

• Social, emotional and mental health difficulties

• Sensory and/or physical needs (Live Well, 2021)

2. Define SLCN, SLD MLD, PMLD and SpLD and give examples of them

• SCLN - Speech, Language and Communication Needs: children who struggle with listening and understanding and/or talking, these children often have an unique combination of strengths.

• SLD MLD - Severe Learning Difficulties and Moderate Learning Difficulties: children and young people with SLD have significant learning impairments affecting their ability to participate in the school curriculum without high levels of support/ specialist support. A child or young person with MLD will take longer to learn skills than the majority of their peers and will be functioning and achieving several years behind others of the same age. Difficulties may be apparent in the early years and general development may be delayed.

• PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties: children and young people with PMLD have complex learning needs. In addition to very severe learning difficulties, they will have physical difficulties, sensory impairment or a severe medical condition. They will generally communicate non-verbally but may use a few words. These children will need additional support at all times and will have an Educational, Health and Care plan.

• SPLD - Specific Learning Difficulties: these are learning difficulties including dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, where the children have difficulty learning and processing information. Many children with SPLD will often have multiple conditions that overlap (Department for Education and Skills, 2005).

3. What is meant by a "graduated approach" to SEN support?

A graduated approach to SEN support is a four step cycle to help children who have Special Education Needs. This cycle included assess, plan, do and review, the assess stage of the cycle is where an early years practitioner (or us as teachers), the parents and the SENCO work together to come up with an intervention that will support the SEN child additionally in school, if the child shows to make no progress or little progress with this in place an outside professional may be brought into the school. Moving onto the plan, this is where the school's SENCO and the child's parent come together to decide what outcomes they think are reachable for the child and set a time for these targets to be hit. The do section of the guaranteed approach is where the child's SENCO puts the intervention into place and helps the child on a day to day basis. The final review part of the cycle is where the school and the child's parents come together to review whether the child has reached the targets and outcomes set in the intervention plan and if any changes need to be made for the SEN child to make their learning more effective (Department for Education, 2015).

4. What is The Equality Act (2010) and how should schools adhere to it in the context of SEN/D provision?

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. The Act makes it unlawful for the responsible body of a school to discriminate against, harass or victimise a pupil or potential pupil: in relation to admissions, in the way it provides education for pupils, in the way it provides pupils access to any benefit, facility or service, or by excluding a pupil or subjecting them to any other detriment.

All schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards individual disabled children and young people. They must make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services for disabled children, to prevent them being put at a substantial disadvantage. These duties are anticipatory – they require thought to be given in advance to what disabled children and young people might require and what adjustments might need to be made to prevent that disadvantage. Schools also have wider duties to prevent discrimination, to promote equality of opportunity and to foster good relations.

The provisions relating to disability discrimination are different in that you may, and often must, treat a disabled person more favourably than a person who is not disabled and may have to make changes to your practices to ensure, as far as is reasonably possible, that a disabled person can benefit from what you offer to the same extent that a person without that disability can. So in a school setting the general principle is that you have to treat male and female, black and white, gay and straight pupils equally - but you may be required to treat disabled pupils differently. Discrimination is also defined rather differently in relation to disability.

A school must not do something which applies to all pupils but which is more likely to have an adverse effect on disabled pupils only – for example having a rule that all pupils must demonstrate physical fitness levels before being admitted to the school – unless they can show that it is done for a legitimate reason, and is a proportionate way of achieving that legitimate aim.

A school must not discriminate against a disabled pupil because of something that is a consequence of their disability – for example by not allowing a disabled pupil on crutches outside at break time because it would take too long for her to get out and back. Like indirect discrimination, discrimination arising from disability can potentially be justified (Equality Act, 2010).

5. What is Sensory Impairment?

Sensory Impairment is when one of your senses; sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste and spatial awareness, is no longer normal. A person does not have to have full loss of a sense to be sensory impaired (Reading.gov.uk, 2020).

6. What outside specialists might a school use to support children?

• ADHD nurse

• Voluntary Reading Service

• Behaviour Learning Service (BLSS)

• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

• Developmental Paediatricians

• Educational Psychologist

• Education Welfare Service (EWS)

• Family support (through Thrive)

• Garret Park Advisory Service (GPAS)

• Moderate Learning Difficulty Service (MLD)

• Occupational Therapy (OT)

• Peripatetic Hearing and Visual Services (HIS and VIS)

• Speech and Language Therapy (weekly)

• School Nursing Service

• The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Team

• Social Services

• Social, Communication and Autism Service (SCAS)

• Gender Identity Development Service

• Targeted Educational Support Services (TESS)

• Autism Pathway

• Sensory Support Services

7. How can schools involve parents?

Schools can involve parents by being flexible as possible and they will need to make sure that parents feel listened to and they can do this by giving opportunities for parents to talk to teachers e.g. parents evening. Another way, schools can involve parents by reading with their child at home, helping with homework or even volunteering within the classroom. A way schools can engage parents even more is to communicate with them regularly.

8. What records should schools keep about SEN/D children?

All settings should be sensitive when it comes to recognising whether a child has special educational needs or not. When a child is added to any settings SEN register they will start an Individual Record for that particular child. The details it should have are: name, date of birth, gender, name and address of parent with responsibility for the child, contact numbers of parents, home language, ethnic origin, when the child started at the setting, any previous settings and dates attended, any additional settings currently attending, any other agency involvement e.g. speech and language therapist and finally start date for the file (and space for closing date).

9. What is the role of the SENCO?

A SENCo is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the school's SEN policy. All mainstream schools must appoint a teacher to be their SENCo. The SENCo will coordinate additional support for pupils with SEN and liaise with their parents, teachers and other professionals who are involved with them.

10. What is an "Education and Health Care assessment" and what is an "Education and Health Care plan"? What is the difference between them?

An EHC Assessment is an assessment of the child's Educational, Health and Social Care needs. It aims to assess if the child needs more help than can be provided by the pre-school, school (or college, in the case of a young person).

However, the education, health and care ( EHC ) plan is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. EHC plans identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs (Gov.uk, 2021).

References

• EQUALITY ACT 2010, Part 6, Chapter 1 [online]. London: The Stationary Office. Available from: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents [Accessed 27 February 2021].

• DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION, 2015, Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years [online]. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398815/SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf [Accessed 26 February 2021].

• DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND SKILLS, 2005, Data Collection by Type of Special Educational Need [online]. Available from: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7736/1/DFES-1889-2005.pdf [Accessed 27 February 2021].

• GOV.UK, 2021. Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) [online]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs/extra-SEN-help [Accessed 27 February 2021].

• LIVE WELL CHESHIRE WEST, 2021. Different types of special educational needs or disability (SEND) [online]. Available from: https://livewell.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/Information/Different_types_of_special_educational_needs_or_di?categoryId=3951 [Accessed 27 February 2021].

• NICOL MERE, 2021. Policies and Pupil Premium [online]. Available from: https://www.nicolmere.wigan.sch.uk/policies-and-pupil-premium [Accessed 26 February 2021].

• READING.GOV.UK, 2020. What is Sensory Impairment [online]. Available from: https://servicesguide.reading.gov.uk/kb5/reading/directory/advice.page?id=yjdblhTe_x0 [Accessed 26 February 2021].

• SHARPLES, J., WEBSTER, R. and BLATCHFORD, P., 2018, Making best use of teaching assistants: Guidance Report [online]. Available from: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Publications/Teaching_Assistants/TA_Guidance_Report_MakingBestUseOfTeachingAssistants-Printable.pdf [Accessed 26 February 2021].