Special Education Matters (SEM)

The new generation of SEN?

2011-12-14T09:40:00.000Z

An article in the Education News yesterday has claimed that teachers do not feel well equipped to cope with the rising number of pupils with Special Educational Needs. Are trainee and newly qualified teachers given enough training in the field to efficiently plan and provide support for these children? Are SEN numbers really rising or are we simply more focused on the individual needs of each and every child then ever before?

The Education News suggests a book is the answer. Behaviour solutions - A guide to syndromes & conditions.

Do books like this one lead to well informed and prepared teachers? Or is experience within SEN a more beneficial route to confidence within the sector? Of course this publication has its uses, identifying the characteristics of a condition could help when devising learning activities but are all children with Condition A the same? Personally, I can't help but think that this sort of publication, when advertised as a solution to the "problem", can only lead to children being identified or categorised according to their condition. The reason I set off down this journey in the first place, was to change the way people approached SEN, are we moving backwards?

Read the full story here.

Facebook update page

2011-12-14T09:03:00.004Z

Hello everyone, please take a moment to join our Facebook page. Members will be able to see when new material and resources are uploaded on to the Special Education Matters blog and refer us to friends.

Thank you to you all for your continued support.

Christmas Crackers

2011-12-13T20:16:00.000Z

The Guardian hit the nail on the head with their article today.... Lesson plans are completely written off in the run up to Christmas. Despite best intentions, the children's excitement levels and anticipation for the big day, leave even the most organised of teachers spinning in a pile of sparkly things and sticky tape. And why not? I have fond memories of the run up to Christmas, making decorations, baking, learning carols. It all created a magical build up only ever tamed by 'growing up'.

Luckily The Guardian has some expert advice on how to 'teach' Christmas properly. Click here to read the full article and access the Christmas ideas!

Get instructions for making these lovely little walnut babies. Click here. These little darlings would make wonderful tree decorations a family could cherish.

Fantastic resources for the classroom whiteboard

2011-12-13T19:47:00.002Z

Most classrooms these days are equipped with an interactive whiteboard, and if not, why not?!! Especially with resources such as those available at The Plasma Screen & WhiteBoard Room. This website boasts fantastic resources for all subjects. Kids rejoice at the opportunity to fiddle with the whiteboard so use this opportunity to make it worthwhile. It should be a doddle to get the children involved and actively learning.

For my children with a motor skill delay, I particularly like the handwriting practice activity. It encourages hand control as the children trace over the zigzag lines with the pen or even their finger.

There is also a great activity for developing auditory discrimination skills whilst encouraging active listening and improving concentration skills.

The resources have been created by teachers for teachers so are designed with active learning in mind. The website and it's activities are free to access and there are guides and help sections available online. Click here to visit the website and access the full range of resources. Go on, get them into "active" learning in more ways then one!

"Pupils to fail new reading test"

2011-12-12T21:39:00.003Z

The BBC recently reported that two-thirds of primary aged school children will fail the new phonics reading check when it is introduced into the system next year. You can read the full story here.

Every school I've ever worked in has had a differing level of reading ability throughout the year groups and all have adopted a different approach to the teaching of reading and word knowledge. In my experience and own personal opinion, the method best placed to increase reading levels has to come from the creators of Read Write Inc. My daughter was lucky enough to be part of this pilot scheme as it got it's first airing in a school here and her reading improved dramatically and accurately. She developed a passion for reading and writing that continues to this day. Of course, she may well have developed this love of literature without the influence of Read Write Inc, but we will never know. One thing is certain, she always enjoyed her literacy within the programme and still holds fond memories of the series.

Share your own experiences. Are there any new and developing phonic programmes we should be featuring?

Letters and Sounds

2011-12-12T17:04:00.003Z

The Letters and Sounds website contains hundreds of free literacy resources, for both parents and teachers. It is all broken down into understandable phases so parents can easily identify the level at which their child is working.

I love the interactive games available at the end of each phase.

Take a look at their website here.

YPO Special Needs Resources 2011

2011-12-12T16:52:00.003Z

YPO are intent on improving sustainability and caring for our environment. All their 2011 catalogues are produced on PEFC paper and they have sourced many more green and sustainable products then ever before.

Their reward scheme ensures all the profit made stays in the public purse, there is no minimum order, a loyalty scheme and FREE delivery. Perfect!

Recommended products:

CVC magnetic word strips

£14.95

Make learning CVC words fun, tactile and visual. This magnetic resource helps develop sound identification and blending skills.

Catalogue No. 84960x

Letter formation white board (Pack of 5)

£6.99

Write on/wipe off letter formation guides. Brilliant for developing the fine motor skills necessary for handwriting.

Catalogue No. 532991

Take a look at the YPO online catalogue by clicking this link.

Keep up to date

2011-12-10T11:21:00.000Z

Stay on top of the latest educational stories by clicking on the news link on the right hand side.

Downloadable, Printable and versatile resources

2011-12-09T23:08:00.000Z

On the right hand side, you will now find a page entitled Downloadable, Printable and versatile resources. All the resources available here have been created by myself so feel free to download, print and use them.

We wish you a Merry Christmas (Singing, actions, clapping and tears)

2011-12-09T19:12:00.002Z

The Foundation/Year 1 class in which I work recently performed their Christmas Nativity play in front of their parents, grandparents, uncles, babysitters, neighbours etc and what a success it was! The old script was jazzed up with some current songs whilst keeping the magic of the story alive.

I challenged the little gems in more ways then one, not only did they have to remember to smile, say their lines, sing their songs and face the audience, they also had to learn the Makaton signing for two well known Christmas carols. Boy did they pull it off! I can totally relate to how nervous they felt, at 4 and 5 years old, standing in front of a sea of expectant faces. I, for one, was desperate not to make a mistake and end up signing, "We wish good tidings Christmas we bring!" Yoda was not in the play. They took such pride in learning the signs and take with them the ability to wish a Makaton user Merry Christmas..... Priceless.

All went to plan and a well-timed "Merrrrrr" from one little sheep added an impromptu comedy moment no script could replace.

Thanks to singing hands for the Makaton Christmas Carols, again an invaluable and readily available resource.

Makaton resource shop

A degree in proof reading?

2011-12-05T16:22:00.000Z

I recently submitted my very first assignment, since enrolling on my degree course. I had a momentary battle with the way in which the question was posed, but once struck by inspiration, I was off! No one could stop me. The content of the assignment barely required any research, I found I was researching merely to find a published name to support my theories. I finished the assignment in plenty of time and felt super confident that the first assignment had been plain sailing. I had three weeks of listening to the others on my course panic and struggle with looming deadlines and writers block. Then, doubt set it. What if I had interpreted the question completely wrong? It had been to easy, it's a degree, I'm supposed to be stressing out surely? I read and reread my assignment what felt like 50 times, I compared it to the marking criteria, I went through it with a fine tooth comb, highlighting the bits that were relevant to the question. Yet, still I wasn't satisfied. I convinced myself it was going to be a flop. Why? "Your so negative". I hear often from my partner. I like to think of it as realistic, disappointment is hard to contend with so why set yourself up for a fall? I inwardly comforted myself with the thought that I would be satisfied with merely a pass.

After hand in, it was a long old wait to receive the mark, and as time dragged on my opinion on my assignment sank lower and lower. Then mark day was upon us. 63%!!!!! It doesn't sound much but when a distinction is 70% it's literally a whisker away. I missed an apostrophe and somehow managed to completely erase one of my references between draft and final print. But the content was spot on, my academic style superb!

I've just handed in assignment number 2. The module title is Supporting Special Educational needs - If I miss out an apostrophe I will poke out my eye! Right now I'm swimming in confidence.... Ask me next week.

Special Education Needs Resources

2011-12-03T13:39:00.002Z

To the right hand side you will find a link to my Special Educational Needs Resources page.... I will post links on this page regularly for sites and resources I have found to be valuable.

Special Education Matters (SEM)

2011-12-03T13:10:00.000Z

I could go on for hours and hours about why I want to work in Special Education.... Instead I thought I would provide a copy my of university application supporting statement.

What has motivated me enough to apply for this foundation degree? What has inspired me to reach further and achieve more? The answer to both those questions is simple, a ten year old child. A child with whom I have been working closely with, 1:1 in fact, for the last year. A child who has challenged me, annoyed me, threatened me and thanked me. A child who has made me realise that I am good at what I do, I enjoy what I do and more importantly, I am proud of what we, together, have achieved this year.

Years ago I decided I wanted to work with children, become a teacher perhaps I thought, working with the little ones in Reception and Key Stage 1. Their so innocent aren't they? So fun to be around. But circumstances being what they were at the time, this goal was not achievable. I could however gain some experience and make certain this was the route I wanted to take in the mean time. So I set about securing myself a place volunteering at one of my local schools, in a year 2 class. I relished the opportunity and enjoyed helping out on my days off, every week. I was soon moved up to a year 5 class who were crying out for help. Here I met a young boy with Aspergers syndrome struggling to make his way through school life. One day, he was sat at his desk, staring blankly out the window, not listening to the teacher and flapping his pencil case in his face. Without thinking I walked over, removed his pencil case from his grip and sat down next to him. He looked at me and smiled, then looked at his class teacher and listened to the lesson being explained. There I stayed, for the next five months, until he moved up to year 6 in September. The improvements in this child's work were dramatic. Via a little encouragement he had been able to achieve at a much higher level then he was previously and the satisfaction for myself was immense!

A few weeks after that first encounter I started looking for courses available to me which would help me secure paid employment in this sector. I found the NVQ level 2 in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools and completed this whilst volunteering. Nearing completion of the NVQ I set about hunting for jobs and applied for a position at a nearby infant and junior school. The position was for a 1:1 teaching assistant to work with year 5 child with severe behavioural difficulties. Ten minutes after my interview, as I was walking through my front door, my phone rang. I had been successful.

I started my new job two days later and introduced myself to a stroppy child, with a face like thunder and an attitude to match. I spent hours observing this boy, working out why he behaved the way he did and how to help him. There were times at the beginning when I thought I had taken on to much. How could I help him? Who was I to tell him how he should control his anger? But then we would have a day where he would choose to work with me, pass me a pen, ask me to play a game, and I would see a side to him that was hidden away from view. We worked together to iron out the creases and develop the skills he needed to achieve his targets and socialise with peers. This young man now no longer requires the constant supervision that that same boy needed back when he started at the school. He has a strong group of friends and is looking forward to starting senior school in September, with his newly developed social skills and academic achievements, I’m sure he will enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed working with him.

Coughalottie

2011-12-03T12:53:00.000Z

There is of course one major down side to my job.... and I have to say it's the only negative bit I've discovered.... I seem to have a never ending series of coughs and colds. I should have shares in balm tissues and Happy Nose. Once upon a time I'd have taken the day off, lay moaning and groaning on the sofa, but nowadays I've realised that at work, I feel much better! Distracted by a never ending list of things to be and things to do. As long as I can suck in enough air to survive the show must go on. On the plus side, by the time I reach retirement age I should have a pretty awesome immune and antibody system in place to combat any foreign germ!

That's not for you

2011-12-02T23:20:00.001Z

When my daughter was a toddler I began searching for a new challenge, career wise. I was currently working as a lifeguard and although, at the time, I was working with absolute legends, it was just not what I aimed to do with my life. I was referred regularly to a "Lone Parent Adviser" at the local job centre. His aim in life seemed to be cocking up any pitiful benefit I had been entitled to and belittling my desires to teach.

"That's not for you." His words still hang over my head. Even as I travel down the road to my degree and teaching qualification. He kindly suggested that I take an English and Maths refresher course down at the local adult learning centre and send me on my way with a chirpy, "That'll keep you busy."

I'd come out of school with A's and B's and certainly hadn't lost my ability to read and write over night but the effect that people like him have on you is not immediately apparent. I wonder now if his words, and many others like him, had an impact on just how long it took me to get to where I am now.

I was excepted on to my degree course with an unconditional offer of study, but that was after I spent 1 year volunteering in a school, alongside a full-time job whilst completing my first NVQ. Then two years employed in a school whilst completing my NVQ3. NVQ's in the staff room were frequently referred to as Not Very Qualified by existing "old school" teaching assistants. The sort who resent the fact that they may soon require a qualification to continue doing the job they do, never mind the fact they are crap at it. They have a very one dimensional view of how a child should behave, god forbid any child who does not fit into that perfect mould.

Skip forwards to last year, and my university place interview, where I was informed I needn't have completed the NVQ's... The work experience and life skills I'd acquired were more then adequate to fulfill the criteria. Head... wall.... bang..... Poor advice received years earlier from another "That's not for you" type adviser.

Putting pen to paper

2011-12-02T19:30:00.003Z

In 2001 I was 17 years old (just)... I remember going round to my friends house, armed with a pregnancy test. Not at all concerned that it would come out positive, but my period was late and it was a good excuse to go round for a cuppa and have a goss.

Positive.... Well that really threw a spanner in the works. You know when something momentous happens, people say it passes in a blur, well that is very true. My memory of that day, even that time is certainly hazy. I remember one thing within the mist... I was going to be Mum, that was never in question. I'm not sure why, it is certainly not down to a great belief in the rights and wrongs of abortion or adoption, far from it, it just never ever entered my head that there was to be any other outcome. The more daunting task of how I was going to tell my parents lay heavily on my mind.

They knew someone well, who had fallen pregnant early on, and whether they intended to or not, my parents had certainly drilled in an image of failure associated with teen pregnancies. Truth be told I was terrified of their reaction. I was so convinced that they would be disappointed, and disappointment was not something I would be comfortable seeing etched across their faces. I was never much of a speaker, under pressure I found it really hard to think of the words I needed in that moment, always remembering what I had wanted to say when it was too late. Pen and paper was my escape. I wrote them a letter. At the time my Mum was at university in London, so I waited until my Dad went to visit her and sent the letter to her address.

It was a long four days. I wasn't convinced the letter had arrived in time and thought my Dad would return before he'd read it. I waited until I was certain my Dad would be home, Sunday evening, he had work the next day so I know he would not drive home late. I popped my key in the lock and as soon as the door opened I saw his suitcase at the foot of the stairs. He was home.

Deep breathe. "Hello Dad." We chatted about his visit to Mum, the weather at home, the surf, everything, chatting away for about half hour. No mention of babies or the letter. He'd missed it. Mum would get the letter tomorrow without Dad there. Dad trooped off upstairs to put his clothes away and sort out his washing. I remained sitting on the sofa, staring into the bottom of my cup, wondering what I would do when the phone rang tomorrow and Mum told Dad I was pregnant. I barely even noticed Dad enter the room again, but there he was stood in front of me, holding something out to me. Something white, in a plastic wrapper. I couldn't work out what it was and as I stood up I remember Dad saying "We got your letter, you silly sausage." In his hands he had a newborn baby gift set, the kind with a babygrow and matching hat. That was it. That was all that was said about it. I didn't take the gift set off him, we just hugged and I cried... That was all that has ever been said about it, from day one, to now, 10 years later.

Deck the halls with...... post it notes?

2011-12-02T18:29:00.001Z

If I ever met the human responsible for creating the Post-it note, I would probably kiss them.... Without these little flappy bits of paper my life would be complete and utter chaos... I write everything down, then I write it down somewhere else, to remind me that I wrote it down in the first place. "I love how organised you are..." the other half often tweets.... Really?? I spend every day in a blind panic thinking I've forgotten something... Half the time I wake up and can't work out what day it is, where I'm supposed to be or what I'm doing. One day last week I woke up and couldn't even remember what my job was let alone why my alarm was going off.... I thought I'd had a stroke in the night!

Everything seems to be happening at a million miles an hour at the moment. It goes from Monday to Monday in a blink of an eye and before I know it another week has passed by. Sometimes I wonder what my poor over frazzled brain will be capable of at 70 years old, if anything at all. I have crammed so much into my life in the last ten years I believe it's reasonable my brain and body might just pack up through over use!

At 17 years old I became a mother. Oh no, teenage pregnancy, life will inevitably be over, I'll have to live off benefits and get a council house.... and that is just a brief snippet of the stigma. That's one of the main reasons I started this blog... If just one girl who reads this realises that her life is far from over just because she finds she is with child, then my work here is done. I never truly believed the whole stigma, but I also never realised how much parts of it actually did have a significant impact on my life, until now.

HSBC student bursary competition

2011-09-18T10:33:00.000+01:00

Wouldn't £15,000 make supporting myself and my family through my higher education that little bit easier?

Well Kind old HSBC are giving 8 students the chance to win a 15k bursary!!

The brief was to create a video detailing how £15,000 would help you make your mark on the world. There are certainly some ambitious people in this competition, entrepreneurs, world peace activists, beauty queens, fashion designers... It's a real mixed bunch.

HSBC student Bursary competition

Follow the link and have a browse .... Search for my video "Enabling children to achieve" by Lottie Stokes.... and if you think it is worthy of a place in the final, cast your vote by hitting the vote button.

It's unfortunate that it's such a popularity contest to get to the final, and those with the most Facebook friends are already whizzing off into the lead, but I'm determined to get my video into that final!! Eeek.... help...

Back to school

2011-09-18T10:27:00.000+01:00

Anyone else get excited about buying a new pencil case for the start of term? Oh this years is quite the disappointment. Bit plain really, no fake fur or flashing lights.

.... Yes I'm 27... But tomorrow I'm going back to school... Well Uni! I've already been and had a mooch around and felt massively out of place but hey ho! It wasn't so bad, I wasn't the oldest.... Or the youngest.... Which I'd been panicking about... Actually I met someone the same age as me, with two kids and lives just down the road :) Thank goodness for Hazel...

September has brought with it some big changes and my cart-wheels are slightly more frequent right now. I've started my new job (well same sort of job, different school) and have been enjoying it immensely. My little girl has hopped on up to year 5 which has added to the crows feet. Not so little anymore... and I've brought some new pens, oh yes, ones that promise to write first time, every time... They, coupled with my new pencil case have left me well equipped for registration day tomorrow.

If you get a second please make sure you check out my entry into the HSBC student bursary competition

http://www.facebook.com/hsbcstudents?sk=app_173156132754133

"Like" the page and then search for my video "Enabling children to achieve" it's all about working with children with special educational needs :) Thanks everyone.