Home | Every Child Journal | Issue 5.4

Issue 5.4

Special Needs

Child File: Responding to Children’s Needs

These Child Files examines the issues of behavioural, emotional and social difficulties and difficulties in speech, language and communication.

  • 31 Oct 2016
  • 24mins
  • TeachingTimes
Special Needs

What’s wrong with teenagers?

Young people are blamed for many of society’s ills. Anita Collins and Mervyn Lebor suggest that, rather than blaming teenagers, we should be making some reasonable adjustments to accommodate their developing brains.

  • 28 Oct 2016
  • 24mins
  • Anita Collins, Mervyn Lebor
Special Needs

Helping children communicate

Speech, language and communication needs are the single most prevalent need among children with SEN, whatever their diagnosis—and the impact, should this need remain unaddressed, can last a lifetime. Bob Reitemeier, Chief Executive of children’s communication charity I CAN, examines the stakes.

  • 28 Oct 2016
  • 24mins
  • Bob Reitemeier
Special Needs

Girls behaving badly

An unusually high proportion of girls in the pupil referral unit with which she was working had Edwina Chevens’ curious to learn more about their stories and how they came to be there. Here she summarises her findings and makes some practical suggestions for wider practice.

  • 28 Oct 2016
  • 24mins
  • Edwina Chevens
Special Needs

Using technology to support early literacy development

Only half of practitioners are confident using touch screens to share and enjoy stories with children, the National Literacy Trust has revealed. What support is available to help professionals make the most of this valuable teaching tool? Clare McGread gives an overview.

  • 28 Oct 2016
  • 24mins
  • Clare McGread
Special Needs

SEND reforms: Challenges for the early years

SEND provision in the early years has been in desperate need of reform for a long time. But has the new Code of Practice hit its mark? Maureen Hunt explores the key challenges thrown up by the recent reforms and some of the steps exemplary settings are taking to deal with them.

  • 28 Oct 2016
  • 24mins
  • Maureen Hunt
Special Needs

Can teaching assistants support social inclusion?

Teachers, leaders and politicians alike have long questioned the usefulness of teaching assistants in the classroom. Here Dr Helen Saddler questions the way TAs are currently deployed and offers an interesting perspective on where their value lies.

  • 28 Oct 2016
  • 24mins
  • Helen Saddler
Special Needs

Exploring SENCo dilemmas

Day-to-day challenges a SENCo faces can often indicate more serious problems in the school’s wider policy and practice. How, then, can SENCos delve beyond the obvious answers to reveal the broader issues that lie beneath? Dr Amelia Roberts presents three fictional scenarios.

  • 28 Oct 2016
  • 24mins
  • Amelia Roberts
Special Needs

Cultural Change

Headteacher Derek Peaple and SENCo Steve Oxley describe the efforts at Park House School to move special educational needs out of the ghetto and onto every teacher’s agenda.

  • 28 Oct 2016
  • 24mins
  • Derek Peaple, Steve Oxley
Special Needs

Easier said than done: Implementing the SEND Code of Practice

Ann Stacey, head of Aldermoor Farm Primary School, explains the detailed steps she has taken to make the Code of Practice ideal come alive in her school.

  • 28 Oct 2016
  • 24mins
  • Ann Stacey