👀Looking to link up with other primary SEMH schools/ provisions to meet virtually and share ideas and things that are working well! Is this you?

🎙New podcast episode alert! 🚨 Louise Maggs, clinical director of @PECS_UK joined me to talk about collaboration between home and school for users of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Listen to the full episode over at https://t.co/6M9iWxLbXl #autism #pecs #aac

Any curriculum leads in primary #SEMH 👋 would love to connect and start a regular focus group to share ideas -what’s working and not! 💥

Evidence for Learning or Seesaw? 🙏🏻

NEW POST: The Government’s SEND Improvement Plan: Here’s our initial overview on what the Department for Education wants to change to fix SEND

I would love to have a conversation about #Prosopagnosia on my podcast- autism, neurodiversity and me. Is there anyone out there who has experience in this? I often don’t recognise people out of context which causes me a huge amount of anxiety and I would like to learn more.

Processing my first week in an SEMH primary school. To all levels of school staff out there - YOU ARE AMAZING AND DOING INCREDIBLE WORK EVERY DAY ⭐️

The sensory overload of having to walk through duty free at the airport 😵‍💫

@stephreed__ We use Lexend, it is free and works really well for us at Hinderton.

It was great to have Lynn McCann, #autism specialist teacher, trainer, author and business lead of @ReachoutASC on the latest episode of the podcast, to explore #ADHD from the perspective of specialist teachers with lived experience. 👂🏼Full episode here: https://t.co/AXwvTFsHKc

Any other dyslexics out there that find the most used ‘dyslexia friendly font’ harder to read? #dyslexic

I’d question what impact reducing golden time and breaks is actually having… and if necessary supports are in place informed by stimming and what may be leading to the ‘disruption’

or perhaps try to reduce the glare on the screen, or even better, give me a printout or iPad so I can see the screen immediately in front of me. Find more resources for supporting the learning of autistic and neurodivergent children over at my website https://t.co/6M9iWxLbXl 7/7

⛔️ tell me off for not focusing (is this going to help? NO!) ⛔️ take away my playtime (is this going to help? NO!) ✅ try to understand why I am unfocused and implement supportive strategies such as; move me to a position where it is easier for me to see the whiteboard, 6/7

to concentrate or focus. These are already a number of barriers inhibiting me to learn like my peers, which could lead to withdrawal, inattention or disruption. There are some options here: 5/7

My visual perception system is very sensitive related to my dyslexia, Irlen Syndrome/ visual snow and ADD. If I would be sat at the back of a classroom, or if there was glare on the whiteboard, or there were bright lights on in the room, I would find it incredibly difficult 4/7

This is definitely not 'rewarding disruptive behaviour'. This is REMOVING BARRIERS I'll give you an example, and I've picked one that I'm personally familiar with, related to my own sensory needs. 3/7

If the behaviour is due to a sensory need, providing appropriate sensory input, may help the child to regulate and in turn, focus and be 'ready to learn'. ➡️ A dysregulated child will not be in an optimal state for learning. 2/7

Am I rewarding ‘disruptive behaviour'? This is a question I regularly come across when visiting schools. Sometimes staff or parents are concerned that they will be 'rewarding disruptive behaviour' by not giving a child a sanction, or by giving a child a sensory break. 1/7

300,000 teachers are on strike today because they want to #SaveOurSchools