Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)

Social, Emotion and Mental Health (SEMH)

SEMH stands for social, emotional and mental health. All of us have different SEMH profiles; this includes needs (meaning things we find difficult) as well as strengths that help us cope with the demands of daily life. Sometimes SEMH needs are significant enough to negatively impact how we manage in daily life. The Special Educational […]

Building Independence Skills

Independence skills or life skills are skills we use in everyday activities that are part of our daily routine. There are daily opportunities for children and young people to learn and develop life skills from all the activities they do. Through life skills, theyare able to practice many other skills including fine motor, gross motor […]

Supporting children to self-regulate and engage in learning

What is self-regulation? Self-regulation refers to the ability to maintain an arousal level that is appropriate for any given situation.  Self-regulation also involves having the ability to generate appropriate behavioural and sensory responses to the input in different situations and daily routines and the ability to demonstrate self-control: to monitor and control behaviour, attention, motor output, emotions, […]

Enabling participation in PE, on the playground and accessing the school environment

School-based occupational therapists work to support and develop functional whole body (gross motor) skills to enable participation and confidence in physical education (PE), on the playground and accessing the school environment. There are four main areas we focus on to improve participation and confidence as seen below. Advice and resources Activities for you to try to help develop overall whole-body skills: […]

Enabling success in class based activities

Children/young people require many skills to help them succeed at school/college. Each of these areas requires many different skills. For example, to be able to write you would need to develop your hand strength, hold a pencil correctly, use both hands (which is also known as bilateral coordination) and sit upright (which is also known as posture). Advice and Resources […]

Building conversation skills and social interactions

Young people require many skills to help them succeed in the classroom and school environment. Being able to communicate successfully is a fundamental skill for building self-esteem, accessing education, relating to others, developing friendships and being independent. It involves many different skills, which include the following: What can you do in the classroom to support? […]

Using Language, Vocabulary and Speech

Expressive language skills (i.e. use of language) includes using verbal (talking) and/or Augmentative and Alternative Communication (such as symbols, pictures, gestures or signs) to get a message across to someone else. It includes: Speech refers to how we say sounds and words. This includes: Learning to speak clearly involves:  Young children go through a typical process of developing […]

Listening and Understanding Language

Listening skills: Attention and listening skills are fundamental for developing communication skills and learning in the classroom. It requires concentration, and the ability to ignore information that we don’t need. Listening involves hearing and remembering what is heard, and finding the information you need to understand (auditory processing). It involves: What can you do in […]

Advice and Resources

The SEND Code of Practice states that a graduated approach to meeting the needs of all children and young people including those with SEND should be used. The vast majority of children and young people will have their needs met through high-quality teaching which is known as ‘universal support’. At the heart of this guidance and advice […]

Testimonials

Katie’s story “My children can just be themselves and have fun, with no judgments” (names and ages have been anonymised) Katie and her husband have two children, aged 8 and 12. Katie works with neurodiverse children and so was already aware of the signs and symptoms of a range of different learning disabilities. A hidden […]