How I may be able to help you.

Currently, in New Zealand Schools according to the MOE, there are 1 in 5 students who require additional support from support services.

We all know there are a lot of other students in our classes who require additional support and are not currently receiving any support.



In my role as Across Schools Teacher supporting students with Additional Needs
I might be able to help with some of the following things:

• Facilitate Professional Development for your Staff, tailored to your schools' needs.

In the last year, I have presented :

• Teacher Aide training on Oral language development, Early Reading and Writing skills.
• Supporting Neurodiverse students - How our brain works.
• Behaviour and Sensory needs

• Assessment of individual students using additional assessment tools

•  to gain baseline data
• to assist teachers to plan appropriately
• to check the meet criteria for additional support eg ORS, ICS
• to gather information for Welcome to school project

• Discussed School Special needs support registers      

• Supported COL teachers with inquiries and carried out observations.

• Provided adapted material and resources for students with Additional needs

I am here to help:   Book me through my Blog or email me donna@sommerville.school.nz
I am happy to help with any quick questions or come along and visit.

Let's put the CREATE - in Learn Create Share

DID YOU KNOW?

Drawing activities allow students to explore color, line curvature, length and direction, how lines can be used to draw shapes and shapes can be combined in different ways to make patterns and represent people, animals and objects.

Drawing helps children to develop the  visual-spatial skills needed for mathematics. Pattern making is also an important aspect of developing mathematical ideas in young children.  

Fine motor activities and handwriting tasks

As a student performs handwriting exercises, you will begin to notice a difference in their  visual perception and fine motor development.

Additional benefits may include the following:

• You will be able to identify fine-motor problems                     
• You will improve tracking, retention and pencil grip                  
• You will help your child establish dominance
• You will improve their visual-motor skills, crossing the midline and hand-eye coordination
• You will provide more opportunities for sensory-motor development.

Music

Music engagement is an excellent way to encourage brain development in our students. Music has the ability to activate many different areas of the brain at once, such as areas associated with language, memory, hearing, and areas used to process sensory information. 

Music  is an excellent way to do educational activities in a fun and motivating way.

I have personally witnessed several times student who really talk or have communication challenges begin to sing.

Music can help stimulate your student’s brain in different ways, dance can help develop fine motor skills, and drama teaches emotions and problem-solving. 

Dance is important in education. The acts of imitation, repetition, coordination, and exploration of movement to the rhythm of the music will promote memory training and coordination.

Learning routines and memorising moves is a good mental exercise for your child. It’ll encourage them to use their mental strength without necessarily realising it. Dancing is a great way to help develop your child’s brain and ignite the spark of creativity 

Dancing, and other forms of art, can be used as tools of expressions and exploration for our students. They can use their creativity to think through misunderstanding, and communicate understanding effectively, even though they may not know how to use their words. 

Let's extend our students learning and CREATE.

Time to tell the Government what we think about Special Education in New Zealand - Disability and Learning Support Action Plan

Please have your say about what is working and what is not working in Special Education in New Zealand

Disability and Learning Support Action Plan

Have you had your say about the Disability and learning support plan - feed back closes 31 October 2018.

Survey

Overview

Please tell us what you think about the draft Disability and Learning Support Action Plan. 

Your answers will help us to better understand how we can improve disability and learning support over the next few years.

This survey covers the main proposals in the draft Action Plan. It will take about 10 - 15 minutes.

The draft Action Plan is available in multiple languages and Easy Read format here.

You do not need to give your name to complete the survey, and your answers are confidential and anonymous.

If you would like to comment on all of the proposals, or make a submission on behalf of a group or organisation, please read the draft Action Plan and email your submission here.

This consultation is available in:

• English
• New Zealand Sign Language
• Te Reo Māori
• Mandarin |简体中文
• Korean | 한국어
• Hindi | हिन्दी
• Samoan | Gagana Samoa
• Tongan | Lea Faka-Tonga

This consultation will also be available in the following languages soon:

• Cook Islands | Maori Kuki Airani
• Niuean | Vagahau Niue
• Tokelauan | Gagana Tokelau

Engaging our Learners in an active way

If you present new content to your students in multiple
creative ways, using different types of media, and medium
three amazing things happen:

• more students will be able to access and learn the content
• you’ll reinforce new information more effectively than ever
• your students will become expert learners—meaning they’ll know how to explore a wide range of ways to learn, and they’ll understand which strategies work best for them.

Social scripts

Social Stories  Social scripts are a social learning tool that supports the safe and

meaningful exchange of information between adults and learners who need additional support.

Written to help students deal with and understand difficult or confusing situations. Stories can be written to prepare students for upcoming events or to explain why other people act they do or what the rules are.

Social stories are most common with students who are on the autistic spectrum; however I also use them with other students when I see they need additional support. They are simple stories that help remind students about appropriate social behavior. 

What are social stories for?

Social scripts/ stories can be used to:

•  develop self-care skills (eg how to clean teeth, wash hands or get dressed), social skills (eg sharing, asking for help, saying thank you, interrupting) and academic abilities
•  help someone to understand how others might behave or respond in a particular situation
•  help others understand the perspective of a person and why they may respond or behave in a particular way
•  help a person to cope with changes to routine and unexpected or distressing events (eg absence of teacher, moving house, thunderstorms)
•  provide positive feedback to a person about an area of strength or achievement in order to develop self-esteem
•  as a behavioural strategy (eg what to do when angry, how to cope with obsessions).

I begin by identifying the behaviour that I want to modify.  For example, inappropriate hallway behaviour.  One particular student was having difficulty walking in the hallway quietly and keeping her hands off the wall.  Now that I have the behaviour identified, I go to Google.  

Sometimes I have to walk in the hallway.

I need to keep my voice and feet quiet in the hallway.

My hands stay at my sides.

It makes my teachers happy when I walk quietly in the hallway. 

I like to search for social stories that are already written so that I might not have to reinvent the wheel. I then adapt and personlised as needed,
I also include pictures to go with the story. These can be computer images or photos I have taken.

How do social stories/ scripts help?

Social scripts/  stories present information in a literal, 'concrete' way, which may improve a person's understanding of a previously difficult or ambiguous situation or activity. The presentation and content can be adapted to meet different people's needs.

They can help with sequencing (what comes next in a series of activities) and 'executive functioning' (planning and organising).    

By providing information about what might happen in a particular situation, and some guidelines for behaviour, you can increase structure in a person's life and thereby reduce anxiety.

Creating or using a social story can help you to understand how the autistic person perceives different situations.

• Present the social story to the person at a time when everyone is feeling calm and relaxed, using a straightforward approach, eg I have written this story for you. It is about thunderstorms. Let's read it together now.
• If it is preparing for a special event/ experience  make sure you have read through a few times before the event/experience

Social stories^TM were created by Carol Gray in 1991. They are short descriptions of a particular situation, event or activity, which include specific information about what to expect in that situation and why.

The terms 'social story' and 'social stories' are trademarks originated and owned by Carol Gray.

Visual learning and autism spectrum disorder

Visual learning and autism spectrum disorder

Visual thinking can be a strength for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

These good visual skills might be because children with ASD tend to focus on details, rather than the whole – for example, specific details in a picture, rather than the whole picture.

Also, children with ASD can be visual learners. This might be because visual information lasts longer and is more concrete than spoken and heard information. This might help children with ASD – who often need longer than typically developing children – to process information and choose what they’re going to say.

Creating classroom Rules

 Establishing classroom rules and routines are very important at the beginning of the year.
We need to make sure our student understands the concepts of the rules and the language used.
The language concepts of DON'T is a challenging one for many of our students.
It is a negative language concept. Refer to the chart below to the see the language concepts student need to understand

Give our students rules and routines that show them what you want them to do.

Language and learning disorders

Learning disabilities are believed to be closely related to a past history of developmental language disorders. Learning disabilities are concerned with abnormal development of verbal and/or written expression and reception. Therefore, the early detection of these disabilities prevents later educational and social consequences.


Check out this very interesting article



Developmental Milestones in Normal Language Acquisition

My Inquiry - My story so far.

Alternative Assessments for Students with Additional needs.

As part of my on going Inquiry into appropriate assessment tools to use with students who have additional needs I have investigated the following tools.

Literacy	Maths
Narrative assessment Expanded English Framework (Fuel and Launch) -         Listening , reading,  viewing framework -         Speaking, writing, viewing framework Developmental Writing scale Developmental Spelling  Assessment	Narrative assessment Extended Number framework and matrix (Fuel and Launch) Bracken - School Readiness  (cost to purchase or may be available RTLB)

I have tried these assessments with a range of students at Sommerville special school and several students within the Manaiakalani schools.
These assessments have given more detailed assessment information for students who can not be assessed using standardised school assessments.

Narrative assessment, Expanded Framework and Bracken - school readiness are all recognised assessment with the Ministry of Education. These assessments cater for students with very complex learning needs.

The Developmental Writing scale and Developmental Spelling assessment were recommended by 
                                   

  

Dr Sally Clendon PhD Univ North Carolina Chapel Hill

Senior Lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy, Massey University NZ.

I have found that these assessments are very informative for establishing what the  student  can do  and what their next learning steps should be.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like some more information.

Alternative assessment - Bracken School Readiness Assessment

Bracken

School Readiness

Developed by early childhood experts, this readiness assessments help you evaluate early literacy, language, and academic skills to determine whether kids are on track for school success, and enable you to identify youngsters for whom early intervention may be appropriate.

I have been carrying out this assessment on a range of students who have additional needs. The RTLB service use this assessment as part of their screening criteria for High Learning Needs support for students who can not successfully complete standardised test eg JAM, Running Records etc.

I have found this assessment very useful for students with communication needs. As the resource provides visuals to use for the assessment students who have limited oral language can point to the correct answer, this allows me to assess their knowledge without restricting them due to their verbal output.

Several of our students at Sommerville use AAC Augmentative and alternative communication(AAC) as a way of communicating with others. This assessment allowed me to assess their early maths and literacy skills including alphabet, colours, concepts of size and shape etc.

With two students it allowed us to create a whole new maths programme for these students as we have a better understanding of their knowledge and what their next learning steps should be.

For two other students who are completely non verbal, they could demonstrate their knowledge through using their AAC and pointing , where other assessments have been to complex or frustration for the student.

Reflection:

I would like to take the visual principles and easy access of this assessment resource and adapt other assessments we use better meet the needs of our students.

Maths Assessment Progressions

Maths Assessment Progressions at Sommerville.

The Sommerville Maths curriculum team have created this overview of maths assessments.
Students at Sommerville who often can not be assessment using mainstream maths assessment are assessed against P levels. This is a series of leveled progression indicators. P 1 to P 7 are below  the Emergent maths levels.
As our students reach these  P level progression indicators we move them onto Mainstream assessments eg JAM and Gloss.

Sommerville Special school uses a fabulous maths resources called Numicon. 
Numicon has an assessment system that matches this maths resource.

Numicon is a distinctive multi-sensory approach to children's mathematical learning that emphasises three key aspects of doing mathematics:

• communicating mathematically
• exploring relationships
• solving problems in everyday life experiences (generalising)

Oral Language a crucial element.

Starting primary school is an enormous transition in a young child’s life. Children need to find their place in a new social and learning environment. Entering this new environment with Speech Language Communication Needs can have long-term impact on a child. Children may struggle to make friends, to learn, and to be themselves as part of their new  school community.

It is expected that when a child starts primary school, they will be able to understand much of what is said, express themselves clearly, share their feelings and make their needs known.

In many ways our ability to communicate  can define us, sometimes it is away we are judged and measured by others and the means by which we form our relationships. Children starting school with speech, language and communication needs may struggle with many aspect of communication and they can become withdrawn or present with challenging behaviour within the school environment.

Some children may not be able to understand the words being spoken to them. When their teacher tells the class what they need to do, or explains a new idea or concept, these children may struggle to understand what is being said. Having an appropriate vocabulary is essential for  learning, however learning vocabulary has been identified as one of the most significant difficulties for some children.

As teachers we need to scaffold the learning for our students. Offer multiple opportunities to learn new vocabulary, and practice it regularly. We need to help make connections and use visuals to help cement the new learning.

How much of our day is spent developing our children's language?  Low language levels impact all other curriculum areas.

Developing Language Skills in our students.

All the research tells us our students are arriving at school with low oral language skills. The oral language children have when they start school directly impacts on their ability to think and to learn. Alison Burge presented findings from the "Welcome to school project" in Tamaki schools showing 53% of New Entrants assessed had significant concerns in Communication.

All students who enter the school environment need to learn about a variety of conventions and routines of talking and listening in a context that is unfamiliar to most of them. Students’ oral language improves through practice, that is, when students talk regularly for different purposes and with different partners.  (Ministry of Education. (2009). Learning Through Talk: Oral Language in Years 1 to 3. Wellington)


At Sommerville we extremely fortunate to employ our own Speech language therapists who work directly with students and provide on going Professional development to our staff.
Francesca Bierens SLT has shared her Verbal language development Summary for how language is developed and the progress

 'Assisting Students with Language Delays in the Classroom  - A Practical Language Programme'

                                Published:  In 2015 by Speechmark Publishing Ltd, London, UK,

I have attached Oral language resources from Francesca that are worth a read.

Oral language development and abilities have significant impact on our students ability to access the curriculum in all areas.

Early writing levels

While researching my  USLT Inquiry I have observed students whose  writing levels are too low to be assessed by NZ standardised testing.

At Sommerville we are currently using a Developmental Writing Scale which is helping us identify what level our students are at and what their next learning targets are.

I thought I would share this with our Mainstream colleagues.

Developmental Writing Scale

Check out this great one page  visual snapshot of children's writing development.

Reminder to Manaiakalani COL schools that you can book time with me to discuss your literacy programmes for students with additional needs.

Are we inclusive for all students?

Inclusive education is about the full participation and achievement of all learners. In fully inclusive schools, children and young people with special education needs are engaged and achieving through being present, participating and learning. 

The ERO has an evaluation indicator framework to help schools evaluate how well they are doing in supporting students with additional learning needs. 

What is an inclusive school?

At an inclusive school, all students are welcome and are able to take part in all aspects of school life. Diversity is respected and upheld. Inclusive schools believe all students are confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners and work towards this within the New Zealand Curriculum. Students’ identities, languages, abilities, and talents are recognised and affirmed and their learning needs are addressed.

This the dream! But, is it a reality for all our students?

How Inclusive is your classroom? How inclusive is your school?

What changes can we make to create a better environment for all our students to learn and experience success?

Love this statement from TKI site

As each student brings unique and diverse experiences, needs, and strengths to their learning, education systems need to be flexible and responsive to this predictable diversity, rather than expecting students to fit around a fixed system of teaching and learning.

Just another interpretation .

Assessment for Learners with Special Education Needs

Narrative assessment

Narrative assessment is  for students who are expected to learn long-term within Level One of the New Zealand Curriculum .

Narrative assessment provides a rich picture of students’ skills, strengths, and learning support needs. It uses learning stories to capture progress in students’ learning, and records the often subtle interactions between the student, their learning environments, their peers, their learning support team, and their learning activities.

The use of this information to engage with parents and whānau, allows those who know the child best to collaborate in planning next steps learning as part of the child’s Individual Education Programme and plan. In this way, narrative assessment provides clear and specific reporting about the individual student’s learning, support needs, and progress.

This form of assessment fits very well with Manaiakalani pedagogy ' Learn , Create, Share' - putting our young learners at the very centre of their learning.

To learn more check out this website, or book some time with me to learn more.

http://www.throughdifferenteyes.org.nz/home