Special Needs
What are the signs & symptoms of ADHD?
- Disorganization
- Poor time management
- Poor focus
- Trouble multitasking
- Poor planning
- Low tolerance and frustration
- Constantly fidgeting
How can you help someone with ADHD?
ADHD can be managed with educational support for example taking up activities/hobbies that can help to stimulate the child and turn challenging,hyperactive behaviour into a positive.
If you feel that you could benefit from a professional analysis,then that is strongly encouraged.
There is medication to help manage the diagnosis but do remember it isn’t a cure.
- Having regular communication with both teachers, keyworkers, one to ones
- Giving frequent feedback and attention to positive behaviour
- Being mindful to the influence of emotions such as self-esteem issues or difficulty regulating feelings
- Provide extra warnings before changes in routines and transitions
How to Support at Home
- Being mindful to the influence of emotions such as self-esteem issues or difficulty regulating feelings
- Provide extra warnings before changes in routines and transitions
Contact Number, Websites & Charities
Charity: www.adhdfoundation.org.uk
Website: www.cdc.gov
Special Educational Needs and Disability is a disability that affects the learningability.
This is a difficult need to identify as children learn at different speeds and reach milestones at different times. Having said that anything that you, as a parent, are alarmed by do not hesitate to get in touch with your GP and arrange an appointment.
Also, arranging a meeting withyour child’s school/nursery would be really beneficial too.
What are the signs & symptoms of SEND?
- Problems paying attention
- Clumsiness
- Trouble telling time
- Problems staying organised
- Problems in math
- Trouble following directions
How can you help someone with SEND?
Liaisingwith teachers, keyworkers and one to ones to see how you can both be working together synchronized to make sure that the child can become familiar and comfortable with the style of learning.
Any additional resources that can be provided by the child’s nursery/school or online websites and shops.
Being patient and understanding.
- Giving as much one to one support as possible
- Provide any resources that may be necessary to help improve and digest the learning
- Differentiated work in class the classroom
How to Support at Home
Keep up to date with the learning being taught at school/nursery and carry it through at home with the homework.
Regular updates with school teachers and keyworkers. If there is anything you as a parent are concerned about or may need some direction with, speak to them to get as much information as possible.
Contact Number, Websites & Charities
English as anadditional language is children whose first language is not English.
This is very tricky when children come into a nursery and/or a school environment and have to adapt to the language spoken and understand it.
How can you help someone with EAL?
Arrange a meeting with a teacher and/or keyworker and ask any questions that you may have on how your child can become fluent and confident in the language.
Finding resources that help with phonics and word pronunciation.
Trying to speak English at home wherever possible to help improve your childs speech and language.
- Arrange meetings to discuss child’s progress and next steps
- Provide any resources that may be useful for the child
- Where possible provide one to one additional support
- Reading
How to Support at Home
Reading as much as possibleTrying to speak the English language as much as possible.
Work with teachers and/or keyworkers to provide identical support both at home and in school or nursery.
Use resources given from school and/or nursery and work with the child on using resources and exercising the points that you think your child is finding difficult.
Contact Number, Websites & Charities
Dyslexia is a difficulty in learning to reading and interpret words, letters and other symbols.
This does not affect general intelligence.
What are the signs & symptoms of Dyslexia?
- Problem spelling
- Avoiding activities that involve reading
- Mispronouncing words and names frequently
- Problems retrieving words
- Use a ruler to help read in a straight line (as people with this disability find it hard to read in straight lines from left to right without getting muddled up with words underneath or above and it helps maintainfocus)
How can you help someone with Dyslexia?
- Typing on a computer or tablet instead of writing
- Apps that can make learning fun, for example: decoding games
- Patience and understanding
- Contacting the school/ nursery to make them aware of the situation (if they aren’t already) and putting plans in place to help the child
- Regular communication and updates with parents (meetings, phone calls etc)
- Patience and understanding when working with the child
- Making sure that the child has a clear understanding of the task and reassuring them of your supporting if the task has been misunderstood
How to Support at Home
- Download any apps that can be beneficial
- Dialogue with teacher and/or keyworkers regularly so that the child’s progress is being tracked and monitored
- Patience and understanding
Contact Number, Websites & Charities
Autism is a developmental disability that affects verbal and non-verbal communication and social interaction.
There are many different types of this disorder:
- Autistic disorder
- Asperger syndrome
- Pervasive developmental disorder
What are the signs & symptoms of Autism?
- Abnormal tone of voice
- Avoidance of eye contact
- Delay in learning to speak
- Flat or monotonous voice
- Inappropriate social interaction
How can you help someone with Autism?
- Stick to a schedule
- Reward good behaviour
- Create a home safety environment
- Look for nonverbal cues
- Figure out the motivation behind the tantrum
- Make time fun
- Pay attention to your child’s sensory sensitivities
- Consider the learning environment
- Manage changes and transitions
- Communicate clearly
- Integrate their interests
- Work with their parents/carers
- Build your resilience
How to Support at Home
- Create a safe and happy home environment
- Pay attention to your child’s sensory sensitivities
- Liaise with teachers and/or keyworkers so that your child feels safe and comfortable in both environments
Contact Number, Websites & Charities
Deafness, or being deaf, is lacking the power to hear or having an hearing impairment.
What are the signs & symptoms of being deaf?
- Difficulty understanding words, especially against background noise or in a crowd-trouble hearing constants
- Frequently asking others to speak more slowly, clearly, and loudly
- Needing to turn up the volume on the television or radio
How can you help someone who is deaf?
- Check noise and lighting
- Keep your distance
- Speak clearly, slowly,and steadily
- Write things down
- Repeat and rephrase if necessary
- Appropriate classroom/nursery accommodation
- Supportive technologies
- Tutoring
- Always face a deaf person and make eye contact
How to Support at Home
- Supportive technologies
- If in doubt about anything book an appointment with your GP
- Write things down
- Rephrase things if necessary
Contact Number, Websites & Charities
Visual impairment, or being visually impaired is being partially or completely blind.
Not being able to see at all would be classed as completely blind.
What are the signs & symptoms of visually impaired?
- Recurrent pain in or around the eye
- Hazy, blurred or double vision
- Seeing flashes of light or sudden bright flashing spots
- Seeing floating ‘spider webs
How can you help someone who is visually impaired?
- If you are going to guide them, ask them how they like to be guided
- Mention any potential hazards coming up for them to be aware of
- Use words that reference sight
- Don’t gesture, always verbalise
- Avoid asking the student if they can see anything
- Correct seating is curricle
- Be confident when sight guiding the child
- Contrast
How to Support at Home
- Use words that reference sight
- Don’t gesture, always verbalise
Contact Number, Websites & Charities
Global developmental delay is when a child takes longer to reach certain developmental milestones than other children their age.
This could be learning to walk, talk and learning new things for example.
What are the signs & symptoms of global delay?
- Inability to sit up right (8months)
- Difficulties with fine motor skills
- Aggression as a coping skill
- Other communication issues
How can you help someone who has global delay?
- Practice daily routines such as getting dressed
- Remain patience and understanding always
- Send additional resources home for parents/carers to work with
- Acknowledge level of achievement by being specific
How to Support at Home
- Liaise with teacher and/or keyworker to track and monitor progress
- Praise, praise, praise
- Provide resources to work with or as ask teacher if they have any resources that might be useful
Contact Number, Websites & Charities
Pica is an eating disorder that makes a person eat things that are not usually food.
Not being able to control what they put in their mouth and leading to eating things such as grass, bark, sticks, mud etc.
What are the signs & symptoms of Pica?
- Stomach pain
- Bowel problems
- Bleeding when going to the toilet due to eating things that are not food
How can you help someone who has Pica?
- Book an appointment and speak to your doctor (they will have leaflets on the illness and how to help it)
- Taking regular iron supplements
- Where necessary create a food diary of what has been eaten by the child and pass on to the parents/carers
How to Support at Home
- Book an appointment with GP to find out more information on the illness and ways to manage it
Contact Number, Websites & Charities
A speech impairment is referred to as an impaired ability to produce speed sounds and can range from mild to severe.
What are the signs & symptoms of a speech impairment?
- Adding sounds and words
- Elongating words
- Making jerky movements while talking, usually involving the head
- Blinking serval times whilst talking
- Visible frustration when trying to speak
How can you help someone who has a speech impairment?
- Provide verbal clues often
- Speak clearly
- Muscle strengthening exercises
- Talking therapy
- Practice more fluent and smooth speech when speaking to the child
- Patience and understanding
- Provide a quiet place for the student to work (if possible)
- Practice more fluent and smooth speech when speaking to the child
- Patience and understanding
How to Support at Home
- Speak clearly
- Practice more fluent and smooth speech when speaking to the child
- Talking therapies
- Speaking with a teacher and/or keyworker to see if they have any resources to help improve the speech
- Make the school / nursery aware of the situation
Contact Number, Websites & Charities