Helping pupils with special needs achieve their potential

Dee Reid

Series Editor

Consultant

What are special needs?

Pupils with special needs face unusual barriers to their full and effective participation in society.

Those barriers could be physical or mental. It is our responsibility to ensure that every pupil

with special needs achieves their potential.

What facilitates learning?

Research shows that learning is maximised when: it takes place in a context of great meaning to the pupil

dialogue accompanies all learning

The route to literacy for the special needs child

Listening to the language of books

Following reading

Talking (from words to sentences)

Developing comprehension

Beginning independent reading

Beginning independent writing

Good word recognition; good comprehension

Poor word recognition; good comprehension

Good word recognition; poor comprehension

Poor word recognition; poor comprehension

The differing needs of children

Dyslexia: good comprehension skills poor word recognition skills Autism Spectrum: poor comprehension skills satisfactory word recognition skills Downs Syndrome: slow comprehension skills slow word recognition ADHT: slow comprehension skills slow word recognition

Listening to the language of books

Reading aloud to children enables them to engage with both the content of the text and tune in to the language.

Why read aloud to special needs children?

Reading aloud to children contributes directly to their early literacy development. It helps children develop: Listening skills Language skills Comprehension As well as giving them great pleasure

Why read aloud to special needs children?

The act of listening to the language and ‘voice’ of the author provides an important background for children’s own language development.

It also helps develop children’s ability to concentrate.

What are the benefits of reading aloud?

It develops vocabulary Book language is not the same as everyday conversation. The context of a story provides the meaning of a word and that way children acquire new vocabulary.

What are the benefits of reading aloud?

It helps children develop imagination Through hearing stories, children’s creative imagination is enhanced as they visualise scenes, actions and characters.

What are the benefits of reading aloud

It helps children develop empathy As children engage with the story they experience feelings of joy, wonder, fear and hate.

What are the benefits of reading aloud?

It helps children anticipate what is going to happen next The ability to see links between things and the causal effects of actions helps children make sense of the world.

What are the benefits of reading aloud?

‘The single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills eventually required for reading appears to be reading aloud to children.’

‘Beginning to Read’ Marilyn Jager Adams (1994)

The route to literacy for the special needs child

Listening to the language of books

Talking (from words to sentences)

Developing comprehension

Beginning independent reading

Beginning independent writing

Following reading

Shared reading

Shared reading is an adult reading aloud to a group of

children where children also have sight of the text.

They follow the text as the adult reads and they begin to make associations between words and symbols.

What are the benefits of Shared reading?

When we read aloud to children and they can see the text it helps children learn concepts of print such as directionality – where to begin reading on a page.

Children begin to locate known words and develop an

understanding of one-to-one matching of words.

The benefits of Shared reading

‘Reading to children not only anticipates the reading instruction but also is part of the process of learning the characteristics of written language and, therefore, an integral part of the reading instruction.’

Margaret Clark ‘Young Fluent Readers’ (1976)

The route to literacy for the special needs child

Listening to the language of books

Following reading

Developing comprehension

Beginning independent reading

Beginning independent writing

Talking (from words to sentences)

Developing spoken language

Talking - from words to sentences Realistically, spoken language will be the only means by

which some special needs pupils will communicate. What can we do to encourage clear communication?

Playing language games

What colour is it? Activity: Providing language accompaniment to action Ask the child to pick up a square of coloured card. Say to the child: “You have picked up a blue card.” Progression 1: One word answers Ask the child “Is this a blue card?” Child answers, “Yes” or “No” Progression 2: Answering in a full sentence Ask the child to pick up a card and say: “This is a blue card.”

Playing language games

I Spy Adult: “I see something yellow.” Child: “Is it the book?” (If they just say ‘book’, model the correct form of the question.) Adult: “No, it is not the book. Look again.” Child: “Is it the ball?” Adult: “Yes, it is the yellow ball.” Progression: Child starts the game.

Playing language games

How are you feeling? Use cards with faces each showing a different expression: (e.g. sad, happy, worried, scared, lonely) Point at a card and say: “Are you feeling happy?” Encourage child to answer: “Yes, I am feeling happy.” Progression: Ask the child: “How are you feeling today?”

The route to literacy for the special needs child

Listening to the language of books

Following reading

Talking (from words to sentences)

Beginning independent reading

Beginning independent writing

Developing comprehension

Developing comprehension

We should help pupils to have an understanding of what they are going to listen to before a text is read to them.

Developing comprehension: guessing

I am going to read to you a text about earthquakes. It describes what happens on 12th January 2010 when an earthquake hit Haiti.

Can you guess: 1. How long the earthquake lasted?

2. Whether it was safer to stay inside or get out of a building?

3. Why aid couldn’t get to the people of Haiti?

Tuning in to reading

On 12th January 2010 an earthquake hit Haiti. The earthquake lasted around 30 seconds and the capital city of Haiti was destroyed. Houses fell down and thousands of people were trapped. People ran into the streets but were hit by glass and bricks. People from around the world wanted to help but the airport was destroyed.

Rapid Plus Stage 4 “Tornadoes”

Give pairs of pupils words/pictures from the book. Ask children to connect items on the map. Challenge pupils to say why they made the connections.

Developing comprehension: Scatter maps

Rapid Plus Stage 4 “Twister”

Scatter maps

Tornadoes

roofs blown off

damage

120 mph

twist and turn

spirals of wind

danger

speed

people killed

The route to literacy for the special needs child

Listening to the language of books

Following reading

Talking (from words to sentences)

Developing comprehension

Beginning independent reading

Beginning independent writing

Physical skills of writing

In order to be able to write children need:

Fine and gross motor skills

Hand-eye coordination

The ability to be still

The ability to control the muscles of the body

Physical skills of writing

Muscle control generally develops from the top of the body downwards and from the centre outwards which means that the fingers are one of the last muscles a child will have good control over.

Measuring progress of the special needs child

Performance Descriptions (UK)

Performance Descriptions give guidance on how to improve provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities or learning difficulties.

The Performance Descriptions outline early learning

and attainment in eight levels (Performance Scale 1 – Performance Scale 8) from simple reflex responses to early skills in reading and writing.

The Performance Descriptions not only measure

progress but also inform teaching.

Performance Descriptions (UK)

The Performance Descriptions for P1 to P3 are common across all subjects.

They outline the types and range of general

performance that pupils with learning difficulties might characteristically demonstrate.

The Performance Descriptions for P4 – P8 indicate the

emergence of skills, knowledge and understanding in English: Speaking and Listening; Reading and Writing (these could easily be adapted to Arabic).

Accessing Performance Descriptions (UK)

The Performance Descriptions can be downloaded from:

www.education.gov.uk

Summary

Every child has the potential to improve

Be ambitious for the progress of special needs children

Set short-term achievable goals

Track progress systematically

Record overall development and achievement every year

Involve the parents in their child’s literacy progress

Surround these children with praise