Audience: special

This course tackles head-on the issues around sexuality and learning difficulties and seeks to give practical advice on both what you should be teaching and how you should be teaching it.

• Background to current thinking on RSE
• Some Philosophical Questions to Answer. A discussion around what we want an RSE Curriculum to provide from the perspective of (i) pupils (ii) staff and (iii) parents
• The importance of shared sexual knowledge
• The difficulties of teaching RSE to those with severe/profound learning difficulties and/or autism
• Taking a differentiated approach to learning
• What do we have to teach? Ofsted, DfE and the law
• The central role of adults in the capacities of teachers, counsellors, protectors, interveners and empowerers
• Devising a core RSE curriculum

“Informative, structured and well presented. Excellent pace and understanding of the topic with useful resources and case studies.”

Audience: Mainstream

This module is for practitioners who work with autistic pupils (5–16) and will support them to:

• Develop their knowledge and understanding of good autism practice.
• Reflect on and improve their everyday practice
• Understand strategies and approaches they can draw upon for autistic pupils they work with.
• Enhance and embed inclusive practice for autistic pupils.

Learning objectives

• Develop knowledge of how the key areas of difference can impact on the learning of autistic pupils.
• Understand the importance of involving the pupil and family in the pupil’s education.
• Consider the approaches, strategies, and adaptations that can be implemented to remove barriers to participation and learning for autistic pupils.
• Reflect on how knowledge about autism and the individual autistic pupil can inform the one-page profile and the pupil-centred education plan.

“The tutor was engaging, knowledgeable and passionate about the topic.”

Audience: special

There is no doubt that the Creative Arts is a vital element of the 21st Century Special Needs Curriculum and essential components of this are both drama and poetry. A key part of the English curriculum, both areas can be used not only to extend pupils’ experience and understanding of language but also as a consolidator of emotional literacy.

• What are the problems in communication for those with SLD?
• Creating opportunities for communication.
• Using language with those who do not speak
• Using low tech communication aids – especially looking at signing and symbols.
• Storytelling and drama within the SLD English Curriculum – a detailed exploration
• Drama and poetry’s relationship to play
• Teaching empathy and the understanding of emotions through drama and poetry
• Appropriate works to cover all ages from nursery to post 19
• Adapting the classics
• Using call and response as a central means to engagement

“Loved the enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge in creative approaches to the curriculum. So passionate.”

Audience: mainstream primary

This 6hr course provides individuals with practical, interactive training, designed to transform participants’ practice in the workplace, allowing those working in low-risk settings to understand and implement holistic behaviour management strategies

The course will also cover documentation and legal guidance, as well as best practice when reporting and reviewing incidents. Certification for this course is valid for 36 months.

This course is organised into 8 modules:

Module 1 – Background to Team Teach
Module 2 – The Legal Framework
Module 3 – Understanding Aggression
Module 4 – How Feelings Drive Behaviours
Module 5 – De-escalation and De-fusion
Module 6 – Personal Safety
Module 7 – Positive Handling – mainly guiding and escorting safely
Module 8 – Repair, Reflection and Review

Learning Outcomes

Participants will learn how to;

• Increase understanding and awareness of behaviour as communication and develop a framework to better respond to reduce risk
• Develop a greater team dynamic in supporting individuals who are distressed with approaches that have impact and strengthen relationships
• Utilise a toolkit of holistic strategies on de-escalation and crisis intervention, both verbal and non-verbal for supporting with disruptive and distressed behaviours
• Execute simple and safe positive handling techniques including personal safety, appropriate for a low-risk environment (If required by your setting). Our techniques are situated within a respectful, supportive approach to behaviour support strategies which maintains positive relationships.

Audience: mainstream and special

For many on the autism spectrum, the most challenging times will be those involving social understanding and interaction. In this course, we look to explore the neuro-typical development of play and friendship, and possible differences experienced by pupils on the autism spectrum.

Learning objectives:

• To understand the main differences associated with autism.
• To understand the function of play and how it develops.
• To recognise the differences and similarities of social development for autistic individuals and their non autistic peers.
• To consider strategies that can help the development of play and friendship for all pupils, including the use of social stories for supporting behaviour change.

Audience: mainstream and special

This course will develop knowledge and understanding of Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) difficulties as an area of Special Educational Need (SEN) for pupils – looking at factors that may negatively impact upon SEMH, including a specific focus on attachment and trauma.

We will examine current understanding from developmental psychology as to what may cause SEMH needs and theories that inform how we support these needs. We will then look at how, in our everyday practice, we can promote social and emotional well-being in pupils through the development of self-awareness, emotional literacy and effective coping strategies.

• Understanding SEMH
• Attachment and developmental trauma
• The importance of social and emotional well-being in school for staff and pupils
• Supporting pupils with SEMH needs including positive behaviour support strategies

The course uses a mixture of practitioner-led activities, reflective practice, case study analysis and leaves staff with a greater confidence in working with those that have SEMH difficulties.

Audience: mainstream and special

Some suggest that ADHD may affect up to 5% of the school population, yet it is a much misunderstood condition that often attracts negative and unhelpful responses. This course seeks to address the balance and offer real and lasting solutions that will benefit pupils, staff and families

• What is ADHD?
• How it may present itself in the class
• The likely learning and behavioural consequences of having ADHD
• The medication issue
• The effects on other children in the class and in the home
• Taking a positive slant
• Practical strategies for dealing with ADHD
• Case studies and potential solutions to problems presented by children who are known to the course participants.

Audience: special

Delivered by an Occupational Therapist, this course is for those who work with children (or adults) who have autism with or without an additional learning disability.

• Sensory experiences described by people with autism, using video and first-person accounts
• A review of the senses and how we use them
• Sensory overload – what it feels like and what we can do about it
• Stages of processing
• The major sensory systems
• The undersensitive and oversensitive child – how we might recognise these and what we can do to help
• Experiential sensory activities
• A review of sensory approaches.