Dyslexia Day Course
Wednesday 25th April 2012
The Big Sleep, Wellington Street
Cheltenham, GL50 1XZ
Thursday 26th April 2012
Holiday Inn Express, Norwich Sports Village
Drayton High Road, Norwich, NR6 5DU
Monday 30th April 2012
Holiday Inn, Woolston Grange Avenue, Warrington, WA1 4PX
Wednesday 2nd May 2012
Rougemont Hotel, Queen Street, Exeter EX4 3SP
Wednesday 9th May 2012
Premier Inn, The Haymarket, Bristol, Avon BS1 3LR
Friday 18th May 2012
The Collier Room, St Hild and St Bede’s College,
Durham, DH1 1SZ
Monday 21st May 2012
Holiday Inn Lancaster,
Caton Rd, Lancaster, LA1 3RA
Friday 25th May 2012
National College for School Leadership
Triumph Road. Nottingham, NG8 1DH
Monday 28th May 2012
Toby carvery, Nottingham Road, Chaddesden, Derby,
DE21 6LZ
Wednesday 20th June 2012
Fownes Hotel, City Walls Road
Worcester, WR1 2AP
Thursday 21st June 2012
Holiday Inn, St Quentin Gate
Telford, TF3 4EH
Social Stories Day Course
Tuesday 1st May 2012
Best Western Leicester Stage Hotel
299 Leicester Rd, Wigston Fields, Leicester, LE18 1JW
Monday 14th May 2012
Holiday Inn,
Caton Rd, Lancaster, LA1 3RA
Tuesday 15th May 2012
Novotel, 4 Whitehall Quay
Leeds LS1 4HR
Wednesday 16th May 2012
Holiday Inn Express, Vicar Lane, Bradford BD1 5LD
Thursday 17th May 2012
The Source @ Meadowhall, 300 Meadowhall Way, Sheffield, S9 1EA
Tuesday 29th May 2012
Toby carvery, Nottingham Road, Chaddesden, Derby,
DE21 6LZ
Thursday 31st May 2012
National College for School Leadership, Learning and Conference Centre
Triumph Road, Nottingham, NG8 1DH
ADHD Day Course
Friday 11th May 2012
Holiday Inn, Peartree Interchange
Oxford, OX2 8JD
Wednesday 23rd May 2012
Toby Carvery, Aigburth Road
Liverpool, L19 9DN
Thursday 14th June 2012
Holiday Inn, Hull Marina
Castle Street, Hull, HU1 2BX
Autism Asperger Day Course
Tuesday 22nd May 2012
Toby Carvery, Aigburth Rd,
Liverpool, L19 9DN
Wednesday 30th May 2012
Holiday Inn Tadcaster Road
York YO24 1QF
Promoting Positive Behaviour Day Course
Thursday 24th May 2012:
Gateshead Swallow, High West Street, Gateshead,
Tyne and Wear, NE8 1PE
Tuesday 19th June 2012
Holiday Inn Express
65 Lionel Street, Birmingham B3 1JE
All courses run 9:15 – 3:30
Not in your area? Get in touch and we’ll see what we can do
Community activities are diverse, fun, and provide a wide range of opportunities for social skill development. Meeting people, maintaining conversations, collaborating with peers, following directions, and problem solving are a few social skills to practice in a community setting. Below are a few ideas on incorporating social skill development into your community activities.
1. Story Times and Plays – Community libraries, bookshops, and theatres often have book readings or short plays for children. These events are opportunities to practice attending, following directions, maintaining personal space, and asking and responding to questions in a group setting. For children working on attending, find out how long the event lasts, if there are frequent breaks, and if the event is interactive. Attend shorter, more interactive events then gradually increase the length of time so children are successful and are engaged in the event.
2. Parks – Although primarily thought of as a place for exercise, parks are a wonderful place to learn conflict resolution, problem solving, and communication skills. Children can practice asking to join an activity, helping peers, and working with friends to create and resolve game rules. Patience can be practiced waiting for a swing or the slide.
3. People of Authority in the Community – The ability to socialise with people of authority is important for school, community, and future work environments. Doctors, dentists, and teachers are examples of people who should be addressed more formally. Use these interactions as opportunities to practice formal introductions, greetings, conversations, and good-byes. Prepare children by letting them know who they will be seeing and practicing short conversations.
4. Frequent Interactions – Addressing people at a shop or n eighbours involves less formal interactions. These meetings are an opportunity for greeting someone by name, asking questions about their interests, and ending the conversation appropriately. Practice at home in advance and remind children, if necessary, how to respond when they see the person. For example, ‘Alex, you remember Mrs. Smith who lives across the road and has a dog called Buster.
5. Leisure Centres – Leisure centres frequently have summer team activities such as football or netball. These teams are opportunities for children to learn good sportsmanship, meet with children their age, and learn to follow rules and regulations associated with an activity. Other activities offered at community centres, libraries and museums include art and storytelling which teach fun skills while providing social interactions. Children learn to work collaboratively with children their age on projects or share materials for completing activities.
Praise and target
Marking is about gaining a balance of setting and guiding future progress and building self-esteem based on children’s achievements. A good marking policy should reflect this. Children should be made aware of what they have done well, any achievements or successes they have made. However, more importantly, to facilitate their future progress they need to be given targets on where to go next with their learning. In some cases they need to be sensitively told they are getting things wrong.
Only praise
Like all things, in marking there are exceptions to the rule of praise and target. If a child is particularly proud of a piece of writing for example, it may not be helpful to set a target or point out any errors as this may be counterproductive. It may be better to praise only, ignore any areas for development until the next time that child is working on a similar piece. In this instance the target could be set at the beginning of the piece, based on the areas for development in the previous piece and addressed in a very positive way such as “You remember that lovely piece of writing you did? Wasn’t it great? Now you’re older I bet you could do an even more amazing one if you …….”
Only target
Sometimes children (and adults) don’t do their best, other times they do very little. In general, children like to know where they stand when it comes to expectations. If you are marking a piece of children’s work and you can’t find anything good to say about it, that is probably because there is nothing good to say about it. So be honest with the child, set their targets and then, instead of scrambling around trying to refer to something good in the piece in front of you, use the praise element to refer to some previous submission i.e. “You are usually really good at extended writing, perhaps we should have another look at the recount you wrote about the school trip last week, that was very well written” (personal retrospective praise).
Is the marking focussed to the objective?
Have a balance of focussed and unfocussed marking. It is often helpful for the child if they are aware of what is being marked, for instance; using apostrophes. Indeed, it is useful for a teacher to have a clear focus and can make marking a lot quicker. However, we are back to the magic f word in education; flexibility. If you notice any glaring errors, particularly repeated, don’t be afraid to break the rules and mention them. Even more importantly, if you notice that a child is attempting something to extend their learning i.e. using colons in sentences, mention it.
Don’t over mark,
Are the teachers writing too much? Are the teachers up all night marking? Praise and target marking is hard work. If there are three pieces of work in a day per child in a class of 30, that is 90 pieces of marking. At two minutes each (conservative estimate), that is three hours’ work Consider how much written marking that a teacher is doing in a day. Even two pieces would take two hours. Marking is a crucial part of a teacher’s role, but should only be a part of the role. Maybe we should only thoroughly mark one piece in a day. Furthermore, some marking should be done with the learner during the day, allowing them to address their targets immediately.
Have the children read it? Have you made time for the children to read it? Do they understand your feedback?
Make time to analyse the marking with the children. Just because you have marked and annotated a piece doesn’t mean that they will read it. In a busy curricular ethos here may not be time to read it in class. Sometimes, they may read the feedback but not understand it. A good marking policy is an essential part of the overall academic plan. Therefore time to reflect should be integrated into the timetable, this can be done sensitively as a whole class activity, in small groups or in certain circumstances one to one. Just because we set a target, doesn’t mean it will be acted upon. Under these circumstances provision is made for next steps.
What does the child think?
Ask the child what they would do if they were the teacher. “Imagine that you are the teacher. What would you say about this piece of writing? What is good about it? What needs improving next time? You will be astounded at how insightful many children can be given the opportunity.
Please note the correct date for Dyslexia Training at the Big Sleep in Cheltenham is:
Wednesday 25th April
Thank you
The Dyslexia Team
Young people often struggle not only with understanding their feelings, but also relating to other people’s feelings. These skills are critical for personal well being and building relationships. This post includes steps for teaching children to understand and manage their feelings as well as identify and respond to other people’s feelings.
1. Identifying Feelings – Teach children to recognise when they have a specific feeling. Whether happy, sad, or angry the first step in coping with a feeling is identifying it. Help children identify feelings by discussing emotions when they occur. If a child is angry say, “I see you are angry. You have your arms crossed and are stamping your feet.” Another tool is to role play times when specific emotions surface. Use novel examples as well as recent experiences for the child. Discuss and write about different feelings in a feelings journal. Use the journal to write about events and the emotions, responses, and consequences the events elicited.
2. Planning for Strong Feelings – Help children cope with intense feelings by creating coping strategies. Have a quiet place for children to take a break when angry or sad. Give children tools and teach them how and when to use them such as a stress ball or a trampoline. These tools help children release energy in a positive way. Encourage children to use words or write about their feelings. Establish a phrase the child can use to remove themselves from stressful or upsetting situations. The phrase gives children a way to politely excuse themselves, regain control, and then return to the situation. Select a short phrase that can be used in a variety of situations such as, “Excuse me. I need a minute to think.”
3. Recognising Other People’s Feelings – Learning to empathize with other people and respond appropriately to another person’s feelings, is an important skill for building relationships. Show pictures and drawings or role play situations to discuss the words, body language, and experiences that indicate a person’s feelings. When discussing a child’s own feelings, incorporate the concept that peers and adults have similar feelings in the same situation. This helps children develop empathy. Read stories where characters experience events that are happy, sad, surprising, or frustrating. Discuss why the characters felt the way they did and what they said or did to indicate their feelings.
4. Responding to Other People’s Feelings – Not only do children have to identify other people’s feelings, but they also need to learn how to respond when someone is angry, sad, or excited. Teach children appropriate responses through role play and reviewing past events. Discuss how different people in the role play feel, how their body language and words show their feelings, and the best response for the situation. Also discuss how the child would feel if this happened to them and how they would like other people to respond. This helps children learn to empathise with other people.
Being kind to other people and yourself is important for being a good friend and being happy. Modeling kindness, reflecting on kind actions, and practicing acts of kindness can help children develop this skill. This article includes strategies for helping children learn to be kind to other people and to themselves.
1. Be a Role Model – When adults say unkind things about other people or themselves, children learn this is acceptable behavior. Be a role model and say kind things about co-workers, neighbours, people in the community, and yourself.
2. Use Lists – Have children write lists or make collages representing what they like about their friends, family members, and people in the school. Hang the lists or art projects where classmates and friends can see them. Have a separate activity where children make a parallel list or art project that includes things they do well and why they are a good person.
3. Read and Write Stories – Read stories about kindness and respect in school and at home. Discuss how being kind makes the characters feel. Ask children to share times when they were kind and times when people were nice to them. Also encourage children to write stories about being kind to other people.
4. Practice and Discuss Small Acts of Kindness – In addition to having children write and say things that are kind, have them practice little acts of kindness. Teach children to help other people in day to day situations such as when someone needs help carrying an item, they can’t reach something, or they drop an item. Create a set of pictures or make short stories with opportunities for small acts of kindness. Encourage children to role play what they would do to be helpful in these situations.
5. Learning to Do Kind Things for Yourself – encourage children to write or create a collage about things they like to do or activities that make them feel good about themselves. Discuss how taking time to participate in these activities can make them feel better and decrease stress.
6. Pick a Cause or Charity – A long term investment in a volunteer or charity activity teaches children that even a small amount of time and energy makes a big difference. First create a list of volunteer opportunities then let the class or family select an activity to join. Whether it is collecting food for a food bank, donating toys, or cleaning up a community area, these activities demonstrate how working collaboratively with other people can make a big difference. Discuss or have children keep a journal about the experience. Ask them to include how they felt and how they think the people benefitting from their time and effort felt.
Parents and professionals often struggle with helping children learn to be good friends or to understand the complexities of social interactions. Below are a number of strategies that can help children develop friendships.
1. Get Involved – Participate in community sports teams, art programs, and special events. These are wonderful opportunities for children to engage in structured activities with peers. For children with special needs, communities increasingly are offering camps and activities geared towards their specific needs. Ask professionals and support groups for information on these programs or check your community newspapers, centers, and websites. Another great activity, for children who benefit from very direct instruction, is social skills groups. These groups, which are offered in many communities, are a great way for children to develop their social skills in a fun yet structured environment.
2. Leverage the Child’s Interests – If the goal of enrolling a child in a program is to provide opportunities for making friends, look for activities the child enjoys. Some children like the arts while others enjoy sports. If a child is particularly shy, look for activities that initially have less direct contact. Tumbling and swimming are examples of individual sports while soccer and basketball involve more contact with peers. If children start in activities they enjoy, they are more likely to join other programs.
3. Role Play Difficult Skills – Practicing social skills is a way to work on specific aspects of social interactions. For example, if you notice your child stands too close to peers or repeatedly asks the same questions, help them learn about personal space or conversational skills through role play. By practicing these skills in the home, children can learn to improve their social skills and apply them outside the home.
4. Provide Examples – While reading books or watching television, explain social situations to children. Point out how helping others, using kind words, and listening when friends talk are ways to be a good friend. When characters are being hurtful or invading someone’s personal space, point these actions out and ask the child what the character could do differently to be a better friend.
5. Model Being Good to Others – Part of being well liked and being a good friend is being kind. Demonstrate kindness by saying nice things about and to others whether they are the grocery store employee or your neighbor. Point out when a co-worker does something thoughtful and how this makes you feel about them. If your child is sympathetic or says something complimentary, tell them their actions made you happy.
6. Do Not Force Friendships – Just like adults, children get along better with some peers than others. Teaching children to be kind and to include everyone in activities is important, but they do not have to be best friends with everyone.
The transition from a break back to school can be difficult for children. Professionals and parents can make the return easier with a few simple strategies.
1. Review Classroom Rules and School Policies – One of the first things to do when children return to school is to review all of the classroom and school rules. Time spent focusing on classroom structure and schedules can reduce problems later. Remind children of expectations for how to treat classmates, complete work, and follow schedules. Remind children of any reward system and let them know where rules are displayed and who to ask if there are questions about the rules.
2. Introduce Any Changes – Clearly explain any changes that have happened since the break. Examples are staff changes, schedule changes, or even room arrangements that may surprise children. Be sure to indicate how the change affects them. Introducing changes helps prepare children and reduce stress related to new situations.
3. Let Children Play a Role – Children can help review the rules by participating in activities. For example, they can help create a new rules poster by writing or drawing examples of how to follow the rules. Another activity is to assign a rule or school policy to small groups of students and have them write and perform a short play about it. By participating in the process children are reviewing and taking ownership in the rules.
4. Review and Reinforce Repeatedly – Children can be very excited to see friends and be back in school. Be sure to set time aside to review rules repeatedly the first few days back after a break. Children may need extra reminders in written or picture format if they have a hard time remembering specific rules. When children are doing a good job completing work, following a schedule, or acting appropriately, reinforce their behaviour. Clearly indicate what they did correctly so they can continue the behaviour. For example, “James, I like the way you remembered to raise your hand to get my attention.”
5. Keep Everyone Informed – Parents and professionals should make each other aware of changes in settings so children have consistent support and understanding across environments. Professionals should send a set of classroom and school rules home for parents to review with children and prepare them for returning from break. Parents also should be aware of any significant school policy changes or classroom changes. Parents should keep professionals informed of any significant changes at home such as health issues, sleeping changes, or family difficulties that may affect how the child performs in school. Information sharing can ensure children have the understanding and support they need between environments.
Christmas can be very difficult for children. This article focuses on three challenging areas families face during Christmas: giving and receiving gifts, managing Christmas excitement, and understanding routine changes.
1. Gift Giving and Receiving – The excitement of getting gifts can be overwhelming for children. Help them understand polite giving and receiving of gifts with these strategies.
Involve Children in Giving – Let children help pick out and wrap gifts. By participating in the gift giving process, children become interested in seeing other people’s reaction to the gift. Even young children can choose between two gifts, put a bow or tape on the wrapping paper, and decide where the gift should go under the tree.
Practice Receiving – Role play receiving a gift and thanking someone for it. Make writing thank you cards part of your family routine so children understand how to thank people politely for presents.
2. Christmas Energy – Christmas events often mean sweet foods and late bedtimes. Use the strategies below to manage energy levels and make bedtime successful.
Keep Children Active – Sledging, walking, and playing games outside during the day can help children use their energy in a healthy and positive way. Keep children active during the day so they will be tired at night making bedtime easier.
Limit Sweets – Sweet, biscuits and fizzy pop are prevalent during Christmas. These foods are high in sugar and caffeine. They cause children to be overly active and make falling asleep difficult. Set rules about how much and when these foods can be consumed and provide healthy alternatives.
Stay on a Sleep Routine – Even when children are not in school, a consistent sleep routine is important. Have children wake up and go to bed at a regular time. Plan morning events such as Christmas shopping to motivate children to wake up and get ready for the day.
3. Christmas Routine Changes – Many children benefit from consistent routines and have difficulty with change. Make Christmas routine changes less stressful with these simple tips.
Use Visuals – Have a Christmas calendar that lists events in writing, drawing, or picture format depending on the child’s level. Refer to the calendar to prepare children for the day’s events and help them understand what is going on and when.
Involve Children – Let children add new events to the calendar. If there are important events the family must attend, explain why attending is important. If there are events that are debatable, include children’s input in decisions about attending the event.
Please find below a real email conversation between a Parent and a Head Teacher. It begs the question; Where will it all end?
Please note, any personal data has been removed (irony discuss). We welcome your views.
> Good morning,
> I’ve just phoned asking if my children could have a class list each as they are planning a little party, also they will soon be writing Christmas cards. I was told that it couldn’t be done due to data protection. What data? We know all this information anyway. We just don’t want to miss anybody out. Obviously [child in reception] in particular is likely to forget quite a few.
>
> Please tell me this is a mistake. We ask every year and have never been refused before. As I said, there is no data required, just a list of names.
>
> Thank you
>
> Mr YYY
> Good morning Mr YYY,
>
> I am sorry however we will not be giving out class lists. We do not publish class lists in line with school policy which has been reviewed. Some parents do not want their child’s information passed on and we also cannot guarantee how information will be used or disposed of.
>
> I am sure you will understand that we have to take every step to ensure the safety of our children and that information is held and used in line with data protection.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Mrs Xxx
>
Dear Mrs Xxx,
I’m sorry, I’m honestly not trying to be difficult, I just don’t understand.
I understand that child protection and data protection issues are crucially important. I also understand that people do not like their private details being passed on, although I find it difficult to believe that parents do not want their children’s names to be known. What I don’t understand is that this is information we already have. All the children know each other’s names. Indeed, as a parent of three children at Unnamed School, I know a large amount of children’s names. In addition to this, a teacher will, as part of their twice daily routine and legal requirements take a register using the children’s names. If we work hard enough on this at home we can compile a Christmas card list and party invitation list from our collective memories.
I’m not asking you to change your mind, we can manage party invitations and Christmas cards by ourselves. However, I would like to make it clear that we do not require any sensitive information, or indeed any information that isn’t given out by teachers twice a day to the other children. In fact, we didn’t even need surnames.
This is a ludicrously over protective policy which serves only to further the division between school and families and create a lack of community ethos. I have been into assemblies in your school and heard you refer to yourselves as a family. This policy is neither family or community friendly. One has to ask where will this end, should we remove names from coat pegs, perhaps we should blur out the faces on class photos and school website images, perhaps we could give the children numbers instead of names. I note with interest that the school newsletter now only uses first names and initial surname letter (unless of course it is the y4 boys). Perhaps, in line with what appears to be your school policy you could supply a list of names in this format so that children are not overlooked. Incidentally, the school newsletter lacks identity and has no feeling of personality.
My request was intended to save us a little time, ironically it has achieved the exact opposite. More importantly however, it was intended to ensure that we included all the children in our children’s classes.
Wishing you very best wishes
Mr YYY