I worked as a special educational needs assistant for a while and I strived to understand what Special educational needs means in context.
Some children have needs or disabilities that affect their ability to learn properly. For example:
Behavioural / social
Understanding things
Concentrating
Physical needs or impairments
Understanding things: By 36 months, most children should be able to understand simple concepts like big/small. A child who has difficulty following instructions and finds answering ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions tricky will need support.
Concentrating (e.g. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder): Most Children should be able to listen attentively in a range of situations for example, anticipating key events, give attention and respond appropriately. Where there are significant difficulties, support will be required.
When a child makes poor reading progress, finds it difficult to blend sounds and misses out words when reading or adds extra words, fails to recognise familiar words or loses the point of a story, or perhaps has poor motor skills, leading to weaknesses in speed, control and accuracy of the pencil the child will need an intervention to help.
Physical needs or impairments: When a child finds it difficult to show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements or when the child needs support in safely negotiating space, handling equipment and tools, specific support will be in place to help overcome the challenge.
I will be writing about the types of support available next time.
Let me know if you found it useful.
