Guest blog by SEN advisor, Carol Allen

For so many students, it is the actual initial ‘starting point’ that is the barrier to producing written text.  They need more than a title, or a question, to respond to.  Creativity of thought under pressure, combined with anxiety about their ability to produce an ‘expected’ result, can block progress and lead to displacement activities which frequently lead to behaviour issues. 

Many of the resources offered by LGfL, give opportunities for writing that have a clear starting point and structure, thus offering a secure way forward.  Out of the wealth of choices, here are five to get you thinking!

1.       Cookit! Will take your students into the world of menus and ‘foodie’ reviews.  Watch a video, read the recipe and write a review based on the details you have discovered.

2.      The SEN Assist FairyTales activities can be explored interactively.  These engaging tales offer differentiated multisensory activities to explore and which will help build up a word/idea/structure bank for personal writing.   These ideas can then form the basis of the written task.  

3.      The Widgit symbol selection can be used to create a story sequence of memory prompts to enable a student to recreate a rehearsed story in writing independently.  Once a starting point has been looked at, for example a photograph, video or story, the child can be encouraged to pick symbols that represent key points they wish to make in their writing.  These can be sequenced then used as a prompt for those moments when it is not clear what the next step should be.

4.      Audio Networks can be used to create a mood and set a tone for a writing session.  If you are trying to write in character, for example, as a gladiator in The Romans topic, playing the Gladiator music from Audio Networks will increase the sensory input and perhaps trigger a wider range of responses and ideas.

5.      Play one of the games in Busy Things Golden Time, then write the instructions for a friend to follow and complete the game easily.   This allows an engaging ‘hook’ whilst moving towards instructional writing for a purpose.

 For more info on LGfL’s inclusive resources, go to www.inclusion.lgfl.net. 

The Romans Blog by Carol Allen, John Galloway and Jo Dilworth

There are many resources within LGfL that will support you teach your learners about the Romans in an engaging and inclusive way. We have hand picked a few to help you get started.

1. Why not use The Roman Pastimes symbol based book created by Widgit Software, one of a set of 6 simple books about the Romans, each created for 5 different levels of reader? This book focusses on many diverse areas of Roman lives that learners may be motivated by e.g. leisure and gladiators. All of the Widgit books are very inclusive as many history reference books have very busy pages with text and graphics inter woven. These books contain simple sentences and pictures, with each covering a separate topic. Each book has relevant vocabulary cards at the back.
2. Within the multisensory and highly visual cross curricular resource, Busy Things, there are a range of structured writing frame activities on the Romans for children working at lower literacy levels. To fit in with the theme of Roman Pastimes, we suggest the Gladiators and Entertainment sheet, but any of these can be used to scaffold writing for learners.
3. Audio Network includes a vast range of professionally recorded music tracks. For this topic, we suggest downloading the Gladiators music and March Imperial.  These tracks can be used to immerse learners in the topic, for musical reference, for physical marching activities (to support cross curricular links and PE) or as a sound track for own video and animation.
4. The Romans In London resource is extremely rich in multimedia and excellent resources. It includes particularly motivating visual resources which may appeal to learners with SEND include the top trump style cards sets based on gladiators. The cross curricular top cards may appeal to learners with collecting habits, includes opportunities for competition and turn taking, enables learners to read for information in a motivating way and includes many maths activity opportunities. Multimedia including images and videos of Roman everyday items and dress also make other areas of Roman life accessible and enables historical references.  Viewing images and videos of Roman dress would be a great springboard for an engaging,  practical activity in your classroom as young people could dress in Roman outfits (i.e. sheets and towels!).Young people can see how Romans dressed using these resources before dressing up themselves and perhaps doing Roman dress labelling activities from Busy Things.
5. This E2BN resource shows Roman recipes to help you really engage learners with the smells and tastes of Roman life through multisensory teaching. Images of Roman food and Roman cooking and eating utensils (via romans.lgfl.net) can be used as starters before making Roman food which would have many cross curricular links including DT and literacy.

 

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blog for World Autism Awareness Week by LGfL’s SEND advisor, John Galloway, and LGfL’s SEND consultant, Jo Dilworth

Autism, sometimes known as ASD or ASC, affects how people experience and perceive the world as well as their relationships with those around them. It is lifelong and those with autism are part of a spectrum, so their experience of life and their autism is unique to each of them.

5 Ways to Support Autism at LGfL:

1. Look Think Do was created with and for many primary learners with autism who struggle with social communication skills. This resource includes editable photo and symbol based stories and skills sequences to support areas within Play, Say, Change and Helping Yourself.
2. Thinking Skills for Life and Employability can provide social and other support for older learners as they prepare for adulthood, with topics including job finding, relationships and handling money.
3. SEN Assist Fairytales and Early Shakespeare are familiar interactive, multisensory stories with online and offline activities which have been created specifically for learners with autism. They include motivators, are differentiated and incorporate specialist strategies.
4. Widgit symbols are well-recognised for the support they provide in reading and scaffolding learning activities. Over 15,000 symbols can be downloaded for you to use in your own resources, with more than 1,000 ready-made activity sheets also available covering many areas of the curriculum, along with prompts and resources for supporting communication.
5. Busy Things includes a range of activities and games to support all curriculum subjects for all key stages in primary schools. The engaging design of the materials motivates learners and encourages them to engage, including older learners working at lower levels.

There are many other resources to support learners with AUTISM. Go to www.send.lgfl.net to find even more.

Autism links

https://www.autism.org.uk  – The National Autistic Society is a British charity for people with autistic spectrum disorders, including autism and Asperger syndrome. The purpose of the organisation is to improve the lives of people with autism in the United Kingdom.

http://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk  – The Autism Education Trust (AET) believes that all children and young people with autism* must receive an education which enables them to reach their individual potential to engage in society as active citizens (and that individuals, families and professionals are informed, supported and equipped to enable this to be achieved).

https://www.ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk  – Ambitious about Autism is the national charity for children and young people with autism. We provide services, raise awareness and understanding, and campaign for change.