Looking for the next chapter in your teaching career?
Interested in training to become a qualified dyslexia specialist?
Join the UCL for a free online event on Wednesday 12 February at 5pm where you can learn more about our Masters in Specific Learning Difficulties (dyslexia) programme.
You will find out:
How you can gain a Master’s degree from the world #1 university for Education as well as professional practice qualifications, AMBDA, APC and ATS/APS
How you can develop your knowledge and skills of dyslexia from leading experts and researchers through a combination of in-person and online teaching.
Everything you need to know about how to become qualified to teach and assess for dyslexia at Level 5 and Level 7.
In addition to a presentation from lecturers, you will also hear from past students who will tell you about their experiences of the course and the positive impact it has had on their career.
This one-hour webinar from the BDA is helpful for staff, parents, and pupils with dyslexia. It covers how to develop memory skills and positive metacognition. It gives practical examples for making revision fun, using games and teaching valuable techniques for tackling exam questions.
For parents, the summer holidays are a great chance to sit down with your children. Together you can visit their favourite sites and play their favourite games, this is a great way to stay up to date with online lives and show them that you’re interested in what they are doing. The holidays are also a good opportunity to have positive conversations about the internet, so if something ever does upset your child online they would feel more confident in confiding in you.
Not sure where to begin? These conversation starter suggestions can help.
Ask your children to tell you about the sites they like to visit and what they enjoy doing online.
Ask them about how they stay safe online. What tips do they have for you, and where did they learn them? What is OK and not OK to share?
Ask them if they know where to go for help, where to find the safety advice, privacy settings and how to report or block on the services they use.
Encourage them to help someone! Perhaps they can show you how to do something better online or they might have a friend who would benefit from their help and support.
Think about how you each use the internet. What more could you do to use the internet together? Are there activities that you could enjoy as a family?
These downloadable resources aim to support families who face very specific challenges and ensure your online safety advice is more inclusive:
“Despite improving attendance numbers across the board, it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that 1 in 5 children with speech and language challenges remain at an increased risk of not attending school. So far this academic year, overall absences are at 7.5%. This is an improvement on last year’s final number of 10.7% and we certainly hope that this trend continues. However, the absence rate remains higher for SEND children, and the improvement in attendance is smaller than for other children and young people.“
Children struggling with talking and understanding words will find it easier to attend school if teachers have the right training to develop children’s speech, language and communication skills and spot those who may need additional support.
The Language Literacy and Communication Team will be running a NEW course next year. It will be aimed at SENCos and class teachers interested in deepening their understanding of how language develops and learning more about how speech, language and communication (SLCN) difficulties impact learning. The course will be run as twilight sessions across the year, with a blend of face to face and online sessions.
Please email Linda Hall if you would like to arrange any staff meetings or INSET on literacy, communication or language for next term.
Here is our latest powerpoint from our 5 minutes for inclusion series
‘What is the impact of Speech Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) on children’s mental health and well-being?’
This presentation looks at both the risk factors, the protective factors and the wider impact on mental health and well-being for young people with SLCN.
Core boards are tools used in augmented and alternative communication (AAC) with students who have difficulty with verbal speech. They feature a grid of symbols, words and phrases which represent concepts. Evidence (and experience) shows them to be invaluable in supporting communication for our SEN learners.
Eloise Bromwich, from the Tower Hamlets Speech and Language Therapy team, has developed a Core board for use across Tower Hamlets schools. Eloise demonstrates how to turn the resources into a functional low-tech AAC device. High Tech communication aids, such as Proloqu and TD Snap, use the same principle. Putting a low-tech device into practice before implementing higher-tech AAC is usually a good way of introducing the concepts.
Eloise demonstrates how to make the core boards below.
We wanted to showcase some of the great information, resources and advice available from the NAPLIC website to support communication in your classroom. NAPLIC is a national organisation of professionals which supports language and communication development. We hope you find it useful.
