By Sarah One of the most common issues we come across when going into schools is children struggling to work without constant prompting. This can be for a variety of reasons including (but not exclusively) fear of failure, difficulty getting started (the dreaded blank page problem!), distractions in the environment around them, trouble understanding the […]
Just to jump right in…The autism specialist is me, Lynn McCann, and I was diagnosed with ADHD in July. As with most events like this there is a back story. I have been an autism specialist for 16 years now and in that time have studied and researched autism, ADHD, PDA Profile and other conditions. […]
Context I set up my company, Reachout ASC in January 2014. At first I worked on my own, but soon added another specialist teacher, and most crucially, I paid someone to do my bookkeeping (not my biggest strength). Now I have two part time employees, three self-employed associate specialist teachers and I’m holding on to […]
My name is Lynn. I am an autism specialist teacher and I work in a couple of secondary schools. At the end of the year I always give the Y7s a little celebration for surviving their first year of secondary school. Surviving has been the word that most of them use when they look back […]
*”A meltdown (or shutdown) is when a child becomes very distressed and emotionally overwhelmed. They can be caused by many different factors, such as situations that are unpredictable, sudden changes or things not happening as the child was expecting. They can also be delayed as the child takes time to process a difficult situation and […]
Written by Kirsten Illingworth Specialist TA with Reachout ASC. “Autistic children may react to a bereavement in different ways to neurotypical children. Some of the underlying perceptual and processing difficulties observed in autistic children may affect their understanding of death and their reaction to a bereavement. Autistic children, like any others, need their grief both […]
Even though we are in Lockdown 3 many secondary schools have vulnerable and SEND children in school and WILL be doing the Covid Testing that the government brought in at the beginning of term. Here is as much information as I could find for you. I am a child who thrives on routine and familiarity, […]
​Inclusion for Primary School Teachers by Nancy Gedge Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities by Cherryl Drabble Both published by Bloomsbury (2016) Reviewing these books was a little daunting. I know both these ladies well and have great respect for their SEND knowledge and experience. If you follow either of them on Twitter, you will know […]
In 2019 there was a huge review on how the SEND system is working (or not). I sent in my thoughts and experiences and so did many more people. This article shares with you the findings and recommendations.