List 3 disabilities or SEN of children that you work with, describe the nature of these conditions and
the special provision that is needed so that they are able achieve their full potential. Explain what
the pattern of expected development is for each child (2.2,2.3,2.4)
Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) refers to a broad range of conditions that affects
a child’s social skill, speech, non-verbal conditions. This is a spectrum disorder, which means
that every child affected by ASD will experience difficulties to different level of severity.
Some children may show some characteristics of the disorder that can be managed easily
while others will have to receive specialist support. ASD will affect children in different
ways. Some children will have difficulties with their speech. There are times when we will be
able to visually identify children with ASD, as you will see that rhythmically clapping their
hands all the time or repeating what you have just said to them. Children with ASD have
three main areas of difficulty: 1) Social Communication – Children with ASD will struggle
when they have to communicate with other children. This could be verbally or non-verbally.
Some children may have difficulty with their speech, while others will not be able to
understand non-verbal communication. Children with ASD do not understand sarcasm or
jokes. When you say to them phrases like ‘pick up the pace’ to make the work quickly, they
will look for something called pace to lift. 2) difficulties with social interaction: They do not
understand the concept of social space and stand close to other children. They are
insensitive to other feelings. On the playground they prefer to be by themselves. You
sometimes find their behaviour strange or inappropriate. 3) Difficulties with social
imagination: They will have difficulty participating in role play exercises in school. They will
find it difficult to adjust when there is a change in plan. For example, if the class teacher is
absent and the class has a new teacher, a child with ASD would refuse to go into the class
because she has not seen the cover teacher before.
Understand the characteristics of ASD is important for providing the right support for
children with ASD. Knowing that children with ASD will rock or move to soothe themselves,
we have rubber bands on chair legs so that children can use to maintain that rocking
motion. As ASD children love routines, we are consisted with our behaviour policy and try
and avoid any changes in routines. When there is a change in routine we speak to them
about the change well before it happens. We have a space at the back of the class where
children can go when they are anxious or upset. We have Makaton cards displayed to help
them communicate how they are feeling. For children with severe ASD, we use Makaton
cards to help them with their communication. When children are on the playground we are
mindful of their behaviour. We try and encourage social interaction by pairing up the child
with another that share similar interests. Some children with severe ASD have 1-1 TA
support that helps the child with their learning and social skills. The TA uses a Task
management board to help the child focus in class and complete the work set.
While some children with autism may not reach their developmental milestone as expected
of children their age, some may reach their developmental milestone and then loose
momentum. For example, children with ASD will start speaking later than other children,
while some may not speak till they are 6 years or later. This would have an impact on their
communication skills. Children with ASD have difficulties interacting with other children.
Their socially skills will not be developed fully. Not meeting developmental milestones on
time will also affect their intellectual development. We expect children to have learning
difficulties.
ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
ADHD is a health disorder that can cause above-normal level of hyperactivity and impulsive
behaviour. ADHD affects both children and adults alike. Children with ADHD have difficulty
sitting in one place for a long period of time or focussing on a task. Children could develop
ADHD from the genes inherited from their parents. They could also develop ADHD if they
were born prematurely, with epilepsy, or have a brain injury. Other reasons for children to
develop ADHD are: Environmental factors, sugar or food additives. Children with ADHD
display one of the three behavioural characteristics. 1) Inattention: Children will not be able
to focus on a task for too long. They loose interest in what they are doing and are easily
distracted by something else. They will have difficulty organizing or completing a new task.
They will forget to complete their homework or turn it in. It will be difficult to have a
conversation with them. They will not make eye contact while talking, seem disinterested
and start day dreaming. 2) Hyperactivity: These children will not be able to sit still for long
period of time. They will squirm and fidget in their seats. We see these children walk around
the class touching everything or playing with anything along they way. They talk to others
when you have asked the class to be quiet. 3) impulsivity: They will speak out of turn or will
struggle when they have to wait for their turn in games. They will interrupt conversations
and activities other children are doing.
In school, we try not to have long period of time when the children have to sit quietly. The
CT will usually get the children to complete an activity after speaking to them for 10mins. In
class we break the work down into manageable task, use the task management board to
help the child focus on one task at a time. The child likes to tick off what he has done and
move on to the next. We try and keep them busy by giving them chores to do. For example,
distributing the worksheets or cleaning the board. Some children are allowed to have a
fidget toy that he can use to help him focus in lesson. We practice mindfulness in class after
break and lunch time to help the children calm down and focus in class.
As children grow older they are expected to focus, and learn how to control their actions.
Children will ADHD struggle to remain attentive and focus on what is being taught in class.
Since children find it hard to focus it will affect their intellectual development. They will not
make expected progress in lesson. This means that their chances to finish their education or
go in to further education are limited. This could result in low self-esteem
Dyslexia and Dyscalculia
Dyslexia is a learning difficulty, where children predominantly struggle with the reading,
writing and spelling. However, dyslexia could also affect other areas like co-ordination,
organisation and memory. Just like autism, each child will be affected by the condition in a
way that is unique to them. In EYFS, children will have difficulty learning nursery rhymes or
learning how to recite the alphabet. The child may like listening to a story but would not be
interested looking at the words in the books. They would start talking late or when they
speak they get their words muddled. In primary school, they would not be able to read a
couple of sentences. They would be slow processing the information given to them. Their
written work would not be neat. They would spell one word in different way, and usually
confuse letter that look the same like b/d or p/q. They would find it difficult to sound their
phonics and say a word. They become anxious when you ask them to read a text out loud
from the board. Along with reading and writing difficulties, they could have difficulty
remembering their times tables, days of the week or confuse the multiply and add sign.
They could also have difficulty telling the time or sticking to schedules.
Dyslexic children benefit from guided reading sessions, where the TA will help the child
sound and read words. When planning the lesson, the teacher can print out the information,
for the dyslexic child, that she wants children to copy down from the board. Severe dyslexic
children, who struggle with their writing can make use of a recording device to show their
work. When dyslexic children are asked a question, the teacher gives them time to
formulate their answer and then say to the class. The teacher will keep the instruction
simple. The TA supports them with their phonics and sounding out words.
Dyslexic children may have delayed speech development. Which turn would affect how they
sound letters or read words from a book. Since they have difficulty recalling words quickly it
would affect their ability to communicate with their peers in a way that other children their
age would do. They would usually be embarrassed and become frustrated at their inability
to learn to read. Some teacher may think of them as lazy or stupid. This could affect their
self-confidence and they could start feeling depressed. It will also affect their intellectual
development as they cannot access the work that the teacher has planned and due to this
they will not make expected progress.