Courtney
Enfield
As part of my teaching degree I conducted placements at several different SEN schools which sparked my passion for supporting children with SEN. As part of my job I have been able to support children to overcome barriers to their learning and reach their goals whether those are academic or within their everyday lives. I worked originally as a teaching assistant at an ASD specialist school and progressed to becoming a teacher. I worked within the EYFS, KS1 and KS2. In addition to my teaching experience I have worked at various play schemes and as a Disability Support Worker for children and young adults with SEND during the weekends and holidays broadening my experience of working with children with ASD, ADHD, ODD, PMLD and SEMH in various settings.
"Courtney plans exciting thoughtful lessons always based on the childs needs and strengths."
Claire
Availability
Online & Face-to-face Sessions
Weekdays
£110 per hour
How I teach children with autism
I have worked in an ASD school for 5 years, I have taught and planned a broad and balanced curriculum for learners tailored to their specific needs and learning aims, whilst adhering to the National Curriculum. Additionally, part of my role included supporting pupils with their speech and language difficulties through delivery of whole class and 1:1 sessions. Having taught EYFS, KS1 and KS2 I have developed a great breadth of experience supporting children of all ages and abilities throughout the school. An important consideration when working with pupils with ASD is the support of their emotional regulation which requires you to take time to understand each individual child and which approaches will work best for them. Similarly I have experience using children’s special interests to support and encourage their learning. A further consideration when working with children with autism is PDA which can create challenges for the child when it comes to everyday or work tasks. I have supported children with PDA type behaviours through the use of motivators and rewards, these can also take form as ‘now and next’ or ‘first and then’ boards and additionally giving choices or options. As an SEND teacher, part of my role included making recommendations for EHCPs and supporting families to implement these strategies at home in order to support children to reach their potential both at home and at school. This enabled me to support pupils with the development of their social and communication skills and improve both fine and gross motor skills.
How I teach Maths
I have experience in teaching Maths at all levels within primary and to children with different abilities. My approach includes incorporating a variety of exciting songs and games or attention autism activities. Followed by practical activities that use concrete objects to spark the pupil’s interest and reinforce the learning. In my experience it has also been important to link maths learning with children’s special interests and or every day experiences. For example using shopping with concrete resources to teach children about money.
How I teach English
Having recently worked with in EYFS I have experience teaching children using phonics and early sound recognition. I have also taught English to children throughout the primary school age range. As part of my teaching of English I love to try and instil a love of reading with my pupil’s by making stories fun and engaging using props and reframing stories to be appropriate for the individual pupil’s, whether that be making the story age or ability appropriate. I have also incorporated visual tools including Colourful Semantics to support children’s understanding of story. It is important that at any reading level or ability a child can access a story. I like to base fun, exploratory or sensory activities off of each book to engage children with the contents of each story and allow them to take a hands on approach to their learning. I have also found songs and singing are great tools to engage and immerse children in stories. I have also supported children to develop their writing skills, from supporting them in developing early writing behaviours to sentence construction and story writing.
How I teach children and young people with concentration difficulties
As part of my classroom practice I found that fostering an environment with clear routines and a visual time table have supported children with concentration difficulties. In addition to making activities engaging and visually appealing or tailored to children’s special interests, breaking tasks into small steps increases children’s ability to succeed. Making room for movement or brain breaks also help pupils with grounding and refocusing.
How I support children’s confidence
Supporting individuals with low confidence and self-esteem requires a compassionate approach that recognises the unique strengths and difficulties each individual child faces. This enables me as a teacher to tailor the learning to their strengths and address gaps in learning. Ensuring small steps of progress are made at each stage of the learning session with the aim to increase the pupil’s confidence in their ability to learn. An environment that fosters a growth mind-set and a safe space to persist with learning can overtime develop the confidence of a learner. Self-esteem can also be boosted through supporting a student to find pride in their achievements and develop a positive self-image.