Madeleine
Primary Tutor
Sunderland, North East England
I'm a passionate teacher within a special educational needs setting. I'm often acknowledged for my enthusiasm for teaching and ability to connect with each student I teach. My teaching approach is often described as calming and gentle, I find this allows children who may experience a range of mental health difficulties the ability to access learning on their own terms. During all of my sessions, I like to praise learners throughout each small step, in addition to demonstrating that the session is a safe space to try new activities and make mistakes. Building the self-esteem and confidence of learners is key to allowing them to access learning experiences.
"Madeleine has good relationships with parents and children alike."
Louise
Availability
Online & Face-to-face Sessions
Monday: 4 - 8pm
Tuesday: 5 - 8pm
Thursday: 4 - 8pm
Saturday: 11am - 3pm
£110 per hour
How I teach children and young people who have autism
My focus of my dissertations within my first degree and my post graduate certificate of education were based around the barriers which learners with autism face in schools. I have gone on to base a thesis on the communication methods of children with autism in my Masters degree. Facilitating the learning of children and young people with autism has been a passion throughout my teaching journey, ensuring the use of reduced language, introducing key vocabulary slowly and allowing additional processing time are some of my key techniques. I thoroughly enjoy creating my own resources which include visual symbols to allow learners with autism to access work at their own individual level. A high percentage of my teaching methods include hands on approaches, as this allows learners to connect learning experiences to real-life, concrete, contexts. I have completed training in PECS, the use of communication boards and colourful semantics, I find these are all helpful tools to use when creating sessions for learners with autism.
I also have a great understanding of breaking learning into smaller steps to create accessible learning experiences, this is partially due to my training within PIVATS, which creates small steps for learning and assessment and allows learners to have ‘small wins’. I often find that learners with autism need to consolidate small, key steps in learning several times before moving onto new concepts.
How I teach children and young people who have social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH)
My teaching approach is often described as calming and gentle, I find this allows children who may experience a range of mental health difficulties the ability to access learning on their own terms. I am part of a PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) team within my current organisation and enjoy creating engaging sessions which allow learners to navigate and discuss feelings and emotions in a safe space. During all of my sessions, I like to praise learners throughout each small step, in addition to demonstrating that the session is a safe space to try new activities and make mistakes. Building the self-esteem and confidence of learners is key to allowing them to access learning experiences.
How I teach children and young people who have Pathological Demand Avoidance Disorder (PDA)
In each of my classes I have taught within SEND settings, I have worked with learners with PDA. Throughout my experiences adapting learning sessions for learners with PDA, I have developed learning strategies which minimise anxieties, disguise demands and allow each learner to feel calm and in control of their own learning experiences. The use of my own visual resources and symbols and creating learning ‘games’ have been most helpful in allowing learners with PDA to access learning experiences and remove some of the barriers they may face as a result of their anxieties. I find that a large majority of my learners with PDA enjoy using technology as a learning tool and I have enjoyed using my Purple Mash training to explore coding and a range of online-based subjects alongside my learners.
How I teach children and young people who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Within my experiences teaching in specialist provisions, there are often a high percentage of learners with both autism and ADHD. I have found that setting short burst ‘challenges’ has allowed many of my students to complete work at their capability level, without the feeling of demand. Establishing routines using visual and auditory cues, such as songs, during sessions has allowed many of the learners in my classes with ADHD to keep focus on the activities within a session. Creating checklists and visual timetables is something I typically do for all learners within my classes, however I have found it particularly supportive of my learners with ADHD. My favourite approach to move back towards appropriate behaviour, in sessions in which a learner may be distracted, is to use my ‘brain breaks’ which are short, silly activities and allow the learner to burst some energy before refocusing on learning tasks.
How I teach children and young people who have speech and language needs
I have taught learners from nursery age, all the way through to year 11 and have experienced learners at every level with a range of speech and language needs. I enjoy creating visuals to assist learners in their comprehension and understanding of language, in addition to using systems such as PECS, objects of reference, communication boards and ‘match plus one’ communication, which allows learners to feel confident in the communication efforts. I am currently re-teaching myself Makaton and enjoy using this with learners alongside speech to create an additional layer of comprehension of language. Building the learner’s confidence and interests in their language development is key to enabling accessibility to speech and language for learners, I enjoy using a range of games I have created which allow the learners to explore communication.
As the culture and enrichment lead within my current organisation, I am passionate about creating engaging, fun and memorable learning experiences for students. I enjoy using a play-based, hands-on approach to learning and I ensure that students have opportunities to see me engaging in exploring new experiences. I aim to create a safe, nurturing learning space for each student and enjoy catering learning experiences to each child’s special interests and needs. Creating memorable and engaging learning experiences for all of my learners builds a positive relationship between myself and my students, as we explore learning experiences together rather than as a formal teacher/pupil format.