Sarah M

Supporting young people with Autism

As Family Wellbeing Coordinator with the National Autistic Society, my role included supporting families living with a child with autism through bespoke one-to-one consultations and informal drop-in sessions. Listening to parents’ experiences and offering strategies and signposts in a friendly and non-judgmental way was hugely satisfying. Throughout my career I have worked extensively with children with verbal autism and understand how important it is to respect the child as an individual, follow the child’s lead and offer strategies that will allow them engage and thrive e.g., visual prompts, memory aids, reduced language, comic strips, social interaction games.

Supporting Speech, Language and Communication Needs

As a KS1 teacher of a speech and language provision, I had the privilege of working alongside many very experienced speech and language therapists. Consequently, pupils’ SLCN targets were included into my teaching plans, allowing children to practice and develop skills as part of the whole learning process. In this role I worked with children with specific language disorder, language delay, verbal dyspraxia, and autism.

Supporting Social and Emotional Health & Wellbeing

As manager of a Primary Alternative Provision (PRU) I was tasked with setting up a safe and inclusive environment for children either at risk of school exclusion or had been permanently excluded. Working alongside a dedicated team, I supported the social and emotional development of vulnerable young children by providing an alternative and enriched learning environment in which children could feel safe and thrive as individuals. Outreach support was also a part of my role to help prevent identified children from mainstream school exclusion.

Supporting Specific Literacy Difficulties

Understanding what the barriers are to developing reading and writing skills is key to providing the right support. I believe strongly that a child should be allowed the opportunity to explore different, or alternative, learning approaches if a particular approach is not working for them. For example, if a child is not responding to learning phonics, it may be because they have reduced phonological awareness skills or require a more visual approach with letters with the focus being on letter patterns.

My role as a Specialist Teacher/Advisor for SEND

My role as Specialist Teacher for Inclusive Practice (STIP) with Surrey County Council involved establishing professional relationships with school SENCOs to support the upskilling and confidence building of staff working with children with SEND. Identified pupils would also be referred to the service where my role was to then assess the language and/or literacy needs and report back to parents and school with identified barriers and suggestions for moving learning forward.