What are your tips for teaching an SEN child?

There are several tips that can help with schooling or home-schooling your child.

 Create a positive learning environment - if your child has had previous experience of not being able to achieve due to their SEN make sure you are focusing on merits that they are able to achieve and make steps and marks smaller if necessary.

 Make sure any learning objectives are clear - several conditions may affect your child in a way that to ensure they remain focused they will want to know what the point of the learning is and when they have achieved it. Think of this as a trip through a tunnel with a clear exit or a walk with a finish line.

 Have a set of positive rules - it is very easy to end up running into a “stop that” and “don’t do this” mindset when teaching, make sure that you are praising your child when they do something positive rather than always picking up any unwanted behaviour.

 Reduce distractions - if you are home-schooling then if possible ensure you have a place that you are able to designate as learning room. Make sure there are no toys, televisions or other background distractions nearby and that you child understands when we are here we are learning.

 Use time effectively - do not feel that because a lesson is an “hour”this always has to be the case. This is true both in school and home situations. If your child tends to focus better having a break every twenty minutes then this is better than forcing an hours worth of learning when your child is likely to have switched off.