A to Z of Special Needs

Religious Education (RE) activity: Ethical dilemmas

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:27 +0100

Written by Vivienne Baumfield and edited by David Leat

Originally tried and tested with Year 12, this resource contains 18 ready to cut-out words. Students are encouraged to sort them into three or four groups. They should then explain the reasons for their grouping. This resource will help:

A careers education lesson: Equal pay

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:26 +0100

Equal pay

Written by Claire Harbottle with Genevieve Barlow and edited by David Leat

This activity, Fair play - fair pay draws upon the 1968 strike by a small group of women at the Dagenham Ford car factory as a starting point.

Pupils are encouraged to discuss the strikers' motives, intentions, reactions, attitudes, values and beliefs.

An innovative approach to support pupils with profound or complex needs

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:26 +0100

Supporting pupils with profound or complex needs

Edited by Mick Archer

This resource describes the Shared Goals Project, an approach implemented by the therapy team at St Nicholas School in Canterbury, to support pupils with profound or complex needs.

Key stage 3 science activity: A burning candle

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:26 +0100

A burning candle

Written by Sue Duncan, Don McNiven, Chris Savory and edited by David Leat

Using a simple science experiment as a starting point, pupils are encouraged to draw inferences and make judgements about the validity of secondary data.

This resource will help you achieve the QCA Scheme of Work unit 7F on simple chemical reactions units 8E, 8F and to develop pupils thinking skills in reasoning and enquiry.

Enrichment activity (secondary): High and low - managing success and failure

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:25 +0100

Written by John Senior

High and low - managing success and failure

Participating in sports involves competitive spirits as the main focus is coming first, second or third. For some people, it can be difficult to discriminate between realistic and idealised standards. This leads to external pressure for the sports player, but also self-imposed pressure. This level of perfectionism can cause both tension and performance-threatening stress issues.

Provision for pupils with moderate learning difficulties

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:51 +0100

Definitions

Innovative teaching of PE and sport

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:50 +0100

Childhood obesity is recognised as a major problem: there has been a 40% increase in childhood obesity within the UK over the past 10 years. Now over 60% of two- to 15-year-old children are overweight. Children spend a lot of their time in cars, on computers or watching television. Doctors have warned that overweight children are increasingly suffering from health problems usually associated with middle age, such as joint pains and diabetes. Not surprisingly, schools are being urged to tackle the issue by teaching nutrition and encouraging more physical exercise.

Asperger syndrome

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:04 +0100

However, they are often more articulate than autistic children and may be keen to speak at great length on their own personal topics of interest.

Arthritis

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:04 +0100

Pauci-artricular juvenile arthritis usually starts very slowly, at age two or three, and symptoms are limited to four or fewer joints (usually the large joints such as knees, ankles or elbows) which become inflamed and painful. The child’s eyes can also be affected by a condition known as iridocyclitis, which is inflammation in the front of the eye.

Aphasia

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:04 +0100

Aphasia can range from mild to severe.

Global aphasia is the severest form, where the child has either very little understanding of or very little ability to use spoken language.
Broca’s aphasia (non-fluent aphasia) results in the understanding but limited use of vocabulary and slow, laborious speech.

Other types of aphasia have also been identified.

Primary workshop ideas wanted!

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:04 +0100

Phil Avery, our Teaching on Ice blogger, is planning some Antarctic workshops for local primary schools...but he's a secondary teacher, so any tips from primary teachers would be welcome!

Currently my plan is to have three workshops:

Down syndrome

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:03 +0100

The condition is usually detectable at birth. Children with Down syndrome have distinctive physical features. They often suffer from heart, breathing and eye problems and also have moderate to severe learning difficulties.

Diabetes

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:03 +0100

This causes the body to try to use fats as an alternative source of energy, with consequent effects. Diabetes can be caused by a number of factors, including stress.

Cystic fibrosis

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:03 +0100

It is the UK’s most common life-threatening childhood disease. Until the 1930s, babies born with cystic fibrosis rarely lived to be more than a few months old. Now, average life-expectancy is about 31 and rising. Most children with cystic fibrosis can expect to reach adulthood and enjoy active and fulfilling lives. Children with cystic fibrosis are academically as able as their peers, but hospitalisations and chest infections can result in frequent or prolonged absences from school.

Cerebral palsy

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:03 +0100

If, for any reason, the movement part of the brain is injured or fails to develop normally, the child may be born with or develop cerebral palsy.

Approximately two people in every thousand have cerebral palsy. It neither worsens nor ameliorates, but stays at the same level throughout life. However, children can be taught strategies to deal with it and to develop as much independence as possible.

Brittle bones (osteogenesis imperfecta)

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:03 +0100

Although children with brittle bones may not have learning difficulties, their medical condition will affect them at school and may make access to some areas of the National Curriculum more difficult. They may also have missed out on normal pre-school experiences, which may have delayed their learning in some ways.

Heart disorders

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:03 +0100

Although about half of these children will need an operation to improve their condition, some defects will correct themselves, whilst others are relatively minor and do not cause any great problems. Heart disease may be acquired as a result of rheumatic fever, but this is rare.

Hearing impairment

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:03 +0100

Some children can suffer from both conditions at the same time.

A common type of Conductive hearing loss is 'glue ear'. Glue ear is very common in young children after colds and/or earache. Most children outgrow this problem by the time they are seven years old.

Glue ear (otitis media)

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:03 +0100

Glue ear can cause pain and hearing impairment. If it persists, an ear, nose and throat specialist will advise a simple operation to put in grommets to allow fluid to drain from the middle ear.

Fragile X syndrome

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:03 +0100

It is usually caused by an X chromosome that carries a mutation of a particular gene. It is a genetic defect and may be inherited. Fragile X is twice as common in boys as in girls and its effects are milder in girls. It is thought that this is because girls have two X chromosomes and that one can perhaps compensate for the other.

Epilepsy

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:03 +0100

Children with epilepsy have recurrent seizures or fits, the great majority of which can be controlled by medication. Seizures may be partial (where the child doesn’t lose consciousness) or generalised (where the child does lose consciousness). The seizures can vary from major attacks which involve the whole brain to very minor, momentary ‘absences’.

Stammering

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

A child who stammers may find their fluency varies over time. Stammering can also be episodic. All of this is quite disconcerting for the stammerer, who can never be quite sure how much they will be affected in a given situation.

Spina bifida

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

Improved treatment since the 1980s has meant that more children with spina bifida are surviving. These children are often of average intelligence and need to be able to attend a mainstream school.

Spina bifida is an abnormality of the spinal cord where one or two of the vertebrae do not form properly, thus causing a split, which in turn causes damage to the central nervous system. Most children with spina bifida will need to be in a wheelchair and may need a specially adapted toilet seat or other adaptations.

Specific language impairment

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

A specific language impairment is diagnosed when a child has difficulty with language but is developing normally in all other areas. Many children have speech and language difficulties associated with physical, sensory, neurological and intellectual impairment. Over a million children in the UK have some kind of speech and language impairment. One in 500 of these children has an impairment that is both severe and long-term. These children will have difficulties with understanding and using language in one or more areas.

Semantic pragmatic disorder

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

It may be diagnosed as one or other of these conditions or it may be identified specifically.

Children with semantic pragmatic disorder are unable to process complex information in social situations. They have difficulties with social relationships and any situation involving communication. They are very inward-looking and are usually unable to empathise or to demonstrate any perceptive responses.

Selective mutism

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

They may speak, but only in a whisper. Other children will often volunteer to speak for them. Selective mutism is not the same as mutism. Children diagnosed with mutism speak to no one.

There are several reasons why children may not speak and it is important that a speech and language therapist should investigate a variety of factors, before deciding on the approaches that would best support the child. Factors that cause selective mutism are often anxiety-related.

Prader-Willi syndrome

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

The syndrome has many characteristics, the most obvious of which is an insatiable appetite. This starts with an increasing interest in food during infancy and can develop into an obsession by the time the child starts school, leading to rapid weight gain, obesity and disease, with a shortened life-expectancy unless the diet can be carefully and strictly controlled. Children with Prader-Willi Syndrome may also have a growth hormone deficiency and various other characteristics.

Muscular dystrophy

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common childhood form, affecting only boys. It is also the most severe. Most boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy show the first indications of the disease as they start to walk, or soon after. Usually, between eight and 11 years old, they become unable to walk and by their late teens or early twenties their life is severely at risk.

ME (Myalgic encephalomyelitis or encephalopathy)

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

ME is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome or post-viral fatigue syndrome. The cause is unclear but in many cases ME starts after a viral illness or after severe stress. The main symptom is fatigue following minimal physical or mental exertion. ME can last for up to three years.

Key characteristics

A child with ME may:

Leukaemia and cancer

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

Leukaemia cells multiply in the bone marrow and normal cell production slows down. Childhood cancer affects about 1 in 650 children and around 60 per cent of these children can be cured and live normal lives.

Key characteristics

Children with cancer may:

Hydrocephalus

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

This fluid is known as cerebro-spinal fluid and it normally flows from the brain, down the spinal cord and into the bloodstream. If any of the pathways are blocked, the fluid accumulates in the brain, causing it to swell. In babies and infants this causes the head to enlarge, but in older children the bones of the skull are fused and the head size cannot increase, which creates increasing pressure. Usually, a child with hydrocephalus has a shunt surgically inserted and this will drain the fluid and reduce the pressure from day to day.

HIV and AIDS

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

HIV and AIDS are not in themselves illnesses with their own set of symptoms, but rather they facilitate the development of infections and tumours because of the lack of immunity. The rate at which HIV or AIDS develops and the ways in which it affects the child will differ from case to case. It is therefore not possible to predict how either condition will develop for any particular child.

Tourette syndrome

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:02 +0100

The symptoms of Tourette syndrome usually appear in the teenage years or earlier and affect about one in 200 people, with three to four times as many boys as girls being affected.

Educational welfare officer