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When I got into the class it was really obvious
that Sam would be a really useful child to use
in the class to help me learn about special needs
because he's on the autistic spectrum.
So I identified him.
I spoke to my teacher a bit about it but more I spoke to Pam
who works really closely with him.
And the discussed with her his strengths and weaknesses
and his needs and then for the initial couple of sessions
I was just observing her working with him,
so seeing what she does normally, how she works.
And she uses work sheets a lot
because he gets distracted by things quite easily
so I try to follow that model.
And then talked to her about what things were working particularly
so I've done work with him on alphabetical order and money.
He's been doing quite a bit on money.
And from that I came up with some of my own sheets and resources
and then ran those past Pam
and then she's been slowly letting me have more and more time alone.
She's been there so that he can get used me.
Then as he's got more and more used to working with me on his own,
I've done some more independent work.
He can't concentrate for too long periods of time
so it's tended to be 10 minutes here and there.
Lately it's been more.
I've been setting the main teaching for the class
and then going and just working 10 minutes with him in the classroom
so I try to keep him in the classroom as much as possible.
Occasionally I take him out into the library if he's getting distracted.
I think it's definitely been beneficial
because I didn't know that much about SEN before
and so definitely it's helped me
to understand a bit more about the school's approach to SEN,
what's in place there and how they cope with it.
It's made me aware of the importance of inclusion
particularly for this child.
I think I've learnt that almost everything you do, that you teach
can be adapted to include a child, so everything can be simplified down
whether it's just in a science lesson
of just drawing a picture of an animal or something.
Do you remember alphabetical order? Can you read these words to me?
- Bird. - Good boy.
- Cake, drum, and. - Excellent.
- Ant. - Ant.
So if we were putting them in alphabetical order,
this order, which one would go first?
- Bird. - Look at the letters.
- A. - Which one begins with A?
- Ant. - So can you write 'ant' just there?
- There? - Yes, just there.
Good boy.
That's the first one in alphabetical order.
Which one goes second? Which one goes second in alphabetical order?
- Cake. - Ant. Think about it.
Look at the beginning letter.
- Bird. - Good boy. So that goes there.
Bird.
That's lovely writing.
So you've got ant, bird...
Now which one's going to come third in alphabetical order?
- Cake. - Excellent. Good boy.
Cake goes there.
You've done really well.
So you've got one more to do.
Which one's going to come last in alphabetical order?
- Drum. - Drum. Brilliant.
So we've got ant, bird, cake, drum.