EDUCATION


Here are my suggestions for the parent who wants to support their child without chain- ing them to summer school:


1


Speak with your teacher before school finishes. Ask what the two areas your child most needs to practise over the summer.


2


Get on your learning sup- port teacher’s hat. We make everything possible into a game and use the Internet to support us.


3


Take a new look at the games you play. Top Trumps is really a maths game of higher and lower. I just searched for maths with a deck of cards and found resources for dice games, e-books and ideas for shopping trips. ‘I spy’ helps word retrieval. Use chalk to make a Twister board with letters and call out words. Use senteacher.org to make word searches – in fact, download word searches to sup- port skimming and scanning skills. Download dot-to-dots to support handwriting. Teach a re- luctant child to play poker and blackjack and I promise they will be happy to do maths.


4


Invest in audiobooks. Tere are plenty of free audiobooks and lis- tening to language is still an im- portant activity in the absence of a book (but just this once). For a child who struggles to decode, pick an age-appropriate book other children are reading and let your child have the pleasure of a rich story. For children in need of vocabulary development, audio books help novel words rest in context.


If you need more ideas and suggestions for games and activities there are so many resources on the Internet, you will come to see how


Children who


learn differently can be terribly affected by six to eight weeks off tuition.


Download dot-to-dots to support


handwriting.


dependent teachers can be upon its storehouse of activities. If you’re still stuck, send me a note and I’ll suggest something for you myself.Your teacher may have suggestions too if you ask. Now, go have fun.


Julianne Miller is a special educational needs consultant and lecturer. You can read more about her work at: juliannemiller.co.uk


www.focus-info.org FOCUS The Magazine 17


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