FEATRE FOCUS: SEND
How to handle SEN in the Covid-19 climate without outside agencies
normally need and receive it. The pressure on teachers is already enormous,
with the implementation and maintenance of Covid-safe classrooms on top of an already heavy workload. And during this time, there’s the real potential for all children to need additional support to reintegrate. But for SEN pupils there comes a real danger of damage caused by a second potential period of withdrawn support due to bubbles or even individual schools being locked down. So, what can SEN Coordinators (SENCOs) and school leadership teams do to ensure that SEN children don’t suffer for the change in regime? And that teachers aren’t left without the right support at one of the most difficult times they’ll face within their career?
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n our first feature this month looking at SEND, we hear from Martha Currie, Clinical
Director of Mable Therapy, who examines the challenges schools are facing providing support for children with special educational needs (SEN), at a time when outside agencies are unable to enter school premises. Schools have faced a series of obstacles
following the Covid-19 pandemic. But one of the most awkward to overcome is the provision of support for children with special educational needs (SEN), at a time when outside agencies are unable to enter school premises for business as usual due to contagion control. With the majority of schools now reopened, teachers are confronting twin difficulties. Caring for SEN children left unnerved following six months of insecurity and change. And the inability to call in external support for those children who would
Children with special educational needs One of the most challenging aspects of SEN provision is that the remit is so enormous. On the one hand, you might be supporting children with SEMH needs or behavioural difficulties, problems with concentration, as with ADHD and communication issues that require speech therapy support. On the other, you might have children who require physical support, perhaps those diagnosed with cerebral palsy. There will be children who need help with mental health concerns, such as social anxiety disorders, or who need emotional support following a physical diagnosis such as cancer. And there will always be the children with more frequently seen conditions, such as dyslexia and dyspraxia, which nonetheless require specialist help and understanding from their teachers. Supporting such a broad range of student needs can be difficult at the best of times. And
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with external agencies prevented from entering schools – for very good reasons – there are wide- ranging potential repercussions should alternative support not be discovered.
What are the potential dangers associated with the delay of SEN support? In all educational settings, teachers have to deal with tremendous demands on their time. So, as much as they may wish to provide additional support to students who need it, they have limited powers and resources to do so. But with a reduction in both support and
facilities – most sensory areas are now off-limits – a whole new set of school rules to adhere to – ‘bubbles’, one-way systems – and the sense of inconsistency these things bring, SEN children are left feeling particularly vulnerable in areas such as transition and consistent access to therapy. Visually impaired pupils moving around a school will require coaching and modelling of good practice to navigate new systems in settings. Hearing impaired pupils may have to manage equipment and technology they are not familiar with. Those pupils that were accessing regular speech and language therapy input may struggle to initiate and maintain peer relationships and communicate their needs.
Communication At least 40% of children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) may have undiagnosed communication problems. Difficulty communicating, whether as a by-product of SEMH or as a direct result of another condition for example Autistic Spectrum Condition, can cause a lot of frustration for children. If left
October 2020
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