Page 26 - SEN107 SEN Magazine July-August 2020

Focus on the basics Children with poor reading and comprehension skills can find independent online learning difficult, but there are ways to help your child progress even if you do not have the IT skills or equipment to support them in a digital environment. Take the opportunity to go back to basics. Revisit the principles of phonics or create activities that encourage your child to ‘sound out’ words. Reinforcing children’s literacy skills is never going to be time wasted, particularly for children who are not confident readers, and could make a real difference to their progress in many subject areas. Explore new skills This new experience of learning from home provides a great opportunity to explore new skills and talents, so encourage your child to get involved with home-based activities they might not have tried before. Exploring arts and crafts, basic cooking or learning new IT skills with your child can be fun. For children with SEND, it can be useful to divide larger activities, such as baking and decorating a cake, into small steps. This will help to ensure they are achievable and keep your child motivated. During school time, there isn’t always enough space in the curriculum to build on skills like memory, so you may want to consider putting some time aside for guessing games and recall activities too. A strong working memory can have a positive impact on all learning and will pay dividends once your child returns to school. Think differently about literacy It’s important to ensure literacy-related activities are fun for parents and children to prevent reading from feeling like a chore. Read a good book or a comic together in an unusual place, such as out in the garden or under a make-shift canopy you’ve built out of a blanket. Factual reading materials such as a children’s atlas or recipe book can help to mix things up too. Audiobooks are another great way to learn. They can help children develop important listening skills and encourage them to engage with unusual material and vocabulary that may be above their current reading level. And take a look at online sources such as BBC Bitesize, which can offer many videos and interactive games that you can access to support your child’s literacy skills in a variety of subject areas. Get creative Creativity is a powerful way to help children with special needs to learn new skills, so let your imagination run wild. You might want to write a script for a play together and act it out using props from around the house. You could invent a new recipe, ask your child to write the ingredients down, measure them out and cook it together, then chat about the different ways it could be improved. Why not create a daily menu together to reinforce your child’s literacy learning and set up an imaginary lunchtime café or a tuck shop to include the opportunity for your child to practice their maths? However you choose to support your child’s learning from home, keep fun at the heart of all activities. Incorporating some downtime is important too, as it will allow your child space to process and reflect on what they have learned. Below are a few resources to help you support your child through the current situation and long after the Covid-19 lockdown comes to an end. British Dyslexia Association – guidance for parents https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/children/ guidance-for-parents Free webinar on reading for pleasure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvNGQkg79_A Dyslexia and back to school https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73RbezLA7jQ Teaching the dyslexic learner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q6RoNC-zsM eLearning Dyslexia courses for parents https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/services/ training?suitability=parents&method=online For parents who are concerned about their child’s reading or want to know more about how they can provide better literacy support at home, visit Lexplore Analytics at https://www.lexplore-analytics.co.uk/ private-assessment/ There is help out there About the author Donna Stevenson is a training and education specialist for Lexplore Analytics, who specialise in the early identification of reading difficulties. She also works for the British Dyslexia Association. SEN 107 senmagazine.co.uk 26 Autism