Page 103 - SEN114 September/October 2021

Moving and handling
PROUD TO HAVE BEEN DELIVERING OUR MOVING & HANDLING TRAINING SOLUTIONS TO SPECIAL SCHOOLS FOR 25 YEARS!
Solutions Training provides bespoke moving and handling solutions to schools that have pupils with unique moving & handling demands. We have recognised that this specialist sector requires tailored training that is focused on the individual pupil and the varying equipment used to assist their mobility needs.
We have developed a bespoke online ‘People
Moving People 2021’ course which educates
its learners on the theory of moving and handling principles developed in line with best practice as of 2021. It is the most comprehensive course of its type and has been widely praised by the special education sector as being specific to them and the daily challenges they face within their roles.
Our online course is complemented with the inclusion of video conferencing practical skills training which is tailored to each schools’ requirements. This training is based on teaching your staff on the correct usage of the manual handling equipment they use. We provide them with the technical skills to enable them to compliantly, competently, and confidently move and handling their pupils ensuring no child is excluded from activities
of which abled bodied pupils easily participate in.
Our mission is to ensure that special school staff are equipped with the very latest knowledge and skills to ensure their pupils are moved and handled in a manner that is safe, comfortable, and dignified manner.
A free demo of our online “People Moving People 2021” online course can be run at solutionstraining.co.uk
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Autistic children can benefit from attention training – new study
Attention training in young people with autism can lead to significant improvements in academic performance, according to a new study.
Researchers tested a computer programme designed to train basic attention skills among a group of autistic children aged between eight and 14 years old.
They found participants achieved improvements in maths, reading, writing and overall attention both immediately after undergoing the training and at a three-month follow up assessment. Their results are published in Autism Research.
Lead researcher, Dr Carmel Mevorach, in the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Human Brain Health, and School of
Psychology, says: “Attention is a fundamental cognitive process and better controlling it can have an impact on other behaviours, as well as on learning ability.”
Half of the group used a computer programme called CPAT – Computerised Progressive Attentional Training, that was developed in an earlier project by the Birmingham team in partnership with researchers at Tel-Aviv University in Israel. The second half of the group were given ordinary computer games to play.
Immediately after completing the training the CPAT group showed improvements in the number of isolated words they could correctly identify and read in 10 minutes. They were also able to increase the number of words they could copy. In maths, the CPAT group improved their scores by more than 50 per cent. All these improvements were maintained when the children were re-tested three months after completing the programme.
In contrast, the control group participants showed no evidence of improvement in any of the three areas.
The next stage for the research is to carry out a larger clinical trial to establish the potential impact of the intervention. The research was funded in the UK by the Economic and Social Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation, and by the European Union’s Erasmus Programme.
senmagazine.co.uk
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