Page 79 - SEN114 September/October 2021

SCERTS
About the author
Jemma Ive is a former SEN teacher. At Teacher Booker she helps connect SEN schools with teachers and support staff.
teacherbooker.com @teacherbooker @teacherbooker
“What can otherwise be an extremely difficult balancing act”
and future events and can comment on the attention of others in a group situation.
Symbol use
To lay effective foundations in this step, we must understand HOW a child with autism communicates with others and understand their ability to use objects, pictures, signs or words to represent meaning.
At the social partner stage, the pupil uses gestures and non- verbal means to communicate, imitates familiar actions and sounds and uses familiar objects conventionally in play.
At the language partner stage, the pupil uses a variety of objects in constructive play, uses words to express meaning and understands a variety of words and word combinations without contextual clues.
At the conversation language partner stage, the pupil learns by imitation, observation, instruction and collaboration, understands nonverbal cues of turn-taking and topic change and follows the rules of conversation.
Emotional Regulation
Emotional Regulation (ER) is the ability to build and maintain a well-regulated emotional state, and to be able to cope with everyday changes and stress. Without ER, children and young people with autism would not be fully available for learning. During this phase of the model, the aim is to inspire both mutual and self-regulation.
It is important to note that all attention seeking is good, as it shows an intent to communicate! As educators, our role is to teach more appropriate ways to regulate and seek that support.
With self-regulation self-soothing behaviours can often be immature due to a limited ability to learn from others.
With mutual regulation the ability to accept assistance from others is limited due to difficulty predicting others’ intentions and the ability to gain assistance from others may be misperceived.
With behavioural strategies, language strategies and full planning on how to approach a learning task, we can help every student become emotionally regulated.
Transactional Support
Transactional Support is the development and implementation of support to: help partners respond to a child’s needs and
interests; modify and adapt to their environment; provide tools that enhance learning, for example picture communication, written schedules, and sensory support.
In this phase of SCERTS, specific plans are also developed to provide educational and emotional support to families, and to foster teamwork among professionals using interpersonal and learning support.
With interpersonal support we apply support through communicative partners, making adjustments in language use, emotional expression, and interactive styles. Our aim is to find supports that are effective in helping the student process language, participate in social interaction, experience social activities as emotionally satisfying, and maintain a well- regulated state.
With learning supports we consider factors such as environmental changes, or other ways activities are set up/ modified to foster social communication and emotional regulation. There may include visual supports, curriculum modifications, etc. It is always important to share the areas that are working with families and other professionals. This ensures these successful approaches are also implemented within the home environment.
Why SCERTS is worth a shot
New models can feel overwhelming when there is already so much to think of and incorporate, but ultimately SCERTS may give you more of a sense of control over what can otherwise be an extremely difficult balancing act.
Not using SCERTS yet? Feeling curious? My advice is to give it a try. Once the model is engrained it works so well. And don’t forget to check out the SCERTS website too: there’s lots of advice and resources there to explore.
Good luck!
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