The SENDcast

In this week's podcast, Dale Pickles from B Squared is joined by Georgina Durrant to discuss the importance of learning through play. Learning through play is so important for all young children, but perhaps especially for children with Special Educational Needs. Play can help children practise and develop a whole range of skills from fine and gross motor skills to creativity, emotional regulation and working memory. It can also help relax overstimulated children and help form social connections. Children have missed out on a lot due to the pandemic and while there's a lot of pressure to 'catch them up' academically, we need to be very aware that children have also missed out on play - and play is hugely important for developing key skills for young children. In this episode, Dale and Georgina discuss the need to be empowering parents and teaching professionals, and that learning through play is vital for children and their emotional wellbeing as well as development of skills. Georgina is a the founder of the award winning SEN Resources Blog, author of '100 Ways your child can learn through play' and a tutor for children with SEND. Resources The SEN Resources Blog, www.senresourcesblog.com which shares fun play based learning activities, reviews of recommended resources for children with SEN and advice. My tutoring website www.cheshiresentutor.com Georgina's book: '100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play (Fun activities for young children with SEN) Amazon https://amzn.to/3t9ddsR For more podcast episodes from the SENDcast click below… https://sendcast.wpengine.com/sendcast-episodes/

In this week's podcast, Dale Pickles from B Squared is joined by Dr Susie Nyman to discuss empowering mental health for students with SEND. Susie is the Curriculum Manager at The Sixth Form College, Farnborough. She is passionate about discovering how children learn and supporting them in ways which enable them to succeed. She has provided training to PGCE students at Kingston University, and in a number of local schools and colleges on teaching strategies. She also delivers talks on multi-sensory techniques around the world.

Joining Dale today is Ginny Bootman. Ginny is currently a SENCO of 2 Primary schools, but has been a teacher for a very long time (in her own words), a senior manager and headteacher. She has also found time to write articles for TES and speak at a number of events. All too often the home school relationship can become strained for a number of reasons. This episode looks at the role empathy plays and the building of the spider's web of trust to pave the way for a real team approach when supporting families who have children with additional needs. This has come about through discussion with parents to identify the barriers they feel are put in front of them often inadvertently by educational settings. This is aimed at SENCOs, Head Teachers and parents. The approach discussed today can be used by anyone in any setting to begin to really empathise with those around us and put ourselves in others shoes. Resources: Brene Brown - Her work on empathy - https://twentyonetoys.com/blogs/teaching-empathy/brene-brown-empathy-vs-sympathy Jamil Zaki - The War for kindness , building empathy in a fractured world - https://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Kindness-Building-Empathy-Fractured/dp/0451499247 Dr Andrew Curran - The little Book of big stuff about the brain - His work helps educators understand that what they are doing has a scientific background.- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Book-Stuff-about-Brain/dp/1845900855 Logos, Ethos, Pathos - The Rhetorical Triangle: How these can be used to understand the view of the parent during meetings - https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/RhetoricalTriangle.htm Contact Ginny Bootman Website – www.ginnybootman.com Twitter – @sencogirl

Dale's guest is Fintan O'Regan, Fintan is a trainer and consultant for schools and school support systems including, Social Services, Health, the Police and Foster carers. He has worked with a number of organisations including NASEN, Institute of Education, Leicester University, the UK ADHD Network and the European ADHD Alliance. And before this he was a headteacher of a specialist school for students with ADHD, ASD and ODD. Fintan is a regular here in our studios, he has recorded a number of episodes of the SENDcast, he is a regular speaker at our Virtual SEND Conferences and has recorded a training course for us around Exclusion. ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and would therefore be seen by most people as being a challenge and not an opportunity. Indeed some years ago Dale heard a parent describe to another parent that ADD stood for Attention Devastation Disorder such was the impact on her life. Language is important and as a result we suggest reframing the term ADHD in a more positive and accurate way. In addition we discuss both the history and future of the term and outline a range of strategies and suggestions to support individuals with ADHD at school and at home. Resources: O'Regan F (2018) Successfully Managing Children ADHD Second edition :Routledge Falmer Press O'Regan F (2020) Supporting behaviour in the classroom: Sage publications limited https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Guide-Teachers-Supporting-Behaviour/dp/1529718554 Cave S and O'Regan (2021) Attention difficulties: How to help: Pavillion books group: O'Regan F (2020) 100 top tips for Supporting Parents with Children with ADHD O'Regan F (2018) Supporting children with ADHD: Learning Behaviour The Defiant Child: Douglas Riley

Joining Dale today is Lorraine Petersen. Lorraine has 25 years' experience in the mainstream school environment as a teacher and Head Teacher. From 2004 – 2013 Lorraine was CEO of Nasen, a charitable organisation supporting all those who work with children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. She has been a chair, keynote speaker and workshop facilitator at many national and international events and conferences as well as a consultant for a number of national organisations. In 2009 Lorraine was awarded an OBE for her services to education. In 2013 Lorraine established Lorraine Petersen Educational Consultancy and currently works independently, delivering training and supporting schools and local authorities on SEND, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Safeguarding. Lorraine in currently Director of Chadsgrove Teaching School Alliance, is Chair of Governors at Chadsgrove School and a Governor at Lokrum Fields, a newly opened independent special school. Resources: National SENCO Workforce Survey 2020 - https://nasen.org.uk/news/senco-workforce-survey

This week, Dale is joined by Alison Knowles. Alison is an emotional therapist who supports emotional resilience. In this episode we are talking about self preservation as a parent of a child with SEND. Alison is the creator of the Ollie Model, the author of the series of Ollie and his Super Powers books, trainer of Ollie coaches and an emotional therapist. Useful Links: https://www.facebook.com/OllieandhisSuperPowers https://twitter.com/bemoreollie https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWDj-PRjboIg2cu-KZsEMVA https://www.instagram.com/ollie_and_his_super_powers https://www.ollieandhissuperpowers.com/

This week Dale is joined by Al Start to discuss some helpful tips to help teachers use music and songs in the classroom. Al has worked with children for over 20 years in a variety of ways and over the last 15 years she has been creating, teaching and performing songs for children. Singing with children can be a scary idea if you're not musically trained, but introducing music and singing into children's daily learning routine will open up so many opportunities for learning, creativity, behaviour management and wellbeing. With some handy tips, anyone can use singing and music without a musical background. There isn't enough support for teachers to try music in the classroom - but the benefits are plentiful - for both pupils and staff. Music is always way down on the curriculum and thought of as a specialist subject. However it should fill your classroom throughout the day, whatever subject you're teaching. Resources: Go Kids Music – https://gokidmusic.com/ Where you can find songs and albums, songbooks and membership Sing Up - https://www.singup.org/

Joining Dale today is Lorraine Petersen. Lorraine is an educational consultant with 25 years experience working in schools. Since 2004 she has been supporting Special Needs in a variety of ways: She was the CEO of NASEN and she is currently a consultant, director of a teaching school alliance and Governor. Being a SENCO now, more than ever is extremely challenging, so much to do with so little time and so few options. Today Dale and Lorraine discuss the SENCO Survival Guide to help you through these times. Just to be clear we are not going Bear Grylls. Resources: National SENCO Workforce Survey 2020 - https://nasen.org.uk/news/senco-workforce-survey

Every week on the SENDcast, Dale is joined by different guest to talk about a specific area. This week our guest once again is, Fintan O'Regan. Fintan has been a headteacher, lecturer for Leicester University and now works as a trainer and consultant for schools and school support systems. In this episode we are talking about how you don't need to wait for diagnosis to make a difference for children with SEND. The SENDcast is created and produce by B Squared. Over the last 25 years B Squared have supported schools to support students with SEND. Over the last few years, we have diversified, for years we have focussed on assessment and this will always be our main focus, but we have seen a lack of high quality, easy to access training and CPD for schools around SEND. Our online CPD offering, Training for Education, started 2 years ago with the Virtual SEND Conference, but now includes a range of training courses as well as our conferences. You can find out more about our conferences and training courses, including Fintan's training course by going to the Training for Education website – www.trainingforeducation.com. At the end of the episode I will be sharing an exclusive SENDcast discount code, so keep listening! Resources/Links: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25 https://www.theschoolrun.com/SEN-code-2014 https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/2020/08/31/supporting-children-with-special-educational-needs-and-disabilities-to-return-to-school/ https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/rona-tutt%E2%80%99s-guide-to-send-inclusion/book250123 O'Regan F (2018) Successfully Managing Children ADHD Second edition :Routledge Falmer Press O'Regan F (2020) Supporting behaviour in the classroom: Sage publications limited https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Guide-Teachers-Supporting-Behaviour/dp/1529718554

The SENDcast is a podcast we started in 2020, to help improve knowledge around SEND. Every teacher is teacher of SEND, yet the training isn't there to support them. We created the SENDcast to try and help solve that problem, help make schools more inclusive. My guest this week is Alison Knowles. Alison is an emotional therapist, she supports emotional resilience. In this episode we are talking about supporting foster or adoption families and the specific issues those children might be facing. Useful Links https://www.facebook.com/OllieandhisSuperPowers https://twitter.com/bemoreollie https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWDj-PRjboIg2cu-KZsEMVA https://www.instagram.com/ollie_and_his_super_powers https://www.ollieandhissuperpowers.com/