Description
This book provides exciting new strategies for teaching literacy to children with special educational needs. Keeping the strengths of visual learners at the heart of each strategy, the author shares tried-and tested ways to develop key reading, writing, comprehension and communication skills. Adele Devine is a Special Needs teacher at a school for young people with severe learning difficulties and autism in Surrey, UK. She has over a decade of experience teaching children on the autistic spectrum and worked as an ABA home tutor before qualifying as a teacher in 2004. Adele has a regular two-page feature in Teach Nursery magazine and shares her knowledge of special education needs through ‘A Special Blog’ (http://www.senassist.com/blog/). In 2010, she co-founded the multi-award winning SEN Assist autism software with her husband. They have three children and live in Surrey, UK. Acknowledgements. Introduction – A Fairy Tale. 1. Visual Learners are in EVERY Classroom (Preventing a learning difference from becoming a learning difficulty). 2. Learning Differences and Disabilities. (Autism Spectrum Conditions, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyspraxia, Downs Syndrome, ADHD, Cerebral Palsy and physical disabilities affecting communication). 3. Gifted Visual Learners Past and Present. 4. Visual Teachers (Past and Present). 5. First Impressions! (How we introduce literacy can help develop positive attitude to learning.) 6. Motivation to learn (Finding out what motivates the individual child can be the key to engaging them to want to learn. 7. Teaching writing right (Setting them up to succeed, by stepping learning to meet individual needs – sandpaper letters, stamps and pencil grips). 8. What’s in a name? (How names and labels give reading and writing a purpose). 9. Reading (Practical strategies including teaching children who do not ‘get’ phonics). 10. Sight Reading High Frequency Words (a structured approach). 11. Visuals for Communication (An Introduction to Picture Exchange Communication and going beyond ‘I want…’). 12. Augmentative Assistive Communication (Switches, buttons, android, eye gaze and iPad Apps). 13. Actions speak louder! (Gaining Attention, adding meaning and improving communication through actions and signing). 14. Listening and Gaining Attention (Becoming a good listener, Tutorials, Intensive Interaction and Attention Autism). 15. Functional Communication (Within school and out and about). 16. Implementing subject based TEACCH. 17. SEN Assist (Teaching Literacy through the Class Computer). 18. Drama and Dance and Shakespeare (Bringing stories to life using costume, masks and puppets). 19. Look here! They can! (Believing in futures). 20. Happy Endings. Resources. Index.
