Forum on special educational needs Phil Dexter, British Council Teacher Development Adviser, UK Sharon Noseley, ELT Lecturer/Tutor, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. Sophie Farag, Director, Intensive Academic English Program, The American University in Cairo, Egypt

2 Special educational needs: Let's celebrate diversity and inclusion in learning Which of these children have special educational needs?

3 What’s going on in this classroom? What is not happening?

4 Special Educational Needs Access and Engagement Speech & language needs Societal Factors: family, trauma & Displacement Societal Factors: family, trauma & Displacement Cognitive differences

5 Language for resilience Role of language in times of crisis - Syria

6 Social and Medical Models of Inclusion Good practice suggests an integrated model access, participation and engagement

7 Spectrum of cognitive differences lear learners include Co-ocurring Social impact factors Dyslexia ADHD Dyspraxia Autistic spectrum Speech and language difficulties Text based learning – reading/writing Working memory & sequencing Concentration/Focus Social interaction needs Organisation of work and tasking

8 Is the brain Leaky or Sticky?

9 Neuro-Diversity – what’s the issue? It’s not what you think – but how you think! Neurodiverse learners typically may have difficulties with traditional text based approaches to teaching and learning – mainly in classroom learning contexts. These difficulties have nothing to do with intelligence but there is clear evidence of underperformance. How can we transform the performance gap? In understanding neuro-diversity we recognize cognitive differences as part of a natural spectrum of ‘ways of thinking’ which are unique and equally valid that should be educationally and socially celebrated.

10 Celebrating our differences – playing to strengths imagination, holistic/big picture thinking, kinaesthetic and visual memory, strong intuition and creativity.

Three wave approach to inclusion in mainstream contexts

12 Techniques/approaches celebrating positive learning s vable step by step approach( building successful outcomes Use inclusive practices based on our ‘best endeavours’! Individualise and pluralise teaching & learning Provide overviews and clarification where necessary Bridges between lessons Colour code & notes in advance Assess, plan, do and review Monitoring, mentoring &coaching Multi-sensory approaches – scaffolding/differentiation and KISS-E Preparation, planning and organisation Promote positive stubbornness Assisted technology Assessment for learning approaches High Interest learning – engage our learners in meaningful ways……..based on what they can do!

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