SRA

Reading Labs let you make the most of every minute of learning time. The program’s levelled approach to reading instruction helps teachers meet the challenge. Self-directed nonfiction and fiction selections reach all students while building independent reading skills, fluency and confidence.

The basic design of the Reading Labs is simple: each student’s skill level is matched to color-coded, levelled reading selections. The reading levels gradually increase in complexity and selections gradually increase in word count to keep students challenged as they progress through the program.

Use SRA Reading Labs in your classroom to:

• Develop comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, word analysis, and study skills
• Reinforce specific skills in which certain students show a weakness
• Engage students’ interest and increase their knowledge base using a wide array of fiction and nonfiction selections
• Promote independent student work

Drawing and Talking

Drawing and talking is a safe, easy to learn method of working with children to help with underlying emotional difficulties that may be affecting their learning and behaviour.  The core of the method is encouraging the children to draw with a person they feel comfortable with regularly at the same time each week, and this person asking some non-intrusive questions about the child’s drawings.
Over time, a symbolic resolution is found to old conflicts, old trauma is healed and the child becomes more able to control their behaviour and better able to access the curriculum.

Talkabout

This manual provides professionals with a framework for the development of social skills. Initially piloted on adolescents with mild learning difficulties, it can be used with a variety of client groups, both children and adults.  Beginning with a basic assessment procedure to evaluate the client's self-awareness, as well as the awareness of others, it is divided into six levels: improving the awareness of self and others, including physical appearance, likes, dislikes and problem solving; allowing clients to assess their own communication skills; taking the client through eight levels of body language; 'Talkabout the way we talk' improving paralinguistic skills; taking the client through the processes needed to improve conversational and listening skills; and awareness and use of assertiveness skills.  Practical and user-friendly, this comprehensive workbook is an essential resource for therapists running social skills groups

Fresh start reading programme

Read Write Inc. Fresh Start rescues older readers aged 9 and above who are below expected standards in reading and writing. 

Fresh Start is a full teaching programme that:

• Gets all children reading and writing fluently in 33 weeks
• Engages children with age-appropriate anthologies
• Ensures all children can read confidently before secondary school
• Embeds all learning through partner practice
• Assesses children every eight weeks to ensure that they have the best provision to make speedy progress. 

Active Literacy

The Active Literacy Kit covers basic sound-to-letter correspondence through to fluent reading and spelling of consonant-vowel-consonant words such as cat, fat, mat.

Intervention aims:

• To build the foundation skills needed in literacy.
• Automatic, fluent and accurate reading and spelling

Aims achieved through using carefully structured activities which cover:

• Phonological awareness
• Word recognition
• Graphic knowledge
• Spelling

Visual stress

Visual stress is a common condition of the visual cortex which is often experienced by people with dyslexia but is a separate and distinct condition. Apparent movement and distortion of text, headaches and sore eyes are common symptoms of visual stress. Coloured overlays can improve reading experience for about 20% of the population. For a recent (2014) summary of research into the condition, see the Frontiers in Psychology review article here.

Visual stress has some common misnomers, particularly "Scotopic sensitivity" (which suggests that it is a condition of the retina and not the visual cortex), and "visual dyslexia", which confuses the cognitive processing (dyslexia) with visual processing (visual stress).

Visual stress will create extra difficulties for a dyslexic person by making words hard to decipher, but once a reading ruler or overlay has made them visually clearer they still need to be decoded, and that is where dyslexia causes its problems.

• Visual stress assessment pack
• Coloured reading rulers
• Coloured page overlays
• Tinted exercise books

Handwriting

• Writing slope
• Pencil/pen grips
• Speed Up! Intervention- Speed Up! is a tried-and-tested programme designed specifically for children aged 8-13, whose handwriting is slow, illegible or lacking in fluency. Whether the problems are associated with a developmental coordination disorder (such as dyspraxia), dyslexia or ADHD, or whether they are the result of poor handwriting habits acquired early on, this book will provide an effective source of help.

Dyslexia

• Rapid Dyslexia Screener
• Open Dyslexic font

Numeracy and Dyscalculia

• Numicon

Provision at Queensway

• A nurturing environment which encourages the student to ‘have a go’ without fear of failing
• An environment that is as distraction free as possible with access to an individual workstation when required
• Periodic and planned movement breaks during the school day
• Arrangements in place for the student to have ‘Time-out’ to reflect and receive guidance from staff
• A ‘time-out’ card and access to a safe and supervised place to go when experiencing sensory difficulties
• Social Skills teaching through PSHCE and Outdoor Education
• Planned activities such as outdoor education, school and lunchtime clubs at which interactions will be supervised and supported by staff in order to encourage positive communication and interaction with others.
• Small class sizes with a high level of support
• Class groups carefully selected to support positive peer relationships
• Close liaison with home, school and all professionals involved in supporting the student
• Consistent approach by all school staff based on positive behaviour management strategies
• Consistent use of predictable routines throughout the whole of the school day
• Regular structured opportunities for the student to experience success and responsibility during the school day
• A curriculum and support system that encourages the development of independence in learning
• Access to programmes which support the student to further develop his strategies and help him manage strong emotions
• Specific teaching of strategies that enable the student to develop appropriate ways to manage his emotions and reactions in stressful situations on a 1:1 or small group basis
• Weekly/daily consolidation of all learning through pre and post-teaching and over learning on a 1:1 or small group basis
• Ensure all staff are aware of the students learning difficulties, which are in addition to his SEMH difficulties and should be addressed accordingly.
• The student to learn and be encouraged to use some relaxation techniques so that he can calm himself down when he is feeling anxious or frustrated

• Personalised learning to support the student in developing motivation and ability to comply with lesson expectations
• Short, clearly defined tasks and instructions in all lessons that support the student in complying with adult requests.
• All work to be broken down into small chunks with consistent and regular feedback and praise given at every stage, with an emphasis on encouragement to complete the task and achieve success
• Step by step lists of instructions with visual prompts to support activities and routines
• Teaching approaches that place an emphasis upon visual demonstration and kinaesthetic learning
• Use of visual cues and prompts to supplement and support verbal and/or written instructions delivered to the student through an appropriately differentiated curriculum
• Provision of weekly small social skills group to specifically teach social skills and rules
• Structured opportunities within the curriculum to develop and apply social skills and rules within different contexts and with different people
• Weekly opportunities for individual mentoring to enable the student to reflect upon his behaviour and agree personal targets for improvement
• Opportunities with a keyworker to enhance self-esteem, a sense of belonging and inclusion to provide reassurance and praise for his efforts and achievements
• Appropriate care and supervision to ensure safety
• Mediation to enable the student to build and sustain appropriate relationships with key adults and peers
• ‘Meet and greet’ system at the start of each day to ensure the student is in the right frame of mind to learn and prepare him for any changes to his usual routine
• Advance notice and preparation for any changes to normal routines
• Regular and consistent use of praise and encouragement for small steps of success and achievement
• Daily 1:1 and small group work to teach specific basic skills through a suitable specialist literacy and numeracy programme.
• Intervention to support development of working memory
• Support with writing in all subjects. The writing load for the student is differentiated and provided with alternative opportunities sometimes to record using spider diagrams or pictures.