As a childcare provider, what can you do to ensure your services are accessible when it comes to providing childcare for special needs children? From interactive learning to more flexible timetables, we cover the basics of offering childcare provision that is truly inclusive. Defined by the Department of Health as a “significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information, to learn new skills, with a reduced ability to cope independently”, there are thousands of child in the UK with some form of diagnosed learning disability.

Like all children, they need to play and learn. For many parents of children with learning disabilities, the sad truth is that finding a childminder or day nursery with the staff and skills to look after their child is difficult.

Offering childcare for special needs children means adapting provision so that they are safe and nurtured, whilst being able to safely access play and learning activities.

Every child has a unique personality and special skills so how as a childcare provider can you provide the childcare for special needs children that so many parents are looking for?

Plan together

Every child has different needs and for a child with a learning disability, these needs can be complex and profound. This doesn’t mean that childcare provision is not to be found but it does mean making changes.

Adaptations can be anything from the amount of exercise they have to the kind of activities they want to do and more. For example, a more flexible timetable ensures learning stays on track but accommodates the challenges that some children with learning disabilities can face.

Plan the provision with the parents or caregivers and seek advice too from their social worker if they have one and other professional sources.

Small changes, big impact

professional providing childcare for special needs children

For some children with a learning disability, a quiet and calm space is just as important as plenty of activity and friends.

Some childcare providers have professed to not being able to accommodate children with special needs or disabilities because the adaptations are too big, too expensive or too disruptive to make.

But research and real-life case studies have shown that small changes have a huge impact. Quiet space is ideal for any child but for a child with a learning disability, their need for calm space can be frequent.

Invest in accessible play equipment

Play equipment and toys should be accessible to every child that a nursery or childminder cares for. And yet, so many ‘mainstream’ toys are simply not accessible or suitable for a child with a disability.

Consider, for example;

 

Inclusivity

Inclusivity is not just about ensuring that staff understand how to interact with children with disabilities – it is about the other children you care for at the same time too.

Having said that, children rarely see the differences as this trailer from the BBC’s Everyone Welcome campaign highlights. When asked what makes them different, none of the children pointed out that their friend was in a wheelchair or their friend has Down Syndrome or their friend was a different colour or gender to themselves.

But we need to make sure as adults, that we continue to model this behaviour and it starts with the language that we use to interact and encourage children to play and connect with each other.

 

Grow your own skillset for childcare for special needs children to accommodate their needs

However, we also need to recognise that for childcare staff, working with and caring for a child with learning disabilities can be daunting, more so when they feel unprepared for and unsupported.

Online childcare courses and childminding courses are available for specific topics, such as working with children with physical disabilities as well as learning disabilities, as well as topics such as Autism and ADHD.

The better trained a childcare worker is, the more prepared and skills they are for creating a safe and nurturing play environment that is truly inclusive and accessible for all children.

Charities and support groups also advocate that alongside being skilled and trained, childcare workers shouldn’t be frightened of asking questions or seeking feedback from parents, caregivers or the child, if this is appropriate.

Every child has the right to play, to be safe and to be nurtured and not excluded from activities because they have a disability, physical or otherwise. And childcare providers have a responsibility to offer a fantastic learning and play environment for every child.

 

Slowly, we are beginning to understand more about autism and how it affects children.

a symbolic puzzle heart illustration for autism awareness. vector eps 10 available.

School has an important part in supporting children with autism and their families. Likewise, with greater awareness and understanding, schools are better placed to support children with autism. Find out how schools do this.

Autism is something we are hearing more about. With more people taking notice, discussion and dialogue about what autism is and how children and adults can be better supported is bringing about much-needed change.

But there is still a lot we don’t understand about autism. For schools, dealing with, managing and supporting children with autism has long presented a balancing act. On one hand, every school wants to make their learning environment fun, stimulating and dynamic but for a child with autism, these three things can be what they least need.

Schools have a big role to play so just how are they helping students with autism?

Spot warning signs

Nursery education and primary years are important formative years in the education and development of a child. Most children with autism will display a range of developmental issues and behaviours in the first three years of life.

There is no cure and the symptoms don’t ‘get better’. For nursery educators and early years teachers, they can be part of the diagnosis mechanisms.

This doesn’t mean that teachers or teaching assistants are qualified to determine who is autistic and where on the autistic spectrum they are. But they can provide evidence and feedback on how children react to certain stimuli in the classroom.

Often, it is the parents who understand that ‘something is not quite right’ and have to push hard for a diagnosis. Teachers and school can be part of supporting this process.

Create better acceptance amongst peers and colleagues

Autism awareness in school is essential for promoting acceptance too.

Autism affects people differently. How one student displays symptoms is very different to how another child does. Boys present autism differently to girls, although our understanding of this is only just beginning to come to the fore.

Innovative teaching

There are many schools across the country who are taking steps to change the physical school environment to accommodate and welcome students with autism, as well as changing how they teach.

To truly understand what it is like for a child with autism to attend school, we need to understand what it is like to be locked in a world where the smallest sound can be unbearable.

To support national autism week, the Autism Speaks has produced powerful videos that offer a glimpse into what it is like for some people with autism to do everyday things that we take for granted. From walking along the street to being in a café, there are so many things that can cause distress to someone with autism.

Small changes and adaptations to the school environment, as well as how teaching staff and colleagues interact with an autistic child, can make all the difference.

Prepare students for a world beyond school walls

At some point, a child with autism grows up to be an adult with autism. It is not a disorder that fades with time, it is not a phase or something that a child grows out of.

A child with autism is a child with a future and school can play a big part in the process of readying them for life beyond its walls. Both ‘special schools’ and mainstream schools have a part in helping a student with autism to go on and live a fulfilling life.

Supporting families

Schools work with parents and carers to establish a routine that helps, supports and nurtures their students.

But autism awareness in school extends further than you think. From providing support for the siblings of a child with autism to working with parents, carers, health organisations and social services to give every child the education they deserve and need to become well-rounded adults.

Not everyone appreciates the true value of the teaching assistant in the classroom but for pupils with learning difficulties and other support needs, it is the teaching assistant who helps them to access the learning opportunities on offer. How does a teaching assistant perform this vital function?

School budgets across the country are being squeezed. Along with other roles, the teaching assistant is under threat. With schools not replacing TAs or cutting hours, it is hard to see how some children with additional learning and support needs will be able to access mainstream learning.

With the TA being so vital to the smooth running of the classroom, what is the secret that lies behind their success? How are TAs able to help pupils with all kinds of barriers to learning?

Robust training

TAs have traditionally been used as an ad hoc support system in the classroom or an ‘extra pair hands’ for helping out in the learning environment. From fetching and carrying to sweeping up glitter, the role of the TA took some time to professionalise but slowly, over the years, this has come to fruition.

In some schools and colleges, TAs are still used to step into the breach where their teaching colleague doesn’t have the time nor the expertise to deal with low-attaining pupils. But again, this is an attitude that is slowly changing too.

There is no denying that the investment in robust training of teaching assistants to deliver structured help and support in the classroom has made for significant improvements. It means TAs can successfully support students to not only access education but to take responsibility for it.

Many schools are now offering a structured training approach in how to become a teaching assistant and people interested in working as TAs in the classroom or other learning environments, are also taking steps to become trained.

As a resource, the TA can also be the specialist in many cases. From dealing with and managing challenging behaviour to working with specific needs and barriers to learning, such as autism, the TA can be the connecting bridge between the child and their learning.

But for many TAs, they remain underutilised in the classroom because teaching staff are sometimes how sure to best deploy their skills and abilities.

Structured interventions and programmes

There is no denying that the most successful teaching assistants are those who are confident in the structured interventions they are to offer.

For example, teachers create detailed lessons plans for each session they undertake with students. By sharing this with the TA, they are equipped to understand how these can be modified so that a student with learning difficulties can access the learning in a way that makes sense to them.

Research suggests that TAs carrying out structured interventions in the classroom with a student or group of students with learning difficulties have a positive effect – around three to four months’ worth of extra academic progress a year.

The most effective sessions have been shown to be those that are brief, regular and consistent. In other words, a structured intervention for part of a lesson is more effective than that carried out every lesson, with no guiding structure.

This evidence-based intervention means that the TA understand what they need to deliver, and how they need to do this, with a student or group of students so that they can access learning.

They are a bridge

And finally, the trained TA having completed one or more teaching assistant courses will understand that their work has more value when they are in the classroom, connecting the work of the student with learning or support difficulties with the ‘more formal’ learning setting of the classroom.

There are times when the TA works away from the classroom – providing this forms parts of the structured intervention, it can have the desired results. But, say education experts, TAs are more successful when they work in the classroom (or other learning settings) with students, rather than apart from it.

Understanding, empathy, knowledge and skills

TAs bring a lot to the classroom. As well as knowledge and skills from training, they bring a natural understanding and empathy that a child with learning and support needs can identify with. They connect a child with their own learning, helping them to understand what is happening around them and to be part of the learning process in a way that fits them.

Students who work with TAs will often have a respect that lasts for a lifetime, a person that they will remember as being the person who could really help. Are you this ‘special’ someone who could make a positive difference?