[SENco-forum] FW: Media: Real Story: The Teacher Squad (BBC1, 7pm, 13 Dec)

I am an SpLD tutor & would love nothing more than to never have to support a
struggling child again - so money is not my motivation. As for all the
resources some work for one child and not another.  I would love a one size
fits all package, but have yet to find one.

I too have children with SEN & primarily SpLD, but all of them different.

One cannot cope with phonics so while it is great for most it has been a
real battle for her.  She had all the advantages too, such as books and
activities and a fulltime mum. She loves literacy and words and reading -
she just wasn't any good at manipulating it.  Her 141 IQ has helped her to
try and make sense of what to her must look or feel as Arabic does to me -
alien.  English may as well not have been her first language and it has been
very difficult helping her to learn to read.

That she loves reading so much is more testament to her determination and
'resiliency' - knowing it is not her fault - than anyone's teaching skills.
Rod Nicholson reckons that if a normal process takes 4 tries to master this
equates to 40 times for those with SpLD.  One wrong step takes an age to
undo, every mistake is not a step back but like falling back to the bottom
of a very steep mountain for her. Every set of multiple repetitions without
failure is like finding a big ladder on the snakes and ladders board.

I can't wait to see what they do on the programme, but hope it is what I
always wanted for her small, fun steps moving her forward in a way as to
reinforce every success and avoid any failures. If a child fails at a task
the first thing I check is whether I have failed them. Any programme that
requires repetition relies on practice at home and motivating students to do
this can be the hard part.  This is where non-judgemental ICT programmes can
really score.

Sharon