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SEND, Behaviour & Lockdown.
A thread
https://michhayw.wordpress.com/2020/11/08/send-behaviour-lockdown/
A thread
https://michhayw.wordpress.com/2020/11/08/send-behaviour-lockdown/
An edited version of this piece will appear on the TeachWire site, https://www.teachwire.net/search/97fcaa189137af2d18908ee64ace69e0/
I would like to add additional examples (and was limited by the word count for the TeachWire piece) as I am sure there are many more examples and positive solutions which can be shared
I would like to add additional examples (and was limited by the word count for the TeachWire piece) as I am sure there are many more examples and positive solutions which can be shared
Michelle Prosser Haywood, SEND Lead at the University of Wolverhampton Multi Academy Trust, discusses the impact of the transition back to school, for Learners with SEND, on their behaviour and provides some examples of how a learner’s behaviour can be addressed.
Learners with Special Educational Need & Disability (SEND)
During the National Lockdown, learners with SEND, who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) were considered vulnerable and were able to attend school, if their parent/carer wished them to, in some cases similar arrangements were made for learners receiving School SEND…
…support, learners awaiting external agency support and/or were in receipt of a draft EHCP, where provision had yet to be identified. Some of this group of learners stayed at home, whereas others attended school usually in a bubble of mixed aged pupils.
The Special Educational Needs coordinator (SENCO) in each school would have followed emergency changes to statutory policy and considered reasonable adjustments which could include flexible arrangements about a learner’s transition back to school.
SENCOs produced risk assessments (assessment of risk to COVID19 infection and access to learning) which were discussed with parents/carers and their Local Authorities for the duration of the lockdown period.
Once a date was established for all learners to return to school, transition plans became part of the Risk Assessments.
These plans focused on a wider recovery curriculum and introduction to a bubble model, involving new routines and procedures to prevent bubbles of learners coming into contact with one another.
Individual transition plans, may have included, a staggered school start and a shorter day to support a learner with the new routine. Other learners, may have needed shorter days for alternative reasons.
Working at home, for example, may have been preferable to some, rather than attending school, where there may be less sensory interaction and unpredictability.
In most cases the risk assessments and transition plans have worked well and learners have been able, with support, to work in the same room, in rows with a seating plan and manage new lunchtime arrangements, but for some they have found it more challenging.
School staff in a recent survey stated that there has been a rise in poor behaviour across schools, although most of the reported behaviour is COVID19 related and focused on conscious choice; pupils coughing at people, refusing to wear face masks, crossing bubble groups and not…
…washing their hands.
However, as we head into the latter part of the Autumn term, some learners, are still not fully transitioned to full time schooling and for learners with SEND, despite the planning of the Risk Assessments, any changes to routine and new rules around COVID19 could have had…
…significant impact and this group of learners may be demonstrating a range of poor behaviour in response to the uncertainty of the pandemic.
During the extended absence from school, learners will have experienced five losses; routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom and we need to recognise these loses to help prevent the behavioural responses learners are presenting before these responses become part…
…of a behavioural pattern and the norm in our schools.
For many learners with SEND, the biggest impact is likely to be the loss of routine and structure, during lockdown and the familiarity of their own homes, where they feel safe and it can be these aspects which may be the underlying cause of their behaviour.
The loss of routine and structure on learners with SEND and providing a safe place
Rachel is currently late every morning. She and her family cannot adjust to the everyday rhythm of getting up at the same time, accommodating other family members and leaving the house at the same time every day.
When she arrives at school, she is cross and angry and shouts at the school reception staff about wearing a face mask, as she signs in. She has done this on most days, and she is arriving later and later each day.
Rachel’s EHCP identified that she has sequencing difficulties, and she has had several targets around telling the time.
Her lateness and struggle with a new routine had been anticipated but her behaviour was not and it was her daily outburst when she arrived which she then struggled to calm from which was causing her and staff managing her behaviour a problem.
Rachel’s sequencing difficulties had an impact on her recall, and she was unable to articulate coherently, why she was cross, but with the help of a social story she and her parent/carer started to understand her routine in the morning and the steps they all have to take to get…
…ready to school.
Like Rachel, Ben was also been struggling with the return to school but he did not want to leave his Mum and brother, clinging tightly to them and when he did eventually go into school. He often ran around the school rather than going into his classroom.
In his classroom he was unsettled and frequently ran out crossing bubbles as he did.
After a discussion with Mum, it appeared that some of the behaviour could be anxiety driven, as there were signs at home, such as difficulty sleeping, bad dreams and bed wetting.
The initial behaviour was rectified by a transition toy, helping Ben to feel safe and secure in his new class with a new teacher, which was brought into school and swapped with a tangle toy.
He would then keep the tangle tool in his pocket and take it out when he needed it and at the end of the day the tangle toy was swapped back, so he could take his own toy home.
Often behaviour will take time to unravel and assess the trigger.
This can be compounded by additional needs such as Speech and Language difficulties and Autism, so we should ensure that our good practice around behaviour includes space for informal learning, flexibility, and there is time to be responsive to our learners throughout the…
…school day.
Some suggestions for managing behaviour for learners with identified SEND
Some suggestions for managing behaviour for learners with identified SEND
- Consider factors outside the school, including family and friends and develop good relationships with parent/carers.
Parents/carers know what works for their child at home and similar strategies may aid transition and help establish a sense of safety within the school environment
- Develop ways to help learners articulate their behaviour and how change can be supported.
Younger learners will need tools such as social stories and comic strip conversations and older learners may be able to respond within scaffolded conversations, identify the causes of their behaviour and work on targets to change it
- Remind learners of the rules, and consider that some learners may need more reminders to correct their behaviour and different ways to remember them. Can visuals as well as written rules be used around the school?
Can a Film be made of the behaviour expected, and be posted on the school website?
- Keep any rules positive, ‘Remember to wear your face mask’ is better than ‘Anyone seen not wearing a face mask will get detention at lunch time’
- Keep any rules positive, ‘Remember to wear your face mask’ is better than ‘Anyone seen not wearing a face mask will get detention at lunch time’
- Recognise in learners when their behaviour might change and in which locations. Can an adjustment made in the school corridor, if a learner’s behaviour changes when they walk to another location in the school?
- Has enough transition work been completed? Do learners know the new routines, are teachers and other learners in the class unfamiliar?
- Continue to Assess, Plan, Do and review, daily if required, less often if the behaviour is changing
- Continue to Assess, Plan, Do and review, daily if required, less often if the behaviour is changing
This thread can be read here: https://michhayw.wordpress.com/2020/11/08/send-behaviour-lockdown/
