Hi All, My last blog was about identifying children with Special Educational Needs accurately: that vital first stage of spotting and helping children who start to struggle with class-based work. I talked about the importance of differentiating for different groups and individuals and ended the blog by stressing how parents could have a huge role to…

On the BBC Radio 4 programme, You and Yours today – we hear about yet another instance of the trauma experienced by a former pupil with autistic behaviours. This is not the first time I have heard of pupils being placed in isolation for perceived misdemeanours but surely there has to be a better way of…

I think it was the Russian psychologist, Vygotsky, who first associated child development with social interaction, and the crucial role of language in particular. Can humans think without language? Do we need words to reason and reflect on our experiences? Interesting questions that have fascinated me all the way through my teaching career. I have…

The Times on Sunday carried an article about the difficulties and delays in obtaining the right kind of support for children with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities (SEND). It is alarming to think that children with difficulties such as hearing impairments, autism or Down’s syndrome are being left without a place at a special school…

The other day I was working with negative numbers; something children are introduced to from about Year 6/7  in England. I’ve started to realise just how difficult it is for some young people to apply common sense and logic to this rather obscure concept. Working with positive (plus) and negative (minus) numbers appears to be…