Mental Health ; the use of Books Beyond Words for promoting Emotional Well Being in children with Learning Disabilities
Tag: Learning Disabilities
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Understanding, Emotions and Books Beyond Words: A neuroscience perspective
These companion articles from the SEND journal , written by Barry Carpenter, Jo Egerton and Stas’ Samagala, are relevant to schools and settings in this time of evolving educational approaches and interventions to support children and young people’s mental health and emotional well being. As the title suggests current thinking for neuroscience is applied to the rich range of narrative based resources in the ‘Beyond Words’ series of books and on line materials.
Click the thumbnails below to open each article.
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Bereavement and Learning Disabilities
For a child or adult with a Learning Disability dealing with grief can be very difficult and life disorientating.Books Beyond Words enables this topic to be dealt with in a meaningful, compassionate and understandable way.
Bereavement Mini Book-Set Available Here
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When Ofsted Comes to Call..
During a school Inspection Ofsed will look a 3 i’s – issue ,intervention and impact.
To look at the quality and creativity of interventions for and with children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities , this will not rule resect the scope of teaching and learning , or the range of progress.
The attached short article , published in SEND magazine, looks at the 5 i’s of issue, inquiry, intervention, innovation and impact.
Click the thumbnail below open and download the .pdf document.
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Early Inclusion through Learning from Each Other
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified by most European countries foresees an inclusive education for all. Within this context most European countries have expressed their political will to implement the inclusive philosophies and concepts at all levels of policy and services related to issues for persons with disability (The European Union strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; EU Disability Strategy 2010-2020). However a significant lack of methodologies and sharing knowledge in this field can be observed. Professionals report high need for information, training and concrete resources. Early- Inclusion, is an Erasmus Plus Project through the European Union (www.early-inclusion.eu).
The UK is involved through, and represented by, Chadsgrove Teaching School (contact: Bev Cockbill – bac42@chadsgrove.worcs.sch.uk). Professor Barry Carpenter (UK) is the Lead Consultant to the Project, and has contributed to its design, and initial research and development approaches.
The poster below outlines the preliminary work of this Project, which has a particular focus on the development of Teaching Assistants, (and similar) in a variety of education and childcare settings.
Please click the thumbnail below to open and view the poster in full.
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Understanding Pica
Pica is often a misunderstood, or as a little known condition in children with developmental disabilities, but it can have a devastating effect on their learning and quality of life. The article below raises some of the key issues in an informative and relevant way.
Click the thumbnail below to open and download the full article.
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Developing Baseline Assessment for children with Complex Needs
Below is an article produced by Karam Bhogal, a former Schools Direct student with Professor Carpenter , describing the use of the Engagement Profile and Scale ( EPS ), with children with Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities.
Click thumbnail image below to open & view PDF.
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The NAHT Special Schools, Specialist and Alternative Provision Conference 2016..
The NAHT Special Schools, Specialist and Alternative Provision Conference 2016 theme is Promoting wellbeing for children, young people and staff (Thursday, 10th to Friday, 11th March, 2016) at The Hinckley Island Hotel, Leicestershire) .The link to the full conference description http://www.naht.org.uk/welcome/naht-events/conferences/send-conference-2016/)
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Books to support Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)
As schools grapple with the challenges of implementing policy, pedagogy and practice around SEMH , they should certainly look at the potential offered in Books Beyond Words. Don’t be put off by the fact that there are no words! These books allow the emotional centres of the brain to express deep and complex emotions . They will be especially useful for a range of children and young people with SEND. The story format of each books encourages emotional expression , and facilitates resolution to emotional issues that children with Autism , for example, do not find easy to decode.There are a range of books that particularly support Personalised Learning too. Topics that we may find difficult to articulate to the child, or for which the bog standard leaflet has no relevance, (e.g., managing Type 1 Diabetes) are powerfully expressed through the medium of pictures, in a way that is comprehensible and informative to the child with SEND.I have work with the Team at Books Beyond Words to classify from their catalogue those books most relevant to SEMH, and Personalised Learning . They will enrich our curriculum journeys in these areas considerably.
Barry Carpenter Education 