SpLD | Dyslexia | Dyscalculia | Dyspraxia | VI | HI | SLD/PMLD

SpLD

Pupils with specific learning difficulties have a particular difficulty in learning to read, write, spell, or manipulate numbers so that their performance in these areas is below their performance in other areas. Pupils may also have problems with short-term memory, with organisational skills and with co-ordination. Pupils with specific learning difficulties cover the whole ability range and the severity of their impairment varies widely. Specific learning difficulties include:

Dyslexia
Pupils with dyslexia have a marked and persistent difficulty in learning to read, write and spell, despite progress in other areas. Pupils may have poor reading comprehension, handwriting, and punctuation. They may also have difficulties in concentration and organisation and in remembering sequences of words. They may mispronounce common words or reverse letters and sounds in words.

Dyscalculia
Pupils with dyscalculia have a difficulty in acquiring mathematical skills. Pupils may have difficulty understanding simple number concepts, lack an intuitive grasp of numbers and have problems learning number facts and procedures.

Dyspraxia
Pupils with dyspraxia are affected by an impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement, often appearing clumsy. Gross and fine motor skills are hard to learn and difficult to retain and generalise. Pupils may have poor balance and co-ordination and may be hesitant in many actions (running, skipping, hopping, holding a pencil, doing jigsaws, etc). Their articulation may also be immature and their language late to develop. They may also have poor awareness of body position and sometimes, poor social skills.

Sometimes CLD can fall within this category as Complex Learning/Language Difficulties.

VI - Visually Impaired

It is estimated that there were just under 24,000 blind and partially sighted children and young people up to and including the age of 16 known to LEA/EA VI services in England, Scotland and Wales in 2002. One in two (50%) of the blind and partially sighted children identified in Britain had no other disabilities. A little under one in three (30%) had additional complex needs including severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties (SLD/PMLD), just under one in five (18%) of blind and partially sighted pupils known to VI services were found to have additional disabilities, other than SLD or PMLD.

HI - Hearing Impaired

Many mainstream schools have pupils with some level of hearing impaired and there are also many additional units attached to school as well as specialist HI schools.
The range of hearing loss can vary from profound to moderate. Some children wear two post aural hearing aids and they may also use radio aid systems. Some pupils receives a dual input, ie aural and sign while other children develop orally. When signing is used is used it is BSL (British Sign Language) and the level required is usually Stage 2 and above. Sign from other English speaking countries, eg Australia, New Zealand, Canada etc is similar and users can adapt effectively.

SLD/PMLD

I believe it takes a very special person to work with pupils with severe/profound and multiple learning difficulties. Class sizes can be as small as 3/4 pupils and there is a high ratio of LSA support. Many of these schools have pupils with complex needs and the variety can be wide. At the most extreme there may be pupils with degenerative illnesses, those who are completely non-verbal and communicate using basic signing tools like Makaton or through a series of lights and clickers.. There may be pupils at the high end of the autism spectrum or with ailments like Cerebral Palsy. Ability levels can vary considerably. Going into these schools can be distressing and I've known teachers in the past convinced they could cope, but leaving after a few hours. Students may need help with toileting and feeding. Although there are other professionals around, eg a nurse, physiotherapist etc, the teacher has to be involved in all aspects. Each child will be learning to an IEP (Individual Education Plan). Learning to press a trigger to indicate a colour, learning to write and identify their name can be immense triumphs for these pupils. These schools usually have white rooms and stimulus rooms as well as hydrotherapy pools and the children need a special kind of teacher. As an SEN teacher pointed out to me recently... they don't need pity, they need to be educated and given as much opportunity as they can. There are many resources now available at sites like www.senteacher.co.uk

Links to information on EBD - Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties | Autism