In this course you will learn about the characteristics of PDA, a profile of the autism spectrum. x Children who present as demand avoidant will also have high levels of anxiety, making everyday tasks seem overwhelming to them and result in refusing, withdrawing or shutting down to avoid doing things. This can be very challenging as a parent and is often be overlooked or misinterpreted. We will look at all the ways that a child may present with PDA and how to spot the triggers alongside strategies to help support these children. While autism approaches may be helpful for addressing sensory issues we will also look at the flexible and collaborative approaches that are needed for the child who is demand avoidant. This course will help you to learn new creative strategies and knowledge to support the child at home and how to understand our children and support them in a way that works for them.

In this course we explore why it can be hard to pick up on autism in girls.  We then consider some of the warning signs we can be looking out for and the practical steps we can take to support a girl if we believe she may be autistic. This on-demand course was inspired by a learn live session run by Pooky which over a thousand people registered to attend.

This is a playback of a past live webinar. Step into the shoes of your dyslexic students and explore five ideas that will promote their enjoyment, engagement and achievement.  Whilst aimed at supporting students with dyslexia, these ideas will benefit every learner in your class or group.

This is a playback of a past live webinar.  Many girls on the autistic spectrum fly by under the radar.  During this session we’ll explore how autism presents in girls, why we so often miss it and what tell-tale signs we could be looking out for as well as thinking about what to do next if we suspect a girl might be on the spectrum.

Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs are needs that can be an obstacle to formal learning in a similar way to other SENDs, and yet the differentiation for learning is sometimes hazy. In addition, some pupils with SEMH also have other SENDs – how do you account for both in your classroom? 

This course gives you an overview of practical approaches and solutions to supporting the needs of these young people – how to prevent behaviour getting in the way of learning and how to support the pupils’ strengths to help them understand that education can be for them too. 

This is a course for anyone new to ADHD and wanting to find out more about it. It aims to give you the basics so that you can start to identify pupils who may be displaying tendencies and work with those pupils to support their needs. We’ll therefore give you advice and simple ideas you can put into practice straight away and approaches to adapt and trial. It may be that the pupil needs further support so we’ll talk about what other avenues you may want to pursue. Great for teachers new to the profession, support staff or anyone wanting to check their understanding and support pupils to have the best possible outcomes.

This is a course for anyone new to Dyspraxia and wanting to find out more about it. It aims to give you the basics so that you can start to identify pupils who may be displaying tendencies and work with those pupils to support their needs. We’ll therefore give you advice and simple ideas you can put into practice straight away and approaches to adapt and trial. It may be that the pupil needs further support so we’ll talk about what other avenues you may want to pursue. Great for teachers new to the profession, support staff or anyone wanting to check their understanding and support pupils to have the best possible outcomes.

In this course, Matt Bromley turns his attention to the pastoral role that teachers fulfil in school. He shares his advice on being an effective form tutor and talks about what NQTs need to know about the SEND Code of Practice. He then walks you through the three waves of intervention and support that tend to work best for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. Matt also summarises your legal duties and tells you what you need to know about child protection. As well as being useful for individual CPD for new teachers, this course could form the basis of coaching and mentoring activity in schools.

This is a course for anyone new to Speech, Language and Communication Needs and wanting to find out more about them. It aims to give you the basics so that you can start to identify pupils who may be displaying tendencies and work with those pupils to support their needs. We’ll therefore give you advice and simple ideas you can put into practice straight away and approaches to adapt and trial. It may be that the pupil needs further support so we’ll talk about what other avenues you may want to pursue. Great for teachers new to the profession, support staff or anyone wanting to check their understanding and support pupils to have the best possible outcomes.

This course is aimed at members of the senior leadership team interested in the impact of teaching assistants. The deployment of teaching assistants has very much changed over the past 30 years but can still vary greatly from school to school in terms of roles and responsibilities. We have however known for some time, that the impact on learning compared to cost has been very low. With the Education Endowment Foundation now producing guidance on how to maximise effectiveness, here we unpick the report for quick and easy reference. We take the summary of recommendations one by one and explore what these means in real terms.

This is a course for anyone new to Attachment Disorder and wanting to find out more about it. It aims to give you the basics so that you can start to identify pupils who may be displaying tendencies and work with those pupils to support their needs. We’ll therefore give you advice and simple ideas you can put into practice straight away and approaches to adapt and trial. It may be that the pupil needs further support so we’ll talk about what other avenues you may want to pursue. Great for teachers new to the profession, support staff or anyone wanting to check their understanding and support pupils to have the best possible outcomes.

There are a whole series of issues that we can expect to see in our pupils in the coming months.  To help you spot the signs and take appropriate action, I’ve outlined a range of potential concerns, when to worry and suggested next steps.  

This is a course for anyone who is working with pupils with autistic tendencies or diagnosis. Following on from our ‘Spot and Support Autism’, we take a more in depth look at how being on the Autistic Spectrum can affect attainment in school. We will unpick the triad of impairment; the 3 core areas that help define ASC and develop our understanding of how a child may be operating within these. From here we can unpick the areas of the English curriculum which present the most challenges. Most importantly we’ll look at what practically we can do to support our pupils navigate what can often be a very difficult, confusing and unfulfilling journey. 

This is a great course for all teaching assistants, especially those new to the role, or new to a school and helpful for supporting and training colleagues. With the majority of teaching assistants expected to lead an intervention at some point during the week, it is often the case that no formal training has been given. Here we take a step by step walk through the key areas that need to be considered in order to run a successful intervention and give you the confidence to adapt and amend plans for the benefit of your pupils.

This is a course for anyone new to Autism and wanting to find out more about it. It aims to give you the basics so that you can start to identify pupils who may be displaying traits and work with those pupils to support their needs. We’ll therefore give you advice and simple ideas you can put into practice straight away and approaches to adapt and trial. It may be that the pupil needs further support so we’ll talk about what other avenues you may want to pursue. Great for teachers new to the profession, support staff or anyone wanting to check their understanding and support pupils to have the best possible outcomes.

In this course you will learn about the characteristics of Pathological Demand Avoidance - PDA, a profile of the autism spectrum. Children who present as demand avoidant will also have high levels of anxiety, making everyday tasks seem overwhelming to them and result in refusing, withdrawing or shutting down to avoid doing things.  This can be very challenging in a school environment and can often be overlooked or misinterpreted. We will look at all the ways that a child may present with PDA and how to spot the triggers alongside strategies to help support these children. While autism approaches may be helpful for addressing sensory issues we will also look at the flexible and collaborative approaches that are needed for the child who is demand avoidant.  This course will help you to learn new creative strategies and knowledge to support the child in school as well as enabling the child to feel understood and supported through their time in education. This course is for anyone who would like to gain greater knowledge of PDA and be better equipped to support the child in feeling able to engage with their environment and learning.

In these two linked courses, Matt Bromley explores the vital role transition plays in pupils’ academic and pastoral progress in school. He explains why transition matters, shares five broad categories of school life - sometimes referred to as 'bridges' - in which the transition process can be improved and three features by which an effective transition can be measured. Matt also explains how to make best use of transition days and how to support the transition of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND. He argues the importance of collaboration, saying that what is needed is long-term, genuine and sustainable collaboration between schools.  Matt sets out what effective collaboration might look like in practice.  He then turns his attention to the particulars of primary to secondary transition, transitions within KS3, and from KS3 to KS4, and secondary to post-16 transition. As well as being useful for individual CPD for primary and secondary school leaders, this course could form the basis of SLT discussions or whole-school training. The two courses in this mini series are: Plan an Effective Transition for Your Students and Make Transitions Work for Every Student (inclusion)

Safety is a theme that I return to again and again in my work whether it’s about taking a trauma informed approach, enabling children with special needs to thrive or simply about creating an environment in which every child can flourish.  One of the most basic needs that must be met for every child is a feeling of safety and in this course I pick that apart and go beyond the built environment, exploring how we can enable a child to feel safe physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively. The course is suitable for anyone working with or caring for children and young people and requires no specialist knowledge.

Life can be pretty challenging for autistic children as they try to fit within a world that doesn’t always make sense to them on terms that don’t quite work for them.  Sometimes, anxiety, anger or sheer exhaustion can bubble over and result in challenging behaviour which is distressing both for the child and the adults supporting them.  There is a lot that we can do to change the environment rather than the child, but this course focuses in on how we can support autistic children to recognise and regulate how they’re feeling, to give them the best chance of managing alongside their peers because maybe the whole world needs to change, but until that happens, these simple ideas can change how the world feels for the child you’re supporting.

This course is suitable for any adult working with or caring for an autistic child or, to be honest, any child.  As with so much of the work we do for children special needs, these ideas are widely applicable and will do good (and certainly no harm) for any child but will do especial good with children who are (or might be) autistic.

During this course we walk through a simple framework for promoting a truly inclusive environment that feels safe and nurturing for all children and especially those with special educational needs or social, emotional or mental health issues. Inspired by the 4S framework developed by Daniel J Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson for parents, we consider our role as adults working with, caring for or supporting young people with special needs and the small but meaningful changes we might make to the physical, social, emotional and cognitive environment to enable them to thrive both now – and in the future as every positive experience helps to create and strengthen neural pathways; laying the foundation for future positive experiences. This course was developed for SENDCos (special needs leads in UK schools) and so the course will be of especial interest to anyone supporting a child or children with special needs or emotional wellbeing issues.  However, there is much of interest here for anyone who works with or cares for a child. The ideas are widely applicable and highly adaptable and you’ll be able to readily apply them to your work and life. This course was developed and delivered by Dr Pooky Knightsmith who has a PhD in child and adolescent mental health and has spent many years as a governor at a range of special schools and who has led many training events for staff and parents supporting children with SEND. A version of this course was originally part of an online SENDCo training event commissioned by the Girls Day School Trust in the UK.