Dance and movement psychotherapy

Ailsa Parsons, trainee dance and movement therapist

Additional services for pupils with SEND can be an integral part of a school’s provision. Gareth D Morewood and trainee DMP therapist Ailsa Parsons explain the benefits of DMP

We have a number of additional therapeutic services as part of our support systems and I am always keen to have discussions with universities and other institutions about new projects and courses that we can use to support and ultimately benefit the young people at our school.

Some of our therapists started out on placement with us, some approached us for placements as they knew we are able to accommodate a range of university students training in different disciplines. I am always keen to see how different approaches can support our students (another of our staff is a drama therapist; we will hear more about that in SENCology soon).

Later on I’ll explain how we usually find our additional support, however one of our interesting recent additions is a dance and movement therapist who is on placement with us. On this occasion we were approached by Ailsa on Open Evening asking if we were able to accommodate the placement one day per week and support the academic study.

My starting point was probably the same as yours – what is a dance and movement therapist?

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‘Dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) recognises body movement as an implicit and expressive instrument of communication and expression. DMP is a relational process in which client/s and therapist engage in an empathic, creative process using body movement and dance to assist integration of emotional, cognitive, physical, social and spiritual aspects of self. The philosophical orientation of DMP is based on the intrinsic belief in the inter-relationship between psyche, soma and spirit as evidenced in the potential held in creative processes.’

The Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy in the United Kingdom (ADMP UK)

Put more plainly, ‘the body keeps the score’ (van der Kolk, 2015). As the fields of somatic psychotherapy (focusing on the body) and neuro psychology (focusing on the brain and nervous system) have discovered, to ignore how the body, brain and mind come together as a whole is to limit treatment to the logical and conscious aspects of wellbeing – which as Freud would say, are just the tip of the wellbeing iceberg. DMP is a holistic approach whereby a somatic, physically dynamic and creative process is used to access both the logical and the subconscious parts of the mind, bringing any salient matters into conscious awareness for purposeful reflection.

Not only for people who like to dance

That DMP will only work for people who like to dance is a popular misconception. The best response is to ask ‘what is dance?’, ‘what is movement?’, and ‘what is creativity?’ These questions are too complex to address within the scope of this post, and other sources can provide a far more comprehensive answer. However, it is safe to say that we are all moving constantly – from the moment we are conceived (at the cellular level) and subsequently, every time our hearts beat and lungs breath.

The way we think affects our body and movement which in turn affects the way we think. By asking those three questions mentioned previously and reflecting on the constant and involuntary interactions between our minds and body, one can argue that all of us are always dancing!

The dance of the body and mind

Bear in mind also how many mental states we commonly describe in terms of the body posture:

• keep your feet on the ground
• it went over my head
• I have a gut feeling
• her head’s in the clouds
• bending over backwards to help
• welcomed with open arms
• giving me the cold shoulder.

I’m sure you can think of many more.

Many of our implicit memories and unconscious ‘knowns’ are stored at the bodily level, but oppositely, due to the two-way mind-body relationship, the body can be used as a tool to affect one’s state of mind.

Countless experimental studies have confirmed the therapeutic effect of exercise, physical activity and alternative activities such as yoga and mindfulness (all of which have a physically focussed component) for adults and children of varying abilities and conditions.

In addition to the mental health benefits of aerobic and resistance activity, music and body posture have an effect on our sense of wellbeing, self and mental state. Take, for example, recent research on the objectively measured testosterone-elevating ‘power pose’ (feet stood wide apart, hands on hips, shoulders back), or the way that athletes use music to build motivation and confidence (Chtourou, 2013).

DMP and other creative therapies have been used within various child and adolescent settings, including but not limited to schools, hospitals, and mental health services to improve wellbeing and functioning across a wide range of issues (Strassel et al., 2011; Koch et al., 2014).

What happens in a DMP session?

A session will vary between each individual and group based on the stage of therapeutic relationship and the preferences and needs of the client(s), but usually will involve some elements of the following:

• discussion of any issues the client wishes to explore (yes we actually talk – we don’t just dance at each other!)
• some form of movement or warm up, for example using developmental movement patterns
• drawing a mindful awareness to the body
• freestyle or choreographed dance or movement using topics discussed as a theme/stimulus
• the use of props (ribbons, material, balls) and music, or not
• client-led interpretation of their movement and experiences.

Through this process, clients can come to develop an improved and more integrated understanding of themselves and others and through a group process can improve their interpersonal functioning and confidence. Like other forms of therapy the relationship between client and therapist is of utmost importance in forming healthier models of attachment. The emphasis on body awareness and creative expression inherent in DMP fosters improved affect-regulation through the increased understanding and healthy processing of sometimes hidden aspects of self.

T: @AuthenticMover Ailsa Parsons
F: Authentic Mover
W: www.authenticmover.com

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Finding a therapist

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, our therapists or other additional service providers come to us in a variety of ways. They might approach us, I might spot their course at a university and make enquiries myself etc.

The first step is usually inviting them to start a placement with us over a certain amount of time to understand the benefits the service can bring to our students.

We have a number of students who are on placement with us, ranging from trainee teachers, social work students, speech & language therapists… as well as two apprentices in the office and IT. The addition of another therapist is very exciting, and although early on in the placement, discussions with staff and students have been fascinating.

Ailsa is undertaking MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy at the University of Derby which covers the following elements:

• Clinical Placement and Supervision
• Clinical Supervision and Advanced Practice
• Dance Movement Psychotherapy: Research, Theory and Skills
• Experiential: Group Skills
• Independent Scholarship
• Movement Observation and Analysis
• Psyche-Soma: The Body–Mind Relationship

Selection of Recommended Books

• Bloom, K. (2006) The Embodied Self: Movement and Psychoanalysis. London: Karnac
• Koch, S., Kunz, T., Lykou, S., & Cruz, R. (2014). Effects of dance movement therapy and dance on health-related psychological outcomes: A meta-analysis. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 41(1), 46-64.
• B. (2002) Dance Movement Therapy: A Creative Psychotherapeutic Approach. London: Sage Publications
• Lawlor & Hopker (2001) Routledge Handbook of Physical Activity and Mental Health. London: Routledge
• Balasubramaniam, Telles & Doraiswamy (2012) Translational Research in Environmental and Occupational Stress. London: Springer
• North, M. (1990). Personality Assessment Through Movement. Plymouth: Northcote House.
• Payne, H. (1992) (ed) Dance Movement Therapy: Theory and Practice. London: Tavistock /Routledge.
• Sandel, Chaiklin & Lohn eds (1993). Foundations of Dance Movement Therapy: The Life and Work of Marian Chace. Columbia, Maryland: The Marian Chace Memorial Fund of ADTA
• Strassel, J. K., Cherkin, D. C., Steuten, L., Sherman, K. J., & Vrijhoef, H. J. (2011). A systematic review of the evidence for the effectiveness of dance therapy. Alternative therapies in health and medicine, 17(3), 50. 

What to read next from Optimus Education

• Overcoming attachment difficulties with equine therapy
• Sensory and physical needs: outcomes and transitions
• Using positive psychology to boost pupil wellbeing

School-led SEND provision: speech and language therapy

Speech and language therapy can have a significant impact on the children and young people in our schools. Gareth D Morewood highlights some benefits of the provision and explains that it’s a lot more than just being able to speak and communicate.

 With diminishing external services the pressure on schools is increasing; it is often up to schools to secure appropriate provision themselves. I have written previously about how we, at Priestnall School, are developing services and provision with feeder primary schools (Morewood & Drews, 2015). There seems to be an ever growing interest in our flexible packages of support as part of a school-led system. In this post I explore speech and language therapy and the importance of communication as part of an early intervention.

Why is speech, language and communication important?

What can speech and language therapy achieve?

Speech and language therapy can offer support for children with a variety of needs and it is important to understand the range of areas that can be supported. The benefits most commonly associated with a speech and language therapist are actually just the tip of the iceberg.

• Listening skills, concentration, staying on task.
• Memory for information and sequences.
• Following instructions – needing explanations/repetitions.
• Ability to organise self (timetables, tasks, equipment).
• Ability to pronounce longer words clearly.
• Phonological awareness (sound patterns such as rhyme and syllables).
• Expressing self with clear, fluent speech that is easy to understand.
• Word finding – getting the right word at the right time.
• Sentence formulation – grammar.
• Organising sentences into longer accounts e.g. explaining or telling a story.
• Understanding word meanings and general vocabulary.
• Understanding abstract vocabulary/concepts e.g. maths, time.
• Understanding straight forward written language –instructions, worksheets, text.
• Understanding non-literal language and making inferences.
• Conversational skills – turn taking, staying on topic, good listener.

What services can a speech and language therapist offer?

• Communicating with parents/carers, teachers and other professionals.
• Spending time with the student and monitoring their behaviour.
• Informal assessment/activities – such as looking at books and pictures with students.
• Using formal assessment to look at how well their speech and language skills are developing in line with their peers.
• Undertaking EHCP Needs Assessments.
• Giving advice and information to staff working with students regarding speech, language and communication difficulties.
• Setting detailed individual therapy plans for school to deliver.
• Providing regular therapy sessions with individual students.
• Providing therapy sessions with groups of children to focus on developing speech sounds, language development or social communication skills.
• Providing training for staff & parents/carers.

It is worth reminding ourselves of the Lancashire judgement and the legal status of speech and language therapy as an educational need:

To teach an adult who has lost his larynx because of cancer might be considered as treatment rather than education. But to teach a child who has never been able to communicate by language, whether because of some chromosomal disorder … Or because of social cause … seems to us just as much educational provision as to teach a child to communicate in writing

As I often say – don’t take my word for it! The SENCo from one of our feeder primary schools has offered this account of the service.

Having worked with the school’s speech and language therapist for some time now, it is quite clear the impact she has had at our primary school. For the first time, we are in a position to state that all the children that attend our school with some form of speech and language difficulty are now being supported.

The therapist has carried out comprehensive assessments, written speech and language programmes, worked with individual children and worked with small groups of children to address their needs. She has given teachers and teaching assistants additional support programmes which they are able to carry out each week to support the work that is being undertaken.

The turnaround from referral to action is about one week and I fully recognise the difference that has been made. As the school SENCo I feel incredibly fortunate to be in this position. Not only has the therapist been able to give a fantastic level of support she has also been able to help me develop my understanding of the difficulties children encounter within the many areas of speech and language.

Employing her has been a huge success and our primary school is very grateful. We look forward to continuing with this success through the next year.

SENCo, Primary School, December 2015

Additional links

• The Communication Trust

• AACknowledge

What to read next from Optimus Education

• Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN): support guide for teachers
• Webinar: literacy and SLCN
• Supporting SEN pupils with speech and language difficulties: classroom strategies for teachers and assistants 

SENCo resolutions for 2016

Gareth D Morewood takes a look at what resolutions SENCos can set in order to achieve effective whole-school provision for SEND

Happy New Year!

As we start 2016 I am reminded of one of the first articles I had published about the role of the SENCo. After achieving some decent down-time over the festive break I was able to reflect again about the SENCo role and the changes over the last decade.

 

Disclaimer: I promise this isn’t a depressing first blog post of the year and I do finish with optimism so please read on!

I often re-visit the key SENCo skills (Cheminais, 2005) that I quoted then:

• a lead professional
• an advocate and knowledge/information manager
• a commissioner and broker
• a resource manager
• a partnership manager
• a quality assurer
• a facilitator
• a solution assembler.

I feel that today these skills are not only still valid, but carry even greater importance. The increasing need to commission and broker solutions outside of traditional local authority systems is a vital element of the current role. Yet time and time again SENCo colleagues are bogged down with other whole school responsibilities, access arrangements, for example. Despite regular discussions about workload generally, and specifically for SENCos, the challenges we face are still sometimes not directly to do with the SENCo role, but additional responsibilities and whole-school structures/systems.

Taking a look back

It has always been important for the SENCo to be able to take a lead role with regard to several areas of inclusion and the wider access for students. Historically the key features for new SENCos were identified as:

• contributing to strategic development of SEN provision
• overseeing the operation of the school’s SEN policy
• coordinating provision for pupils with SEND
• liaising with and advising other teachers
• managing, deploying and liaising with teaching assistants
• overseeing the keeping of records for pupils with SEN
• liaising with parents and carers
• contributing to the professional development of all staff
• liaising with external agencies.

However, the new Code (2014) sets out and clarifies responsibilities for teachers and the whole-school response which should, in essence, ensure a corporate responsibility for ALL students and diminish the abdicating of responsibility to the SENCo alone. Unfortunately, this is simply not the case across all schools and settings.

Effective whole school provision is characterised by:

• high aspirations for the achievement of all pupils
• good teaching and learning for all pupils
• provision based on careful analysis of need, close monitoring of each individual’s progress and a shared perception of desired outcomes
• evaluation of the effectiveness of provision at all levels  in helping to improve opportunities and progress
• leaders who looked to improve general provision to meet a wider range of need rather than always increasing additional provision
• swift changes to provision, in and by individual providers and local areas, as a result of evaluating achievement and well-being.

Ofsted (2010)

Setting your resolutions

Whilst I really don’t want the first SENCology post of 2016 to be depressing and set a negative tone – I do think it is important, when we are refreshed to take time to reflect and consider what we should have as priorities – if you like, our SENCo Resolutions!

Some useful questions to start the New Year:

1. Do we have high aspirations for all of our pupils?
2. Do we provide inclusive quality teaching for all our pupils?
3. Is our provision for pupils based on a careful analysis of needs and a monitoring of their progress in relation opportunities and outcomes?
4. Do we evaluate the effectiveness of all our provision to meet a wide range of pupil needs?
5. Does our school leadership team consider how to make the best provision for a wide range of pupils needs?
6. Do we make timely changes to provision for pupils where evaluation indicates this is required?
7. Do we effectively communicate and liaise with parents/carers?

In addition you may wish to set your own goals and resolutions – take a moment to think and consider how things match against the start of the academic year. Whatever your priorities for the year ahead, it is important to remember to keep solution-focused and seek support from SENCo colleagues – for example the senco-forum.  SENCology will continue to offer support through the blog posts and associated links – very best wishes for the new year.

References

• Cheminais, R. (2005) Every Child Matters: a new role for SENCos. London: David Fulton Publishers
• Morewood, G. D. (2008) The 21st Century SENCo. Optimus Publishing: SENCO UPDATE, 100: 8-9
• Ofsted (2010) The Special Educational Needs and Disability Review; A Statement is Not Enough

What to read next from Optimus Education

• 5 ways to improve the parent/SENCO relationship
• TA and teacher formal agreement
• SEND year planner

Making the festivities fun for pupils with ASC

Whilst Christmas can be a time of great excitement, it is important to remember that this time of year adds additional challenges to young people and families with SEND.  Gareth D Morewood explains what schools can do to be inclusive at Christmas.

The last week of term

Young people on the autistic spectrum can find the last few days of the Christmas term very challenging – changes in routines, sensory overloads, not to mention the exhaustion felt by all!

This time of year can be full of plays, pantomimes, performances, parties, films, trips, etc. and it’s difficult to keep pupils focused. As no one wants to be Scrooge, this time of year needs careful planning to make it enjoyable for everyone.

Advance warning

Make sure parents/carers and young people know about the differences – possibly using a visual support like you might use for times of transition – to ensure things are clear prior to the differences occurring.

Remember to relax

Ensure that there is sufficient down time and individual sessions in order to re-charge at this even more challenging time of year. Everyone is tired and it is important that regular a-social time or routine activities are still scheduled to support individuals – don’t assume that activities planned are enjoyable for all as watching a film/pantomime can be very distressing for some young people.

Sensory overload

Consider sensory needs carefully; there are a lot of noises and smells that are associated with end of term activities that can be very difficult to cope with – look at the sensory checklist for ideas.

Getting involved with festivities

Consider how you can support the different activities and sessions by planning carefully and discussing how things are different. Autism Social Stories has published loads of ideas of how to involve children and young people with ASC in Christmas activities.

It is also a useful time to remind staff about the positives and revisiting our illustrated guide to ensure key factors are high on the agendas of staff.

A blog post from a mother of a boy with autism is a really moving read about how Christmas helped her get closer to her son.

Key Tips

• Plan ahead.
• Work through the different routines and sessions and explicitly agree a plan in advance.
• Allow for additional down-time to balance the increased demand on the different structures.
• Ensure consideration is given to sensory needs.
• Work closely with parents/carers to discuss changes and plans.
• Keep calm and stay positive
• Build in appropriate rewards as part of the package.

Links

• Tips for an ‘autism-friendly’ Christmas
• Advice on coping with Christmas
• Supporting end of term

What to read next from Optimus Education

• Build attention skills for pupils with autism
• Including children with high-level needs in the mainstream classroom
• Creativity, special educational needs, disability and robotics

Developing ADHD care pathways

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood disorders and can continue into young adulthood or even longer. Gareth D Morewood examines what SENCOs can learn from recent research.

ADHD may be common, but with symptoms such as ‘difficulty paying attention and controlling behaviour’ it can be a hard condition to diagnose. There are also subtypes of ADHD and a wide range of symptoms. While awareness and understanding of ADHD has improved it continues to be one of the most problematic disorders for pupils, parents and schools to manage appropriately.

Recent research into ADHD services

I was fortunate enough to speak at an ADHD education event as part of the Greater Manchester, Lancashire and South Cumbria Strategic Clinical Networks. The event was to hear about the research that formed the basis of a report called ‘Delivering Effective Services for Children and Young People with ADHD‘ from the ADHD Project Group (CAMHS Clinical Advisory Group). I was there to deliver a workshop alongside two other consultants to help implement recommendations in developing a multi-agency care pathway and in supporting clinical practice.

It was a fascinating event for lots of reasons and, for me, highlighted the significant variance in clinical commissioning across different areas of England.

What the research suggests

The following identifies information and research from the report to help SENCOs manage the way ADHD is perceived and approached in their school.

Information and signposting

The report gives information on age-appropriate diagnosis and interventions (such as medication, programmes to support families, diet, self-help strategies etc.), for example, many children enjoy and benefit from hearing the views and perspectives of other children with ADHD.

Diet

Recent studies suggest that some children with ADHD may respond to dietary interventions or removal of food colourings or polyunsaturated fatty acids supplementation. It is important to be guarded however and more research is required before these become part of routine therapeutic options (NICE, 2013; Gillies et al, 2012; Sonuga-Barke et al, 2013).

Behavioural strategies

Klassen et al (1999) suggest that whilst the size of effective behavioural management interventions are smaller than those reported for pharmacological interventions this may be due to the development of therapeutic packages that are bespoke, and therefore personalised to the specific comorbidity of an individual need.

Parent/carer based interventions

Some parent/carer based interventions demonstrate limited impact on school-aged children (Zwi et al, 2011) but do demonstrate an increased impact on ADHD symptoms for pre-school children. It is therefore important that early-intervention support is given to parents/carers to ensure increased impact. Programmes such as Triple P (Sanders, 2008) and the Incredible Years (Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2010) have been shown to be effective (NICE, 2013). The key aim of these interventions is to promote child-parent interactions and promote positive strategies and confidence.

What to read next from Optimus Education

• Working memory, ADHD and G&T: developing meta-awareness
• In-House Training course – SEND: Hidden disabilities: ADHD and autism
• Expert Answer – As a TA working with a child who has ADHD, do I have a right to know what medication the child is on?

Sleep strategies

Lack of sleep can exacerbate ADHD symptoms. A recent randomised control trial in Australia has shown promising results with a brief intervention on sleep and 5-12 year olds (Hiscock et al, 2015). A blog post from the NHS also provides useful general advice which may help parents/carers support their children.

School support

It is important that classroom and school-based strategies support the young person directly and minimise the impact of their symptoms on their learning (NICE, 2008, 2013). Access to specialist advice and support is essential. (ADHD specialist nurses, consultants, specialist teacher and support teams etc.)

Medication management

There has been a lot in the news recently about medication and ADHD. For example, a report on the call for more research into the drug Ritalin, and an article from ScienceDaily on how taking drugs for ADHD can lead to bullying. Whilst I see medication as a significant part of the support for young people with ADHD, I agree with recent findings that better designed trials are needed to assess the benefits of methylphenidate. The Voices Report (2015) by ADHD Voices provides excellent advice on common concerns that children with ADHD have about their needs and medication.

So what is important?

During some external work with a large local authority this week I was interested to find out that many SENCo colleagues were not aware of the care pathways for ADHD in their area.

Advice you can take away from this post is:

• find out the routes to support and care pathways for your area
• establish contact with key colleagues (consultants, specialist nurses etc.)
• ensure positive conversations are had with parents/carers about joined-up support and management (strategies, medication etc.)
• provide training for all school staff on positive classroom and school-based strategies.

I must give my thanks to Stockport NHS colleagues with whom I worked on the development of the ADHD Care Pathways and at the event. In particular, Dr Prathiba Chitsabesan (Project Lead & CAMHS Consultant), Dr Alison Jobling (Consultant Paediatrician) & Sally Trowse (ADHD Clinical Nurse Specialist).

Resources and references – developing ADHD care pathways

Access arrangements: changing rules and criteria

Schools face significant challenge regarding equality and access at the moment, specifically with regard to different exams and the support that is allowed to ensure fair access. In this guest post, Amanda Hipkiss (former SENCo & now PhD researcher) summarises the key messages as they now stand

What are access arrangements?

Access arrangements are the reasonable adjustments made to examinations to enable students with special educational needs and disabilities to access general qualifications. Access arrangements ensure that examination boards and examination centres comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.

What is the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ)?

JCQ is a body whose declared aim is to ‘reduce bureaucracy for schools and colleges by facilitating and delivering common administrative arrangements for examinations’.

It does this by disseminating printed information to centres, including:

• General Regulations for Approved Centres 2015 – 2016
• Instructions for the Administration of Examinations 2015 – 2016 (ICE)
• Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments 2015 – 2016
• Suspected Malpractice in Examinations and Assessments Policies and Procedures 2014 – 2015
• A guide to the special consideration process 2015 – 2016 (As on the JCQ website 04/11/2105).

This information is updated annually. The General Regulations for Approved Centres information was sent to centres in July 2015. Instructions for the Conduct of Examinations and Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments were distributed in September.

Changes to access arrangements

Changes to access arrangements are highlighted in the Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments booklet. This year there are changes on 66 of the 111 pages of the downloaded booklet (59.4%). Some of these are minor changes of wording but others are significant changes to procedures and substantially alter what is allowed. SENCos, therefore, have to read the entire booklet in order to implement the changes, and this is an annual process.

PATOSS issues a free information sheet listing major changes from the previous year. Many SENCos attend update courses in September or October in order to learn about the changes. SENCos also need to read information in Instructions for the Conduct of Examinations about access arrangements during exams.

Is this annual update an issue?

• Changes are made with no advance warning.
• SENCos do not know what the changes are until the regulations are issued at the beginning of each September.
• SENCos are advised to assess students during Year 9. Almost all access arrangements last for 26 months from the date of application and most centres apply at the start of Year 10 so SENCos do not know what access arrangements will be allowed when they test Year 9 students because the regulations change.
• Year 11s may be allowed access arrangements which are not allowed to Year 10s with the same test scores, the same needs and the same normal ways of working (or vice versa).
• When pupils progress to GCE A levels, retake GCSEs or took GCSE in Year 9 and are in Year 11, a re-application can be made for access arrangements providing there is continued evidence of need and of normal way of working. However, the regulations may have changed and the access arrangements previously used may no longer be allowed.
• The regulations about who can make the assessments of students with learning difficulties can change, as happened this year.

So yes, the annual update is an issue.

To try to simplify some aspects, I took a look at two substantial changes to access arrangements in 2015.

What to look at next from Optimus Education

• Access arrangements: process, roles and responsibilities

• Access arrangements: an additional exam stress

• Strategies for identifying and supporting stress in our pupils

Changes to who can assess students with learning difficulties

Since 2007 – 2008 when Access Arrangements Online was introduced to streamline the process, there have been significant changes in who can assess students with learning difficulties. Each change has been without advance warning.

• In 2007, a decision about who could assess rested solely with the Head of Centre.
• In 2012, this was changed to being an educational psychologist, a specialist teacher holding a practicing certificate, someone with specialist skills who limited their assessment to those students (eg a teacher of the deaf) or someone with qualifications in specialist individual assessment. An experienced SENCo could also assess.
• In 2014, a person with specialist skills (e.g. a teacher of the deaf) could no longer assess.
• In 2015, an experienced SENCo could no longer assess.

Access Arrangements 2015 – 2016 states that those who can administer the standardised tests to students with learning difficulties are:

• educational psychologists
• those with a practicing certificate
• those with a Level 7 qualification in specialist individual assessment (JCQ, 2015, p.82)

For the previous three years, SENCos had been allowed to assess if they had an MA and evidence of up-to-date knowledge of testing. The change seemed to mean that pupils who had been tested in Year 9 by a SENCo without the above qualifications would have to be re-tested by someone else.

One centre contacted JCQ in September and was told that their assessor could continue to test for one year if she had any of the qualifications listed as accepted qualifications in the 2007 list.

At the Communicate-ed update courses in mid-September, participants were told that they had a year to get a qualification. Participants on update courses with other organisations reported being told the same.

In October 2015, JCQ issued a statement on their website saying that a qualification had to be gained by September 2017.  Until then, experienced SENCOs could continue to assess.

Changes to the regulations for an Oral Language Modifier

While this is an unusual and rare access arrangement, these changes show what can happen.

• 2012 – 2013
  • Allowed if the candidate ‘has a substantial impairment which results in a below average standardised score relating to reading comprehension. A standardised score of 84 or less in relation to reading comprehension is required.‘ (JCQ, 2012, p.32)
• 2013 – 2014
  • Allowed if the candidate has a ‘long term impairment which has an adverse effect, i.e. a standardised score of 77 (i.e. 1.5 standard deviations below the mean) or less in relation to reading comprehension and/or vocabulary.’ (JCQ, 2013, p.58)
• 2014 – 2015
  • Allowed if the candidate has a ‘long term impairment which has an adverse effect, i.e. a standardised score of 77 (i.e. 1.5 standard deviations below the mean) or less in relation to reading comprehension and/or vocabulary.’ (JCQ, 2014, p.58)
• 2015 – 2016
  • ‘. . . the candidate must have a standardised score of 69 or less (a very substantially below average standardised score) in relation to reading comprehension and/or vocabulary. (JCQ, 2015, p.58)

Conclusion

You certainly won’t be alone if you find access arrangements confusing. As this blog post shows, the frequent changes are enough to make anyone’s brain hurt. The important thing is to try and understand as much as you can as early as you can, so you have plenty of time to ask questions!

Bibliography:

JCQ. (2012). Access Arrangements, Reasonable Adjustments and Special Consideration General and Vocational Qualifications with effect from 2012 – 2013. London: JCQ.

JCQ. (2013). Adjustments for candidates with disabilities and learning difficulties Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments General and Vocational qualifications With effect from 1 September 2013 to 31 August 2014. London: JCQ.

JCQ. (2014). Adjustments for candidates with disabilities and learning difficulties Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments General and Vocational qualifications With effect from 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2015 For the attention of SENCos , specialist assessessors and senior leaders within schools and colleges. London: JCQ.

JCQ. (2015). Adjustments for candidates with disabilities and learning difficulties Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments General and Vocational qualifications With effect from 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016 For the attention of SENCos , specialist assessors and senior leaders within schools and colleges. London: JCQ.

How to get an education, health and care plan

The complicated process of getting an EHC plan may be different for every local authority, but the legal essentials should be the same. Evie Prysor-Jones presents a best practice example.

It has been over a year since the SEN reforms came into play, yet almost daily I talk to SENCOs or parents who are struggling with EHC plans.

EHC plans look great on paper – they put an increased focus on the needs of the child, they demand parent and carer involvement and they will only work well if everyone involved works together. Perhaps it’s at that last point where things get sticky.

The ‘Why? Just, why?’ moments

I don’t doubt that everyone wants what is best for the child, and I like to believe that everyone does their job to the best of their ability. But it’s complicated. Every local authority seems to run the process slightly differently, which for SENCOs who have pupils in many different areas is a massive headache. With so many people involved getting everyone together for frequent meetings can be like herding cats.

These are not excuses, but they are the sort of irritating complications that occur throughout life to make a seemingly straightforward process horribly confusing and stressful.

Your best practice example

As I’ve mentioned, local authorities may run the EHC plan process differently. I created the diagram below after studying the process from two local authorities, Lambeth (because that’s where I’m from) and Redcar and Cleveland (randomly chosen). I admit this isn’t the smartest diagram you’ve ever seen, but there will be a much nicer one in our January 2016 Insight magazine.

 

I hope this will be useful for comparison with your local authority’s process.

• Are there things mentioned in this diagram that your local offer doesn’t do that you think would be beneficial?
• Perhaps your local offer has come up with some great ideas to make the process more streamlined?

Any comments? I’d love to hear from you.

What to look at next from Optimus Education

Next week, Thursday 26th November, is our SEND Framework: Compliance & Best Practice 2015. There are still spaces!

Useful articles

• SEN partnerships in action
• Challenging a local authority EHCP decision
• The role of Independent Supporters
• The process of mediation and support for schools

Personal budgets are like hen’s teeth

Understanding the legislation around personal budgets can be the first step to making them more common place. Gareth D Morewood examines what the law says and answers some of the most common questions.

Earlier this year in SENCology I wrote a blog post about the personal budgets project I am involved in with the charity KIDS (which is different to the charity Kids company). Whilst I continue to see many positive and exciting opportunities with personal budgets, it has been one of the most challenging things I have been involved with in almost 20 years!

Why? Well, amid the raft of other educational change, considering how a personal budget may support specific outcomes in EHCPs is much less of a priority for parents/carers than getting the plan right or, in many cases, simply getting a needs assessment undertaken.

As I continue to try and ensure that everyone involved with current SEND systems and provision does so based on the law, I think it is interesting to see the specific element of the Children’s & Families Act (2014) about personal budgets.

Personal budgets and direct payments

(1) A local authority that maintains an EHC plan, or is securing the preparation of an EHC plan, for a child or young person must prepare a personal budget for him or her if asked to do so by the child’s parent or the young person.

2) The authority prepares a “personal budget” for the child or young person if it identifies an amount as available to secure particular provision that is specified, or proposed to be specified, in the EHC plan, with a view to the child’s parent or the young person being involved in securing the provision.

(3) Regulations may make provision about personal budgets, in particular –

(a) about requests for personal budgets;

(b) about the amount of a personal budget;

(c) about the sources of the funds making up a personal budget;

(d) for payments (“direct payments”) representing all or part of a personal budget to be made to a child’s parent or a young person, or a person of a prescribed description in prescribed circumstances, in order to secure provision to which the budget relates;

(e) about the description of provision to which personal budgets and direct payment may (and may not) relate;

(f) for a personal budget or direct payment to cover the agreed cost of the provision to which the budget or payment relates;

(g) about when, how, to whom and on what conditions direct payments may (and may not) be made;

(h) about when direct payments may be required to be repaid and the recovery of unpaid sums;

(i) about conditions with which a person or body making direct payments must comply before, after or at the time of making a direct payment;

(j) about arrangements for providing information, advice or support in connection with personal budgets and direct payments.

Q&A about the personal budget legislation

Legislation is never written in human-English, so reading the box above may prompt the following questions. Luckily, we also have the answers.

If a SENCo believes a student would benefit from a personal budget, what should they do?

A request for the local authority to identify a personal budget or consider making a direct payment can be made at two specific times. First when a child or young person is undergoing an EHC needs assessment or when the EHC plan is being reviewed.

How do you request a personal budget?

Information about the availability of personal budgets must be contained in the local offer, so check with your own local authority.

‘Regulations may make provision about personal budgets’ – what does this mean?

There are a set of 16 regulations for personal budgets which are worth a read as they explain all the areas of grey between the black and white points you want to get through with your local authority.

What is the difference between a personal budget and a direct payment?

A direct payment is when money is transferred directly into the individual’s bank account in lieu of special educational provision so that they can arrange it themselves.

A personal budget may be held by a third party or part of the notional budget. In this circumstance the individual/family does not receive the money directly but is allocated a budget and participates fully in the planning and decision making around how the money is spent.

I will be talking about personal budgets at the SEND Framework: Compliance & Best Practice 2015 conference on 26^th November.

Register using this code to get a 20% discount: GM15

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Although challenging and extremely hard work, I still see personal budgets as an exciting and important part of provision. Hopefully this work I am undertaking with KIDS will have a significant and positive impact for more families and young people in the years to come.

Useful links

• Take part in KIDS MIP3 survey to improve their guidance on personal budgets and EHC plans
• In Control’s framework for local plans
• Torbay Council Personal Budgets leaflet
• IPSEAS help-sheet

What to look at next from Optimus Education

• Personal budgets: primary school case study
• VIDEO: Expert advice on moving from statements to EHCPs
• SEN partnerships in action

Tools for keeping pupils and parents involved in progress

The ethos surrounding SEN in schools is obviously important, but to keep provision child-centred, a well-structured document can be invaluable.  In this guest post Evie Prysor-Jones, content lead at Optimus Education, considers two templates to support the engagement of pupils and parents in progress. 

When target setting with pupils nothing could be more important than asking the pupil what they think. This sounds easy, but thinking about appropriate and achievable targets to set can be an overwhelming task.

During a meeting I had with Elizabeth Burns, SENCo at St James’ Catholic School, we discussed the benefit of having the right resource at your finger tips. This might be a document you use internally to keep track of progress or something you sit down to work through with the pupil and parents and carers.

The following templates have kindly been given to me to publish by Elizabeth and could be altered to better fit your individual setting.

This template interview form can be used to give the target setting interview structure and ensure both you and the pupil are clear about what you’re aiming for and why.

Template interview form

Parents and carers are just as keen to understand the support their child is getting at school as the pupils themselves.

Elizabeth’s summary of support has again been designed to keep the pupil at the centre of the provision process. It can be used by SENCos to demonstrate to parents the support being given, or by a TA to share awareness of the details of support to the SENCo and classroom teachers.

The main thing is that it’s very easy for any member of staff and parents to be aware of the additional support a pupil might need.

Summary of support template

Whilst more paper work might be the last thing you feel you need, a clear table or questionnaire is easily recognisable and simple to follow. It could be kept online – perhaps you have a similar digital version in your school, if so, let us know!

The main point is that the essential oil that keeps the SEN machine working smoothly is communication, and sometimes nothing works better than sitting down together with some paper and a pen.

Further resources

• Encouraging cultural change in school SEN provision
• SEN partnerships in action
• Involving parents and pupils in your SEN support

Attend our upcoming SEND framework conference to get advice on managing the transition to EHCPs, successfully engage parents and meet your new responsibilities under the Code.

Having trouble accessing the resources above? Why not find out how Optimus supports schools with their CPD provision and request a demo of In-House Training and Knowledge Centre.

Keeping parent and carer confidence high on our agendas

Engaging with parents and carers is a vital component of the SEND Code of Practice 2015. Gareth D Morewood examines what strategies work well to ensure that it is still a key priority

The Lamb Inquiry 2009

Ever since the Lamb Inquiry into special educational needs and parental confidence in 2009 there has been a renewed focus on engagement with parents and carers. However, despite this being an important part of the new Code of Practice and the Children’s & Families Act (2014) there are considerable ongoing tensions with the current SEND system and the engagement with parents/carers.

In the Lamb enquiry, Brian and his team reported on the following important aims for a good school and parent relationship:

• a clearer focus on outcomes for the pupil
• a stronger voice for parents
• a more strategic local approach to SEN provision
• a more accountable system.

One may argue these key points were the cornerstone of the recent SEND reforms. However, reports like the Driver Youth Trust Report, ‘Joining the Dots’, demonstrate that the reality is currently far from that aspiration.

I think the stand-out quote for me was that the Joining the Dots report found that there ‘was a “systems level” issue involving “a lack of transparency and openness” about the services offered by local councils’. Not something to instil parent/carer confidence at a time of significant change in systems, let alone all the associated pressures.

Developing a confidence measure

A few years ago Dr Caroline Bond and I developed a parent and carer confidence measure and wrote about it in the Support for Learning Journal. Often I refer to this work during training and suggest that, in light of the earlier commentary, this is more important than ever.

Maintaining a consistent and positive focus through all aspects of work within the school is central to creating and supporting a positive ethos, and helps to challenge stereotypes and raise expectations (Humphrey and Lewis, 2008).

Some examples from our study include:

An example postcard to send home to parents to let them know their children are doing well

• postcards home
• text messages to parents/carers
• letters and telephone calls to parents/carers that support and reward positive aspects of each student’s day
• positive reward charts and target sheets linked directly into areas of challenge, with immediate short-term rewards
• positive focus in training and development activities.

All of which should be key parts of a positive, inclusive school environment.

Other key points from our work include:

• keep parents/carers informed
• make sure parents/carers know who to contact and how
• provide honest communication (there is no long-term benefit in providing anything but the truth)
• listen to parents/carers – give decent time to discuss things
• try to avoid uncertainty or misinterpretation – be as clear and explicit as possible.

As I am often asked for the confidence measure you can now download it for free from my website; all we ask is that it is suitable referenced and cited when used in your schools/settings.

Parental-confidence-measure

What to do next

Ask your parents/carers what they think and how they feel about provision. Then act upon the feedback and make improvements. Finding positive solutions can be hard in the current climate but I think we can make a massive different to some families with an open, honest and transparent approach.

However difficult things may seem, the key for me is the importance of knowing your rights – this useful blog post from @ERA_tweet provides a helpful summary, along with previous SENCology posts regarding the law.

References

Humphrey, N. and Lewis, S. (2008) ‘Make me normal’: the views and experiences of pupils on the autistic spectrum in mainstream secondary schools. Autism, 12, 1, 23–46.

Lamb, B. (2009) Lamb Inquiry: Special Educational Needs and Parental Confidence. 01143-2009DOM-EN. Nottingham: DCSF Publications.

Morewood, G. D., & Bond, C. (2012) Understanding parental confidence in an inclusive high school: a pilot survey. Support for Learning, Vol. 27 No.2, p53-58 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

Related content

• Involving parents and pupils in your SEN support

• EHCP transition: a parent’s perspective

• Webinar: Parents and SENCOs – How to achieve positive collaboration