Areas of SEN

Autism (ASC)

Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) is a lifelong condition that affects how someone sees the world, processes information, and relates to other people.

A person with an Autism Spectrum Condition may have some of the following in various degrees

• Difficulties making friends or keeping them.

• Lack of empathy.

• Doesn’t like change, likes a routine.

• Struggles to understand rules in team games.

• Indifferent to peer pressure, doesn’t need the latest game.

• Speaks very monotonously.

• Doesn’t like looking you in the eye.

• Has particular topics they are fascinated in.

• Doesn’t feel pain or has a very low pain threshold.

If you feel your child has traits of autism, speak with your class teacher. A discussion with SENCO can be arranged to discuss the next steps of a referral (if felt it is necessary) to the Community Paediatrican who would request documentation from school and home.

ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that can affect people's behaviour. The symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be categorised into 2 types of behavioural difficulties:

• inattentiveness (difficulty concentrating and focusing)

• hyperactivity and impulsiveness

Many children go through phases where they're restless or inattentive. This does not necessarily mean they have ADHD. If you have concerns, you should discuss this with your child's teacher who may arrange a conversation with the SENCO to explore referral to the Community Paediatrican, if this is necessary. Within Cheshire West and Chester, no referrals for ADHD are accepted by the Local Authority until a child is 6 years old.

The main signs of inattentiveness are:

• having a short attention span and being easily distracted

• appearing forgetful or losing things

• being unable to stick to tasks

• appearing to be unable to listen to or carry out instructions

• constantly changing activity or task

• having difficulty organising tasks

The main signs of hyperactivity and impulsiveness are:

• being unable to sit still, especially in calm or quiet surroundings

• constantly fidgeting

• being unable to concentrate on tasks

• excessive physical movement

• excessive talking

• being unable to wait their turn

• interrupting conversations

• little or no sense of danger

For further information about ADHD, the NHS information page is useful.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which primarily affects reading and writing skills. However, it does not only affect these skills. Dyslexia is actually about information processing. Dyslexic people may have difficulty processing and remembering information they see and hear, which can affect learning and the acquisition of literacy skills. Dyslexia can also impact on other areas such as organisational skills. It is important to remember that there are positives to thinking differently. Many dyslexic people show strengths in areas such as reasoning and in visual and creative fields.

If you have concerns about your child showing indications of dyslexia, please speak to class teacher or the SENCO. A dyslexia screener can be completed in school, however this is not a formal diagnosis and would just highlight if there are dyslexic tendencies. Following this, further quality first teaching strategies can be implemented to support your child within school. If you do wish to explore a formal diagnosis, particularly for your child's future (i.e GCSE access arrangements) then the SENCO can advise on specialists who can be sourced privately by parents.

Further Information about Dyslexia

Private Formal Assessment Specialists

Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is a specific and persistent difficulty in using numbers. This difficulty causes a wide range of other mathematical difficulties including:

• Your child has trouble learning to count and might experience difficulties counting forwards and backwards.

• They have difficulty connecting a number to the amount of items it represents, for example ‘5’ stands for 5 dogs, 5 fingers or 5 apples etc.

• Your child has difficulty learning and recalling basic number facts, such as number bonds and times tables.

• They experience difficulties when trying to recognise small numbers of objects without counting (for example, numbers on a dice or eggs left in a box).

• They use their fingers to support simple addition and subtraction - they have not been able to move onto mental methods.

• They get confused between the signs +, -, x and ÷ and what they symbolise.

• Your child has trouble recognising patterns or sequencing numbers.

• They have difficulty recognising commutativity within addition and multiplication calculations (for example, 4 x 2 has the same answer as 2 x 4).

• They need support to identify place value and the value of a digit in a certain position.

• Your child may need support with understanding the meaning of mathematical language, meaning problem-solving is difficult.

• Making sense of money and working out total costs can be tricky.

• They have difficulty telling the time on an analogue clock.

• Your child has difficulty understanding how graphs and charts work and needs help to interpret the data.

• They have trouble keeping score in games involving maths, such as adding up totals and keeping scores, which lead to avoidance of these situations.

Your child might have some difficulties in some areas of maths and display some of these symptoms, but that doesn’t automatically mean they have dyscalculia. If you do have concerns about your child showing indications of dyscaluclia, please speak to class teacher or the SENCO. A dyscalculia screener can be completed in school, however this is not a formal diagnosis and would just highlight if there are tendencies. Following this, further quality first teaching strategies can be implemented to support your child within school.

Social Anxiety

Social anxiety disorder is a long-term and overwhelming fear of social situations. It’s more than ‘shyness’; social anxiety can make a person feel fearful of how they appear or how they are perceived in a social situation, which gets in the way of day-to-day life. Social anxiety disorder can affect a person’s school life, relationships, self-confidence and daily routines. Many people sometimes worry about social situations but a person with social anxiety disorder feels overwhelmingly scared and on edge before, during and after the event. A range of social situations can affect people living with social anxiety in different ways, including speaking in groups, reading aloud, performing or answering a question in the classroom. Usually, social anxiety in children shows itself between the ages of 8 and 15 but it can develop before or after this. It’s important to note that a child might try to hide their anxiety because they don’t want the attention on them or fear being judged which, in itself, can cause more anxiety.