Individual learning Plans

[user1471945624]

As an educationalist, a mum and a very frustrated member of the system I am desperate for help so calling all parents for input please.........
Here is my dilemma, I am so fed up with children wearing labels at school and expecting to be able to follow the same learning plans and objectives. For example, when did a class of 7 children who are all on the autism spectrum all need the same curriculum and seriously how difficult is it to create individual learning for these children? I am not being unrealistic, I have achieved this within a large 'main stream' class, what ever that label means? I have also encountered such backlash from union representatives as this is an unreasonable task for teachers to achieve. Is it really? Therefore, I am prepared to take some time to develop schemes that can be used. Please send me feedback, do you think that this is a good idea? With parents now having a hold on the SEN budgets, would you buy into this scheme? What would you want from it? How would you work with me to ensure that this programme worked for your child? i would love to hear from you.........Thanks for reading my rant, your children deserve better, they only have one shot at education

[mrz]

Sorry but I don't think schemes are the answer and certainly wouldn't have bought into for my son.

[Stevefromstevenage]

Sorry can you help me understand what you mean by children wearing labels.

[mrz]

The OP doesn't mean that the child literally "wears" a label for everyone to see but that they have been diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum or dyslexic or having speech and language impairment

[Stevefromstevenage]

Mrz thread after thread after thread comes up on here explaining how offensive the use of that type of terminology is. Children are not wearing labels and an educator knows or should know that.

I am the parent of children with 2 of the "labels" you are suggesting the OP means in her thread. I am hoping you are wrong and I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt to explain what she means.

[Stevefromstevenage]

Btw the children are non neurotypical or alternatively children diagnosed with AN not children wearing labels.

[mrz]

I'm a teacher and the mother of a son with many labels ...he's still the same person.

[user1471945624]

Sorry if you misunderstand my use of the term "labels" and thank you so much for giving me the benefit of doubt. No offense was intended at all. As a headteacher, I have full understanding of how the system works. I was merely asking if you felt that each child in the classroom should have individualised learning plans to follow. Eg .... Child a is interested in cars, therefore work for subjects is geared to and around this area to engage and ensure interest, whilst child b may like gardening and so on. Booklets could be made up..... The unions prevent teachers from performing such involvement, increased workload etc. What if it was produced by a third party who took the time to engage with your child and develop suitable work?

[Ffion3107]

What about assistants who work with the children?

[Stevefromstevenage]

I am also an educator as well as a parent but I still can see benevolent disablism in the original post and as such I feel the OP should ask MNHQ to give her an opportunity to reword it. My children do not have label they have diagnoses and there is actually a big difference which as I have said has been explained in multiple threads on here.

[mrz]

Surely a good teacher will know their pupils well enough to plan effectively for interests and needs. Personally I believe written schemes would be "teaching to the book" whereas it should be responsive and adapt in response to pupils

[mrz]

Surely a good teacher will know their pupils well enough to plan effectively for interests and needs. Personally I believe written schemes would be "teaching to the book" whereas it should be responsive and adapt in response to pupils

Unfortunately a diagnosis is a label whether we like it or not. The real danger is when people think label defines the individual and that every child with a diagnosis of ASD (or any other term) is the same, will experience the same difficulties and need the same support. We are all individuals whether NT or not!

[insancerre]

There is a scheme like this for younger children
Its the EYFS
There is a campaign to extend the EYFS to the end of KS1
It will benefit all children, not just children with SEN
Look up Keeping Early Years Unique and the fantastic work Elaine Bennett is doing to raise awareness of this issue

[ladyvimes]

How is it possible for a teacher to manage 30 different learning plans? Any half-decent teacher should be differentiating appropriately for their class.
As for a third party engaging with each child to produce individual, personalised booklets, how much is that likely to cost? As a headteacher you must be aware that schools are struggling financially and real-terms funding for SEND has been drastically decreased.

[Gmbk]

User, it is actually incredibly difficult to differentiate effectively for 30 students every hour of every day.

I am given 2.5 hours per week of PPA time in which to plan, mark and do all the other jobs associated with teaching. Obviously I use a lot more time than this, but my hours are limited by the need for a work life balance and the fact there are only 24 hours per day!

A written scheme from outside would also be useless. It wouldn't be tailored to the pupils and would just add an extra burden. Often a small amount of differentiation is all that is needed. Sometimes pupils miss out because the work is pitched at the wrong place and I don't realise until I begin. Obviously I do my best to turn the lesson into something useful but we can all have rubbish days.

Remember, even with 7 pupils in a classroom, in an hour that is under 10 mins per pupil of teacher time. If I had to introduce a topic using 7 different contexts, it would be unmanageable.

[MoreCoffeeNow]

I'm wondering where the teacher would find the time to prepare individual learning plans. As the HT would you be increasing non-contact time so that they can do this? If you aren't then it's far too big an ask, frankly.

[Sleeperandthespindle]

I differentiate fully for my 7-9 students with SEN. I certainly wouldn't use any kind of published scheme though. I can never even find a worksheet that meets anyone's needs as precisely as I want to, so I don't bother.

I don't understand the 'labelling' issue on this thread. Surely it means that a person has a difficulty, diagnosis or need that requires some kind of description in order to get support. If every child merely had 'additional needs' and we were never able to use the terms 'autism', 'dyslexia', 'visual impairment' etc, we wouldn't be targeting support effectively.

[Emochild]

In a class of 7 children with ASD i'm assuming you are talking about special provision/special school?

It is perfectly possible to follow the same curriculum whilst the children have ILPs
1 activity eg cooking, can have many many learning outcomes -weights, reading a recipie (literacy), colour and shape recognition, touching and tolerating different tastes and textures, turn taking, social interaction etc etc

Do you think this isn't individual learning?

As a parent I would much rather my child's education is planned for and delivered by someone who knows my child well, can see when they are having a good day and can push them forward and when they are having a bad day and knows what they need to do to turn that around

I'm struggling to see how bought in resources personalises the teaching to each child anyway -surely the resources could be used with multiple children across multiple sites?

[user1471945624]

Thank you for your comments, a very interesting read on my part. Special thanks to the teachers inputs who all in their own way stress the tremendous strain they are under, but have also shown this by misreading that this is designed to help them. As for the teaching assistants, you are the backbone of the education system. Having started school life as one myself, I found I was placed in untenable positions more than once, teaching outside my comfort zone. I had to learn swiftly on my feet. The education service needs to offer you guys far more training and working benefit packages along with pay enhancement schemes. I have seen classrooms taken into a whole new dimension by enthusiastic TAs. I have also on the flip side, seen TAs take classes where the teachers lack the skills. I salute you all and the job that you do for the pittance you are paid.

[Sleeperandthespindle]

[mrz]

Indeed

[Emochild]

Wow -that was very sycophantic for this time of day OP

[Sleeperandthespindle]

I've got no patience today. Need to get on with my planning for 9 individual students across the curriculum. If only I had a published scheme readily available that would meet every need. Oh wait, I actually have the opportunity to use my own creativity and expertise. The reason I do this job in the first place!

[Ffion3107]

I agree OP. I am an assistant. Started 2 years ago after gaining a degree in childhood studies, with a child who had medical needs, only part time as I'd just had my daughter. A year after I was offered 10 extra hours in a different school just for one year. 2 pupils who were taken out of their classrooms for an hour a day with me, so they each had 5 hours a week with me. One was 6 and the other was 10. Both had very different needs. I got to know them, their needs, their strengths and weakneses, their hobbies and their families. By learning so much about the child, I was able to offer so much help through playing games I'd made up, worksheets I'd made etc. As I wasn't given any resources, only their IEPs. It was all very specific. It took a lot of time, research and effort to be able to help those children, but seeing them achieve in the classroom made it all worth while. Although the money is an absolute joke, a good TA who has passion, time and a lot of patience goes a long way. If a teacher is able to do this and support the rest of the class, well done!

[melonribena]

Could you explain how you achieved this in a large class? Any new good ideas are gratefully received.
I teach a large ks1 class with often no support and manage well to differentiate and meet all of the needs of the children.
A scheme is not the answer though, neither are individual booklets. Talk about boring. And can you imagine the time taken to explain each booklet to each 30+ child?
Schools have little money, but they do have teachers and support staff who work together to individualise learning for all children. We know our children best

[ladyvimes]

Special thanks op for not answering anyone's questions.

Back to the drawing board then op?