New to teaching, and I have some problems with one to one with a child with some additional needs

[HeidiGer]

I work overseas in an international school, so term started a few weeks ago.

I have one to one a couple of times per week with a child with some learning delays. He is new to the school. His report says he should work at year 2 level, with aim to reaching lower end of year 4 by the end of the school year.
He is 9 and in year 4. He has tourettes, and some additional problems with memory and focus. He is bilingual English and local language. He has a very limited vocabulary and problems remembering concepts, and cant easily express himself.
He has some social problems, and is quite shy.

I have some problems assessing him, because he wont speak much. It is therefore difficult to know what words he knows, or if he understands what I say/ask. Last years report is very sparse. It says lessons in class are too hard for him, and they stress him out to the point of not learning anything.
If I ask him to read a text, he says he understood it all, but cant answer any questions relating to the text, however simple.

Frankly, I am not sure why I have been given such a challenging pupil, when I am so new, he should perhaps be taught by somebody with more specific experience teaching SN. If I was his parent, I would not be happy with an NQ as his one to one...

I have spent this weekend making my own learning resources, flash cards and visual representations of words, nouns and verbs, and pictures to talk about, to see if I can get him to write something to gauge his knowledge and level. My HT says to not worry but take my time, and get to know him better, and then we will get the SENCO to help with resources when we know more about his needs and his level. But I am worried...

Does anyone know of any good resources that can help?

Sorry, I'm confused.
Are you a teacher, or a TA?
Do you give 1:1 support for him in a class, under the jurisdiction of another teacher?
or Do you take him out for some kind of intervention 1:1?
Who has timetabled you to do that? Presumably they know what it is this intervention is supposed to be helping him achieve? In which case ask them.
Other people to ask - his class teacher this year / his class teacher last year / whoever was giving 1:1 support last year / the SENCo / your mentor / your line manager.

It sounds as if you are a teacher, but don't have your own class, and you're doing some intervention - perhaps not? In 1:1 sessions, you need to make individual resources - that's the point of 1:1.

Yes, you're newly qualified, but you're qualified, and so the expectation will be that you can assess and plan lessons. Someone with more experience may be able to do this more quickly or better, but you're gaining experience, so I would just get on with it. Have some faith in yourself!

He is SEN, EAL and shy - it will take a while to gain his trust because he is trying to please you. He says he understands because he wants to please. Teach him to read - that's the key to opening all the doors. Build a relationship with him, so that he can admit his weaknesses and go slowly. It's brilliant that he is having 1:1 help with a qualified teacher. You will make a huge difference.

I would like to just answer some questions first.

I am a teacher, I dont have my own class, I am used as a school resource. I am a TA in some classes, substitute in others, and teaching two children 1:1 or in small groups 3 hours per week, plus prep. HT timetabled me to do the 1:1, I am doing the assessment, the IEP, and the term forms detailing learning goals for each term.
The other child I am working with has ADD, but I find him easier as he is much more communicative. Not sure he is easier to teach though, as he cant focus on any task, and getting him to write more than one sentence is challenging.

I am working together with the class teachers, but under the jurisdiction of the HT. I am supposed to keep as close to the curriculum as possible, but tailor my lessons to their levels, and set their learning goals. I take them out of class on some occasions, and keep them in the class but work with them 1:1, depending on the class teachers lesson plan. Sometimes I take them out just for parts of the lessons.

What does this lad like? Superheroes? Football? Lego? Minecraft? Any films? Find what sparks his interest, something that he might actually want to talk about, then start looking for resources.

I know it's not an official resource, but comics/graphic novels are quite good. You could just sit and start to read one on your own, with a bit of luck he will start looking over your shoulder, some conversation should follow.

Might be worth looking up colourful semantics, I've found them incredibly helpful in the past for aiding with comprehension. You can start right at the very bare bones identifying the 'who' of a story and using symbol/photo support with colour coded border. Can also go through sentences highlighting the 'who' in the correct colour if he is beyond symbol or pictorial support (sounds like he isn't though).

Can then move on to 'what' 'what is being done' etc. The beauty of it is it can become an approach used everywhere so anything with his name or photo on can have the same 'who' colour etc. You can also work around the text by using objects (toys, puppets etc) in games that involve sorting into the right colour box etc

Eventually you can get to whole story frames where pupils can write in their own information or cut and stick. Really helps with structure and comprehension of how the text works and what is being said

I am not sure what he really likes yet.
He likes to play "family" with some of the girls in year 1 and 2. He likes the climbing frame. He likes dogs, and other animals.

I have made a memory game, including pictures of animals, farm animals, wild animals, geographical phenomena, etc, which I hope he will enjoy. I have found some emotions flash cards I hope to include in a small group to talk about how we feel etc.

He has gone through a "word wizard" workshop where he has been introduced to one new word each session, and in the course of 10 weeks learnt 20 new concepts/words out of 30. I plan to continue the concept of the workshops and hope he will learn the remaining 10. These relate to parts of the body and emotions. I have found an app to use for body and body parts. I am feeling more positive now.

I have also spoken to one of the other "intervention" teacher, and we will pool resources and see if we can do some group work with "our" boys. I plan to include a boy who has no learning issues, but hardly speaks English in some of the English sessions, as I think he will benefit too.

I'm not a teacher but an LSA, so can only give an opinion from my experience! It sounds very much like your time with him would be best spent simply getting to know him and building up some trust initially. Play games, be silly, have fun and once he feels able to communicate with you, then you will be able to assess and teach him. If he doesn't feel comfortable talking to you, you are just wasting time trying to make any kind of assessment.