Hello, I'm Miss Emma:
Neuurodivergent Reading Whisperer®

Jamie Oliver and others recently demanded changes at Parliament, and as well-intended as this was, I have a different perspective on the need for teachers to have better SEN and neurodiversity training.
 

I think this push is partly due to how many one-size-fits-all programmes are being used, with a focus on generalised data rather than children. If teachers started with 'What will each child need to learn this?' we wouldn’t need separate SEN or neurodiversity training—it wouldn’t be a separate thing. We would identify children at risk of struggling to read and spell and teach them in the way they need, so they can learn. Like millions of other children, Oliver didn’t get that. Steve Bartlett didn't get that, but he had no issues with reading. He still struggled, because of the focus on conformity. Teachers face huge hurdles in this day and age, trying to offer personalised learning. Most WANT this. 

They face huge difficulties catering for children who are not 'average' when programmes are designed around this concept. 

Note 9 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phonics-teaching-materials-core-criteria-and-self-assessment

 

Children who are at risk of falling behind need extra practice to consolidate and master the content of the programme. Programmes should provide guidance on how to support these children so that they keep up with their peers. Options for support could include one-to-one tutoring. They should not suggest or provide a different SSP programme for these children.

It's a worry that teachers are told to stick to the programme that is not meeting the needs of the child, and just deliver it via tutors. They do not recommend changing to another. But there are other options. Not just choosing another programme designed for average. One option is Phase 1 with Phonemies, so that the risks are identified BEFORE they start these programmes. 

Also, tech offers differentiation within the neurodiverse classroom, as we have demonstrated within Australian classrooms.i 
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Note 4 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phonics-teaching-materials-core-criteria-and-self-assessment

Where computer-based resources are included, these should support or supplement direct teaching by the teacher, but not replace it.

Why not support teachers to meet all learner needs? Tech, built by minds who are not average, and already exploring STAN - Self-Teaching for All Neurotypes

If we focus on supporting teachers to teach, everything naturally revolves around meeting individual needs. This also applies to the push for 'specialist training' only drives us further from a model centred on a schema-driven approach. Education is supposed to be inclusive for all. We need to discard the existing model—not just keep patching it. I'm brainstorming an idea around that. We need to START with inclusion. And that means a closer look at how phonics is being taught. Is the model designed for average? If so, at least 1 in 4 will not thrive with  that model, and yet will thrive if taught differently. Starting differently from day 1 means you don't knock their confidence, and reduce the desire to master word mapping.   

I’ve copied this from The Village with Three Corners teacher handbook—a series of books designed to help children develop a love of reading, not just learn to read. I now publish these books. It is used within our wider goal of ensuring that every child achieves Word Mapping Mastery®. 

'The remaining sections offer specific suggestions for the use of books and materials. These should not be followed in any rigid way: individual teachers teach and individual children learn' in differing ways, and a published reading scheme is likely to be only part of the reading materials in schools today. But if a teacher knows how all the books and ancillary materials are designed to fit together, she is then in a position to use them most effectively as part of her own plan for teaching reading.

The approach underlying this series can be adapted to the differing needs of different children: to children from different backgrounds and to children of a fairly wide age range. It is flexible in use, and many of the ideas underlying it can be developed further by the teacher in accordance with the particular needs of the children in their care.'

Compare that with the guidance given to teachers these days.

This is Alf, who is autistic and spent three years being 'taught' (without any actual learning—is that teaching?) using the most widely used synthetic phonics programme—Read, Write, Inc. The teachers followed the lesson plans, did what they had been told to do. Alf couldn’t figure out a sentence like The cat sat on the mat—and was mentally exhausted. He had high anxiety when shown graphemes. The teachers didn't know what else to try. By using Phase 1 with Phonemies Alf would have been able to learn phonics with RWI from term 1! 
 

When I first met him, I realised most of our work would be about helping him see that word mapping is like a puzzle—and fun. Teaching him in the way his brain wanted to learn. He had really poor phonemic awareness. He couldn't hear the speech sounds I can't escape from!
 

Although he is now flying—because we 'Show the Code'—something else kept coming up. He would panic when he saw anything related to moral issues—e.g., a dog chasing a cat. I’d watch the footage (teachers are videoed so we can analyse what they do), and he would want to say that he thought the cat would be anxious. The teacher would ignore that and say things like, "I’m sure he just wants to be friends" or "I think they’re having a fun game". When Percy Green throws a snowball at the children, Alf got really worried. Was Percy going to be told off? Was he being 'naughty'?
 

So this footage is fantastic as he is talking about feelings - he talks about happy and sad crying. Many have no idea of just how tuned in to feelings those of us who are autistic can be.

And that’s a huge issue in the early years/KS1. Real issues and feelings tend to be ignored. Is this because of a lack of time to explore them? or a lack of confidence exploring complex issues? If anyone watched Adolescence on Netflix, they’ll remember the scene with the psychologist who doesn’t do what you’re supposed to do—Jamie says he thinks he’s ugly, and she doesn’t say, "Of course you aren’t!" That’s what he expects of adults—not to listen, not to address. So I see this as a much bigger issue.
 

In the One, Two, Three and Away! books, teachers can talk about real issues.

This is from the teacher handbook:

'... the stories themselves are rooted in the common human experiences of childhood: this is their link with the reality of the child’s own world. The children in the books are not always good or successful, and the boys and girls do not always play together in perfect accord. (For example, in one book, Roger and Johnny have a fight; in another, Billy cries because he is being left out of things.) The adults are not always helpful and kindly: Grandmother and Grandfather Yellow-hat are warm and reassuring, but although Mrs Blue-hat means well, she is one of those people with a passion for cleanliness and a lack of understanding of the needs and feelings of childhood, who are much more common in ‘real life’ than some books for children suggest. The reality in the books lies in the experiences of childhood, and the feelings of the children, rather than in an attempt to make a setting which will reflect with photographic accuracy the environmental background of a particular group or social class. In accord with this approach, the illustrations, too, fit the ‘story-book’ setting of the text. The setting is a village, because a village provides for a grouping of houses and people small enough for the children to understand and get to know. It is not meant to be a naturalistic country setting, but a unit within which children—a much fuller and richer version of that which they find in their ‘readers’.'

So my perspective is this: if we get back to defining what teaching actually is, we can address more issues than anyone could possibly imagine.
 

Phase 1 with Phonemies is designed for exactly that! It identifies children most at risk of struggling to learn phonics—and, therefore, to read and spell—and helps them overcome those challenges as quickly and easily as possible.

It is also designed to help teachers focus on individual children, even when managing a whole class. We want teachers to feel connected to every child from day one and to understand them as individuals. This will empower teachers and give children a sense of belonging—feelings that are incredibly important in the first two weeks of Reception.

And, let's face it, we want to better support teachers who aren't average either. It just makes sense to us. 
 

Miss Emma x