It’s SEN Awareness Week at Better Tuition but let’s be clear: every week is SEN Awareness Week here at our Urmston tuition centre.  Special Educational Needs (SEN) is an umbrella term which includes a range of learning difficulties and developmental or physical disorders.  Anything that prevents your child from accessing the school curriculum in the same way as their peers may be considered a Special Educational Need.  Some of the most common learning difficulties/ developmental disorders are dyslexia, autism, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.

Christine McLaughlin, one of two Directors of Teaching and Learning at Better Tuition, is a trained SEN teacher with many years experience of assessing and teaching children with a range of difficulties.  It is important to remember, however, that all qualified teachers are required to be knowledgeable about SEN and are trained to be able to design learning plans for children that meet their individual needs.  There are children with a range of SEN in every classroom in the country, so you needn’t feel that your child is set apart.  Your child may be labelled special but there is nothing at all unusual about, for example, dyslexia.

Over the next week we will be looking at SEN and raising awareness of different types of learning difficulty and developmental disorder.  We will explain how the needs of different learners can be met and how schools and local authorities should help your child if s/he needs assessment, intervention or extra provision.  We will be publishing guest posts from people with diverse experience of SEN and we hope that you will also contribute, through comments on our blog or our Facebook page.

If you need help with a SEN issue, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Paul or Christine on 0161 748 3812, or call into our Urmston tuition centre at 1 Crofts Bank Road, Urmston, M41 0XH.