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All learners have times where they may become less engaged or motivated with their learning. This can be for a range of reasons but learners with additional needs may face even more challenges. It is important to get to know your learners well and learn what motivates and excites them. Try to incorporate this into your lesson planning and help them to progress and reach their full potential.
Tip or Idea: Positive reinforcement is essential in helping to build confidence, self-esteem and motivation. This can range from a simple well done, to a message home or even privileges such as extra computer time! Remember to praise effort and not just results. Making mistakes is part of learning and developing.
Free resource to help you with this activity: Our Successful ways to motivate your learners checklist is full of tried and tested ways to keep your learners interested, engaged and on-track!
In English, there are 44 speech sounds. Creating speech sounds is a more complex process than you might think! It requires the coordination of different muscles and structures. The lips, tongue, teeth and other parts of our mouth all play an important role. Where learners have difficulties creating certain sounds, their fluency, ability to be understood and confidence in speaking aloud can all be affected.
Understanding the needs of your learners is essential. Learners who use English as an additional language may also have additional learning needs, and sometimes separating language needs from learning needs can be challenging. Assessment results and classroom work offer some insight; however, taking the time to carefully observe your learners’ behaviours can provide a deeper appreciation of their needs. This can help you consider necessary adjustments or interventions, or support further assessments of specific SEND needs.
Graphic organisers can be a powerful tool for learners with dyslexia. They enable learners to plan and structure their ideas in a visual and accessible way. Focusing on getting ideas organised before navigating challenges with grammar and spelling can be a positive approach. The visual scaffold reduces working memory strain by keeping ideas clearly organised and structured. This allows more cognitive space for sentence construction and spelling, which might be challenging.