Description

Recent legislation and cutbacks to central support services mean that the responsibility for meeting special educational needs is resting ever more squarely on the shoulders of ordinary classroom teachers. Yet few feel wholly confident in their ability to adapt work within the national curriculum to meet the whole range of needs, or coordinate successful individual education plans for children who, for whatever reason, are not learning as well as they might. This work is aimed at class teachers, heads and special needs coordinators. It shows how the teacher can build differentiation into planning lessons and schemes of work. It describes workable strategies for managing the most common behaviour difficulties and meeting special needs in language, literacy and mathematics. At a whole school level, it offers practical guidance on reviewing special needs policies, assessment, record keeping, and the management of roles and resources. The focus is on the way in which schools can do a good job in meeting special needs themselves, within the everyday constraints of time, money and energy, and in so doing provide genuinely inclusive opportunities for all children.