What are SEN courses?
SEN courses are designed to help teaching assistants, social workers and carers understand what's required of them in terms of supporting a child or young adult with special educational needs. Children with special educational needs may struggle to make friends, have difficulty with reading or writing or find it harder to understand the teacher.
Top 5 SEN Training Courses:
- Special Needs in the Early Years
- Teaching Assistant - Specialist Support for Teaching & Learning
- Creative Activities in the SEN Classroom
- Safeguarding Children with Disabilities
- Classroom Behaviour Management Course
SEN courses are available nationwide for those already in the field as well as for those looking to break into it. SEN training grants individuals the opportunity to make a fulfilling career out of their passion for helping those with disabilities pursue an education.
Special Educational Needs (SEN) in the UK
In the UK, special educational needs have been addressed through adapted subject curricula and learning methodology. Teachers and instructors working in SEN schools require special training that prepares them to effectively teach those within their care.
The SEND Code of Practice became effective at the beginning of 2002 and is designed to help education institutions throughout the UK make the right decisions regarding children with special educational needs. The goal of this code of practice is to enable schools and learning centres to get the best value from their human resources, expertise, and budget while investing in helping children with special needs.
Professional training aimed at teachers and instructors is part of the essential requirements stated in the SEND Code of Practice, which encourages teachers to improve their methodology with the latest pedagogical approaches available. SEN training and SEN courses are available in both the classroom and online and equip participants with the essential knowledge and skills for supporting teaching and learning in schools.
SEN Courses – Important Skills for Teachers, Teaching Assistants, and SEN Assistants
The term 'special educational needs' refers to children who have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it more difficult for them to learn than most children of the same age. These students that may need extra help include those with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia and ADHD, pervasive disorders such as autism, and physical disability such as visual impairment and hearing impairment.
In a SEN course, participants will, above all, learn techniques for helping these students. Areas requiring help might include:
- Schoolwork
- Reading, writing, number work or understanding information
- Expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying
- Making friends or relating to adults
- Behaving properly in school
- Organising themselves’
- Sensory or physical needs which may affect them in school
SEN training will often include a segment about how to determine which children need extra help. Any person involved with children can benefit from this kind of knowledge.
Teaching Assistants and SEN training
Teaching assistants are an invaluable part of the school environment, and one can often become a teaching assistant by taking a simple course and getting a certification even if they have no prior experience. Some courses enable participants to gain skills for a future career as a teaching assistant that includes training in SEN. After taking one of these courses, graduates should expect to understand:
- Child and young person development
- How to support disabled children and young people and those with specific requirements
- How to support children and young people so that they can achieve their learning potential
- How to support positive practice with children and young people with speech, language and communication needs
- The speech, language and communication needs of children and young people with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties
Teaching assistant courses are also available without the SEN component. Many of these courses also include certification that is appealing to possible future employers.
First Response Training have been working with Dimensions since early 2007 to provide a wide range of health and safety and social care training courses to their staff.
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