The Beach Comber

How people with Neurodiversity, ADHD and ASD can feel intense emotions that can feel visceral and painful, often triggering a meltdown. Being aware of this and tips on how to help someone with a Big Emotion.

Discussing how a positive attitude and presuming competence can really help parents and children. Especially relevant to children  with ASD diagnosis.

Collecting stones and pebbles for use in the class room. A fantastic resource, sensory experience which is highly adaptable to make great lesson with many links to curriculum areas such as literacy, history and science. perfect for fine motor skills too.

How successful teaching is about having great relationships with the staff and children. This can only happen by dedicating time to build the relationship.

The art of "Letting them be." and how this can be structured into activities across the curriculum and the school day. It is  a very important skill to learn to be independent. 

A fundamental Life Skill and needs to be taught carefully as it involves so many other skills. In this episode I talk about taking a group out weekly to a local shop and how to manage it.

How puppets can really enhance conversation skills, including signing and bring fun and laughter into the classroom. Also touching on the use of hand puppets in Intensive Interaction sessions

Just a minute, hold on a sec often used and not very meaningful. In this short episode I talk about using First this and Then that a simple clear way of moving from one thing to another. An action being needed before the next thing can happen, helping students to be adaptable and flexible.

Children everywhere will be drawn to playing with the earth, sand, pebbles or dirt. The mud kitchen allows children in their own time and in their own way to explore and learn. It is cheap and easy to set up and provides hours of learning through play. Children of all ages and abilities will enjoy being in a mud kitchen giving the teacher ample opportunities to interact, assess and record!

Everyone needs a light, maybe the light at the end of a dark tunnel, maybe a bright shining light, maybe a slow steady light with a warm glow. Reflecting on how the mood in a room  can be lifted.