Hi, my name is Jordan. I am a special education
teacher from the UK. I share my passion for everything
communication, sensory regulation and fun lesson
ideas for my classroom of disabled pupils aged
4 to 11. Each week I am joined by experts in
the field answering your questions and sharing
our knowledge and experience working alongside
our beautiful young people. Let's get started.
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today. Now to the episode. Hello everybody, my
name is Jordan and welcome to the Sensory Classroom
podcast. Today is a very special one. I am joined
by Rachel from Sensory Shake Up on Instagram
and she used to be my teaching assistant about
14 or 15 years ago and I've been nagging her
for the last year to come on because she's an
absolute expert in PMLD and I have so much to
learn. Hello Rachel. Hi, thank you, that's really
sweet. yeah hi so we worked together was it 14
15 years ago how old is your son basically because
you had your son um he is 12 now so 13 years
ago ish that's bonkers yeah so you it's hilarious
because i was such a different teacher then i
have learned so much now but just going back
to that time we were in a class of around 10
autistic children yeah aged around seven to around
10 years old I think something like that yeah
age two kind of age group yeah mostly verbal
some non -speaking I think but mostly verbal
um huge range of ability absolutely from like
learning one two three counting to being able
to do taking away and money work and decimals
and all those sorts yeah we had lots of fun topics
but yeah it was my second or third year teaching
so I was still so new at it was my first class
uh so yeah you've really seen me from the very
very beginning I have and you were amazing then
I was passionate then. I certainly loved the
kids and was passionate then. I've certainly
learned a lot since then. But yeah, I certainly
loved the kids in the class, that's for sure.
Tell us about what you're doing now, because
you're not a teaching assistant anymore. What
are you doing? So a few years after I worked
with you, I did my teacher training after having
my son. The entire time I've been working in
an SEND setting, I knew, well, even before I
started working with you, but... working with
you was like definitely something that made me
go yeah I really I really like this this is something
like really meaningful so yeah I did my teacher
training and I got to train in an SEN school
as well so I got to basically learn everything
sort of on the job which I thought was really
useful because as I'm sure you probably know
mainstream teacher training is a little bit limited
Yeah, that's what I did. I had 10 days of dyslexia
training. I don't even think we even mentioned
autism. I don't even remember it anyway. It's
so limited. I'm so jealous that you got to train
within the actual school. That must have given
you such a great head start. I found it so, so
useful to get an idea of how the school works
and how the kids work and just getting to know
how it all runs a little bit better. During my
training, I think we had one day. on inclusion
and that was incredibly broad yeah that was a
combination of things like dyslexia or more disadvantageous
families but in terms of actual inclusion inclusion
of learners with really complex needs there was
absolutely none of that so yeah i learned all
of that Which is crazy to think, like now, so
that's 10 years on, right? And now every teacher,
or even back then, but definitely now every teacher
is a special education teacher. There are some
really high needs, like children in every single
class in the country. It seems crazy to me that
that was the teacher training. And then no wonder
poor practice is happening. I know. It's really
scary, isn't it? Because there's just so many
kids that need that support. And it starts from
there, doesn't it? It's not the teacher's fault,
it's training. No, that's the thing. Before I
did my training, I worked as a one -to -one in
a mainstream setting for a while with a lad who's
autistic. I mean, he's now like 14, 15 and I
still get to see him, which is amazing. But the
provision there, trying to manage that, trying
to work alongside a SENCO that was still very
new to that role and trying to work alongside
teachers who didn't have the experience was,
yeah, interesting. I'm sure that... contributed
to you wanting to be a teacher as well and kind
of change it from the inside yeah I felt like
I couldn't provide what I knew was the right
thing and or you know what we what we see is
the you know the right provision for those kids
and I just felt like I couldn't do enough I wanted
to do so much more so yeah I took the plunge
and did my teacher training whilst you had a
toddler which is just incredible incredible absolute
feat so have you always you said you trained
in a special school have it always been PMLD
no not at all PMLD was a new venture um just
over three years ago when I finished my training
and I started my like NQT year it's now ACT year
it gets very confusing doesn't it um I had a
very mixed ability class I had a reception reception
age you know lots of new starters tiny parents
tiny kids anxious parents they're experiencing
something completely new for the first time parents
and kids but I had a couple of learners in there
with a sort of with more complex needs and medical
needs and once again I was in that position where
I absolutely adored the class and I tried so
many different things to deliver like the best
provision I could but I always felt like there
was something missing I felt like I couldn't
quite meet the needs of those learners in a way
that I could with the others and I felt like
having that I think I had 11 learners once again
very very ranging in needs and I just felt like
I couldn't quite give those particularly complex
learners the opportunities that I wanted now
you know what you know looking back what do you
think it was that was missing from that from
what you were offering at that time that's a
really good question Because I felt the same
as well. Yeah. I feel like, obviously, at that
time, I was still relatively inexperienced, you
know, new to that role. When I did my training,
I worked with kids with lower support needs.
Although, you know, they still needed a lot of
support. Less of the physical needs, less of
the medical needs. Less of the physical and medical
needs. And the medical side of it was, like,
just so new to me. And I think a combination
of that... Lower staffing levels, absolutely.
So myself and three TAs with a class of 11 little
ones that don't really know what's going on.
And, you know, you're trying to find a routine,
find a structure that works for everybody, as
well as tackling, you know, complex medical needs.
medical emergencies yeah there's just the responsibility
of all of that is massive isn't it it's huge
on us and the teaching assistants in the class
I think for me maybe the lack of thinking that
I was doing enough came down to yeah definitely
my own experience because the other children
were doing things that I could find on Pinterest
or that I could search preschool, I could search
nursery and I would find things that they could
do or that would enjoy. Absolutely. None of my
more physically disabled students could do those
things in the same way or it would be tokenistic.
They wouldn't actually be learning about. learning
from that I didn't want to do the tokenistic
route because I wanted them to fully be learning
and meeting their needs how they need to where
they're at and that's kind of been a battle I've
had for the last 16 years really is trying to
battle that whole you know are you just doing
this for the sake of you know what are they actually
getting out of this and it's yeah absolutely
I'm still working it out honestly but yeah definitely
back then I was I think that was what was questioning
like are we just going through the motions here
are we just doing cowboys and Indians and and
then is the adult just doing it for them you
know rather than you know why are they actually
here yeah it was a big thing and now that you
said that I can sort of reflect on sort of how
you how you delegate your team as well and how
you manage your team to support those learners
you get very very different tas don't you you
get some that do get those kids and know to make
those pauses and wait for interaction but you
do get others who maybe don't necessarily it's
not even about like patience itself it's just
about that level of understanding of how that
individual learns and how much processing time
they require to actually interact like having
the expectation that they might give you something
you know they might respond it's just you need
to give them more time it's just that lack of
understanding isn't it yeah and i feel that that
when once again when you're a relatively new
inexperienced teacher trying to tackle those
things as well as trying to manage you know your
classroom and you know the variety of communication
that you get from your learners it's yeah it's
a huge battle and um what were you saying about
physical needs as well When those learners require
standing frames or walkers and they're still
learning, still getting used to being in that
type of equipment, you need to have someone with
them. When you're low on the staffing ratio,
that has a big impact because that takes a member
of staff and then it affects the dynamics of
the rest of the class. Yeah, it's a huge amount
of things that you have to juggle. Even though,
of course, on paper this isn't right, but in
the moment it's really easy to delegate staff
to the loudest, most unsafe. busiest highest
climbers the throwers it's really easy to delegate
staff that way because they're bigger and louder
in the space but that isn't always right and
actually the needs of the physio and the care
needs the physical like hygiene care needs is
massive and constant for these you know these
other learners in that room which also needs
adults and staff and supervision even though
they're not unsafe or throwing or you know loud
in the space they still need it's still crucial
that they have that supervision absolutely and
I have quite a contrast like in my current current
class now you know I teach about eight learners
aged 13 to 19 so it's quite a big quite a big
age range lots of complex disabilities and medical
needs and a huge huge range of learning needs
on top of that and like you were saying quite
often you you might send your your staff to deal
with the loudest most distractible learner which
you know at times In my class, I have, you know,
a couple of particularly loud learners that need
that additional support because, you know, if
items get thrown, that can be dangerous for some
of our other learners. But I have three incredibly
complex young people who are very quiet and passive.
They all have a visual impairment. Some of them
have a multisensory or hearing impairment as
well. And therefore, it's very easy, as authors
say, it's very easy to forget about them. Not
prioritize them. Exactly. And no, not ensure
that their experience is where it should be.
And that's something that I'm really trying to
solve. Because yes, they're clean and fed and
safe and warm and dressed and have their medication
when they need it. But that's not enough. That's
the basics, isn't it? I know. And when you've
got such little staff, then sometimes just meeting
the basics is what you do. I leave home feeling
like I didn't do enough today. And it's often
those quieter, more passive children, whether
they're, you know, PMLD or not. It's usually
those safer, quieter, more passive children that
seem to always miss out and lose out ultimately.
It's such a tricky balance. Like I'm incredibly
privileged that I have, there's a team of seven
of us to eight kids. So, you know, I have six
incredible women who you know they get my learners
and when I say we're a team like I really really
mean it like they're incredible honestly just
so good to be able to work in a dynamic that
fully understand those learners needs but even
with that ratio I can't guarantee that official
timetabled learning will happen on any given
day if anybody listening that hasn't been in
a class like ours would think how are you not
with eight learners and seven adults how are
you not however say if there's a seizure that's
three adults gone yeah so then then all of a
sudden you've got four adults with seven learners
and all of a sudden it's looking a little bit
dodgy or you have a toileting incident or you
need to hoist that's at least two adults gone
yeah yeah and it happens daily doesn't it oh
100 you know even just meeting basic needs in
terms of you know intimate care going to physio
that is two staff every single time medical emergency
you're going to need more egg feeding yeah it
takes so many adults away or if you're doing
if you're doing a bolus feed that is a staff
member to sit with that learner if you've got
more than one of those happening at the same
time that is two three staff gone out of your
paper it looks like we are way over star my gosh
i know so the reality is so often everybody is
working at their fullest capacity just to meet
basic needs and then so like and i will say this
because i know that you work like this as well
it's basic needs first isn't it you know we could
have the best curriculum lesson planning resources
in the world ultimately we need to be hygiene
physio met you know basics you need to have our
equipment on and at the right time we need to
be fed at the right time have medical needs and
medication at the right time that's that's weird
that's our baseline yeah isn't it and sometimes
that's all you achieve yeah yeah yeah exactly
that can be all you achieve and it it can be
so incredibly frustrating but i do try and say
to myself look you've You've met their basic
needs. You've kept your learners safe. You've
given those parents respite. I was going to say
that. I feel like that's often what I come back
to is they are here because I'm giving parents
respite. Respite is so crucial to keep this family
going. Can we talk about parents for a little
bit? Because it's such a huge part of a role
of being a teacher of high needs PMLD learners.
Yeah. What is your experience with the importance
of your role as far as parents and families are
concerned? I mean, I think it's pretty huge.
Establishing a trusting relationship with our
learners' parents is a really, really crucial
part. You know, they have to trust you. They
are ultimately... No matter how old their child
is, they are ultimately entrusting you with the
most precious thing in their life every single
day. And when those care needs are so high and,
you know, communication is very, very different.
I can't even imagine how scary that must be,
particularly when those learners are younger.
Obviously, I do work with an older class now,
so their sort of place in the school is more
established. parents have a better understanding
of you know the structure of the day and how
we try and do things but you still have to be
so open and communicative like you have you have
to be establishing those relationships and being
as open and as honest as you can be when you're
work you know when you are communicating with
parents i think is really really crucial um you
know being clear and honest about the expectations
of a certain day or you know how that particular
learner has coped with that day especially when
you're transferring information about you know
a medical situation that's occurred that day
there's been days where I have spent the majority
of the day on and off the phone with parents
because of you know certain situations that if
I wasn't communicating that to them one they
wouldn't know that stuff's happened who their
learner could get home and parent go you know
why have they not had this much feed today or
you know and sometimes i can't tell them that's
the point is that your child cannot tell them
and i much prefer our school currently uses home
school communication books and but we are going
to hopefully move on to class dojo which i'm
actually quite pleased about because you can't
fit all the information you need into that one
little book i always do it their children have
gone home as well because yeah trying to write
the book so we're doing a similar thing trying
to write the books whilst the children are still
there also takes adults away doesn't it well
as a class show dojo whilst you know in between
the children leaving and the children getting
home you could be writing all of that information
up ready for them to read when they get home
rather than There's also a record of it. These
books get lost and spilt like drinks. Yeah. Or
they just don't get sent in sometimes. You know,
you do get some families that don't get around
to sending them in or, you know. Of course, because
they're busy. They forget about it. They have
so much going on. It doesn't surprise me at all.
I suppose the communication does work both ways
and it's incredibly useful for us to know what
kind of night's sleep they've had, know if they've
had their feed later than usual. Medication.
or they've seen families who had a busy weekend,
all of those kind of things. They've seen a physio
or a pediatrician in the week and they've given
new advice or there's a new care plan coming.
So much that we need to know about both ways.
100%. There's new information every single day
and it is just trying to process that, work out
how it's going to affect your day, the learner's
day, and then do your best. Do your best to sort
of piece everything together. to ensure that
everything just about works out which sounds
really kind of sounds a bit negative doesn't
it but no it's just the reality like flexibility
and you know adaptability in this role is huge
you have to sometimes you've got to think on
your feet and that's something I'm still very
much getting used to particularly with my class
because they do throw some curveballs but that's
why having Good team. Yeah. Really, really healthy.
Steady team. Confident. I am so incredibly lucky.
I am aware that, you know, I am very lucky to
be in that position. It comes with time and good
leadership as well, doesn't it? And I think had
we had the confidence and experience before,
our previous teams would have been as... Yeah.
It comes down to leadership and training and
confidence and adaptability and leadership as
well as in the team, doesn't it? I certainly
feel that. I found it really daunting going from,
say, having three TAs to six. It's really quite
scary. And it definitely took a bit of time to
get used to that dynamic, especially when I sort
of moved into a new school and started with this
particular class. I've always tried to make sure
that with my team, we are, once again, open,
constantly communicating. I have a few staff
members who love asking questions. And do you
know what? I always stand by like, there's no...
stupid question like if you're it shows me that
you want to learn and you want to adapt or you're
curious about something and that's you know we
want our kids to be curious I want my staff to
be curious as well even you know with years of
experience they'll ask oh why are we doing this
or what's the purpose of like this activity and
I love having those conversations I love having
that open dialogue and sometimes a little bit
of a friendly debate about why we're doing something
or what the how it works or benefits that learner
or whether we feel that it is beneficial for
that learner or whether we need to adapt or something
i just absolutely love i think the best thing
the best gift you can give a teaching assistant
having both been teaching assistants we've both
been teaching assistants the best gift that teachers
can give teaching assistants is that open dialogue
and that no ego mentality of actually yeah please
question me because often my teaching assistants
do question me and it does make me think yeah
why are we doing that is it just because we've
gotten stagnant and we just do it all the time
and that worked before so it probably works now
and actually our kids are different why do we
do that and you know things are changing all
the time and I love it when they ask that because
either I can answer it and then we're all more
confident moving forward oh I think actually
yeah we need to make a change with that that
doesn't make any sense anymore and then it pushes
me to do something better yeah no I completely
agree over this last term we've been sort of
discussing intimate care and how rushed if we
feel it is a lot of the time and it's so intimate
I mean it's called intimate care for a reason
it is incredibly intimate isn't it yeah that's
the thing you have learners that need you know
they are potentially fully dependent on two adults
to be with them you know for changing and that
is such a vulnerable moment for them and I haven't
got an answer to it but my my question is like
why do we always rush it like why do we always
rush through that routine and I I do understand
why you know we have so many goals to try and
hit within a day um that quite often you feel
you know we need to get this learner and also
we have one bed and there's seven learners that
all need changing at the same time and yeah that's
it and the hoisting takes time you can take anywhere
between 15 minutes to 45 minutes to change a
learner depending on the situation intimate care
is like a huge part of learning as well and it's
so easy to forget that yeah and it's something
i try and encourage my team to reflect on really
regularly and i do it myself i sometimes take
a step back and go right i need to do this you
know i need to do this properly like i need to
make sure i'm narrating through each step of
what i'm doing i'm making sure i'm using touch
cues or on body signs or you know whatever communication
tool works best for that learner to ensure that
i'm trying to well i'm trying to ensure that
they have an understanding of what is happening
one thing that I've done that has helped this
to help this focus because for these learners
it is in between the lessons that is the most
important it is the transition in and out of
the day it is the intimate care it is the physio
actually that's the most important I make those
their IEPs um so all of their IEPs are things
that we are doing anyway that we have to do every
day one it makes the difference to the teaching
assistants because they know they're going to
hit that every single day anyway without even
trying but also it puts a focus on and an importance
on those times yeah they don't rush and that
actually they are focusing on like you said body
cues touching cues objects of reference they
are using those things because they also know
that you know that's our legal requirement is
that ehcp to meet that um yeah so that's something
that i've noticed a big difference in since since
making that change yeah than having it as extra
yeah I do something quite similar and I also
make sure that at the start of each day when
we're starting a morning routine that I'm clear
on what our CPD focus is for say that week or
half term it kind of depends on you know what
we're focusing on and recently our focus has
been to narrate everything um more to make my
team and myself more aware of what we are communicating
and when we're communicating so I just said right
for this day I want you to literally narrate
every single thing that you do and just sort
of take into consideration like how that actually
can be quite supportive if you're if you're going
up to a learner and you're doing that touch cue
but you know trying to make sure you're all mixing
that with some of that verbal language as well
and that you are actually being really really
clear on what it is you are about to do or you
are about to support them with and I've got to
be honest the first day that we did it it did
drive me absolutely But do you know what? It
made the process, one, a little bit more enjoyable,
albeit incredibly irritating, but it just made
everyone so much more conscious. You do that
for a day and the following day, everyone's like,
right, okay, I get it now. And then, you know,
they can tone it down. Yeah, and then they can
tone it down. Yeah, it's the... it's the it's
that conscious thought isn't it you know when
we just do stuff unconsciously we become complacent
everyone has a habit of doing it you get stuck
going with emotions and then you don't realize
necessarily the impact that it can have yeah
on your learners on your team you know so yeah
that's something i try and do really nicely onto
something i wanted to talk about which is navigating
consent um with all learners um with are able
to give verbal consent or even sometimes there's
a like clear physical consent yeah how do you
navigate that when you're doing things like tack
pack or massages or intimate care even or even
just hoisting moving from chair to chair how
are you navigating that consent with your learners
so once again it's a really it's a really what
do i say it's a really tricky thing to navigate
um because I have, for example, in my class,
we do have a variety of learners, some who can
give very, very clear gestural or sort of vocal
consent or, you know, indicating, you know, I
disapprove, get away from me. We've had, you
know, and during things like TACPAC, that's incredibly
useful. If they don't like a certain texture
or a sound, they might use a facial expressions
or vocalizations and to, you know, from. getting
to know those learners and clearly indicate,
I don't like this. When it comes to our more
passive learners, that is where it is definitely
still, I would say, a work in progress in our
class. I don't necessarily feel that there is,
there's definitely not a one size fits all. And
the way that I'm trying to support with, say,
consent during intimate care is by ensuring that
our school has got an intimate care policy. And
I've sort of recently supported with writing
that to be as. clear as and consistent as possible
and then also implementing intimate care plans
um still a relatively new thing in our setting
but by doing that it it gives us more opportunity
to actually think about how our learners communicate
we already have things like communication passports
that explicitly say you know why does this learner
communicate how do they communicate what their
communication might look like and I go into the
very very intimate details you know so for example
one of my learners mostly communicates through
eye movement maybe occasional mouth movement
or some sighing or like a deeper breath if they're
like particularly relaxed. And I make sure that
I've detailed all of those things in their communication
passport. And then we try and look for those
signals during intimate care and go from there.
It's so tricky, but it's interesting that, you
know, discussing this is something that we've
been discussing over the last term is in terms
of swimming and hydrotherapy. So I have... A
couple of learners, like I said, who are very
passive, quiet and sleep a lot. Yes, yes. They
either don't sleep so well at night or their
bodies just need that extra rest and it can mean
that they can be asleep for the entire school
day. And that's where navigating consent becomes
a real sort of minefield because you're very
aware that basic care needs need to be met. They
require feeds, they require medication, they
require... pad changes they require that intimate
care how do you then tackle things like postural
care and swimming when that learner is asleep
especially when you know that hydrotherapy or
being in the pool is incredibly beneficial for
that learner but you can't wake them up how do
you navigate that and it's something that we
I don't really have an answer to because I think
of it from two different perspectives if that
learner or if if it were me and I was asleep
and I'd been taken into a changing room where
the light's really bright and it's really hot,
and I'm having all my clothes taken off, and
all of a sudden I wake up and I'm submerged in
water. Yes, I might have someone holding me,
but I'm submerged in water with essentially no
warning. That would be terrifying, right? So
how do we navigate that with a learner that needs
that hydrotherapy but doesn't wake up? for example.
And then from the other perspective, I sort of
discussed this with people at school, is that
we felt like, right, well, if that learner is
asleep, they can't consent to doing this activity,
this position change. But ultimately, that's
still what they need to... And it's your duty
of care. And it's a duty of care. So it's my
concerns about consent. Am I projecting my concerns
about consent onto that learner when actually...
they just want their needs met hair overrides
that i think you are a beautiful teacher for
having these concerns that just shows your heart
is in the right place but i think ultimately
it isn't your responsibility to make these choices
it comes down to the parents or carers to make
these choices and it just comes down to again
having a really great relationship with them
and i think parents would really appreciate being
asked yeah when they are asleep what do you want
us to do and us just having to do that and trust
that the parent knows best in situation and that
helps me sleep at night knowing you know the
person that knows and loves them best has made
this decision yeah absolutely and if it makes
me feel really uncomfortable then we can have
another conversation about it absolutely ultimately
I just think that just takes off a huge amount
of pressure and responsibility from our shoulders
and gives it to the parents and guardians who
should be making those choices for their children.
Yeah. And sometimes I think as well, it can depend
sort of week on week as well. You might have
a learner who's sleeping all day because they
haven't slept all night. And in that particular
instance, that parent might actually say, do
you know what, please just let them sleep. they
they need their sleep just leave them to it whereas
another week it might be completely different
and they might actually need that yeah they might
need that stimulation actually it might get them
it might wake them up but it's oh it's just it's
balance isn't it yeah it's hard it's something
that we're constantly asking ourselves though
isn't it is you know what's right in this situation,
because we can't ask them. Same for, I had a
conversation with parents just before breaking
up, actually, they've got an upcoming possible
medical intervention, but it's the parent's decision
to go ahead with it or not. Which is a huge responsibility
for the parents. And they were asking my advice
and God, that's, you know, what a conversation
to have, you know, and there's no right or wrong
in this situation. Ultimately, there are risks
with both and there are benefits, possible benefits
with both. And you just have to sit with. what
your decision you've made I suppose and and but
it's amazing that we have these conversations
regularly and that we're involved in these and
ultimately you do just have to make the best
gut choice and with the professional's advice
that you've got access to and live with your
decision ultimately yeah Yeah, it can be quite,
it's daunting sometimes, isn't it? Because you
want to make as informed and appropriate choice
for your learners at all times. But we're not
doctors. No, we're not, like, no. But when we're
dealing with health and medical needs, you know,
day in, day out, sometimes it kind of feels like
you might be a little bit. My day to day with
my PMRD down has definitely looks like I'm a
medical professional over a teacher. Without
a question. No day doesn't look like I'm more
than a teacher than a medical professional. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And even where my mindset's at as
well is much more medical professional based
teacher. Yeah. However, you do do some pretty
cool teacher stuff. I try. You do. You do. So
when all of their basic needs are met and when
they're all awake and when they're, you know,
ready to learn and you've got the space and capacity
and adults and resources to do some fun stuff,
you make some tricky topics look pretty fun.
And we were talking a few weeks ago about your
Narnia topic. Would you like to explain? that
because i think that would help people understand
the beauty and the creativity of this role you
know we've painted it in quite a harsh light
before and then people were being why are you
doing it that was awful that sounds awful and
a huge responsibility but ultimately it's these
it's these moments that we get that just make
it the best job in the world really so yeah we
don't just think about your nine -year topic
and what that how you came to create that what
that made you know how your learners enjoyed
it and and all of that kind of stuff yeah sure
so this must have been in the in the spring term
so yeah at the start of the year um one of our
sub topics was sort of traditional tales and
classic authors and i've kind of got a bit you
know i'm trying to manage this might where we
might be where we come on to sort of age appropriateness
as well and how we navigate that but i didn't
want to do the traditional tales like Three Little
Pigs and Red Riding Hood. You know, these learners
have been at the school for 10 plus years. I
think we need something different. Yeah. So I
was trying to look at some different options
and I knew that we had World Book Day coming
up. So some of the options we had didn't really
work for me. So I had a little look at The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe and thought, right,
how can I do this story? It's, you know, it's
a pretty heavy, in -depth story. How am I going
to make this appropriate for my learners? And
what I usually do with, you know, big, big stories
or, you know, in -depth plays is I literally
pull out individual scenes or settings. So, for
example, the way that we sort of explored The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is we did a
session where we were. evacuees at a train station
so like the very very early steps of the children
and nanny is the children's like journey to the
manor house before they find the wardrobe and
we did a couple of weeks I think we did a scene
every fortnight and we just did like a full -blown
I turned the classroom into a train station we
had dangly sort of fluorescent lighting and I
set up a switch adapted fan, which I know has
become one of your very popular things to use.
I set up a fan with a switch so we could feel
the rush of air as a train comes past the train
station. And we did all sorts of things like
that. And I just wanted to make the experience
of a train station as best as I possibly could
without us having to physically go, you know,
to a train station. And that's kind of how we
sort of explored the story. We did it through.
different it's giving them opportunity to learn
about the story but it's also immersing them
in real world real world experiences and experiences
to help better prepare them for when somebody
talks about a train or a train station if they've
never been to one because a lot of people have
never seen a train or been to a train station
they know what that means and feels like and
smells like and they can kind of it's giving
them those real life experiences that's the benefit
of doing those kind of multi -sensory experiences
we also set up mats with recordings that kept
saying mind the gap mind the gap and we'd bump
you could bump their chairs up onto the mat and
it would feel like the transition from going
from platform to train and we had like remote
control like switch adapted thomas the tank engine
that we could move around and then we also had
you know on our on our big screen there's so
many things that you can just so many different
videos like even just on youtube you know of
like a train going through a tunnel or you going
through a tunnel and then you can have those
sound effects alongside it and the smell of the
if it's a steam train you can have like those
smoky smells and use big black blankets to just
whoosh over your head really suddenly to get
that experience of going through a tunnel um
it's just so many different things that So I
suppose some of your learners will be fully,
I mean, who are we to say that they're not, you
know, some of your learners will be understanding
this is a train station, this is the Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe, this is this scene, whatever.
But even if they don't understand any of that
and they explore the world and learn from the
world from a sensory level alone, they are still
getting all of their senses engaged with, new
experiences, they're learning how they're...
body feels and navigating the world and all those
things so you're kind of hitting all of those
marks but for all of your learners all at the
same time yeah but also trying to make sure that
we're not creating a scenario that's going to
be too overwhelming as well we also have to be
really conscious that for our learners with say
a multi -sensory impairment overloading those
senses can actually be incredibly overstimulating
and therefore they also may not engage in that
learning so it very much is trying to find a
balance so is your way of like here's facilitating
the stuff and then is it up to your teaching
assistants or whoever's working with that child
to kind of navigate when you use the stuff how
far to push them how far to encourage them to
engage and all those kind of things they're like
a day -to -day minute by minute second by second
kind of yeah we are constantly adapting the way
that we're working with each learner um i make
sure that every time we are doing a session that
i give a clear you know Please remember, for
example, if we're introducing smells, I remember
Joanna Grace saying before how smells can evoke
really strong memories because it's processed
by a different part of your brain. So forcing
smell upon someone is really, really overwhelming.
So a really good option is to, if you're going
to offer a smell, you give them the opportunity
to indicate that they want to receive it. And
it's by placing it nearer to the side of the
head. I've seen so many people just go with,
oh my... going to smell something and then just
pop it straight under someone's nose and it's
not until someone does that to you yeah that's
it if they They can smell it from here. If they're
turning their head towards it, you know, if they're
making, you know, more exaggerated mouth movements
or tongue movements or that you can note or they're
turning their eyes in that direction, you can
get a pretty good indicator of engagement and
interest. And then you can bring it closer. You
know, some of our learners might not be able
to turn their head towards it. But then you work
with them and you're picking up on their signals
all the time. And, yeah, that can change really
regularly. You know, there might be one day.
where they respond beautifully to the Monday
smell, which is like strawberry. But the following
week, they might be tired. They might be ill.
There could be a whole range of other factors
going on that mean they don't engage with it.
So it's just about constantly looking at and
receiving. they're like subtle there's a lot
of observation in the job isn't there constant
observation knowing them really well and constant
observation and noticing changes you know you
don't normally react like that you know you normally
like that and constantly questioning and observing
yeah there's been a number of times where I've
had a learner come in and I can look at them
straight away and you can pick up that something's
not right and you can't quite work out what it
is to start with but you know as you sort of
try and problem solve and work out from work
out from there it's the same with you know a
learner that comes in with some particularly
like challenging behavior one day you know they're
obviously trying to communicate something and
it's trying to problem solve and work out what
that thing could be it's it's the same for for
our PMLD learners it just might be on a significantly
more like subtle It's interesting you say that,
actually, because since working with my PMLD
learners, I'm a far better SEN teacher, just
in general. And I think it's because when you
strip it back to basic needs, to needing to observe,
to thinking about consent and personal appropriateness,
to not assuming that they do or don't understand
something and finding ways of meeting their needs
and learning anyway, all of those things are
so crucial in PMLD and celebrated in PMLD. that
works for every teacher and every learner and
every student. And I am such a better teacher,
such a better, more affirming teacher because
of those experiences with working with these
young people. Yeah, I agree. I think it's really
similar to how we've said that a lot of strategies
for our autistic learners can be incredibly beneficial
in a mainstream classroom, ensuring that their
sensory diet needs are met, et cetera, et cetera.
it's very similar in that regard this is just
bringing it back even you know further to those
most like early stages of communication or response
or initiation and it's really really fascinating
how much you learn by taking that full step back
and something I try and encourage in my classroom
is we try and participate in the hanging out
program I don't know if you're familiar with
that no um it's really similar to Intensive Interaction.
It was created by Sheridan Forster, I believe.
And it's the basic principle is rather than...
having a dedicated social time you're making
sure that every single day you are basically
vowed to commit 10 minutes of your time every
single day one -on -one with one of your learners
every learner should get that opportunity every
day just 10 minutes of uninterrupted just being
with time a particular agenda it doesn't need
to be meeting an IEP need it doesn't need to
be doesn't need to be a game or it doesn't need
to be like a you don't need to have a point basically
no it is literally you just if they're laying
on the mat you just lay down next to them and
you just be with them it's such a it's weird
how like quickly you're like oh wow because 10
minutes doesn't sound like a long time but actually
with your with when you're with someone Yeah,
it's like so, so beneficial. Do all of your adults
try to commit to doing that? Or is it a you thing?
No, I've not pushed it on my team. We basically
have like I have a chart up in our classroom
that says like hot. And I just said, like, here's
all the learners. Here's our days of the week.
Every single day, we need to make sure that.
every learner is receiving 10 minutes at least
10 minutes of that uninterrupted and do you try
and get on everybody by the end of the week we
try and make sure every learner has had the opportunity
every day so yeah yeah and that's the thing like
obviously you can't all do that at the same time
because then you know personal care needs won't
get met etc but there's always going to be a
few minutes in your day where you're not able
to do a lesson because you've got other stuff
going on but then you might have a couple of
staff that aren't really sure what to do in that
particular moment and that is the ideal time
to say right go and spend 10 minutes with so
and so And just, yeah, no expectations. The difference
that would make in trust and relationship building
and bonds between adult and learner must be massive.
And you have no agenda, but just knowing that
they're seen and heard and hung out with is...
it's beautiful i can totally see the benefits
of that when it does come to dysregulation when
it does come to those uh -oh tricky moments it
does come to a medical emergency there'll be
far more trusting of you to support them if you've
got that trust and bond and relationship yeah
and it's something that if i if i'm aware that
you know i've got to a point where i know that
learn like learning official timetable teaching
is not going to happen that day quite often you
can pick and pick up quite early on in the day
how it's going to go then I will at the very
least make sure that happens because in total
that's less than an hour and a half of your entire
day and that's split between sort of seven staff
you know it's durable it's realistic yeah it
is and even when you are managing you know postural
care and position change and intimate care like
that is something you can do so yeah that's something
we try Yeah. I really love it. What are some
things that you think, well, what is one thing
that you wish you had to benefit your classroom
that you don't yet have? That's tricky. This
would probably be in terms of practicality, but
a slightly bigger classroom. Yeah. Just because,
you know, I have a classroom of hormonal teenagers.
They're adult size. They are adult size. Their
equipment is adult size. I have used to... work
with early years aged learners so i'm used to
standing frames that are like this big or chairs
that are this big whereas now they're like taller
than me and it's absolutely bulky oh my god so
much room yeah one man will have two three four
pieces of equipment each so when you've got eight
learners that's a lot of equipment to store because
it takes a whole classroom and then you have
achiever beds that are obviously they take up
like a whole wall in your classroom And hoists.
Hoists, walkers. I have, yeah, have an extra
mobile hoist in case our ceiling hoist decides
to pack up or if I need to do two or three transfers
at the same time. So yeah, more space would be
great. And the other thing really is if we're
looking at more on the money side of things,
like assistive tech, that's something that we...
Not necessarily, you know, really, really high
tech everything, you know, all bells and whistles,
thousands of pounds worth of equipment, but just
a little bit more to be able to engage with stuff
that we already have. So, for example, using
certain programs on the interactive screen so
we can assess our visual skills better and our
cause and effect understanding. Once you've used,
once certain learners have used a certain switch
activated device a few times, it gets a bit...
repetitive and boring but as i'm sure you probably
know like unless you're willing to switch adapt
something yourself the you know the tax on it
is huge yeah the sensory tax it's really really
tricky disability tax yeah it's bonkers isn't
it but there are training courses out there to
teach yourself how to do it yes i have been looking
it's something i would it's something i would
really like to do um because there is such a
lack of resources sort of in that area. Yeah,
which is similar to in mainstream, doing the
same topic and the same worksheet every day for
four years. You would never do that and think
that was good enough. But using the same switched
up tutorial, the same three switched up tutorials
that are a little bit mucky, a little bit dirty,
a little bit slower than they used to be. Broken
in places, bit snapped. activity for the last
four years is the same as doing that and it's
just not good enough yeah it does cost more but
you know if you want those children to learn
and thrive and be engaged in learning because
otherwise you know no wonder lots of them are
passive because they've done little red riding
hood over and over again they've done we're going
on a bear hunt sensory story a million times
they've got switch toy it's not exciting yeah
It's no wonder they're passive. Obviously, that's
not going to help, you know? No, of course not.
But it does come down to money and us. I think
a massive part of our job is navigating and fighting
for and trying to explain the purposes and the
reasons why we're constantly asking for money
and resources. Yeah, it's a constant justification
of why do I need this? But it's not about me.
this learner needs this experience I can only
offer this experience in this particular way
obviously I'm always working to find work around
you know how can I create this experience without
you know breaking the bank but sometimes yeah
it either is far too time consuming it still
works out to be too expensive and you just need
yeah yeah which is increasingly the bigger issue
as well isn't it exactly just something else
before we finish what do you wish others and
listeners would know about classes like yours
because they're so hidden and locked away and
parents often struggle to go out and about through
you know accessibility or uh changing you know
bad changing spaces and all of those kind of
things oh my gosh yeah yeah that's a whole episode
in itself right yeah same for changing but what
do you wish that others would know about classes
like yours this is so tricky I wish people wouldn't
have the assumption that we don't do anything
and that the learners you know despite their
complexities despite their needs they are human
beings with still a huge wide range of emotion
and nuance when it comes to like who they are
as a person and I would just love people to have
more awareness of I don't even know it's a really
hard thing to describe you know multi -dimensional
person with interests and likes and desires and
wants and you know just as much and those as
just as important as anybody else yeah that's
it like it's Yeah, just because you see, you
know, someone, you know, a wheelchair user or
appears asleep. Maybe they're not. Maybe that's
just how they engage with the world. Maybe, you
know, maybe they're not sighing because they're
bored. Maybe they're sighing because they're
feeling it. deep sense of relaxation or maybe
their tongues moving in and out because that
is the way that they say oh my gosh i'm really
enjoying this experience maybe their eye movements
are like oh i can hear that sound like maybe
they can't turn their head towards it but their
eye movement is what indicates you know i can
hear that i can experience that i can feel that
yeah i just want people to know that like my
learners are yeah amazing incredible humans they
are and they're just as needing of really high
quality education yeah yeah that's it yeah and
it's not babysitting no no i don't just sit there
all day yeah far from it and it's not scary also
no i mean it's great fun and you can 100 build
such strong relationships like i have such strong
relationships with my learners and it's amazing
they are amazing at allowing you to do that like
they find ways and show you ways of communicating
completely non -verbally definitely movement
sometimes it's it's incredible they are incredible
at being able to communicate navigate the world
um yeah i just love it it's my favorite part
of my job honestly is you have to be so creative
don't you about thinking about ways of like how
am i gonna like i was just doing my planning
for next yeah i'm boring away summer holidays
i was just doing my planning and i was just thinking
how what was my choice oh magnets how am i going
to make magnets meaningful and useful and even
interesting you know what does it look like and
i was going to be focusing on like the push and
the pull exactly yeah exactly and even just movement
so like their physio and yeah all of those things
but i love the i love having to be creative and
think about you know how is this meaningful it's
kind of my favorite thing actually yeah we're
doing a human body oh so useful i don't want
to work on just you know hands and feet and i've
got the perfect story for you i've just written
it it's just been released it's awesome it's
called growing up hey that's amazing adults that's
really cool the teens about growing up and the
changes happening to our bodies by specifically
for learners like yours there we go then that
are navigating feelings inside their body and
smells that are different and people telling
us how much we've changed yeah and body hair
and like all sorts yeah because I don't once
again I don't want to just be doing head shoulders
knees and toes with my 13 to 19 year olds like
they're growing up they're nearly adults they've
got this huge like transition happening and I
want them to be able to understand or at least
develop some understanding of what's happening
to their bodies terrifying role that we have
it's really important yeah it's really really
important where do your learners go after your
class i think is a big question that often people
don't realize what happens after 19 it's a it's
quite daunting really because once once our learners
reach sort of 19 years of age that's the sort
of end of their school journey there are Not
specifically in my class, but there are some
learners that might be able to access some form
of further education through like adult community
learning or stuff like that and continue to maintain
their EHCP until they're 25. However, the majority
of, if not all of my learners potentially will
go onto a social care package. So they will be
supported to attend day centres or day services.
Some learners might go into a residential provision.
That's definitely happening. It's a process that's
happening at the moment, which is a whole other
experience. Yeah, so I suppose a lot of your
job is kind of preparing them for that transition
as well and communicating with the team around
these learners about everything you've learned
about them over the last few years. That's such
a huge thing because that's something that really
instills a bit of fear in me. And that's why
I'm trying to make sure I'm so thorough when
it comes to communication passports and intimate
care plans. Try and make sure, you know, I want
you to know this. person for who they are rather
than this owner being shipped off to a whole
brand new experience new environment and those
people having to start from scratch and getting
to know that individual You were talking right
at the beginning about these early years children
in your first class and how scary it must be
for the parents to hand them to you. Yeah. We
feel that too, don't we? With these 19 year olds,
or year sixes in my case. Yeah. Trusting a new
school to take care of your much loved people
after you've had them for, I mean, I've had mine
for seven years when they leave me. oh my god
trusting them with them to that they will contact
you if you know the amount of time i say you
will call me won't you if you're not sure and
i've done all this down and you know gosh it
must it's a it's a little bit of a taste of what
the parents feel in early years as well isn't
it i think we put so much of our sort of heart
and soul into providing the best care that we
best care and education that we can for them
and it can sometimes be I don't know, a little
bit soul destroying when you know that that learner
won't have their EHCP anymore because they're
going on to social care package, therefore the
legal. part of providing education is no longer
there so you know that once you've done everything
you can and they left you you just don't yeah
what happens in terms of like their communication
you know are they going to be supported to continue
communicating in the way that they do and be
acknowledged and heard are they going to continue
receiving that level of physical support that
they've received you know are they going to have
access to a standing frame are they going to
have access to a self well wheelchair if that's
what they usually use in school all of these
should of course be yes it should be but we know
that adult you know adult uh funding is incredibly
poor so yeah we've just got to navigate it and
do what you're doing and write as many things
down and be as available and knowledgeable as
possible pass all of that on and then yeah just
hope that somebody like you takes them on and
and Loves them as much as you do. I mean, ultimately,
that's what you want, isn't it? Yeah. On that
cheery night. I know people listening to this
that have learners like yours in their class
or lots of them are moving to provision, new
provision, and thinking, what am I going to do?
Your account is such an incredible resource for
ideas and training and where to go and different
topics. You're great at sharing seasonal topics,
national day topics and what it looks like in
your room, really celebrating those things. Where
can people find all of that good stuff from you?
So mainly Instagram. The handle is at Sensory
Shake Up. I haven't posted in a little while
because it's been a very, very busy summer term.
But I'm hoping I could take advantage of the
summer holidays and start sharing a bit more
content again. But yeah, that's pretty much the
only place you'll find me actually. Yeah, and
then you have some like printouts and stuff and
people can always contact you with questions.
Definitely. And if anyone thinks I heard about
a resource or an idea that I really like, just...
yeah just get in touch with me because i'm always
happy to share things i've done before we're
better together aren't we if someone's doing
something that they think you'll benefit from
then let you know too you know i love it when
people say have you heard about this yeah but
you particularly have you heard about this and
then i'm thinking no i need to do hop now you
know all of those things thank you so much for
joining me rachel um i know i've nagged you for
the last year to get you on and i hope that hasn't
been too scary it's been very useful to share
your wisdom so thank you thank you so much for
having me