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.
Hello everybody and welcome to the Sensory Classroom
podcast. My name is Jordan and today I'm joined
by Alex from Father, Teacher, Reader. Alex is
a dad to three boys and loves... sharing books
together and sharing books on their Instagram.
He shares loads of reviews and lots of topical
and seasonal kind of reviews on books. And he's
also an SEMH teacher as well. I'm really excited
to talk about my favourite thing, which is children's
books with him today. Hi, Alex. Thank you for
introducing me. Yes, I'm Alex, also known as
Father Teacher Reader. I'm a dad to three boys
and we all love reading together. I am also an
SEMH teacher and I teach up in a school in Manchester
where I work for children. who have social emotional
mental health as their primary area of need but
yeah thank you for having me you're so welcome
so i suppose for those that don't know how would
an semh class differ from special education needs
school you know what what are the differences
that you see um so basically my class is classified
as a resource provision so we're attached to
a mainstream primary school so the aim for the
children who i'm working with is to try and get
them back into a mainstream class So my class
has a high level of adults. There's three adults
to five children at the moment. And we work not
just on academic targets, but also targets around
their social and emotional needs. We do a lot
of PSHE, life skills kind of activities. And
then when children are settled in our setting,
then they'll start to attend mainstream classes.
but in subjects that they're good at. So we wouldn't
just throw them straight back into mainstream.
If they're really good at maths, they might attend
to maths. If they love reading, they might attend
to reading. If they're really creative and it's
art. So it's all dependent on the child's needs
and where they're at. And that's where we try
and meet them. It sounds wonderful. It's how
inclusion should work, right? Yeah, it should
work. And you said you're a father of three boys
as well. And this is an incredibly stereotypical
and blanket statement of me. But my understanding
is that it's... Boys maybe find it typically
harder to find a love of reading or to settle
for reading. Is that what you've found as part
of a teacher and a dad? Yeah. So as a teacher,
when I first started at my setting, the kids
were, most of them were boys, like 90 % of the
children in the SMH setting are boys. And they'd
be like, we hate reading. They'd rip books up
at me. They'd throw them at me. They'd destroy
the book area. I was like, right. we can't have
this let's let's get them into a love of reading
so a big thing was like voice and choice what
what do you want to read what are your interests
what do you like let's move away from just stereotypical
chapter books is reading and look at what else
is out there like graphic novels have been a
game changer like books like the investigators
bumble and snug like you name it dog man like
they love reading and now i actually get children
going into crisis when i have to say like right
it's time to stop reading um so we've definitely
changed that but stereotypically yeah i have
found at school boys were less likely to want
to read less likely to know what they wanted
to read so part of my job at school was like
let's make them love reading we have story time
at the beginning of the day we use books throughout
the day for a range of things we have snack time
which we put a story on the board as well so
like throughout the day they're getting at least
three books a day um i think that's sometimes
always them reading right sometimes just say
it's an audio or being read to yes we take the
pressure of say if they're dyslexic which often
Like the SEMH comes from something, doesn't it?
A neurodivergence or something. A lack of confidence
in some way or there's a reason. And sometimes
it can be dyslexia. You know, they fall out of
love of school because it just feels really hard.
You know, reading is just really hard. So yeah,
by having it read to you is a really lovely way
of just removing that barrier and still breeding
a love of reading. Like you said, like the children
I work with now, they're year five and year six
and they're still being love read to. Like it's
not just something just for our little ones.
i think everyone likes being just read to and
just getting to chill um but at home as well
i think a big barrier i think children at home
is actually having books at home i think i know
with my page i get a lot of books and we do have
a lot of books in the house so it's a bit different
and i think like we have story time at night
like reading is a big part of our life so i think
my boys might be a bit different from stereotypical
but there is definitely challenges for trying
to engaged boys and i think we just have to meet
them where they are and what are their interests
if you find a book even if it's like a non -fiction
book about tractors or a non -fiction book about
dinosaurs And you just read a page of that. You're
starting that love of reading in just a different
way that's not just like chapter books and story
books. Nonfiction has been more of the way to
go with my learners as well. It ends up more
of a conversation as well. They can share the
facts that they know and it can be a really lovely
relationship builder rather than focusing on
the words they don't know or correcting them
and all those things they might find really triggering
with fiction books. it doesn't feel like a test
they're actually excelling in telling me all
the facts that they know and sharing that love
of their special interest together so that for
us has been a really lovely way in and like you
said with non -fiction books as well it's normally
like broken down with little subheadings and
little boxes of information so you're not just
faced with like a page of text you've got like
little snippets and you can read you can start
at the bottom over on that corner you can start
over there there's no right way to read a non
-fiction book as well you can dip in and out
of it like when you feel like it so yeah lots
of images as well isn't there a lot of photos
and labeling and those illustrations as well
so which give context to what you might be reading
about it gives clues to what the text says doesn't
it yeah have you noticed that lots of your semh
children have traits of dyslexia yes you have
so we we screen them all for dyslexia after that
once they're in about year two slash three we
start screening for dyslexia and we found the
majority of them do have dyslexic tendencies
um so we've used a lot of the barrington stoke
books i don't know if you're aware of that they
are brilliant for dyslexic learners and i think
we found i think you we've talked about this
but you found out that some of our older learners
they're just being given quite youngish looking
books expected to read because that's the reading
level so it might be they're in year five and
year six but they're reading a book that's aimed
at a year one child because that's the level
they're reading at whereas barrington stoke the
content might be aimed for like a five to six
year old but it looks like and the topic is more
for like a year five and year six child they're
really really good and they've got it all affect
their confidence their self -esteem their peer
-to -peer group you know they're aware of what
their friends are reading this the dyslexic students
in my mainstream school because i worked really
closely with uh them with a program that we were
doing and they were desperate to read things
like harry potter and chapter books they were
so excited that they could read a chapter book
because they've just been reading these really
thin 10 minutes really big text words and they
were aware that it was different and they didn't
want to be different completely completely agree
with that i had a child in my class and he was
not stuck up but constantly working on these
like phase five books and they aren't like you
said they're very tiny text is big he's like
it's boring it's boring so i was like oh it's
boring it's boring and like as well like you're
actually going to do a bit more harm than good
there because their self -confidence with reading
is just going to dip. They're not going to want
to read. And then you're going to have a crisis
when, right, it's reading time. Oh, I'm reading
this little book again, whereas everyone else
is on one of these books. So him, like comics
and graphic novels, honestly, being a game changer,
he loves reading. He's like, oh, it's time to
read. Can I read this one? Can I read that? And
in my class, I have a selection of graphic novels
on the bookshelf at all times that they know
they can just... dip in and dip out of and they
also now like all the kids have a book on their
desk as well but a book that they've chosen to
and they want to put on their desk and everyone
else looks and go oh what have you got on your
desk like so that they're interested in what
other people are reading they want to read it's
like definitely just finding books that they
want to read is a big big step and yeah there'll
be there'll be words that they might not be able
to read and that is fine like you do not have
to read every single word in the book but that's
really helps build their confidence around reading
that's really really lovely where did your love
of children's books and books so definitely started
for me as a kid so my grandma devon now but she
used to look after me and my twin brother a lot.
And one of the things we used to do was go to
the library. And I remember maxing out the library
card every week, seeing what I could get. And
that's where my love of reading started from.
Dipped a bit in teenage years. I think I found
reading wasn't seen as cool, which then I stopped
reading and maybe hid my reading. But when I
got to about 18, 19, I was like, no, the benefits
of reading, reading is cool. I love it. I love
it just to... relax i love it to educate myself
i love it to entertain myself so it's just been
a huge part of my life and then about three and
a bit years ago my wife was like do you know
people share books online it's like what do you
mean she was like oh on instagram like people
share the books they're reading she said i think
you'd be really good at it and i was like do
i do i not and then i just like one weekend i
was like right i'll i'll just do it and then
yes met some people online and they were commenting
and then discovered this whole bookstagram community
with loads of amazing parents and teachers and
librarians and readers um yeah and it's just
kind of grown and grown from there It's been
really helpful for me because I know you share
things about topics or seasonal things, holiday
things. It's really helpful because otherwise
we're starting from scratch and we're all doing
it. We all do it ourselves. Every like new time
we get a new topic or every time there's like
a holiday or tricky topic to cover, hot books
would be like that. And we're all doing it our
own, like on our own from scratch. Like why don't
we just do it together? teachers have teachers
have so much on their plates and like on top
of that they're expected to know what books are
available out there and there's so many like
new books coming out um diverse books coming
out and like sometimes as teachers we just we
know this one book that we enjoyed as a kid and
it was a classic then and we just end up using
the very same books when there's a better range
out now so part of my page is just showing like
what is out there because i know it's hard for
teachers to constantly be on the ball and see
what new authors are coming out and what new
books are coming out but yeah so i just love
sharing collections and like you said i could
share them around themes so if there's like valentine's
day coming up or easter or i'll share a collection
of books on my page around that or um books around
different festivals holidays special weeks you
know like anti -bullying week and things like
that i'll try and just create a collection of
books and share them on my page having that those
diversities of books and i think i'm definitely
one for you know i'm really busy oh yeah hand
a surprise yeah maybe from around the world and
it can be really problematic and hand a surprise
particularly problematic because it's actually
oh god where do we start written by somebody
that isn't of color it really does um embed an
idea of what people live like in different countries
which isn't accurate and it can be incredibly
problematic and we tell it to our youngest learners
so right from a really early age they've got
a really different and warped view of what it
is to live in other countries so hand surprises
classic one it comes out every year and i love
you're paid for giving us alternatives yes for
books like that without us having to you know
we can be lazy we don't have to do the research
ourselves we can come to you and trust your opinion
and trust that you have done the research to
then find a better option like you said it's
a it's a big thing about own voices in children's
literature like i don't know if you know dappo
adiola who did look up yeah yes i love the car
so the illustrator dappo he has made so many
brilliant books and they're just honestly incredible
to read his illustrations are amazing him as
a person's amazing there's the catch polls james
and lucy who have done some brilliant picture
books about physical disabilities and they are
honestly just fantastic you've got the gina kaminsky
books by craig bar green that show the wonderful
girl with autism and how she communicates and
it actually uses visuals within the story like
there are so many brilliant own voices books
coming out that honestly i just want to shout
on the rooftops and let everyone know about them
because they are so helpful and what a wonderful
position that you're in yeah like i love it and
i love sharing that with teachers in my school
and saying oh look did you know this book's out
and like that would be really good for your topic
that you're doing um And like you said, it's
not just like holidays and celebrations. I think
books are so important for so many subjects and
lots of like tough subjects. Like you said, like
grief, like being able to sit down and share
a picture book that talks about grief and like
the emotions behind that and the feelings and
children understanding that it is okay and is
normal. It's so beneficial alongside like books
around emotions. Like a lot of my children in
my class, like who struggle with a social, emotional,
mental health, it comes out as anger. And it's
teaching them that anger is fine. Anger is okay.
Anger is normal. Breaking something, hurting
someone isn't okay. But the feeling that you
are feeling is valid. That is fine. And books
do a wonderful thing for showing children that
all these emotions are normal. They are okay.
learners as well because the book is the same
every time become come it can be easier for children
to process that or as if we're having a conversation
with them away from the text it can become different
every time we might use different words it's
harder to understand it's also could be quite
intimate like face -to -face conversations quite
tricky whereas just having that book because
it's the same every time it's concrete doesn't
change that can be quite pleasing and much more
accessible to our neurodivergent learners to
take that information on board it also especially
talking about grief it can be quite a challenge
for the adults to just discuss that with the
children but by having the book having a script
it allows those conversation it allows that learning
so you're not just ignoring it but also it kind
of removes you and your deep feelings of grief
which is often going on at the same time from
the conversation and actually just makes it a
really palatable and positive and constructive
conversation yeah it getting muddied with your
own feelings that you're going through 100 %
really agree with that I suppose that leads us
on to social stories as well I mean writing stories
I suppose we spoke a little bit earlier before
we started recording that I found that there
was a lack of stories for older disabled learners
so older PMLD people but that were accessible
on a sensory level alone without being babyish
like where is my nose peekaboo like with a mirror
you know that that was the kind of books that
we had that was all we had that's what this isn't
it's just it goes s there will they need sensory
books but it doesn't have to be the board books
and like like you said like this is not my all
those ones like i mean they're great and they
have their place they're brilliant but it's really
lovely to be able to offer that scientific language
and just a richer broad sensory like development
and awareness as well so yeah that's why i created
my own series of books have you ever considered
writing your own stories i'm sure i have so there
was my big one i don't know if you've ever read
the um the medical diary do you remember is it
this is gonna hurt by the doctor in the yeah
in the guy and it inspired me to write write
one very similar to what true stories that have
happened in teaching I was going to call it the
non -negotiables of teaching and it was basically
all these stories that had happened through my
teaching career that you wouldn't kind of believe
had happened or like funny anecdotes and stuff
but yeah no I never got around to doing it I
think Mr P has done something very similar I
think there's more space I think I know I know
and it's maybe from like from the last four years
where I've been working like the send more maybe
something around send I don't know but there
is it's definitely an idea and I've got a little
notebook with some ideas in okay that's good
that's good to hear I do think every teacher
especially in SEND have a book in them of the
stuff that we have seen and gone through and
heard and I would read it I think I think I think
I'm but yeah one day yeah exactly so when would
you said that you have the audio books in your
classroom and then you read to your children
is that what that looks like in your setting
is it like lots of different opportunities kind
of sprinkled in throughout your timetable yeah
so because literacy is a barrier to a lot of
them learning and they didn't like it i was thinking
oh how can we drop it in so we've got we have
oh sorry so when we start the day we'll have
a story that i'll read to them again it's a it's
our class book and they'll have a choice between
the two books and we'll do a little vote and
we'll share that book i really focus on diversifying
the options that we had when i started the school
luckily i'm in a position where i've helped develop
like a reading river for all the classes in the
school so they've got a selection of text they
can do that with Then we'll have our literacy,
which will include another form of story. Might
be a picture book, might be a longer text, and
we'll share bits of that. We'll use audio stories.
If you have your story time online, I think it's
brilliant. So it is Americanized, but they release
a new story each month, but they've kind of animated
the story. bit more visuals than just someone
reading the book and they're all read by like
american actors and stuff but my class absolutely
love it so we'll at snack time that'll be on
in the background then throughout the day they
have and they're able to we've got a yoto player
i haven't been paid to say this but they are
fantastic as a audio device always available
but they we we have one at home and the one at
school the kids love you can even get songs now
like we got the moana songs and some of the kids
put that in and they'll listen to that we have
the little headphones they're not disturbing
anyone they can just take their way self to that
you can get jokes on there now the stories of
books that we've read in class that you can get
on the yoto so we'll use that and then also we'll
have a time where they'll read to an adult and
again that'll be a book that they've chosen um
and luckily i know i'm in a position where we
have three adults to five kids so every day they're
reading for at least 10 minutes with an adult
But they don't have to be sat at the table. They
might go to the calm corner, might be on a beanbag
and read. As long as they're comfy when they're
reading. Yeah, I suppose on that. Throughout
our day, there's multiple reading opportunities.
On that positioning, I suppose. Yeah. How do
you support your more fidgety, more sensuous
thinking, movement -needing learners to concentrate
for a story, even if it's like listening to a
story or when they're reading? How do you navigate
that? So a lot of our learners do really struggle
to sit still, as people say. But I think a big
thing was changing, like talking to staff and
being like sitting still isn't the be all and
end all. Like that isn't an indicator to whether
they're actually listening. It might actually
take them more energy and effort to mask and
to sit still. And they're not actually listening
because they're putting all that focus into sitting
still and doing what they think you want them
to do. So we have a range of different seating
opportunities in our class. We've got beanbags
to sit on. We've got like these peanuts, which
are quite like, I don't know, they're like hard,
soft shapes that they like to sit on. Children
have aids around their desks, like fidgets and
bands on their chair that they really like. We
also have like, so part of my role, we also have
a younger SEMH class with like children from
like years two and three. And we've got... In
there, they have basically like a yoga ball,
but it's on like, it's really cool. We only got
it this year. It's like a yoga ball, but on like
a little stand with like a back. So it's like
a seat with a back, but they can bounce on it.
Yeah, just bounce on it. And it's just like chill.
Like we also use, the children love body socks.
I don't know if you use them with your learners.
They're like a light kind of. They're like a
suit that kind of put that deep pressure. Honestly,
we get a load of them, put them in there, chill
in. lots of tools lots of movement allowing from
how they are whether it's laying pacing in and
out we're very exceptional all those movements
and then also our timetable has lots of movement
breaks in it so before a story they would have
just maybe had break time and a bit though we've
had a little sensory break and done like a little
movement break like we do our timetable isn't
like like movement is included because we understand
a lot of our children who have like adhd and
they need that movement they need to sensory
seek as well and how wonderful that your children
are in your class have that bespoke timetable
that is exactly what they need because that's
tricky on mainstream it's not that mainstream
teachers can't have movement breaks but it's
It's harder to put it in as meaningfully and
as individualized as you can with five students.
So it's a real benefit, isn't it? Yeah, I think
that's what really pushed me into looking at
Ascend role. About five years ago, I was in a
school, I was doing a mainstream year one, year
two class, but about six of the learners had
CMH needs. And I was like, I want to help, I
want to do my best, but with the constraints
of a mainstream teacher, I couldn't. I was like...
doing my best and then i i was like how can i
do that and then you've also got the pressure
from maybe like slt leaders about data and the
attainment of the other children it was yeah
it was really hard but then it pushed me to look
into like semh and i spoke to like an educational
psychologist came in and like went and had a
look around like our local pro and stuff and
i was like no i really do want to work with learners
like this i think it was a big part of me going
like they need love they need time they need
that which they're not going to get in this mainstream
setting but luckily I found a role in a setting
that that did and yeah I have never been a mainstream
teacher but I went for an interview once and
I just couldn't stop looking at the children
that clearly needed more and just I just knew
in my heart I was like no I'd I would just be
focusing too much on them almost like I wouldn't
be I'd be doing the other children a disservice
I'm made for SEND and I think some teachers are
and some teachers aren't and I think that is
perfectly okay however I think all teachers are
SEND teachers these days everybody has that need
so it's a really important and I love the podcast
for this opportunity to be able to talk to teachers
like yourself and other experts to enable all
teachers to have a base knowledge of movement
breaks how to support reading how to support
communication and all of those wonderful things
because we all need it no matter what class we
think we have we've all we're all scn teachers
yeah well we definitely like looking now like
schools and classes have changed so much since
i first started teaching around 10 years ago
like normally you might have maybe one send learner
in a class like Now, like it's a big portion
and movement breaks do need to be part of every
timetable, not just the same timetable. Like
we, I love the resources, you know, that Jen,
Jen's backpacks and stuff. They're just incredible
to use. Like we use them a lot. And luckily I
was able to share a twilight with the staff and
go like, look, look at all these resources that
can use and can benefit the children in your
class. I'm like, just like they're there. They're
ready to use. They're accessible. yeah and they're
realistic aren't they they're created by teachers
for teachers and i think that's that comes with
some real power that it is possible there are
teachers using this that are just like you it
is possible to be able to meet the needs of your
students that are in your class without exclusion
i suppose is is the alternative isn't it where
can people find out more about your books when
your book comes out all of you that's really
mean sorry no your book ideas and your reviews
and all of that kind of stuff so currently just
on instagram so i have instagram page at father
teacher reader um and there you'll see bits i
share mostly book collections and books and for
that page is where all that i put everything
so but yeah if i do ever get a book deal it will
be on there i'll be telling everyone to pre -order
I shouldn't put pressure on you, but you could
absolutely do. Another thing I think you should
be doing is YouTube. Doing book read aloud. I
know. We would love. I actually did. I actually
did. So during COVID. Oh my God, this is cringy
now. So I did. I created Mr. Puddick's story
times. obviously when covid and children weren't
going to school and i was like my kids loved
story time like when i used to be an eyfs teacher
i used to work reception nursery and they used
to love story time i used to love story time
i'd always pop to waterstone to see what new
book i could get that um that week so i was like
they're gonna miss that during covid so i just
set up a youtube page and like no i didn't actually
do it on youtube first i did it on facebook and
put out there and then someone was like put it
on youtube so then in the end i put it all on
youtube but this is like what was covered four
years ago five years ago i can't remember now
and then one of the learners in my class has
obviously been googling mr poddick and has found
mr poddick story time and this learner has become
obsessed with mr poddick story time and is like
do you know you have 84 subscribers he said i'm
gonna subscribe And then every day it's like,
you're going to put a new video on Mystophotic
Storytime. I was like, oh, that was a long time
ago. Maybe it needs to come back. I feel like
it does. I need some more stories to add to my
core work collection and I'd love to add yours.
So you didn't realise that this podcast was going
to come with pressure of writing your own books.
I'm starting a YouTube channel. You've given
me a long to -do list. Sorry about that. Thank
you so much for joining today, Alex. It's been
an absolute joy to share my love of... books
and reading with you if you are listening to
this and you would like to extend your reading
collection at home or in your classroom then
please head to father underscore teacher underscore
reader for some fantastic ideas on how you can
do that thank you Alex thank you so much Jordan