Self-stimulatory behaviours (or "stimming") is prevalent in many special needs children, mostly appearing in children with autism. Stimming occurs when the need to relieve distress, reduce anxiety, or to combat sensory overload arises.
Therapies to help children with autism are aimed specifically at improving the quality of life and functional independence of individuals. There needs to be a distinction made between treatment and therapy. Therapies help to improve behavioural limitations that arise because of the condition. The aim will be to improve the independence of the child, so they are able to function in society.
It is interesting how when you type in “teacher training for special needs children”, Google offers courses for specialist teachers of SEN or for Teaching Assistants. However, since the 2014 Code of Practice the emphasis has been on inclusion and not intervention through withdrawal for small group or one-to-one teaching. Therefore, the landscape of teacher training should have changed with the Code of Practice: but is this the case?
Every teacher will tell you that the nirvana of teaching is pure personalisation. This means every child is being taught in a way that is suited to their needs. In reality, few teachers successfully achieve differentiation within a lesson on broad ability types. This is partly due to class sizes and partly due to a lack of training in how to address different children’s needs.
