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SEN Teacher is amongst the oldest teaching resource sites and has over 300,000 regular users. Our learning materials are free to share and use in schools or at home. The Print tools on SEN Teacher allow you to create, adapt and share teaching resources for a wide-range of abilities.

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Welcome to the Math Salamanders

Take a look at our massive range of free math worksheets for kids aged Kindergarten and up!

We have a huge bank of free math resources, calculators, puzzles and games for you to use and enjoy with your kids or students.

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The Math Salamanders provide you with:

A huge bank of free educational Math worksheets.

Graded sheets so that you can easily select the right level of difficulty.

Fun Math activities, puzzles and games to play.

Practice worksheets to help your child to learn their basic math facts.

The Math Salamanders caters for all Elementary grades, from Kindergarten upwards.

We also have a growing selection of worksheets for middle and high school students.

You can easily find the correct level of our free Math worksheets to suit your needs by clicking on the age category.

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There are zones for practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division as well as place value and fractions.

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Most of the worksheets on our site are carefully graded so that you can choose the right level sheet for your child.

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You can choose the values you want and tailor the sheet to the needs of your child.

You can now also write your own title and instructions (in your chosen language) to go with each sheet!

Perfect for homework!

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Free Math Worksheets for Kids from the Math Salamanders

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Our Math Salamanders website is packed full of free math worksheets as well as math games, math puzzles and interactive math activities.

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FREE DOWNLOAD

Help your students prepare for their Maths GCSE with this free simplifying algebraic fractions worksheet of 30+ questions and answers

Section 1 of the simplifying algebraic fractions worksheet contains 20+ skills-based keyword questions, in 3 groups to support differentiation

Section 2 contains 3 applied simplifying algebraic fractions questions with a mix of worded problems and deeper problem solving questions

Section 3 contains 3 foundation and higher level GCSE exam style simplifying algebraic fractions questions

Answers and a mark scheme for all simplifying algebraic fractions questions are provided

Questions follow variation theory with plenty of opportunities for students to work independently at their own level

All questions created by fully qualified expert secondary maths teachers

Suitable for GCSE maths revision for AQA , OCR and Edexcel exam boards

Unlock access to download your free resource

You can unsubscribe at any time (each email we send will contain an easy way to unsubscribe). To find out more about how we use your data, see our privacy policy.

Raise maths attainment across your school with hundreds of flexible and easy to use GCSE maths worksheets and lessons designed by teachers for teachers.

Simplifying algebraic fractions at a glance

Algebraic fractions are fractions where the numerator, denominator, or both are algebraic expressions. Algebraic fractions can be simplified by finding common factors between the numerator and denominator and cancelling them. These common factors could be integers or algebraic expressions. Algebraic fractions are in their simplest form when there are no more common factors between the numerator and denominator.

Often we will need to factorise the numerator and/or denominator in order to identify common factors. Algebraic fractions can consist of linear expressions, quadratic expressions or other expressions involving larger indices.

As well as simplifying single algebraic fractions, we can simplify expressions involving adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing algebraic fractions. The same rules apply here as with numeric fractions. For example, to add or subtract algebraic fractions, we first need to write the fractions with a common denominator. We can then add/subtract the numerators giving a single fraction.

Being able to work confidently with algebraic fractions is a skill that will come in useful for A Level maths.

Looking forward, students can then progress to additional simplifying expressions worksheets and other algebra worksheets, for example a sequences worksheet, simultaneous equations worksheet or straight line graphs worksheet.

For more teaching and learning support on Algebra our GCSE maths lessons provide step by step support for all GCSE maths concepts.

Do you have KS4 students who need more focused attention to succeed at GCSE?

There will be students in your class who require individual attention to help them succeed in their maths GCSEs. In a class of 30, it's not always easy to provide.

Help your students feel confident with exam-style questions and the strategies they'll need to answer them correctly with our dedicated GCSE maths revision programme.

Lessons are selected to provide support where each student needs it most, and specially-trained GCSE maths tutors adapt the pitch and pace of each lesson. This ensures a personalised revision programme that raises grades and boosts confidence.

Find out more

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FREE DOWNLOAD Help your students prepare for their Maths GCSE with this free simplifying algebraic fractions worksheet of 30+ questions and answers Section 1 of the simplifying algebraic fractions worksheet contains 20+ skills-based keyword questions, in 3 groups to support differentiation Section 2 contains 3 applied simplifying algebraic fractions questions

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Life Skills Worksheets

These are an ongoing project so will be added to soon. This is the first batch. Kitchen labelling etc.

Halloween Online Safety Social Story

A little social story for those who may come across images that disturb them when searching Halloween. Created with Widgit online.

D-Day Resources

Here are some quick worksheets to support teaching about D-Day - 6th June 1944! Including Dominoes, vocabulary, numeracy. 6 worksheets total. You may also like our VE day sensory story. and we have a whole page on Remembrance day teaching resources

People Who Help Us SEN Topic Resources

People who help us (Police, Fire Brigade, Nurses etc) have their own page of free printable resources.

Sign up for Quidco a great cashback site here. If you are planning on buying something on Amazon this link will give us a little bit of revenue (no cost to you)

SEN Literacy Resources

These preposition worksheets are based on colourful semantics. Language and Communication Commenting Board. This is a great simple literacy activity where the learners comment on the picture.

Download the Symbol supported sentence construction printable worksheets, students can circle the correct words, you could laminate and dry-wipe these or classic cutting and sticking. These are hopefully useful in planning a literacy lesson. They can easily be made interactive through adding pictures of the children.

Emoji Emotions Resources For SEN

Download the Emoji Emotions 3 worksheet bundle here. I used this as an activity to back up emotions work. I printed a lot of the emojis and hid them in a sensory tray. Once the student found one they could tick it off. Included in the bundle is a sheet of printable dominoes. Emotional education resources are so tricky to generalise but i hope these resources facilitate the teaching of emotions to some extent.

New Friends Worksheet

You can stick images of the child and their new friends and classmates onto this sheet. When I did this one child expressed concern about people already being friends.

Downloads New_Friends_Worksheet
Roald Dahl's Matilda Worksheets

Two labelling worksheets for Miss Trunchbull and Miss Honey.

Download the Zip file with editable Matilda Printable worksheets Here.

Snowy Day Printable Checklist.

Just quickly made this as it's snowing, Tick off the snowy day images as you find them! Could use on a walk or as a winter scavenger hunt.

Local or National Newspaper SEN Worksheet.

You can use this to find specific text and images as you look through a paper (local or national). I.e Find a word beginning with "th" find an image of a person etc.
Local paper English text and images
Name the Sea Creature

Super Simple sheet students just tick the correct name of the sea animal.

Name the sea creature Download here.

Minibeast SEN Handwriting Practice

I've just started a minibeast topic so expect some resources to be added. To start with download this Minibeast handwriting practice sheet.

New Year Resources 2018!

Probably only useful this week but here is a worksheet and a questions game to play with your class.

Download - New year holiday diary resources here.

Religion & Beliefs SEN Printable Resources.

Some of these were worksheets designed around the education aspect of the PREVENT duty. Just general worksheets around the key religions in the UK. At this time I haven't made up in-depth explanations of each religion. I hope you find these useful in promoting education of beliefs and religions.

Prevent_Beliefs worksheet

Prevent_Beliefs_Discussion_task

Prevent_Beliefs_Explanation

Prevent_Beliefs_Missing_Letter worksheet

Prevent_Beliefs_Word_Letter_Building

Religious_Beliefs_wordmat

Rules of religions
Firefighting Resources.

Here is an awesome video bingo (well matching as everyone would win but feel free to delete some images to make a bingo) using a fire engine video from Kent Fire and rescue(Click here for youtube link). I love doing these and the students find them really engaging. The black and white page is if you have a student that prefers to match or won't look at the screen (Click HERE for more). There is also a screenshot from the video used to make a build your own fire engine worksheet or cut and laminate as a jigsaw.
Click here to download the worksheet and bingo boards

Computing/ICT Resources.

Student voice is essential in developing an online safety (e-safety) policy for SEND. The threats and specific challenges facing autistic children online is not an area that is well enough researched or understood. This communication board may help you find out how the students use the internet.
Online Safety Communication Board Simple online safety matching worksheet.

Communicating with and without technology worksheet.
David Walliams The First Hippo on The Moon.

Symbol-based simple worksheets (P4-7 )if you are reading the book " The First Hippo on the moon" in class. No Copyright infringement intended. Find all in this powerpoint - first_hippo-on-moon_worksheets.

Phonics Resources/SPAG Resources

These support the read write inc phonics scheme. I used these to try and embed phonics within group reading. We have a number of students who like dinosaurs and the Gruffalo is a great book with an excellent website. No copyright infringement intended!

We also have a post written by an experienced Early Years (EYFS) lead on making your Phonics lessons inclusive.

Phonics Gruffalo worksheet letter sounds Phonics dinosaur worksheet Letter Sounds
My most popular resource on TES resources. Here are some simple overwriting sheets to support Read Write Inc click on the speed sounds set you need. These are a faded font for easy overwriting.

ckubf , elhshr, inpgo, jwvth, masdt, zchqx.

Numeracy Resources.

One of the most popular free resources on TES is this overwriting number task sheet. Using a dotted font. You can laminate and reuse this as a daily task that facilitates numeracy skills and fine motor skills.
Number formation practi ce - 1-10 Dotted
ASDAN Transition Challenge Worksheets.

There are many more ASDAN Resources on the ASDAN page.

Click Here to Download Breakfast ASDAN worksheet - Students can create an English or continental breakfast, what makes this lesson even more effctive is if you can use this as a follow up to a practical teaching session to enable the learner to put the lesson in context.

ASDAN Taking the Lead Birthday List - A sheet your students can add friends birthdays onto.

ASDAN Change Reciept Worksheet Transition Challenge

Science Resources.

Download the worksheet here.
Just a crisp taste test sheet. Put three crisp flavours out labelled ABC and guess the flavour.

We have just published a new post on STEM Provocations linked to the story - The Three Little pigs

PHSE Wellbeing/Online Safety Lesson Resources

This is a stranger danger/Safer stranger worksheet pack. Widgit symbol supported. Also contains a page for new teachers or carers. They should wear an ID badge etc. Includes the Makaton sign for a stranger and other vocabulary thats important to know.

character building worksheet

I based these on the resources from The Jubilee Centre

Christmas Dinner
Christmas dinner Free Printable Worksheet
This is a great teacher resource, here is a worksheet I have used a few times for ASDAN transition challenge. It involves making up a plate of what you would like for your Christmas dinner. Widgit symbols and images.

Example IEP

This is an example of a simple IEP (Individual Education Plan) for educators to use with students with additional needs. Does not include b ehaviour breakdown. For use with pupils with autism or learning difficulty

EU Referendum Bingo - Brexit Bingo!

Click the image below or here to download a widgit symbolled 10 card BREXIT bingo about this years referendum. Leave or Remain? I've tried to be balanced. EU Referendum Bingo for students to reflect on the BREXIT shambles.

I hope these free SEN teaching resources have helped you prepare some teaching material and creating a lesson plan no matter what curriculum model you follow. Each pedagogical model or curricula designed for SEND learners is unique and often requires teaching resources to be adapted for each school, classroom or learner to engage with. The core of teaching and learning is, however, the passion of the teacher. I hope this page of resources for teachers helps you create an inclusive classroom with some engaging lesson plans, for more information about teaching strategies see this post. As well as the resources the learning environment is essential here are 5 ways to ensure every learner is able to engage.

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A range of free printable SEN teaching resources used with Autistic pupils aged 4-18, literacy, numeracy, topic and themed resources.

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Practical guide supporting students with SEN

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Practical guide supporting students with SEN

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Supporting students with SEN - A practical guide

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This practical guide offers techniques to support students with special educational needs (SEN) by exploring strategies to help teachers turn “good” into “excellent” practice.

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Daily 10 - Mental Maths Challenge - Topmarks

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Daily 10 is a primary maths resource for teachers of Years 1 to 6. It asks ten random questions on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, ordering, partitioning, digit values and more. Ideal for use on a IWB and as a starter or plenary activity.

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Last word on TIMES TABLES and DIVIDING. Your child can muddle through school without knowing them, always thinking they are stupid and rubbish at maths until they get their hands on a calculator and things become a bit easier.

However they will ALWAYS be SLOWER in EXAMS compared to their peers who know their multiplications. In exams speed is very important and if you have to use the calculator for everything it will slow them down enormously and you can easily make mistake on a calculator.

As for ADULT HOOD Times Tables and Dividing are also essential, more than you can imagine. And if you don't know them?? Trust me you always feel stupid and WASTE huge amounts of time, trying to figure them out.

Splitting restaurant bills?

Working out the 12 monthly repayments on the car, sofa or holiday?

Can I afford that mortgage on my salary?

Do I have enough money to buy 4 people drinks?

Are those 6 donuts ridiculously expensive or reasonable?

How much do I pay the baby sitter "shoot - I tipped them £30 extra!"

I get paid $48,000 a year how much will I be paid monthly?

Is it cheaper to buy those bananas in the bag or as single items?

How much are those railway tickets for the 4 of us?

Maths for Dyslexia will be an on going journey throughout your life - we advise using visuals to sort out problems and wish you luck.

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Maths for Dyslexia need not be painful, use funny visual solutions for maths for Dyslexia - dyscalculia.me

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Last word on TIMES TABLES and DIVIDING. Your child can muddle through school without knowing them, always thinking they are stupid and rubbish at maths until they get their hands on a calculator and things become a bit easier. However they will ALWAYS be SLOWER in EXAMS compared to their peers who know their multiplications.

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These PowerPoints include links to relevant resources and pupil-facing activities. They are ideal to be used with small groups of pupils to review, practise, and consolidate learning. The five-minute video at the foot of this page demonstrates this in more detail.

The pupil activities are intended to stimulate interaction and discussion. We suggest you use them flexibly and are guided by pupil response, repeating activities where pupils lack confidence. The ready-to-progress criteria are intended as goals for the end of the year. When used at the start of a year, you might want to use the materials from the previous year group. If you are teaching Year 4 for example, the Year 3 materials are used to review, practice and consolidate learning from the previous year.

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79 PowerPoints, each one focusing on one of the ready-to-progress criteria in the new DfE maths guidance for KS1 and KS2

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DyscalculiaGames.com This page contains a collection of games from DyscalculiaGames.com, developed by Joe Reid, an educator and programmer. Joe developed these games to remediate the underlying problem areas in dyscalculia. Explore these games and let Joe know what you think.

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10 Fun Classroom Activities For Understanding Exponents - Number Dyslexia

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After discerning various operations of numbers, one may incept learning the implementation of exponentials- the number superscripts. Looking at real-life instances like the Richter scale, notations, and business-related estimations, exponents may look complicated, Nevertheless, these may be swiftly learned with enticing and motivating activities as they are assistive after classroom teachings.

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Being able to effectively support children with special educational needs (SEN) in the classroom is an essential part of any teacher's job. Recent figures show that in a mainstream setting, you may (on average) encounter four children in every class who require support for special educational needs.

Research suggests that the behaviour and practice of the classroom teacher has the greatest impact on the academic and social outcomes of children with SEN (Efthymiou & Kington, 2017). However, whilst ultimately responsible and accountable for the progress of these children, some mainstream teachers worry that they are not effectively supporting SEN in the classroom (Warnes et al., 2021).

In this article, we aim to help increase your confidence in implementing effective teaching strategies and approachesfor pupils with special educational needs.

The contents of this article are as follows:

What Are the Different Types of Special Educational Needs?
Note: For the purposes of this article, we will be using the preferred person-first terminology, such as 'supporting children with special educational needs', rather than terms such as 'supporting special needs children' or 'teaching strategies for SEN pupils'.
The SEND Code of Practice (2015) defines a child or young person as having special educational needs due to a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:

Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or

Has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.

Many children and young people who have SEN may also have a disability under the Equality Act 2010. Children and young people with disabilities do not necessarily have SEN, but there is a significant overlap between children and young people with disabilities and those with SEN. This article focuses primarily on SEN.

Types of SEN

There are many types of special educational need and the SEND Code of Practice (2015) defines four broad areas of need, as follows:

Communication and interaction.

Cognition and learning.

Social, emotional, and mental health difficulties.

Sensory and/or physical needs.

If children have an Education Heath Care (EHC) plan, or personalised outcomes linked to High Needs Funding, the targets on these documents will be organised into the four broad areas of need.

The children you teach with SEN may have just one area of need or a combination. Many commonly encountered conditions will impact on more than one area.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is the most prevalent primary need stated on EHC plans for learners aged 4-17, and it would not be unusual for many autistic learners to display needs in all four main areas.

The Communication Trust suggests that co-morbidity (children having more than one developmental difficulty) is the rule rather than the exception, and this can sometimes make categorising primary needs difficult.

Below, we list some of the most common conditions that are often associated with these four broad areas of special education needs.

Communication and Interaction

Cognition and Learning

Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Difficulties (SEMH)

Sensory and/or Physical Needs

A child may be diagnosed with developmental delay in any of these areas. General Developmental Delay would usually involve difficulties in all the areas.

Whilst these areas help to categorise some of the needs, and can point you in the right direction with regards to possible strategies and interventions, each learner's areas of strength and need are different.

How Can SEN Affect a Child's Learning in School?

Just as each child's needs are different, the impact of those needs whilst learning can vary. Children can experience both academic and social barriers due to their SEN, meaning that they are unable to reach their personal potential.

Without proper support or accommodations in place, those barriers could manifest in anxiety, disengagement, and frustration, sometimes resulting in challenging behaviours within school.

These could include:

Withdrawn behaviours, including expressing anxiety, school phobia, truancy, and social isolation.

Disruptive behaviours, such as calling out in class, angry outbursts, swearing, screaming, or refusing to follow instructions.

Violent and/or unsafe behaviours such as physically harming themselves or others, running away, and damaging property.

If you're finding it difficult to handle challenging behaviour in your setting, our Challenging Behaviour course provides you with the knowledge and strategies you need to respond appropriately. Take a look at our course library for more information about our range of training available.

By effectively supporting SEN in the classroom through tailoring your learning environment and teaching practice to best meet their needs, you can help to ensure that these barriers are reduced.

A child's area of need may change throughout their school journey. Some children's levels of need (especially those with a diagnosed condition) will mean that they have special educational needs for their entire school career. Others may have fluctuating or isolated needs. For example, an intervention to improve gross motor skills in the early years could lead to issues being successfully addressed, bringing skills back in line with age expectations.

Teaching Strategies for Supporting Children with SEN

Some of the ways of supporting SEN in the classroom will simply be an extension of your general good practice in the classroom, whilst other, more specific strategies may be particularly useful in supporting particular needs.

Once a child is identified as having a special educational need then it is likely you will receive, via your Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo), details of some recommended strategies or interventions that you will then need to factor into your everyday planning and classroom management.

There will also be occasions, often earlier in a child's school career, where you may suspect that child has some difficulties or additional needs, and become involved in the process of trying to pinpoint what they might be, or whether any underlying conditions are present.

In these cases, it is advisable to use your professional judgement and to begin to put some strategies in place for supporting SEN in the classroom, in consultation with your SENCo, even before any formal identification of the need.

In March 2020, The Education Endowment Fund (EEF) published a guidance report on Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools, highlighting best practice.

The following sections illustrate some teaching strategies that may be beneficial in meeting the needs of pupils with SEN. These are followed by some further practical tips to consider implementing in your setting.

1. Creating a Positive and Supportive Environment for All Pupils, Without Exception

A positive and supportive environment for all pupils should be underpinned by whole-school policies, practices, and culture - such as maintaining a consistent and positive approach to behaviour.

Additionally, you could use the following strategies in your classroom to reinforce this:

This includes explicit teaching around wellbeing and mental health (as per the statutory health curriculum requirements). You should also communicate with and respond to pupils in a manner which promotes their wellbeing at all times.

Additional practical strategies, such as introducing a class feelings board as part of the class' daily routine, can have many benefits. Here, pupils can indicate their emotions by attaching their name or photograph to a class chart that is divided into different feelings.

This helps all children consider and express their emotions in a visual way, but especially benefits children with SEMH needs or SLCN. It gives an indication to adults working with them of how they are feeling today, which in turn allows you and your team to adapt your practice (e.g. you might decide to start with a movement break if you have a full 'tired' board one morning) or take time to follow up with the individual child. This strategy can also be useful in terms of safeguarding, as over time it can build a picture and allow you to see patterns. For detailed training on children's and young people's mental health, click here.

Positive Relationships

Prioritising, modelling, and encouraging positive relationships has also been shown to be a valuable strategy in supporting children with SEN. Many children with SEN, especially autistic children, report higher incidences of bullying (Rowley et al., 2012), so facilitating positive attitudes to difference - and supporting those children with social difficulties to maintain positive friendships - is extremely valuable.

An inclusive school environment has been shown to have a positive effect not only on those with special educational needs, but also those without.

2. Building an Ongoing, Holistic Understanding of Pupils and Their Needs

Each child's needs are different and you will know that what works for one child will not necessarily help a child with a similar diagnosed need.

There are some conditions that may appear to present differently in the classroom between the sexes, such as autism and ADHD, and may necessitate different approaches in terms of support. For more information on how these conditions may present differently in females, visit our dedicated articles, Autism in Females: Is it Different? and How Does ADHD Differ in Females?.

By getting to know the particular needs of the individual child, you will be able to put in place personalised strategies and interventions to support them.

Communicating with Colleagues and Parents

When working with a child with SEN, knowledge-sharing and keeping lines of communication open helps you to support the child in the most effective way, building on previous successes, and responding to changes.

Your SENCo should provide you with detailed information regarding the child's area of need and agreed outcomes, and copies of any reports and recommendations from other specialists and professionals who may be involved with the child.

Information and observations shared between colleagues are vital in producing a rounded view of the child's needs and progress. Prior to working with the individual, you should seek information from previous teachers and teaching assistants, both to learn what has been effective and to ensure continuity of approach (for some autistic children or those with anxiety disorders, this continuity - especially at times of transition - is extremely important.)

Creating and maintaining open and honest lines of communication with parents of children with SEN will also help you to develop a more holistic understanding of the child, their strengths, and their difficulties. There is also a statutory duty to communicate with parents of children with SEN at intervals to report on progress, and to discuss future outcomes and targets.

However, some of the most valuable communication comes in more regular, less formal contact. A home-school contact book or diary can be a simple method of establishing a two-way routine of information sharing with parents.

Talking to the Child

The most important source of information that should be consulted continuously is the child or young person themselves. It is a statutory requirement that the views and wishes of the young person are taken into account when decisions are made regarding SEN provision, and that they are involved in the decision-making process as much as possible.

They can often tell you where their perceived difficulties are, and evaluate how effective the measures put in place to support them are. For example, it is counter-productive to give a fiddle toy to a child with ADHD if they personally feel singled out by it and perceive this as negative - this will not help to promote focus or reduce anxiety, so it's important to know how they feel about it.

Using a child's personal interests can also be a powerful tool to foster engagement and is particularly recommended in the case of autistic children. These special interests can be incorporated into learning activities or help you to create personalised reward systems.

3. Continual Evaluation

As you will know, something that proves successful one term might not have the same impact the next. Indeed, what works for a child in the morning might not have the same impact in the afternoon.

As part of the SEND Code of Practice, the government proposes an Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle of evaluation and adaptation, which can work on a smaller, more regular scale in your classroom.

Your school will most likely have guidelines on how often you need to review SEN outcomes, interventions, or provision plans. By continually reflecting on the effectiveness of what has been put in place, and making adjustments in light of that, you can ensure you are providing the most effective support at that time.

For example, if a child has been allocated the same phonics intervention to support literacy difficulties for some time and is not making the expected progress, then it is probably time to change the approach.

The principles of continued evaluation also apply to your own confidence in supporting pupils with SEN. You may encounter a need or condition which you wish to explore in more depth, or might wish to learn more about a specific intervention. In this case, you should request the opportunity for any specific training you feel would help.

4. Ensuring All Pupils Have Access to High-Quality Teaching

Certain teaching strategies, which will already be part of your general practice, will benefit all pupils (including those with SEN) if they are used flexibly and you take into account their needs, making accommodations or introducing scaffolds as required.

When planning lessons:

Ensure tasks are effectively differentiated and ambitious in their outcomes for all students. Organise work for learners with SEN in smaller chunks with plenty of opportunities for revisiting and over learning, where appropriate. This might involve smaller follow-up tasks.

Use technology where appropriate to scaffold the learner. This may include equipment, apps, or specialist software such as Clicker, which can effectively support SEN.

Deploy other adults in the classroom to effectively facilitate learning.

Incorporate flexible grouping - do not always group children with similar SEN together; allow them to learn from their peers.

Plan in the use of talk partners - this gives children with SEN access to peer support and the ability to rehearse their responses.

One of the most powerful tools at your disposal to help support learners with SEN is your own communication. SLCN make up the greatest proportion of special educational needs in mainstream schools, so adapting your communication (both spoken and written) can go a long way to supporting those with difficulties.

Some key principles include:

Keep instructions clear and concise.

Deliver instructions facing the children.

Do not issue multiple instructions at once.

Give children an opportunity to repeat instructions back to you.

Accompany verbal instructions with visual aids (these can be symbols, images, or text - some schools, especially in the early years and primary sectors, have also introduced Makaton signs to accompany spoken language).

Where appropriate, allocate other adults to re-word and re-frame instructions and information for those with SLCN.

Verbalise your thought process whilst modelling activities, including strategies to remember what you need to do.

Avoid idiomatic language - phrases such as 'pull your socks up' or 'reach for the stars'.

Other ideas for improving your own communication can be found in our dedicated article here.

5. Complementing High-Quality Teaching with Carefully-Selected Small Group and One-to-One Interventions

You will most likely have learners in your class who need to access particular interventions in order to fulfil their potential, in addition to the high-quality whole-class teaching that you are providing.

Which Interventions Should Be Chosen?

Your SENCo will be able to advise as to which interventions would be best to meet the child's particular needs (learners with ECH plans or High Needs Funding outcomes will often have these documented), as well as advising who best to run the intervention.

Inventions should be allocated for a pre-agreed period of time, accompanied by measurable goals, and regularly evaluated. Some schools will require teachers to produce a provision plan detailing the interventions that are taking place within the class.

When Should Interventions Take Place?

All learners have a statutory right to a broad and balanced curriculum, so care must be taken to ensure that those children with SEN are not consistently removed from lessons for interventions.

The school day is time-pressured but careful planning on your part can help to ensure that learner's needs are met, whilst still enabling children to access the same activities as other learners. For example, always utilising assembly time for interventions would deny the child inclusion in a valuable part of school life.

Consistently removing children from wider curriculum subjects - such as art or PE - to have extra intervention on a skill they struggle with not only denies them a valuable part of the statutory curriculum, but also success at subjects they can potentially access just as well as their peers. Instead, they are made to do more of what they struggle with. This could affect self-esteem and engagement, reducing the likelihood of a successful intervention.

Many outcomes can be factored into allocated lesson times with personalised planning (for example, SALT objectives could be covered during adult-led discussions in literacy). Where an intervention needs to take place outside the classroom - for example, a Sensory Circuits session to support focus in a child with ADHD - these can often be factored into transition times.

There may also be particular inventions recommended for an individual with SEN that would benefit the entire class. By making it part of the whole-class routine, the child gets the benefit of the activity but is not singled out or taken out of whole-class teaching to receive it.

Good examples include strategies often recommended for pupils with ADD or ADHD, such as taking regular brain or movement breaks, or incorporating mindfulness practice into the daily routine. These generally improve the wellbeing and productivity of the entire group.

6. Working Effectively with Teaching Assistants

Teaching assistants are as essential to supporting learners with special educational needs as teachers. Many are incredibly skilled in delivering specific interventions, as well as providing excellent support within the classroom.

However, the key is to work effectively with teaching assistants, and to plan their support of learners with SEN in order to provide the highest quality support. Teaching assistants should be involved in the continual planning and evaluation process, and should be provided with the time, training, and resources necessary in order to be well-prepared for their role.

In the past, there was sometimes a tendency to support learners with SEN by simply providing them with a TA, whom they worked with almost exclusively, sometimes in place of the teacher.

Past research has shown that this is not beneficial, as it does not help to foster independence, promote inclusion, or offer agency to the learner. However, if the teachers and teaching assistants work effectively together, providing high-quality, targeted support, this can be a powerful strategy in helping to meet the needs of learners with SEN.

7. Other Strategies

The following tips are some relatively simple accommodations that could be made to help support SEN in your classroom.

Classroom Environment

Careful consideration to how your learning space is organised can significantly support learners with SEN in the classroom and remove potential barriers to success.

Think about:

Limiting classroom decoration or displays (this can help prevent autistic children or those with sensory issues from being visually overloaded).

Avoiding black on white presentation and varying the background colours (this can aid students with VI, dyslexia, and conditions such as Irlen Syndrome).

Using a visual timetable throughout the day (autistic children and those with anxiety disorders can benefit from this).

Using visuals for classroom organisation (this will help scaffold spoken instructions, benefiting children with SLCN and autistic children, whilst also providing support to younger learners and EAL learners).

Making a work station available for learners to use when they need it (this can help support autistic learners and learners with ADHD and ODD by providing a place to access which is quiet).

Classroom Equipment

You may be able to support an individual's special educational needs through the provision of certain equipment. Your SENCO will be able to advise with regards to these, but some examples are:

Writing slopes (dyslexic learners and those with motor skills difficulties can be helped by these).

Specialised pencil grips.

Ear defenders (children with sensory issues including autistic learners can benefit from these, as can children with ADHD or ADD, helping to block out some of the background noise).

Wobble cushions (these can help 'ground' learners with ADHD).

Task management boards (these can be written, image-based, or a combination of both, and help with structure, self-organisation, and focus - particularly useful for autistic children and those with SLCN, ADD, or ADHD.

Have You Listened to our SEND Podcast?

In this episode of the High Speed Training Podcast, we are joined by Anita Devi, CEO and Founder at Team ADL, a not-for-profit committed to enabling everyone to thrive in education, employment and life. Alongside Anita is Mike Fleetham, Director and Lead Trainer at Thinking Classroom, an education mentoring organisation that has worked with over 500 schools, local authorities and organisations, and Dr Richard Anderson, Head of Learning and Development at High Speed Training. Click on the link below to access:
In summary, although there is no 'one size fits all' to support pupils with SEN, you can provide support to pupils with SEN in many varied ways, including: creating a positive and inclusive learning environment; consistently applying good general practice, providing high quality teaching for all; getting to know the personal needs of the individual learner; communicating honestly, openly, and regularly; carefully planning effective SEN interventions, accommodations and scaffolds; and continually evaluating your provision. We hope this article has given you some helpful suggestions for your practice.
Further Resources:

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Supporting Pupils with SEN in the Classroom: Guidance for Teachers

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Supporting pupils with special educational needs is an essential part of a teacher's job. Find teaching strategies for supporting SEN in the classroom here.