The term ‘Special Education Needs’ (SEN) refers to a child or young person with learning disabilities. There are four types of special needs based on the difficulty faced by the student: physical impairments, developmental impairments, behavioural or emotional difficulties and sensory impairments. In order to meet the needs of each SEN student, special education provisions must be made. SEN teaching assistants play a vital role in supporting all children to make learning progress across mainstream and special schools. But what makes a good teaching assistant? What strategies should be followed to ensure all students are supported?

Keep reading to find out some of the key principles that many believe should be followed to support students with SEN effectively. If you’d like to have a chat with a friendly SEN consultant, then register your interest and we’ll soon be in touch!

SEN teaching assistant with KS1 pupils

Teaching assistants should follow four key principles when teaching special education students:

1. Adopt a person-centred approach

Let’s put the young people we work with at the centre of the learning experiences we plan for them. In education, we should champion the individual and take into account the specific strengths and challenges in each child. During their time in school, the aim is for all students to be able to live independent and happy lives once they leave. Preparing for this is likely to be extra challenging for people with learning difficulties which can lead to higher levels of stress and anxiety. This preparation is vital for students’ emotional and social health (particularly for students with behavioural or emotional difficulties).

A good sen teaching assistant will use strategies to support students’ mental health and wellbeing, whilst boosting their confidence as independent learners. This will involve finding out:

• What motivates the student to learn?
• Where and when do they learn best?
• Identifying triggers they may have that cause a negative response (such as a sudden change in routine).

Where possible, involving the students in decisions about their learning (for example, by creating a visual timetable together) can lead to vast improvements in their attitude and behaviour.

2. Plan for effective group work

Group work needs to go beyond having the most able with the least able to offer support. It’s important that collaborative working is viewed as an opportunity to boost self-confidence and self-esteem for students. Especially those who may exhibit withdrawn behaviour. There are many social skills that can be developed through group work. This will be challenging for many students. It is therefore vital that a good SEN TA is able to structure group sessions to ensure students are challenged without being pushed too far from their comfort zones.

Group work can either be mixed ability or through ability grouping. Ultimately, to avoid learners becoming passive, learning time should include a mixture of individual, paired, whole class and group work.

3. Use themed learning

Thematic learning in particular is used commonly in the SEN classroom. This is where a central topic is spread across all key learning areas – reading, maths, science, writing etc. This means that students can build up knowledge and apply it across different curriculum areas. Themes that are relatable for students with a real-world context are the most effective.

For example, if the theme were ‘food and drink’ learning across subjects could consist of:

Literacy – based on books such as the hungry caterpillar, goldilocks and the three bears or the gingerbread man.

Maths – using items of food in simple calculations

4. Give precise praise for positive behaviour

Effective and precise praise is vital to ensure that positive precedents are set. For students that exhibit challenging behaviours, this approach can form part of a longer-term process. For example, there may be negative behaviours that are tactically ignored up to a point and others where warnings and sanctions are applied. We need to get the balance correct to avoid negative behaviours being reinforced.

Positive behaviour reinforcement is seen as the most effective strategy in the long term. Behaviour is a form of communication, and students displaying negative behaviours are trying to tell us something. Most commonly, this is ‘I don’t understand what I should be doing‘ or ‘something in this room is making me anxious and stressed.’ It is helpful for SEN teaching assistants to view behaviour in this way, rather than seeing the student as just being difficult.

“Behaviour is communication”

If the student is telling us that they are anxious or stressed, it may be that they have several years of previous experiences where lessons haven’t gone well and they’ve gotten into trouble. This may mean that they view any new adults with dread: ‘they’re not going to like me because I get things wrong,’ or ‘they’re going to tell me off anyway so I might as well not even try.‘

Further reading:

Find out ‘How to Become a SEN Teaching Assistant’

Check out our post on ‘Five Key Teaching Assistant Skills and Strategies.’

You may find it informative to check out an example of Teaching Assistant Standards, such as this one by the NEU.

Thank you for reading our post on good strategies for SEN teaching assistants