Support for SENCOs
Music across the curriculum
Music to 'settle' children entering the hall for
assembly is now used in many schools to good effect
and can significantly reduce incidences of low-level
disruption on such occasions. Teachers have also
found it useful as a calming influence in some
classrooms and though it certainly can't be claimed
to be a 'cure-all', it's certainly worth a try in
this respect.
There are conflicting views on what has come to be
known as 'The Mozart Effect' − using music to
enhance learning, but researchers have found that
language skills and, specifically, the ability to
differentiate more easily between sounds, are more
developed in children who are exposed to certain
forms of music, and especially to those who learn to
play an instrument. This obviously has implications
for teaching children with below-average reading or
speech abilities. (
Music can also aid memory, and musical times-tables, 'alphabet tunes', etc, are much used with young children. But older learners can also benefit from this approach and setting words to music is often effective in helping children to learn and remember key words or formulas. Creating raps about 'slavery' or 'rainforests' is often a favourite activity and really helps pupils to remember what they have learned.
Music is also a major creator of atmosphere and emotions, so, for example, engendering empathy is often greatly enhanced by playing appropriate songs.
Music has an important part to play in kinaesthetic learning. In science, for example, students may learn about the difference between the behaviour of molecules in solid, liquid and gaseous form by moving about in groups. Slow background music represents solids. It quickens as the groups become liquids, and becomes more manic as groups representing gas molecules bounce off each other. The students are having a great time, and they remember what they have learned.
Technology
There are great opportunities nowadays for children with learning difficulties and disabilities to gain access to music through technology. For example the Sound beam − device that works on ultrasound. If you break the beam with movement then it triggers a musical note − it's a bit like a keyboard in open space. Readers in mainstream schools can learn a lot about these resources from their neighbouring special school, or look up the Drake music project.
Music lessons
The music room/classroom
Good organisation and familiarity within a classroom/space are important for children with SEN. Consider:
- placing chairs in a semi-circle around a piano/keyboard/djembe or other instrument to make a focus point for pupils entering the room
- facing all of your pupils within the circle/semi-circle: eye contact for those who can see is imperative, and a balance of sound for those who can't defines and improves their listening skills
- keeping instruments/beaters/folders/ICT equipment/written work in the same place with clear labels/symbols to improve independence
- maintaining the same set-up, allowing you to move students around within it. For those with Asperger's syndrome or autism a change of any kind within a lesson can prove to be traumatic so if the space itself remains the same the pupils find it easier to accept a change of focus within the lesson.
Starting and
finishing
The use of songs to
start and end a lesson
provides a good
structure to lessons.
Taking a chord sequence
from any song and
creating 'hello' and
'goodbye' lyrics (the
best songs are the ones
which call for a
response). Popular songs
or riffs that work well
include 12-bar blues;
Herbie Hancock,
Cantaloupe Island and
various pop songs with
recognisable chord
sequences.
Themes
Start work on notation
by showing pupils how to
graphically notate what
they hear on a CD. This
links a sound to a mark
on a piece of paper, you
can then extend this
work. Students may need
a lot of support for
this, so knowledgeable
TAs are a real bonus.
Tried and tested topics
include:
- The sea: Using a pentatonic scale, free composing and improvising, use percussion (tuned and untuned). Use extracts from Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes as focus for listening.
- Diwali: Use the story of Rama and Sita and set it to music. This gets the students listening to non western music and composing their own, identifying aurally instruments which are not familiar to them.
- Jazz and blues: 'Basslines' and 'riffs' are the key words. Obviously, differentiation is needed to cater for those students who are not as coordinated (with TA support).The repetition of riffs is a great motivator for autistic students.
SEN News
If you missed
the SENCO Update
conference in London
last week, look out for
the next one in the
autumn − great value for
money.
The conference was well
attended and delegates
were brought up to date
on SEN/inclusion issues
by a number of
impressive speakers.
Mary Warnock herself was
there to explain her
concern about how some
LAs are currently
interpreting inclusion'.
The fact that they are
limiting the types of
setting available for
children with SEN (by
closing special schools
and units in many
cases), means that many
parents are left with
little or no choice of
school and the end
result is a far cry from
'inclusion' for a
significant number of
youngsters. Richard
Rieser, director of
Disability Equality in
Education addressed the
issue of why schools are
finding the
implementation of
disability equality so
hard. He listed the
following points to be
considered:
- physical access
- access to teaching and learning
- disability equality training − welcoming difference
- time and resources
- self-evaluation − how inclusive are we?
- person-centred planning
- roles of LSAs
- effective outreach by special schools to develop capacity in mainstream
- differentiated systems to help children with challenging behaviour (SEAL, time out, mentoring).
John Bercow was unable
to attend the conference
due to paternity leave
for a new baby, and so
Mary Daly stepped in to
dyslexia, speech,
language and
communication in this,
its first year and there
are useful resources
available on the website
for SENCOs to use with
colleagues.
You may find the
resource rather more
than you have time to
use with staff, but take
a look and sift through
it − there is some
quality material. The
suggestion that schools
should seek input from a
speech and language
therapist to deliver
this training however,
met with derision from
many SENCOs. They wanted
to know the secret of
finding/deploying such a
person. The answer seems
to be for schools to get
together and employ
their own SLT −
apparently there are a
number without jobs!
NB We mentioned a new
report on SEN in last
week's news but omitted
to give its title:
Learning the Hard Way: A
Strategy for Special
Educational Needs.
Its key policy
recommendations include:
1. An overhaul of the admissions system to make it easier for parents to choose the right school for their child.
2. Consistent, comparable information to be provided for parents by local authorities.
3. Turning statements into 'personal budgets' which parents could choose how to spend and backdating payment to schools for statemented children.
4. Division of the statementing process so that the assessment and funding function would be split.
5. Some in-classroom reforms − including offering more trained specialist teachers instead of TAs.
This e-bulletin issue was first published in May 2008
About the author: Linda Evans is the author of SENCO Week. She was a teacher/SENCO/adviser/inspector, before joining the publishing world. She now works as a freelance writer, editor and part-time college tutor.
