Month: February 2016

Connecting with Parents

Navigating the seas of parent-teacher communication isn’t easy. Here are 8 steps to great parent-teacher communication:

1. Be consistently In touch, not just when things are bad
2. Focus on the positive, not just the negative
3. Involve the student in communicating with their parents
4. Livestream or skype when needed
5. Use technology: text, email and more
6. Ask parents their opinions
7. Bring parents into schools, get them involved
8. Collaborate, find some common ground

Parent involvement in their child’s education and communication between teachers and parents is vital to getting a better understanding of a child’s behaviour at home and in school. This is important in discovering the best course of action for helping a child with their learning disability. However parents can often feel alienated and separated from their child when they are at school and this lack of communication can be problematic for the child and the parent. In my project I will incorporate this communication aspect.

Sources:

http://elearninginfographics.com/connecting-students-parents-infographic/

http://www.rsed.org/engaged-parents.cfm

Some Notes on Learning difficulties

Learning difficulties can affect all families, regardless of race, class or gender.

Therefore the audience of the project is diverse.

Learning difficulties are normally classifies as mild, moderate, severe or profound. Typically they are diagnosed with IQ tests, however they are not always a reliable or true indicator of ability. Perhaps a more realistic was to describe the level of disability would be to categorize it according to its effect on the individual. Although this may be more open to individual interpretation, it provides a greater insight into both current achievement and future potential.

The project will focus on this way of categorising by looking at the effects that the learning difficulty has on the individual child at home and in school to establish the severity of the learning difficulty and to find the best way of approaching education and helping the child. It will combine the efforts of the teacher at school and the parent at home to establish a communication about the child’s requirements based of their behaviour.

Brief descriptions on the level of help that children of each learning difficulty severity will require (although subject to circumstances):

Children with a mild learning difficulty will need help dealing with only difficult situations. Moderate are capable of understanding and carrying out routine tasks but will generally require supervision and support on a daily basis. Severe learning difficulties have a further impact on an individual’s ability and will require constant supervision in order to succeed. Those with a profound disability will have a lower intellectual capacity and will require the most care and attention. They often require 24-hour care in all areas of life.

Effects of a learning disability on a child: 

Intellectual and cognitive ability

• Lack of ability to learn, generalise and retain information
• No two children will learn the same, even with the same diagnosis
• Developmental leaning delay
• Struggles to apply basic information to multiple tasks

Behaviour

• Ability to establish and maintain friendships is effected
• Ability to develop new ideas and concepts slower
• Poor social judgement, impulsive behaviour, inappropriate behaviour in situations
• Hyperactivity and easily confused or frustrated.
• Overly excitable in-group play.
• Failure to see consequences of actions
• Overly gullible
• Easily distracted

These effects will be a significant part of the project and will help determine how the child is coping with their learning difficulty.

Research indicates that parental reaction to the diagnosis of learning disabilities is more pronounced than in any other area of exceptionality.

How parents can be affected:

• Denial
• Blame
• Fear
• Envy
• Mourning
• Bargaining
• Guilt
• Isolation
• flight

Pointers for parents of children with learning disabilities:

1. Take the time to listen to your children as much as you can (really try to get their “Message”).
2. Love them by touching them, hugging them, tickling them, wrestling with them (they need lots of physical contact).
3. Look for and encourage their strengths, interests, and abilities. Help them to use these as compensations for any limitations or disabilities.
4. Reward them with praise, good words, smiles, and pat on the back as often as you can.
5. Accept them for what they are and for their human potential for growth and development. Be realistic in your expectations and demands.
6. Involve them in establishing rules and regulations, schedules, and family activities.
7. Tell them when they misbehave and explain how you feel about their behavior; then have them propose other more acceptable ways of behaving.
8. Help them to correct their errors and mistakes by showing or demonstrating what they should do.
9. Don’t nag!
10. Give them reasonable chores and a regular family work responsibility whenever possible.
11. Give them an allowance as early as possible and then help them plan to spend within it.
12. Provide toys, games, motor activities and opportunities that will stimulate them in their development.
13. Read enjoyable stories to them and with them. Encourage them to ask questions, discuss stories, tell the story, and to reread stories.
14. Further their ability to concentrate by reducing distracting aspects of their environment as much as possible (provide them with a place to work, study and play).
15. Don’t get hung up on traditional school grades! It is important that they progress at their own rates and be rewarded for doing so.
16. Take them to libraries and encourage them to select and check out books of interest.
17. Have them share their books with you.
18. Provide stimulating books and reading material around the house.
19. Help them to develop self-esteem and to compete with self rather than with others.
20. Insist that they cooperate socially by playing, helping, and serving others in the family and the community.
21. Serve as a model to them by reading and discussing material of personal interest. Share with them some of the things you are reading and doing.
22. Don’t hesitate to consult with teachers or other specialists whenever you feel it to be necessary in order to better understand what might be done to help your child learn.

The project will try to give parents more peace of mind when going through the diagnosis process and reduce some of the effects that it can bring.

Teachers, Parents and carers of children with learning difficulties will, in some cases, need to rethink all they have learned about childcare and development. Patience and tolerance will be tested; teachers can often become easily frustrated which teaching the simplest of tasks. However the smallest achievements, which perhaps would go unnoticed if accomplished by the non-disabled child, will bring joy, excitement and celebration.

The project will focus on the positive rather than negative, encouraging progress from the child and rewarding achievements whilst also highlighting areas of improvement and future progress. This will make the outcome of the project more of an enjoyment to use and less of a chore.

http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/learning_disabilities/ 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=A__uRQrFDOgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=learning+difficulties+and+education&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwifiIfCyvLKAhVD6xQKHVySDQYQ6AEIPDAC#v=onepage&q=learning%20difficulties%20and%20education&f=false

Blended learning involves using the Internet to create more personalized learning experiences for each student wherein he/she gets empowered to have an increased control over the time, place, path, and/or pace of learning. It is much more than just technology rich learning through gadgets and devices, it is supervised or instruction-led learning in a brick-and-mortar location. The integration of these elements help to trace the unique learning path of each learning.

Types of online/technology-based tools for Blended Learning include:

• Knowledge Management Tools
• Digital Libraries & Content Repositories
• Webcasting and video streaming
• Online simulations
• Mobile and handheld technologies
• Wireless technologies
• Pod casting & iPods
• Intelligent Agents
• Electronic Books
• Blogs and online diaries
• Massive multiplayer online gaming
• Wikis
• Language training and support tools

The realm of blended learning extends far beyond just technology based learning. There’s a difference between blending technology and layering it – when you make content available across different devices using the Internet, it is technology layering. Blended learning on the other hand is creating a mix of both offline and online learning experiences in a way that they complement each other. Instructional strategies such as lecturing, guided learning, exploratory discussions, debates and role-playing must be amalgamated with online learning tools such as podcasts, e-books, webcasts and digital video libraries, massive multiplayer online games, wikis, etc. to create a unique learning path of each learner. Every learner’s experience is different and personalized according to his/her learning preferences.

The single most important challenge to blended learning currently is that the concept is not understood properly, making availability of human resources who can successfully implement it, difficult. Directly measuring the impact of blended learning is also a slightly difficult task because of its fluid and abstract nature as well as the presence of so many learning elements. However, organizations and educational institutes have established that using a wide range of learning methods (both online and offline) is far more effective in delivering personalized and more relevant learning experiences.

Schools that use blended learning in their curriculum:

How does this help as research for my project?

All of the schools that use blended learning in their classes believe that children should be able to decide on how they learn and what pace they learn at. Children do not all learn the same way and blended learning helps teachers to personalize each child’s education and also develop a more personal relationship and understanding of the individual student. Although blended learning is not a strategy that I will be specifically implementing into my project, I feel like the model is a good example of how this take on education could be a better solution than the current system. Also because it incorporates technology into education, from a Digital Media perspective this is very interesting as it is important for schools to embrace technology, rather than fight against it.

Sources:

Blending learning playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLvzOwE5lWqhTv1uCzuAZZZbBJseZP_HwY&v=orv5KV0qepA

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-blended-learning-resources

Websites:

https://padlet-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/94530111/faba207d64aa05827a36eeb614f6743f4018f49d/7396fd8e368ba543f5503142f2c5623f.jpg

http://www.blendmylearning.com/videos/

http://www.blendmylearning.com/schools/

http://www.blendedlearningnow.com

https://blended.online.ucf.edu

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar13/vol70/num06/The-Basics-of-Blended-Instruction.aspx

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/blended-flipped-learning/the-definition-of-blended-learning/

http://www.kipp.org/news/u-s-news-and-world-report-technology-in-the-classroom-kipp-bets-on-blended-learning

http://www.rsed.org

http://www.collaborizeclassroom.com

http://www.carpediemschools.com/about/

 

What is the intended idea/concept behind the proposed project?

To help parents of children with learning difficulties, manage their child’s progression through education by creating an educational profile of the child’s behaviour and performance at home and in school.

The output of the project will assist with the correct diagnosis of learning difficulties and will increase communication between parents, teachers and specialists to more successfully address specific problems. It will also help the large amount of children with special educational needs that are currently educated in mainstream schools as opposed to specialist schools.

The project will enable the parent to be the main source of data and information with the potential to collect data from the child themselves. Using a balanced amount of quantitative and qualitative data to create an accurate profile of the child’s learning difficulties, behaviour and progress in school and at home.

The output will be able to work on a number of devices to suit the parents accessibility needs.

Describe the intended audience:

The intended audience are parents, but more specifically parents who believe that their child may require extra attention in school due to the diagnosis of a learning disability. However in the future the output could be opened up to be used by teachers, doctors and other specialists.

Teachers will be able to use the output to increase communication with parents, which will lead to a greater understanding of the child’s needs in school.

Doctors and specialists will be able to use the output to develop a better diagnosis of the child’s specific problems and come up with more accurate ways of helping them.

The following assumptions about the identified target can be made:

– The user will have one or more children with a learning disability, ranging from moderate to severe.

–  The final product will have to appeal to both male and female parents, so the functionality must be gender neutral.

– They will have some background knowledge and information regarding learning difficulties including their features, attributes and the diagnosis of said learning difficulty.

– They will have access to the internet and atleast one digital device at home and on the go.

Justify the idea/concept in terms of needs for its existence: 

In the Special Educational Needs code of practice (SEN Code) it states as a general principle that ‘Parents have a vital role to play in supporting their children’s education’ as ‘they have unique strengths, knowledge and experience to contribute to the shared view of a child’s needs and the best ways for supporting them.’ It also states that communication between teachers, parents and specialists is vital in tending to the needs of children with learning difficulties. Therefore there is a need for this concept in that it will help bridge the communication gap between parents, teachers and specialists and will also help to get parents more involved in their child’s education.

There are an estimated ‘286,000 children (18,000 boys, 106,000 girls) age 0-17 in the UK with a learning disability.’ And out of those ‘89% of children with moderate learning difficulty, 24% of children with severe learning difficulty and 18% of children with profound multiple learning difficulty’ are being educated in mainstream schools. Because of this overwhelming amount of children with learning disabilities and the lack of specialist schools to educate them, it is becoming increasingly more important for adults to be more personally involved in their children’s education and progress.

Parents believe that the current system is not helping their children adequately. They are concerned about the inconsistencies in the identification of SEN and getting fair access to high quality services to meet their children’s needs. The Ofsted Special Educational Needs and Disability Review of 2010 found widespread weakness in the quality of what was provided for children with SEN and evidence that the current system contributes to these problems. Schools often used low attainment and slow progress as indicators for SEN. Inspectors saw that schools identified students as having SEN when their needs were not different from other students. Underachieving students and low expectations of the pupils led to misidentification’s of SEN. The project will help concerned parents to take their child’s education into their own hands and give them some support that they are not receiving from the system. It could also in the future lead to developing a better system of diagnosis for children with learning difficulties with fewer inconsistencies.

How will this project extend your creative and technical skills?

Creatively this project will be a challenge, as I will have to come up with a theme that is both pleasant and aesthetic to use to prevent the input of data becoming a chore for the parents, but also intuitive and professional enough to be trusted with the personal information of children. The technical side of the project will be a learning curve that will form a significant amount of the initial planning, research and development. This is due to the project having the potential to function on a number of platforms and devices, the optimum platform will have to be researched to achieve the best results.

This project will also improve my ability to rationalise and prioritise information based on its relevance and importance, as qualitive vs quantitative data will be a significant problem in this project.

Outline how the practical work will be carried out by you and the time-scales involved for each task:

Research and Development:

(Weeks 1 to 4)

– Researching learning difficulties and the best way to organise and collect information for the best results

– Researching the audience to come up with an appropriate art direction of braning and logos

– Identifying which technology/paltform should be used for maximum accessibility and will be appropriate for the audience

Production:

(Week 5-9)

– Creating potential prototypes that correspond to the outcome of the research from weeks 1 – 4

– Defining the projects art direction through branding and logos

Testing/Feedback

(Week 10-12)

– Prototype to be tested by users, preferably by the target audience

– Collect and analyse feedback

– Reflect on feedback collected to make improvements to the project

This is the structure of practical work that I will attempt to follow, however unforseen circumstances in the future may potentially change this.

What other work is relevant to your project?

Aprendicies Visuales EYA project

http://www.aprendicesvisuales.org/en/ Aprendices Visuales is a non-profit organization whose aims is to facilitate children with autism the access to the tools they need in order to develop at their full potential, through: research, creation of visual materials and social awareness.

http://www.bild.org.uk BILD is the British Institute of Learning Disabilities. We want people with learning disabilities to be valued equally, participate fully in their communities and be treated with dignity and respect.

http://www.reachuk.org Reach offer classes to support adults with learning disabilities to reach beyond what they expect of themselves and what other people expect.

https://www.classdojo.com ClassDojo’s mission is to reinvent classrooms by bringing teachers, students and parents closer together. Teachers use ClassDojo is a communication platform to encourage students, and get parents engaged too. Classrooms become positive places – which means there’s no more ‘classroom management’.

List any critical texts that are relevant to your conceptual intentions:

– 2001 Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eorderingdownload/dfes%200581%20200mig2228.pdf

– 2015 FitzRoy, An insight into the pressures facing parents of people with learning disabilities. http://www.fitzroy.org/wp-content/uploads/Who-will-care-after-im-gone.pdf

– Thompson, J. (2010) The essential guide to understanding special educational needs: Practical skills for teachers. 1st edition. Harlow, England: Longman Pub. Group.

– 2010 Ofsted, The special educational needs and disability review. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/413814/Special_education_needs_and_disability_review.pdf