Including children with additional support needs

What?
East Renfrewshire Council has explored how the staged intervention/ FFI approach can be used as a context for managing the behaviour of children with additional support needs. Their pack (available as a free download) provides strategies for teachers to promote positive behaviour, taking into account the needs of children with ADHD, Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Downs Syndrome. As with standard staged intervention approaches, an ‘environmental checklist’ is used as a mechanism for considering and enhancing the learning environment to produce improvements in behaviour.

**link to SI/ FFI section**

Why?
East Renfrewshire Council has built on staged intervention/ FFI, an approach which schools and authorities have found useful, in considering its application to working with pupils who have additional support needs. By having a better understanding of pupil needs, working from the practice tips suggested and screening the learning environment, it argues, schools can enhance their ability to include effectively.

How?
The ‘Using Framework for Intervention for Pupils with Additional Support Needs’ pack is practical, digestible and structured into sections for easy reference. It highlights the behaviours that children with different support needs present in an ‘ABC’ format, linking proposed strategies to difficulties which may be observed in class.

A pupil’s eye view
“You feel left out and you can’t calm yourself”

“Not being able to write fast makes me feel different …everyone else if quick at writing – it isn’t hard for them”

“I’m not stupid – I’m in the top form – if teachers would only repeat instructions for me”

(Pupils with ADHD)

The Who’s Who of Effective Practice for Inclusion
East Renfrewshire Education Department have produced the pack, based on practical experience within the authority area. The Scottish Executive is currently working to make it available more widely as a paper-based resource, and it currently exists as a free download (see Access for All section).

How do I find out more?
Contact Ian Fraser, Head of East Renfrewshire Education Services, ian.fraser@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

To check on the Scottish Executive’s progress in producing the paper-based resource pack, contact Laura Joyce, laura.joyce@scotland.gsi.gov.uk