Cognition and Learning Strands |
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| Aspect | Presenting Barriers & challenges |
| Reading |
Reading Fluency: Reading slowly and finding reading difficult and tiring Comprehension: Child or young person has difficulties with understanding and interpreting texts. Memory: Child or young person finds it difficult to remember what they have read or frequently loses their place. Dictionary Skills: Child or young person finds it hard to use a dictionary, glossary, or index. Visual processing: Child or young person finds black print on white paper difficult to see clearly. Phonic decoding: Child or young person is making limited progress in the school’s chosen systematic synthetic phonics programme. Accessing whole class texts: Child or young person has difficulties accessing whole class texts |
| Writing |
Writing fluency: Child or young person finds writing tiring or effortful/ organising ideas. Spelling: Child or young person makes frequent and inconsistent spelling errors. Handwriting: Child or young person has uneven/incorrect letter formation/illegible or difficult to decipher. Thinking of what to say: Child or young person has difficulties starting the task |
| Maths |
Poorly developed number sense: Difficulty understanding and working with numbers, including estimating, comparing quantities, and recognising numerical patterns. Understanding mathematical vocabulary: Interpreting and using key terms and language specific to maths, which can hinder comprehension of instructions and problems. Instant recall of facts: Ability to quickly retrieve basic maths facts (e.g. times tables, number bonds), affecting fluency and confidence in calculations. Solving maths problems: Challenges in applying reasoning and strategies to tackle unfamiliar or multi-step problems, often due to gaps in understanding or planning skills. Maths anxiety: Lacking confidence in their own mathematical ability. Literacy difficulties in maths: Literacy difficulties impacting upon access to maths lessons. |
| Executive Functioning |
Flexibility of thinking / shift: Adapting to change, transitioning between activities, and or revising plans when faced with new information, obstacles, or setbacks. Emotional Regulation: Recognising and or communicating feelings and managing these when experiencing strong emotions. Response Inhibition: Stopping and thinking before acting. Sustained Attention: Remaining focussed and on task in spite of distractions or lack of interest. Task Initiation: Beginning or starting a task. Working Memory: Holding information in mind whilst performing a complex task e.g. following multi-step instructions. Planning and Prioritisation: Creating a plan, make decisions and prioritising for task completion. Time management: Estimating and using time effectively. Difficulty keeping track of time. Goal directed persistence: Persevering, adapting and following a task through to completion. Metacognition: Stepping back to monitor and evaluate thinking and learning such as editing work. Organisation of materials: Maintaining systems for tracking information and having materials needed. Stress tolerance: Managing uncertainty, change and competing demands. |
Communication & Interaction Strands |
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| Aspect | Presenting Barriers & challenges |
| Speech, Communication & Language |
Early Communication: Looking, joint attention, taking turns and listening. Attention and Listening: Processing and understanding spoken language in real-time, actively concentrating on auditory and visual stimuli in the environment. Understanding of spoken language (receptive language): Comprehension of sentence structures, pronouns, negatives, plurals, tenses. Expressive Language: the ability to express thoughts, needs, feelings, and ideas, use correct word order, grammar, plurals, tenses, etc. Phonology: speech sound production skills Non-fluency/ stammering: repeating words/sounds, stumbling, hesitating. Quiet or reluctant speakers: including selective or situational mutism |
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Autism Social Understanding & Communication |
Supporting access to lessons requiring imaginative thinking: Engagement in activities that require imagination, flexible thinking, or creative problem-solving. Communicating own needs: Expressing needs, preferences, or discomfort Social interactions: Initiating, joining, or sustaining social interactions, participation in group work and peer relationships. Understanding and expressing emotions: Recognising, understanding, or expressing emotions, which can impact emotional regulation and communication with others. Understanding the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others: Interpreting or predicting the thoughts, feelings, or motivations of others Friendships & relationships: Forming and maintaining friendships and relationships |
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Autism Flexibility, Information Processing & Understanding
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Attention and listening: Hyperfocus/monotropic attention (linked to SCLN) Engagement in activities or lessons: Supporting engagement in learning especially if the content is not of personal interest or is perceived as irrelevant, leading to reduced participation. Executive Functioning: Planning Including organizing, starting, and completing tasks, working memory and flexible thinking. Changes & transitions: Coping with changes in routine, environment, or expectations, leading to anxiety or distress during transitions between activities or settings. Emotional understanding: Regulation and self-advocacy Recognizing, understanding, and managing their own emotions, communicating emotional needs or advocating for themselves effectively. Demand Avoidance: Resistance or avoidance to everyday demands and requests impacting participation and cooperation. |
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Autism Sensory Processing & Integration |
Supporting children and young people to meet their sensory needs: Heightened or reduced sensitivity to sensory input (e.g., sounds, lights, textures), which can affect comfort, focus, and participation.
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Social, Emotional and Mental Health Strands |
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| Aspect | Presenting Barriers & challenges |
| Dysregulation | Managing or controlling emotions and behaviours, leading to outbursts, withdrawal, or unpredictable reactions. |
| Patterns of non-attendance | Regular or repeated absences from school or activities, which may be linked to anxiety, emotional distress, or difficulties coping with the school environment. |
| Emotional Wellbeing | Overall emotional health, including their ability to understand, express, and manage feelings, cope with challenges, and feel positive about themselves and their lives. |
| Making and Sustaining Healthy Relationships | The ability to form positive, trusting, and respectful connections with peers and adults, and to maintain these relationships over time. |
| Bereavement & Loss | Experiencing the death of someone close or other significant losses (e.g., family breakdown, moving home), which can deeply affect a CYP’s emotions and behaviour. |
| Trauma | Emotional or psychological harm from distressing events (e.g., abuse, neglect). |
| Physical Symptoms (medically unexplained) | Physical complaints (like headaches or stomach aches) that do not have a clear medical cause, often linked to emotional distress or anxiety. |
| Attention Difficulties | Challenges with focusing, staying on task, or being easily distracted, which can affect learning and behaviour |
| Safeguarding | Protecting CYP with SEND from harm, abuse, or neglect, and ensuring their safety and wellbeing in all settings. |
Physical and/or sensory Strands |
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| Aspect | Presenting Barriers & challenges |
| Children and young people who are deaf or have a hearing impairment |
Accessing the classroom environment: Environmental adjustments & adaptations Access to the teacher & other children and young people in the lesson: Ensuring practitioners understand the learner’s needs and apply inclusive strategies. Friendships & social situations: Support children in identifying their own wellbeing priorities. Access to exams and assessments: stay informed on best practices and legal requirements. Auditory fatigue: The increased effort required for listening. Executive functioning: Deaf or hearing-impaired children and young people experience differences in executive functioning, creating obstacles in day-to-day life in a society that expects us to work a certain way such as meeting deadlines and perform tasks in a certain way. Delayed literacy skills: Advice on suitable adaptations for reading instruction. Children and young people with a significant difference between their verbal (BSL) and written answers: Advice on suitable adaptations Frequent and inconsistent spelling errors: Advice on suitable adaptations and effective strategies |
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Children and young people with a visual impairment
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Access to classroom environment: Environmental adjustments & adaptations Moving around the setting: Environmental adjustments & adaptations Access to text: Ensuring practitioners understand the learner’s needs and apply inclusive strategies. Handwriting tasks: Adaptations & effective instruction Accessing maths resources: adaptations and adjusted resources IT lessons: Adaptations & effective instruction Access to interactive whiteboards: adaptations Access to practical lessons (DT, Science, Food Tech) adaptations and adjusted resources Making friends and social situations: Guidance and advice Joining in PE & extra-curricular activities: Inclusive sport and adaptations Accessing exams and assessments: Stay informed on best practices and legal requirements. Independent dressing: Strategies and guidance Independence in eating: Strategies, guidance and adapted resources Independence in organising personal equipment: Strategies, guidance and adapted resources |
| Sensory |
Tasting (gustatory) differences: Information and adjustments Smelling (olfactory) differences: Information and adjustments Tactile (touch) differences: Information and adjustments Proprioceptive (sense of self-movement, force, and body position) differences: Information and adjustments Vestibular differences (the vestibular system helps maintain your sense of balance): Information and adjustments Interoceptive differences: (the internal sensory system that allows us to be aware of what is happening inside our bodies, such as feeling hunger, thirst, pain, or emotions like anxiety) Information and adjustments |
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Physical
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Fine motor difficulties: Assessment, adaptations and intervention Gross motor difficulties: Assessment, adaptations and intervention Mobility: Adaptations and guidance Severe and complex medical needs including a life-threatening diagnosis or condition: Guidance and advice |