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Our Therapy Team
The Special Provision Team at Fairley House School consists of 6 speech and language therapists, 4 occupational therapists and 4 highly specialised Literacy and Maths teachers.
The Special Provision Team work alongside classroom teachers as part of a Transdisciplinary Approach to teaching. All team members are specialists in specific learning difficulties and input is tailored to meet the needs of the individual child. Teaching takes place in a 1:1, small group or integrated into the classroom.
Our aim is to provide all children with a tool box of strategies that they can recognise, develop and take to all learning situations, which help foster independence. These strategies are taught early and reinforced daily in classroom practice.
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Speech and Language therapy
The speech and language therapists (SLTs) target specific difficulties related to the understanding and use of language. This can involve working on children’s ability to; follow instructions, understand concepts, formulate complex sentences, build vocabulary or retrieve words from their memory (word finding). In addition, SLTs work on strategies to support short term working memory, build awareness of how sounds work within language to aid spelling and they may also address speech, voice or social communication needs. They also play a key role in developing speaking and listening programmes to support writing skills.
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The occupational therapists work on foundation sensory, motor and perceptual skills to support the underlying skills to allow children to access curriculum learning. This involves working with children to help develop visual memory, body awareness and posture, attention control, handwriting and copying from the board. We also address eye-movement control to support reading and children are assessed by a dyslexia-trained Orthoptist.
An occupational therapist works with the class in Maths help the children develop an awareness of shape with the bodies.
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Our specialist teachers help to plug the gaps for children who need a more specific approach for their literacy and maths. This involves developing decoding strategies for reading, sound awareness skills, sight words, comprehension, and extended writing skills. Maths extension work focuses on specific difficulties with layout of maths problems, recalling number facts and tackling maths word problems. Special teaching work is linked with core curriculum class work.
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Transdisciplinary teaching means class teachers and therapists working together towards a common objective for the child e.g. learning about maps in Geography. The teacher will deliver the key points of the curriculum area. The speech and language therapist will support this objective by teaching key vocabulary and memory work. The occupational therapist will support this objective by teaching visual strategies of reading/creating grids and legends.
Therapy is integrated into school experience via lesson planning with the teachers, suggesting appropriate teaching strategies for the children and assisting with the ongoing assessment of progress. The therapists are also involved with the educational curriculum via input into the children’s’ IEP.
A speech and language therapist working with the class teacher to support the learning of new vocabulary in a History lesson.
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