The following resources and links have been suggested by participants in Natspec’s Home Learning project. They have not all been checked or quality assured.
If you are looking for technological advice, we recommend looking at TechAbility’s Aiding Learning from Home page.
Sensory Impairment
Progressive Muscle Relaxation – YouTube video by Therapist Aid
“Progressive muscle relaxation is a relaxation technique that reduces stress and anxiety in your body by having you slowly tense and then relax each muscle. Progressive muscle relaxation can provide an immediate feeling of relaxation, but it’s best to practice frequently. With experience, you will become more aware of when you are experiencing tension and you will have the skills to help you relax.”
The Zones of Regulation Website
This website is for the Zones of Regulation Curriculum which was designed to foster self-regulation and emotional control. It is something that requires repetition on practice and needs to be started at the level that is right for that individual. This website has lots of useful resources, and has a section focused upon distance-learning which may be particularly useful at this time.
Mindful Breathing Exercises
These are links to Twinkl resources which encourage an individual to think about their breathing in different ways that make ‘deep breathing’ easier to understand:
Royal College of Occupational Therapy
Health and Care Professionals Council
Vision Impairment
Guide Dogs have produced a list of online resource links for young people with a vision impairment.
RNIB Book share scheme – educational provisions can request learning resources in accessible formats for students who have difficulties accessing standard print (not VI specific).
Balbolka a free text to speech software where you can translate text into an audio file to be sent out to students works on windows only.
NVDA is a free to download screen reader for windows 7.1 and above.
General advice for adapting work for home based learning from Direct.gov
Knowledge village – Henshaws own online resources showing handy tips for technology support and other daily living tasks.
Scottish Sensory Service webinars
Autism
Challenging Behaviour Foundation
https://www.autism.org.uk/about/behaviour.aspx
Communication
Social stories/comic strip conversations
5 good communication standards
Portland College’s Speech and Language Therapy Home Learning Page
Health and Well-being
NHS and Mental Health and well-being support
YouTube channel ‘Northern light therapeutic services‘ which demonstrates some mindfulness activities which have helped many SEND learners.
Safeguarding and online safety
A brief video outlining top tips to ensuring you are safe online
A range of useful quizzes, information, tips etc. for online access, for example; 5 ways to learn at home
Adding sound tracks to presentations etc.
Ben Sounds – Royalty Free Music is good for providing a sound track to any videos or presentations
Work based learning
Game learners can play about having a job
Website to support learners with employability skills and job roles
Video for learners to watch about employability skills
This tool is designed to help learners find out what their current skills, interests and personality traits are, then find help to develop them further to support their future
Interview Etiquette: An example of how not to do it
