Why They Need To Know 2 (secondary school teachers)

this is the second of my series of short blog posts for dyspraxia awareness week and this blog post is going to focus on why and what secondary school teachers need to know and understand about dyspraxia and how it may affect affect their proffession.

the secondary school age groups normally from 11 years old up to 16 or if sixth form or college 18 years old is when young people are developing a lot more and going through a lot more changes as well as doing some of their most important learning that may well affect their career choices so it is a very important time to help people develop and achieve their full potential and adding dyspraxia into this is likely to make it harder for many people.

starting with the early age groups at secondary school for those people that have managed to get a diagnosis prior to attending secondary this may help teachers to understand different things about those children and be able to help them if they are struggling with things such as the change in schools as many people with dyspraxia settle into routines as a coping strategy and changing anything about that routine may upset them and the negative aspects of dyspraxia may become more obvious due to this and one of the ways teachers can help someone is by helping to create a new routine with that child and their parents as well as being that person they can trust to talk to when they are struggling and this may help to make the school and environment that child feels comfortable in and also make sure that if they have ever had any learning supports in place whilst at primary school try and get hold of that information so that it can be carried on in secondary school or adapted/change to suit any other/extra needs that may arise during secondary school

teachers make sure that you are aware of which children in your classes have any form of learning difficulty as it will help you to teach different people in the different ways in which they learn and how it affects those different children this may also help you to if you suspect that another child needs any extra help if they show similar signs as you will be able to put that support in place although not all dyspraxic children will show the same or even similar traits as it may effect them each completely differently and if all of the teachers follow that if one suspects that one of their students may have dyspraxia they will be able to discuss it with their colleagues who teach the same student and they may be able to put the same supports in place in every lesson to see if it works or not.

children with dyspraxia may not fully understand something and this may require the teacher to repeat the same thing multiple times in this situation don't judge the child for this just try to explain it in a different way as people with dyspraxia often have slightly odd ways of explaining things themselves which may mean that for them to understand something a slightly strange way of explaining it may be required for them to fully understand. it could possibly be best to do this 1 to 1 but that is something that needs to be figured out over time as once you understand the way in which different students learn you can find what the best way is to be able to teach every student at the same time

and the older age groups especially when it comes to GCSE exams if they do have support in place such as having a scribe or reader then make sure that the child is comfortable with that person and is comfortable having that support in place otherwise it may just be worse than having no support which is why you need to try different ways throughout their time in school to know which helps them learn better and portray whatever it is they are thinking in an exam or coursework dont just give them a laptop and leave it at that some people will be helped by having a laptop some wont as dyspraxia affects everyone differently.
 and finally for those people with dyspraxia who are at sixth form/ college and have had their diagnosis of dyspraxia prior to the age of 16 and these people wish to go to university help them to get re-assessed as to get support and equipment at university you have to have had an assessement after the age of 16.

remember that your job is to help people learn.
teach their way not yours

many of the Dyspraxia organisation will have more in depth information on spotting a child with dyspraxia and other details on how to support a child with dyspraxia
you can see the first blog of this series focusing on primary school teachers here http://dyspraxiactivist.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/why-they-need-to-know-1-primary-teachers.html

and as usual finishing with detail from the cycle challenge i did a couple of months ago and the justgiving page will probably stay up for a little while https://www.justgiving.com/Eben-Fletcher/, and i should probably continue to mention all those companies that supported the challenge atleast for the next few posts

i hope i have not forgotten anyone

http://www.cyclesuk.com/ specifically there maidstone store providing me with disount on equipment etc and great customer service (also i believe the first company to support me)
Sheppey FM http://sheppeyfm.org.uk/ local radio station that helped publicise the ride
http://www.endurasport.com/ cycling clothing 
http://www.jenwoods.co.uk/ a local printers in Swale,Kent
http://www.hlgraphics.co.uk/
and chek out these hotels, B&B's etc. if you are thinking of going on holiday in any of these area's
http://www.irondukebrighton.co.uk/ in brighton 
http://www.swallowsrestselfcatering.co.uk/ in weymouth
http://www.torbaycourthotel.com/index.php in or very near Torquay
http://www.parkhotelpreston.co.uk/  in Preston
http://www.etruriatownhouse.com/ in Kilmarnock
http://www.thebridgehotelscunthorpe.co.uk/ in Scunthorpe
http://johnogroatsbnb.com/ in John O'Groats
http://www.the-beeches.co.uk/home  in Bristol
http://www.dornochcastlehotel.com/contact/location/  in the Dornoch/ Bonar Bridge area
http://www.rezarefarmhouse.co.uk/ in Rezare, Launceston, Cornwall close to Tavistock
http://www.lionandpheasant.co.uk/ in Shrewsbury
http://www.thegeorgehotel.co.uk/ in Inverary, Scotland
http://www.scottishguesthouse.com/contact-pitlochry-guest-house.html in Pitlochry
http://www.albahillsguesthouseedinburgh.com/ in Edinburgh
http://www.trapinn.co.uk/newtrap/ in Alnwick
and finally in hitchin where the dyspraxia foundation are based http://chartridgevenues.com/hitchin-priory/ 

also thank you to the two universities that allowed and were going to allow me to use room in student accomodation http://www.solent.ac.uk/home.aspx (my old uni) and https://www.dur.ac.uk/ and i also forgot to mention ther place where we had our emergency stop which was the ivydene guesthouse  http://www.bedbreakfastcornwall.com/west-cornwall/helston/ivydene-guest-house/ which was very nice