Moderate Learning Difficulties
The Special Educational Needs Inclusion Service (Cognition and Learning) supports pupils with Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD) in mainstream schools. It also provides advice and guidance to parents and to school staff to further support children with MLD at home and at school.
The Service has compiled a number of fun and exciting resources and websites that you may find useful to support children with various aspects of their learning at home and at school.
If you are a parent or teacher and you have any queries regarding a pupil with Moderate Learning Difficulties, please contact us;
| Regional Administrative Officer | Justin Craig |
|---|---|
| Telephone | 028 8241 1360 |
| InfoSenis.MLD@eani.org.uk |
Leaving your preferred contact details, and a member of our team will telephone you as soon as possible to offer advice and guidance.
Learning the Alphabet
Initial Sounds
VC Word Level
CVC Word Level
Time
Analogue Time
Digital Time
Money
Resources
Number
Resources
Down Syndrome
The Education Authority’s (EA) Special Educational Needs Inclusion Service (SENIS) for Down Syndrome provides advice/support and resources for the effective inclusion of pupils with Down Syndrome within all phases of schools/settings.
All schools and parents with children with Down syndrome can contact SENIS Down Syndrome Support :
| Regional Administrative Officer | Justin Craig |
|---|---|
| Telephone | 028 8241 1360 |
| InfoSenis.DS@eani.org.uk |
You will then be contacted by your child’s Advisory teacher who will offer any advice and support you require.
We aim to continue to offer support via phone and remote learning platforms
.
Early Years
Resources
Links to signposting
Speech and Language Early years for children with Down Syndrome
Speech and language activities for preschool children with Down syndrome" is now freely available.
This film explains and demonstrates activities for promoting communication, speech and language development for preschool children with Down syndrome from 18 months to 4 years.
It focuses on practical strategies to promote speech and language development that can be woven into everyday play, routines and activities.
The film explores techniques to help children with Down syndrome understand the meanings of words, communicate what they know and develop clear speech. It also looks at ways to help them learn to read words and sentences, and explains how teaching reading benefits their spoken language.
Developmental Activities for babies with Down Syndrome
This film is now freely available and explores what our understanding of the development of infants with Down syndrome tells us about how early development can be promoted for babies with Down syndrome from birth to 18 months.
The film emphasises the importance of everyday family activities for children's learning and development. It focuses on practical activities to promote development that can be woven into everyday routines and activities.
Section 1 focuses on early development. It describes the important elements of development and demonstrates significant behaviours and activities for very young babies. It seeks to provide a general foundation for later skills to build on and it discusses the principles that can be applied to different areas of development.
Section 2 gives practical advice and activities for supporting the development of skills that may be more difficult for babies with Down syndrome to develop independently.
Activities are clearly illustrated by parents and therapists working with young babies with Down syndrome.
Video Lessons for Speech & Language skills and cognition and learning skills
Teach Me Too is a learning resource designed specifically for children with Down’s syndrome.
It was designed by 21 Together and is free of charge to every child with Down’s Syndrome in the UK.
The learning resource is a comprehensive online library of educational videos designed to help develop skills in speech, language and cognition. They consist of 20 videos – 10 of which are focused on nurturing Speech & Language skills, with the other half concentrated on furthering cognition and learning skills.
Most crucially, the videos have been specifically designed to focus on ‘stage’ rather than ‘age’, allowing them to be enjoyed by a wide range of ages. With pressure mounting on parents to be the central pillar of the learning experience, the programme also comes with additional learning resources to enable parents and therapists not just to understand the techniques used, but also to integrate them outside of the sessions.
The best way to use the videos is to sit down and watch them with your child, engage with the videos, and play along. These would be great for teachers and other staff who are putting together homeworking plans and could include the videos too. These videos are designed for children with Down's syndrome, but can help so many more.
At the bottom of each video library is an extra video called 'All Together Now'. Just click on the video and the whole set will play through.
To access the full programme, please click here.
Teach Me Too Stage 2 – Video Lessons for cognition and learning skills
Access to more teaching videos is now available.
Lessons include, heavy and light, money, days of week, shape, more or less, same and different, storytelling, toileting and feelings. Full details and resources needed are included in Teach me too stage 2 videos resource.
To access the videos please click link.
Primary
Resources
Links to signposting
The Reading and Language Intervention for Children with Down Syndrome (RLI)
This is a teaching program designed to improve reading and language outcomes for children with Down syndrome. It supplements and supports regular teaching with daily one-to-one intervention sessions. The intervention sessions follow a consistent format within which instruction is carefully targeted to the individual student.
In case you find yourself working with the Reading and Language Intervention for Children with Down Syndrome (RLI) but do not have access to the resource CD, the contents are now available free online:
Video Lessons for Speech & Language skills and cognition and learning skills
Teach Me Too is a learning resource designed specifically for children with Down’s syndrome.
It was designed by 21 Together and is free of charge to every child with Down’s Syndrome in the UK.
The learning resource is a comprehensive online library of educational videos designed to help develop skills in speech, language and cognition. They consist of 20 videos – 10 of which are focused on nurturing Speech & Language skills, with the other half concentrated on furthering cognition and learning skills.
Most crucially, the videos have been specifically designed to focus on ‘stage’ rather than ‘age’, allowing them to be enjoyed by a wide range of ages. With pressure mounting on parents to be the central pillar of the learning experience, the programme also comes with additional learning resources to enable parents and therapists not just to understand the techniques used, but also to integrate them outside of the sessions.
The best way to use the videos is to sit down and watch them with your child, engage with the videos, and play along. These would be great for teachers and other staff who are putting together homeworking plans and could include the videos too. These videos are designed for children with Down's syndrome, but can help so many more.
At the bottom of each video library is an extra video called 'All Together Now'. Just click on the video and the whole set will play through.
To access the full programme, please click here.
Teach Me Too Stage 2 – Video Lessons for cognition and learning skills
Access to more teaching videos is now available.
Lessons include, heavy and light, money, days of week, shape, more or less, same and different, storytelling, toileting and feelings. Full details and resources needed are included in Teach me too stage 2 videos resource.
To access the videos please click link.
Post-Primary
These resources and links to signposting may also be useful for Children with Severe Learning Difficulties
Medical Needs
The Education Authority’s (EA) Special Educational Needs Inclusion Service (SENIS), Medical Needs provides early intervention advice and support on the effective inclusion of pupils who live with a long term medical condition such as Type 1 Diabetes.
The Service provides advice and support at all phases of school life - preschool, primary and post-primary.
Support to schools and parents is provided in a variety of ways, taking a holistic child-centred approach. There is a focus on achieving positive outcomes for the children and young people with whom we are involved.
The type and level of support is based on each pupil’s individual needs within the context of the school/setting.
Advice and support aims to reflect current developments in health and best practice guidance from our partners in the health and non-statutory sectors.
The Service aim is that families will be knowledgeable about available supports, best practice and the roles of all partners. It aims to help families to find the information they need as their child progresses on their educational journey.
Advice and support centres on developing the components of successful school support for pupils with medical needs such as Type 1 Diabetes. Both schools and parents/carers may avail of advice from SENIS Medical Needs.
The resources we have signposted may be useful as you assist your child to explore their new diagnosis or aspects of their diabetes management. Please note, however, that these are not a substitute for the specialist advice provided by your child’s Diabetes Team and you should use the usual arrangements to contact your child’s Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse where appropriate.
Advice and signposting may be obtained from SENIS (Medical Needs) by contacting us on the regional telephone number below or by using the central email address. Please include a contact number in any email and a member of staff will return your call as soon as possible. Staff members will also be able to signpost parents to advice in relation to other common medical needs.
| Medical Needs Co-ordinator | Noreen McQuaid |
|---|---|
| Administrative Officer | Peter Malone |
| Telephone | 028 71272340 |
| EADiabetesSupportMailbox@eani.org.uk |
Type 1 Diabetes
The 4Ts of Type 1 diabetes.
The Special Educational Needs Inclusion Service supports the work of the Public Health Agency, Diabetes UK and all our partners in raising awareness of Type 1 diabetes.
The video below highlights the importance of recognising symptoms early.
The four most common symptoms of Type 1 diabetes are
- Toilet – going to the toilet a lot, bed wetting starts unexpectedly;
- Thirsty – a child being very thirsty;
- Tired – feeling more tired than usual;
- Thinner – losing weight or looking thinner than usual.
Severe Learning Difficulties
The Education Authority’s (EA) Special Educational Needs Inclusion Service (SENIS) for Cognition and Learning provides advice/support and resources for the effective inclusion of pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties within all phases of mainstream schools/settings.
All schools and parents with children with Severe Learning Difficulties can contact SENIS Support:
| Regional Administrative Officer | Justin Craig |
|---|---|
| Telephone | 028 8241 1360 |
| InfoSenis.SLD@eani.org.uk |
You will then be contacted by your child’s Advisory teacher who will offer any advice and support you require.
We aim to continue to offer support via phone and remote learning platforms.