Special Educational Needs

Students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age. These children may need extra or different help. Many children will have SEN of some kind at some time during their education. Lanna International School offers extra support to students with SEN.

The special needs teacher may work in a variety of settings with students. Some students may require a resource room (pull-out) set up and work on their individualized goals; others may need individualized help in the general education classroom. The special needs teacher may also work with students who would benefit from additional behavioural and emotional support, beyond the support offered in the classroom.

As a school promoting inclusion, the special needs teacher, regular classroom teachers, parents and other personnel involved work together and have constant communication to help a student with SEN achieve his maximum potential within and outside the classroom environment. In the general classroom, help may be given in the form of accommodations and modifications (e.g. allowing oral answers during testing for a student who has a learning disability in reading and writing, reducing the number of items in homework, etc.). We at LIST also liaise with outside learning support providers to guarantee that we are providing the support the student needs.

 What does Special Educational Needs mean?

If your child has special educational needs, they may need extra help in a range of areas, for example:

All of the work in school -Reading, writing, number work or understanding information

Expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying

Making friends or relating to adults

Behaving properly in school

Organising themselves

Some kind of sensory or physical needs which affects them in school

Children make progress at different rates and have different ways in which they learn best. When planning lessons, your child's teacher will take account of this by looking carefully at how they organise their lessons, classroom, books and materials. The teacher will then choose suitable ways to help your child learn from a range of activities (often described as 'differentiating the curriculum'). If your child is making slower progress or having particular difficulties in one area, they may be given extra help or different lessons to help them succeed.

Your child's school years are a very important time for their physical, emotional, intellectual and social development. If you have any worries of your own, you should ask for advice straightaway. You should first go to your child's class teacher, the SENCO (the person in the school who is responsible for coordinating help for children with special educational needs) or the headteacher. When parents work together with their child's teachers it often helps sort out worries and problems. The closer parents work with their child's teachers, the more successful any help for a child can be.