This home learning course in Supporting Special Needs is a must for any student looking to move into caring or working with children. This very rewarding but demanding distance learning course will offer you everything required to enhance your career or help you make massive strides if considering entering this line of work.

One of the most popular courses on offer from the UK Open College continues to create massive interest year after year. 

A truly comprehensive course in this very rewarding area of childcare!! 

• This course covers all the underpinning knowledge required for special needs modules on Early Years courses.
• The course is written in an accessible style, so that even difficult areas such as the legal framework will be easily understood.
• Provides an overview of the full range of special needs, including physical, behavioural and learning difficulties.
• Offers practical advice on how to integrate children with special needs in mainstream provision.
• Includes case studies to heighten awareness of issues and to promote individual evaluation skills.

Special needs: Key Issues
Unit One: Understanding Key Issues and Perspectives

Definitions of special need educational needs
Models of disability
Understanding the concept of inclusive education
Attitudes and stereotypesBeing sensitive to language

Unit Two: Key Legislation

The background to current legislation 

Unit Three: Working with SEN Code of Practice 2001

• Fundamental principles of the code of practice 
• Understanding how the code of practice might affect your setting 
• The role of the SENCO 
• Developing the SEN policy 

Unit Four: Identifying and Assessing Children who need extra support

• Early identification is not about “sorting” children
• Focusing on the child
• What to observe
• Using the information gained from the observations

Unit Five: Working with Parents 

• Parents and the Code of Practice
• Communicating with parents
• Parents as an invaluable source of information
• Parent partnership services 

Unit Six: Individual Education Plans 

• The purpose of IEPs
• Understanding when children need an IEP
• Reviewing IEPsIEPs can be modified
• Writing IEPs 
• Storage of IEPs 
• What information should an IEP Contain? 
• People involved with writing the IEP 

Unit Seven: Gaining additional support for children: Early years action plus 

• Early years action plus
• Sources of support and information

Module Two:
Working with Children

Unit Eight: Valuing and Empowering Children 

• The code of practice and children
• Developing a key worker system
• Suggested activities
• Helping children to develop a positive self image 
• Understanding how the self image is built 

Unit Nine: Supporting Children’s Communication and Interaction

• Why communication is an important skill
• Understanding the components of interaction
• Strategies to develop children’s language
• Principles of supporting children’s communications and interaction
• Common difficulties for children
• Suggested activities

Unit Ten: Supporting Children’s Cognition and Learning

• What is Cognitive development? 
• Suggested activities 
• Learning about abstract concepts 
• Motivation 
• Understanding how information is processed 
• Language and thought 

Course Fee: £169.00