Firstly, Lynn McCann (https://reachoutasc.com/) has a wealth of resources on her site. Although primarily aimed at pupils with ASD, they are also strategies which will benefit many children. Resources include: Social Stories, anxiety support, positive affirmations and emotional regulation. A particular favourite of mine for this week is online tips for secondary students, many of which are useful for primary as well.

Reachout ASC was set up by Lynn McCann in January 2014, after working as a primary teacher for many years and then for eight years in an all age specialist autism school.   Lynn had set up an outreach service at the specialist school and realised that there was a great need for good, practical autism support and training in mainstream schools. Lynn and her team work with a range of schools providing training for ASD and specialist teachers.

To download this and Lynn’s other resources, please visit: https://reachoutasc.com/resources/downloadable-resources/

To view Lynn’s blog post on Supporting SEND pupils during School Covid Testing see: https://reachoutasc.com/4770-2/

Plus, those thinking ahead to transitions: https://positiveyoungmind.com/the-big-transitions-for-autistic-and-send-pupils-after-lockdown-free-online-training-by-lynn-mccann-via-schudiotv/

I would also like to refer you to resources on www.senresourcesblog, which are particularly useful during this period. The SEN Resources Blog is an award winning site founded by Georgina, initially to share her thoughts, recommendations and ideas of learning resources and activities for children with special educational needs. It has since gone from strength to strength.

It’s been voted as one of the Top Ten SEN Blogs in the UK by Twinkl. It’s been featured in The Guardian, Telegraph, SEN Magazine and the Daily Mirror. Georgina has also been on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio Manchester and TalkRadio! Last year she was also was chosen by Theo Paphitis (from Dragon’s Den) for his Small Business Awards!

Resources I would like to highlight for Children’s Mental Health Week are as follows:

Ways to improve concentration at home during home learning activities (blog post)

Many parents & carers across the U.K. have their children back at home again, learning remotely due to the latest national lockdown. Whilst some children are flourishing being at home, I think it is fair to say (based on the response to my question on social media) that many children are finding learning at home challenging and so are parents. Two weeks into remote learning and I think many parents are already feeling exhausted. This post aims to help parents realise they are doing brilliantly in such tough circumstances and are certainly not alone in their concerns. It will also end on a positive, collating a few suggestions of ways we, as parents, can help…..

Access the post at this address: https://senresourcesblog.com/2021/01/16/ways-to-improve-concentration-at-home-during-home-learning-activities/

Also, Georgina has some great home learning videos which are easy to do and simple to follow. Here is one example:

To access the rest please refer to: https://senresourcesblog.com/2021/01/08/home-schooling-videos-for-primary-aged-children/

Finally, Georgina has a new book coming out. It’s called ‘100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play (Fun Activities for Children With SEN )’ – which of course will also be fantastic in supporting children’s SEMH needs as well! The book, as the title suggests, is literally packed full of activities you can do at home with your children to help them develop important skills such as fine motor skills, speech/lang/communication, social skills and working memory. See her website for the opportunity to pre order.

If you have found any fantastic resources for SEND pupils for this lockdown period, please add a link in the comments for others to view.

Thanks for reading,

Lynn