Hirstwood Training has developed a bespoke package ideal for unexpected opportunities to access CPD when face-to-face training or virtual sessions aren’t an option.
This will support learning/classroom assistants, early career teachers or those new to working with learners with complex needs or autism, or both in acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to create dynamic and engaging learning environments in the classroom.
Experience this agile, on-demand learning on a big screen for interactive whole-school training or smaller class groups based in the classroom.
We deliver this training in two parts. We begin with a fun experiential warm-up session, which you can use in your classroom with your learners to get them ‘ready to learn.’ The first learning session consists of a 1 hour and 30-minute video presentation by Richard Hirstwood offering an informative and practical guide to supporting sensory learning in the classroom and delivering an engaging sensory curriculum.
We have included a break at 45 minutes, but this presentation can be paused at any time to allow further discussion or to rewind and re-watch any segment.
The second part of the training includes three action learning tasks, each with a different focus to enable participants to embed this knowledge into their daily classroom practice, and delegates or class teams can choose the most relevant one or all!
These are designed to look at three broader topics in more depth: the broader learning environment, creating ‘sensory on shoestring’ resources and sensory room equipment.
These are:
A: Learning environment: a practical audit
Some learners with sensory difficulties and/or autism may find it difficult to concentrate or learn in the classroom or other learning environments. This course introduces the Environmental Audit, a practical tool designed to provide practitioners with all the information needed to help them make their learning environment more beneficial to sensory learners or learners with autism.
B: Creating practical & effective sensory resources
There is always room in our educational toolkit for homemade solutions and repurposed resources – often called ‘sensory on a shoestring.’ This course will use a simple plastic salad spinner to support our consideration of the potential for homemade resources in extending our repertoire of learning opportunities.
C: It’s more than bubbles! What about a bubble tube?
In the mid-1970s, when Ad Verheul and Jan Hulsegge set up the first Snoezelen room at the De Hartenburg Institute in Holland, bubble tubes featured prominently, and ever since, nearly every sensory room created has had at least one bubble tube and in some rooms several. Just what, however, is the appeal of the bubble tube? A more important question may be, what outcomes do we expect when using a bubble tube?
Learning Objectives:
how the sensory system works and what this means for successful learning
why all learners benefit from a sensory approach to learning in all areas of teaching
how sensory stimulation helps our learners understand and use their sensory system
the impact of sensory loss or impairment on successful learning
why we need sensory spaces in a multitude of places
what ‘sensory bombardment’ is and why it can be a problem for some learners
what we mean by sensory modulation and regulation
why some learners need lots of sensory input and others need less
why an ordinary environment can be overwhelming for some learners
how multi-sensory learning and neuroplasticity impacts engagement in learning
the importance of following the learner’s curiosity and interests
a basic understanding of neuroplasticity and how this knowledge helps us to understand how sensory diets and sensory schedules work
creating sensory resources that are purposeful and well thought out
Access is for one month or longer by negotiation.