Lisa Holland is the amazing trainer and curriculum creator behind our higher-level SEND & Autism courses. You can read all about her expert background and passion for education here! But in for this article, Lisa dives deeper into some of the new Level 3 offerings in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities & Understanding Autism we have at Complete Skills Solutions, which we believe provide essential training for any child educator or caregiver.
What sort of people join these courses?
Learners on the SEND & Autism courses come from a variety of backgrounds and for a wide range of reasons.
Some come from an education setting, wanting to either develop their knowledge to be able to support their students as best as they possibly can. To provide them with the right support strategies.
Some come to enhance and build on their current knowledge—to go on to further study or higher-paying jobs within education, supporting children and young people and their families.
Some work within the community—working with families who are experiencing challenging situations while parenting their children with SEND or Autism. They want to be able to offer advice and guidance and develop their knowledge in this area.
A number of learners who are parents have blown me away with their commitment and motivation for the course!
Many of the parents struggled throughout their own time education and now they want their children to have a better experience than they had. They’re doing the course to develop knowledge in order to support their children, but some also now want to now progress into this area of work. They’re keen to support other children with Special Educational Needs, to help them achieve their potential and have positive educational experiences.
What are the most important units and topics covered on the courses?
All of them are essential parts of the courses. For example, on the Level 3 SEND course, we start off looking at the development of children and young people, this develops knowledge of the factors that can influence development and support learners to know how to monitor a child or young person’s development.
Then, we move on to a completely different but equally important topic of special education needs services and legislation that informs working practice. This allows learners to not only reflect best practice, but understand how the views of children, young people and carers can be used to improve teaching and learning.
We also cover how to support children and young people to achieve their full potential. I might actually say this could be the most important unit in my opinion! It looks at how we actually support them to plan and work towards behaviour that advances their learning opportunities.
Further topics, such as how to support children with specific requirements and speech, language and communication needs, develops knowledge and understanding for learners of the support available and the different approaches taken to implement these services.
Why is this training important in sectors like education and healthcare?
Having SEND or autism can affect a person’s emotional, social, cognitive and physical health—especially as they’re growing up. And all of these aspects play a huge role in how a person learns.
So, understanding diverse learning needs helps an educator or provider recognise disabilities and learning difficulties such as autism, dyslexia, ADHD and speech & language impairment. This training develops the professional knowledge that in turn enables children and young people to achieve their full learning potential and receive education and care that’s tailored to their individual needs.
Who would you recommend these courses to?
Definitely anyone who is looking to work in childcare and play work, or anyone who wants to work as a Teaching Assistant, a SEN Teaching Assistant, a child & family support worker, a foster carer or a mentor.
Achieving a Level 3 qualification in SEND or Autism can also support people to go on to do further study. For example, to become an Early Years Teacher, a fully qualified SEN or mainstream Teacher, a higher Teaching Assistant, or a higher-level support worker.