Therapies & Well-Being

Speech and Language Therapy (SALT)

Our school aims to provide full speech and language assessment, diagnosis (where appropriate) and intervention strategies for children with communication difficulties as an integral part of their educational life. We currently partly fund our therapy provision with Pupil Premium funding. Our aim is that all Annual Reviews will be attended by our therapists.

Assessment aims to identify the child’s speech and language strengths and difficulties. This enables us to build a language profile to inform our therapy programme. Typically, the therapist will look at your child's play, social communication skills (e.g. turn taking & eye contact), attention, understanding, sequencing skills, talking/expressive language, phonological awareness, speech sounds, fluency and intonation. Children are assessed formally (using standardised assessments like the Preschool Language Scale, Preschool CELF or CELF 4) and informally (through play, observation and discussion with teachers/parents or carers). After your child has been assessed, our therapist will invite you in to share their findings and the implications for intervention. Long and short term speech and language therapy goals will be set for each child in conjunction with pupil’s [if appropriate], parents/carers and class teams.

This facilitates an holistic approach to delivering learning through the curriculum. Therapy may include: individual work in a separate room; individual work in the classroom; group work in a separate room; group work in the classroom; and indirect work (e.g. home/school programmes).

Occupational Therapy

Our school aims to provide support and strategies for all pupils’ staff and families which are integrated across the curriculum. Occupational therapy at Phoenix Arch provides support across a number of areas including:

Advise on appropriate environment adjustments to enhance the learning, including specialist seating and adaptations where necessary, sensory spaces and calm environments
Handwriting evaluations and strategies to support the development of these skills
Support with daily skills such as eating and dressing
Programs for development of both fine motor (dressing, writing) and gross motor skills (co-ordination).
Understanding the sensory needs of the child and providing tailored strategies

This is provided through a variety of formats to suit the needs of the child. This includes individual therapy sessions with the occupational therapist, or individualised programs carried out by school staff daily and overseen by the therapist. Small group programs provide support to children with similar abilities and whole class approaches where all students in the class have access to tailored programs to meet their learning and developmental needs.

Assessment of students is carried out through both informal assessment including classroom observations as well as standardised assessments relevant to the school setting. The assessment process aims to identify children’s strengths and weaknesses and develop individualised goals to support their continuing growth utilising their strengths as well as to monitor progress.

Occupational therapy provides strategies and guidance to all staff at the school and works closely with families to ensure that children are being supported both at home and school in meeting their goals. The therapy teams (occupational therapy and speech and language therapy) work closely together at Phoenix Arch School to ensure that children are being provided with the best possible holistic support, to access their learning and ensure continuing development.

Dance

All pupils receive a weekly dance lesson in addition to their Physical Education lessons [PE]. These are fun and engaging dance classes that inspire and motivate our students, increase their confidence and self-esteem, improve their fitness, problem-solving, communication and teamwork skills – as well as encouraging creativity and transforming them as dancers. These have also helped some students to overcome barriers of hypersensitive to sounds.

Social Skills

We offer a series of Social Skills programmes; Zippy Friends (5-7yrs) Apples Friends (7-9yrs) to help pupils communicate effectively, cope with their anxieties and difficulties, and to develop skills for life.

Sessions are built around stories. The stories involve issues children might encounter, such as: friendship, conflict, change, and difficult feelings. The children discuss the issues raised, and play games and do role-play activities about emotions and coping.

Evaluation with parents/carers and teachers have found Zippy’s Friends and Apple’s Friends improve children’s coping skills, social skills, emotional literacy, improves class behaviour and reduces bullying.

We also run a specific programme for all girls in KS2. A main focus for working specifically with girls is that they are a minority within our school population.

Cygnet Programme

Cygnet is a parenting support programme for parents and carers, including grandparents, uncles, aunts, shared carers of children and young people with an autistic spectrum condition. The programme is delivered over 7 x 3 hour sessions.

The programme is designed to:

Increase the understanding of autistic spectrum conditions
Help parents develop their knowledge on how a child on the autistic spectrum experiences the world and what drives their behaviour
Guide parents through practical strategies they can use with children
Direct parents to relevant (local and national) ASC resources
Give parents the opportunity to meet with other parents who have had similar experiences and to gain support and learn from each other.

The programme has ran for the second time this year and has been well attended. If you are interested in being part of the next programme please contact the school office.