Post-16 Cognition and Learning

SKILLWHAT TO DO
Identifying and supporting need		ASKING FOR HELP
Starting Assess, Plan, Do, Review		WHEN MORE HELP IS NEEDED
Targeted support
GeneralALL: The setting demonstrates an inclusive ethos that supports the learning and well-being of all students.
All staff have received training on different areas of cognition and learning needs and how to support young people.
There is a proactive approach to identifying needs and monitoring that appropriate action is taken.
The differentiation of lessons, written work and coursework is monitored as part of the setting’s improvement/development plan.
Regular specific focused teaching which is increasingly individualised, from the lecturer/tutor or support staff is offered.
The setting utilises the SEN Code of Practice (2015) and local guidance to identify students who may require additional and different provision.
Access arrangements allow candidates/learners with special educational needs to access the assessment without changing the demands of the assessment. This may include allowing extra time, providing a scribe or having a reader. These need to be applied by the school/college. Check the relevant exam board guidance for more information.
Use the Plan-Do-Review-Learn process to monitor the young person’s progress, alongside any external agencies’ advice, whilst collating evidence of the impact of strategies being used. (Refer to ‘Best Practice Walkthrough’ document).
Obtain and record young people’s views using tools and resources including picture sort and visual activities.
Information about young people’s needs is shared with staff who are working with them.
Use of effective assessment and monitoring tools to identify all young people’s learning levels and track progress.
 
Where a young person has an EHCP:
Refer to described outcomes and provision and implement.
Continue to use the Plan-Do-Review-Learn process against the specified outcomes and provision, using previous SEN Support Plan as ‘EHC Implementation Plan’.
Regularly update the strategies as they are tried.
Complete Annual Review of EHC Plan.
Continue to request and act upon advice from external agencies, as necessary.
Carry out and review assessments, as advised by external agencies.

Individual pupil:
Differentiation- e.g. task sheets; providing PowerPoint printouts; timers; breaking down skills; understanding of ‘small steps’ approaches; targeted questions at different levels.
 
Scaffolding of work- e.g. task plans; word banks; sentence starters; writing frames.
 
Promotion and encouragement of independence – e.g. through scaffolding; visuals; sharing expectations; work pitched at the young person’s
level; effective deployment of support staff; offering mediation at a lower level first before increasing, where necessary (see Asking for Help column).
 
 
Classroom:
Create a supportive learning environment – e.g. ‘help box’ with appropriate resources in each classroom; folders in classrooms (on tables) containing resources such as word mats; using off- white paper (not black text on white paper); colour coding/ dyslexia friendly environment; working walls and purposeful displays (e.g. key vocabulary); prompts/ reminders/ ‘to do’ lists; seating selection; visual cues and timetables; timed rewards and consequences; brain breaks.
 
Arrangements to support the use and delivery of approaches/materials for students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) which may include multi- sensory teaching strategies, a focus on phonological awareness, motor skills programme. 
 
Whole school/setting:
Staff awareness of the learning hierarchy to support their understanding of the stages involved in developing a skill and identifying which stage young people have reached/ where additional support to progress may be needed:
Acquisition (being introduced to a task. Focus is on accuracy and getting it right, rather than speed or use of concepts to problem solve).
Fluency (practice phase and becoming familiar with the task; starting to focus on speed as well as accuracy. Individuals will make different rates of progress).
Mastery (task is fully learnt and feels like ‘second nature’; the learner has developed a level of proficiency which is not affected by new learning or periods of time without practicing the skill.
Generalisation (mastered task is now used in other situations; with instruction, the learner applies the skill with novel materials or under different conditions. Learning is less prescribed, and reinforcement can take place through everyday experiences, enabling simple problem solving).
Adaptation (the mastered skill is fully generalised and the information can be used in novel ways and for more complex problem solving. Specific instruction in complex or new situations isn’t needed, and the learner can ask themselves what skills or knowledge they might need to solve the problem).		Facilitate learning activities in smaller and targeted groups, in limited distraction environments where possible.
 
Awareness of learners who may benefit from additional support at the acquisition and fluency stages of the learning hierarchy (e.g. strategies such as pre-teaching of key concepts/ vocabulary and increased repetition and over-learning with opportunities to revisit concepts more frequently). See Getting Advice column.
 
Individual and/ or small group interventions with appropriate pre- and post- measures to evaluate progress. Good starting points for finding out about evidence-based interventions, programmes and approaches are:
Education Endowment Foundation.
What Works for Children and Young People with Literacy Difficulties.
Evidence 4 Impact – an independent service that supports educators in using evidence-based practice in order to improve outcomes for leaners.
The Early Intervention Foundation guidebook – provides information about early intervention programmes that have been evaluated and shown to improve outcomes for young people.
 
Different young people will require different types, levels and intensity of adult mediation (approaches and strategies used to support during tasks and activities) to maximise their learning of specific skills and to promote increased levels of independence. The focus of mediation may include:
Regulation of behaviour (finding out what helps the young person to manage behaviours associated with learning such as attention, impulsivity and distraction);
Rule teaching (helping and encouraging the young person to find and apply rules);
Insight (helping the young person to use ‘what works’ and apply these tactics to new and novel situations – generalising); or
Sequencing (helping the young person to respond in an organised and sequenced way).
 
Modes of mediation may include:
Focusing (directing and maintaining attention to a task using prompts such as gesture or verbal and visual cues);
Motor (drawing, moving objects into the young person’s line of sight, hand over hand guidance);
Verbal (using instructions to guide and direct through questions, step-by-step instructions and feedback on what has gone well).
 
Mediation should begin at the lowest level needed for the young person; some will need to begin at a higher level than others. Mediation progresses from higher to lower levels as follows:
Hand over hand guidance.
Modelling with initial guidance which is gradually faded.
Modelling the task using specific examples of rules, concepts and strategies.
Pointing out general characteristics (but not task-specific).
Asking for further applications of previously used strategies.
Teaching how to select appropriate strategies using previous input from mediation.
Young person applies previous strategies and rules with increasing flexibility.
Previous mediation internalised and fully self-regulating.		Use appropriate assessments to identify difficulties early, establish a greater understanding of the young person’s needs and inform appropriate referral to other services.
 
Over rehearsal of information to enable young people to progress through the hierarchy of learning (see General section) e.g. Precision Teaching (PT) intervention. PT intervention is suitable for those who struggle with working memory difficulties and retaining information and is used as an intensive 1:1 intervention.
 
Higher levels of mediation during tasks (see Getting Help).
 
Referral or multi-agency meetings for assessment and advice for further support around learning and the factors that may impact a young person’s progress. Agencies may include:
Educational Psychology Service.
Advisory Teacher.
Speech and Language Therapy Service
Thinking SkillsIndividual pupil:
Use of structured planning templates (task plans, checklists and writing frames), worked examples, and breaking down activities into steps.
 
Provide prompt sheets, questions to answer, key words to build sections or paragraphs around.
 
Provide journals/notebooks for young people to sequence their thoughts, log ideas or questions during lessons.
 
Provide multiple examples of new concepts, taking examples from real life experiences.
 
Access to key information (e.g. subject specific vocabulary, key spellings, number facts etc.) visually to promote independence and reduce working memory loads.
 
Use of verbal and visual cues/prompts to direct or redirect attention – access to opportunities for movement breaks and different modalities of teaching and learning.
 
 
Classroom:
Employ strategies to develop young people’s metacognition and self-regulation (i.e. the ability to monitor, direct and review their own learning, through explicitly thinking about their own learning, setting goals and evaluating progress) and executive function skills (these are a set of skills and mental processes that develop throughout childhood and adolescence, which support young people to self-regulate, initiate, attend to and persevere with activities successfully).
 
Explicit teaching and reference of metacognitive strategies following the seven-step model:
Activating prior knowledge.
Explicit strategy instruction.
Modelling of learned strategy.
Memorisation of strategy.
Guided practice.
Independent practice.
Structured reflection.
 
Organise and structure group talk and dialogue, including ‘Socratic talk’, talk partners and debating.
 
Teacher/lecturer/tutor scaffolding and modelling of own thinking at a whole-group level (e.g. modelling self-talk when preparing for a task, making mistakes or monitoring comprehension).
 
Provide explicit teaching of independent study and working skills.
 
Teaching and support for independence skills, for example: planning, organising and time management.		Promote and develop metacognitive talk in the classroom and in interactions with young people. Dialogic teaching, for example, emphasises classroom dialogue through which young people learn to reason, discuss, argue and explain.
 
Gather observational data and conduct targeted assessments to further clarify strengths and needs.
 
Explicitly teach young people how to organise and effectively manage their learning independently – provide guided practice. Provide exam preparation and self-study support in small groups for targeted students.
 
Use of self-evaluation and feedback tools such as ‘exam wrappers’ (a pre and post-exam self- evaluation tool).
 
Small group/individual intervention to develop targeted skills (e.g. working memory instruction/ practice). Skills learned during targeted provision should be complimented with strategy
-based practice within classes.
 
Teach and model working memory and recall strategies within small groups (rehearsal and chunking of information, visual memory strategies and creating narratives).
 
Small group-based support around key skills for independence (e.g. time management, self- regulation and self-organisation) to support plans for employment or training.		The use of appropriate assessments to identify needs early, establish a greater understanding of the young person’s needs and inform appropriate referral to other services. More fine-grained assessments of skills may be required for young people with more complex needs (e.g. Engagement Profile).
 
Referral or multi-agency meetings for assessment and advice to inform programmes and activities to inform intervention and programmes to develop key skills (e.g. attention and listening, memory and retrieval, inhibition control etc). Agencies may include:
Educational Psychology Service.
Advisory Teacher.
Speech and Language Therapy Service.
 
Strong links between young person, school/ college, external agencies and home.
 
Access to a highly personalised curriculum incorporating additional support to enable ‘readiness for learning’ (e.g. self-regulation, planning, preparation, and organisation).
 
Professional reports to inform support and provision map for young person.
 
Individualised planning around key skills for independence to support plans for employment or training.
LiteracyIndividual pupil:
Allow extra time for processing information, answering questions and completing tasks.
 
Alternative forms of recording e.g. PowerPoints, oral presentations, posters, sound buttons, mind maps, matching labels to pictures, sorting, etc.
 
Classroom:
Collaborative learning and peer tutoring approaches (e.g. Paired Reading, Cued Spelling).
 
Ensure all text and print is clearly visible, using appropriate fonts and backgrounds.
 
Present new information in small chunks and keep language simple.
 
 Arrangements to support the use and delivery of approaches/materials for students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) which may include multi- sensory teaching strategies.
 
Effective use of IT equipment to support learning.
 
Consider seating arrangements and grouping so that peer support can be implemented and encouraged.
 
Opportunities for pre-teaching/instruction and over
learning including repetition.
 
Whole school/setting:
Effective quality first teaching, whole setting approaches and assessment.
 
Modification of level and pace of curriculum content to account for young people’s needs.
 		Targeted assessments such as Connective Learning.
 
Standardised assessments such as the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP), the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting and the Wide Range Achievement Test 5.
 
Discussion with the young person involving them in planning. The young person may be happy to disclose information on any previous support and any past assessments should be considered.
 
Further investigate gaps in learning to identify specific needs or barriers.
 
Small group support for young people struggling with literacy. Resources should be specific to need with pre/post measure assessments to evaluate progress. Interventions should allow for a focus
on meaningful texts to their course and their aspirations in relation to preparation for adulthood, e.g.:
Reciprocal Teaching to raise reading comprehension levels.
 
Good starting points for finding out more about evidence-based interventions or approaches include:
SEN Support: research evidence on effective approaches and examples of current practice.
SEN Support: a rapid evidence assessment.
 
Use of software and technology such as Dragon, Inspiration, Claro and DocsPlus.
 
Introduce accessibility tools on Microsoft Word e.g. Immersive Reader.
 
Explore alternative methods of recording, for example, access to a laptop or tablet, Dictaphones, or other voice to text support.
 
Use of a reading pen.
 
Opportunities are provided for skill reinforcement/ over learning / revision / transfer and generalisation.
 
Pre teaching and pre learning of content required for individual lessons.		Boosting sessions and one to one sessions.
 
High quality training/support is provided to all staff involved in delivering and monitoring targeted provision.
 
Access to resources such as aurally encoded dictionaries.
 
Increasingly individualised / adapted personalised curriculum/programme and bespoke timetables.
 
Evidence based interventions to develop literacy skills, based on principles of repetition and over- learning, with support to generalise skills (e.g. Precision Teaching).
 
Referral or multi-agency meetings for assessment and advice to inform programmes and activities to inform intervention and programmes to develop key skills. Agencies may include:
Educational Psychology Service.
Advisory Teacher.
Speech and Language Therapy Service.
 
Skills learned during targeted provision are practised in other key environments.
 
High levels of support for modelling and enabling the young person to access learning / curriculum / programme.
 
Strong links between young person, school/ college, external agencies and home.
NumeracyIndividual pupil:
Opportunities to practise skills learned in real life contexts.
 
Classroom:
Collaborative learning and peer tutoring approaches.
 
Arrangements to support the use and delivery of approaches/materials for students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) which may include multi- sensory teaching strategies.
 
Use technology to support learning of key skills.
 
Whole school/setting:
Effective quality first teaching, whole setting approaches and assessments.
 
Cross curricular embedding of key Maths skills.
 
Promotion of concepts such as Mathematical Resilience and Growth Mindset approaches focused on Maths skills.		Use of appropriate assessments to identify strengths and areas of need, in order to target intervention at an early stage. This may include standardised assessments as well as formative, criterion-referenced and curriculum-based assessments such as Precision Teaching baseline probes.
 
Discussion with the young person involving them in planning. The young person may be happy to disclose information on any previous support and any past assessments should be considered.
 
Use of interventions such as Precision Teaching).
 
Access to real-life maths learning e.g. Realistic Mathematics in Education and Making Sense of Maths.
 
Embed numeracy into aspirations to support relevance and context.
 
Opportunities are provided for skill reinforcement/ over learning / revision / transfer and generalisation.		High quality training/support is provided to all staff involved in delivering and monitoring targeted provision.
 
Increasingly individualised / adapted personalised curriculum/programme and bespoke timetables.
 
High levels of support for modelling and enabling the young person to access learning / curriculum / programme.
 
Strong links between young person, school/ college, external agencies and home.
 
Skills learned during targeted provision are practised in other key environments.
 
 
Referral or multi-agency meetings for specialist assessment / intervention for example:
Educational Psychology Service.
Advisory Teacher.