Making ‘All About Me’ Relevant for SLD Learners

A great topic in the early years for September is ‘All About Me’.  Adapting this topic to be relevant and meaningful for children with severe learning difficulties can be a bit of challenge as some children may not have much early self-awareness and therefore areas of this topic such as ‘pets’ or ‘my bedroom’ may not have interest for them.  

My favourite way to approach this topic in the early years is to explore senses and increase body awareness across the areas of learning.  Here are some ideas for your early years SLD learners this September

Mathematics - finger and foot painting and counting fingers and toes.

Communication and Language - a senses sensory story: use food flavouring to explore smell, different textured sensory balls for touch, classical music and instruments for sound, mirrors and sunglasses for sight, fruit for tasting.  This youtube video of a ‘My Five Senses’ story is a lovely, clear story to use https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT4nK7bQSmU  

Physical Development - Sherborne Movement http://www.sherbornemovementuk.org keep an eye on our blog for upcoming entry on Sherborne Movement.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development - sharing a game with another person such as ‘row your boat’ or turn taking on the see-saw.

Understanding the World - face painting and looking in the mirror to see the effect of the paint.

Expressive Art and Design - explore different ways of making a ‘self-portrait’ by looking in mirrors then using different materials to make a face e.g. chalk, mosaic, paint etc. I like to print out pictures of the children for them to work on to make it even more relevant.

Literacy - explore different elements of Handwriting Without Tears https://www.lwtears.com/hwt. This multi-sensory approach to handwriting focuses on the hands and fingers in the early stages as well as a great activity ‘Mat Man’ that helps children to understand letter formation while making a face.

Making ‘All About Me’ really all about the children can really help raise their body and self-awareness and help develop really positive relationships with each other and the adults in the classroom early on in the year, have fun!