On Monday (Day 112) I spent the
morning at Applefield Special School in York and the afternoon at Springwater
School in Harrogate.
Applefield Special School http://www.applefields.york.sch.uk/ is the City of York's special school for secondary aged pupils with a wide range of special educational needs. The school offers excellent provision for students from 11 years up to the age of 19 years from both the City of York and the neighbouring local authorities.
In addition to meeting the Head
Teacher, George Gilmore and his staff, I was also interested to learn that the
school works very closely with colleagues from the York Health Trust who
provide Nursing, Speech and Language Therapy, Physiotherapy and Occupational
Therapy support to students.
This was another opportunity to
be educated and to understand more about young people with special needs and
the differing support not only assists with their educational needs, but also
helps them with day to day communication and comfort.
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| A wonderful welcome from the young people from Applefield School in York |
Speech and Language Therapists
work with children who have specific difficulties in one or more of the following
areas of communication:
understanding spoken language
producing spoken language
speech sounds
oral movements
fluency
voice
social use of language
They also work with children who
have feeding difficulties.
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| Meeting some of the wonderful young people at Springwater School in Harrogate |
The Occupational Therapists are
employed by Selby and York Primary Care Trust, and are based at the Child
Development Centre providing outreach work in variety of community settings. A
Senior Occupational Therapist works with Applefields School to provide
assessment and treatment to children and young people who have been
specifically referred to the service.
Occupational Therapy focuses on
helping people with every day activities in order to enable them to achieve
maximum independence and so improve quality of life and can help children/young
people with the following difficulties:
·
Motor coordination problems including physical
disability, Developmental Coordination Disorder, dyspraxia
·
Difficulties with hand function including
handwriting/recording information, use of scissors and other tasks needed for
school
·
Perceptual problems
·
Sensory processing difficulties
·
Difficulties with self-care including feeding,
dressing
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| Having the opportunity to spend time with every one of the young people at Springwater School in Harrogate today was an absolute pleasure |
Occupational therapy can help by:
·
Carrying out an assessment of the child's/young
person’s difficulties, identifying areas where help is needed
·
Assessing and giving advice on appropriate
specialised equipment, such as seating, cutlery, toilet/ bathing aids, manual
handling equipment; to help minimize or overcome difficulties
·
Assessing the environment and advising on
modifications
·
Developing the child’s/ young person’s abilities
through therapy sessions with individuals or groups
·
Designing activity programmes for use at home or
in school
·
Offering advice to other teaching staff and
carers.
Children are mainly seen at
school within the classroom or therapy rooms, however home visits are also
arranged.
I had a great morning walking
with the young people before leaving York to drive over to Harrogate.
Springwater School
http://www.springwater.n-yorks.sch.uk/wa/ in Harrogate is a Special School for
pupils aged between 2 and a half and 19 years of age who have a range of
learning difficulties including severe learning difficulties, autism spectrum
disorders, profound and complex needs and language and communication difficulties.
Similar to how Applefields School
operates Springwater School work closely with colleagues from the Harrogate
Primary Care Trust who provide nursing, speech and language therapy,
occupational and physiotherapy to students. Their aim is to work as a whole
staff team to provide the best possible support for students and their
families.
It was a pleasure for me to spend
time talking to the Head Teacher, Yvonne Limb, and to talk to her staff who
introduced me to each age group at the school. I had a fantastic day walking
with the young people from the school and am grateful for their trust in me to
spend time with each of the young people throughout the afternoon.
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| Enjoying a little rest after walking round the park with young people from Springwater School. Charlotte and I walked round together |
I finished Day 112 with 1172
miles to go.
With best wishes,
Phil