Learning to Learn

The children at Richmond Hill School do not develop in the linear way that typically developing children do and in terms of their learning to learn skills they will be significantly delayed. Children at RHS have difficulties in developing strategies that help them to learn, such as curiosity, independence, confidence, play and self-regulation.

The Learning to Learn Curriculum has been written to help teachers plan for development in skills that are essential for children to make good progress, become independent learners and achieve their personal goals.

The information gathered in order to create this document has come from a wide range of sources. It is a combination of learning theories from Froebel in the early 1800’s all the way to Guy Claxton's Learning Powers. One of the key themes that is consistently found in theories that are still in place to this day is the need for children to learn from a hands-on approach. Providing children with experiences that offer the opportunity to explore, experiment and play allows children to become independent learners. However, children with special needs require that extra support: scaffolding to learn how to explore, someone to model experimentation, and play partners that engage them at their level. 

At Richmond Hill we have created the  Learning to Learn Curriculum to support the learning and development of learning skills for all children aged 5 and up. The curriculum allows us to be able to celebrate and show progress towards the skills needed to become an effective learner and reflects both age and stage of development. This curriculum reflects the needs of our pupils working at all levels and can be used throughout their journey at RHS. 

The Learning to Learn curriculum has been written to support teachers to plan, implement and review individual goals, planning is based on the individual pupil, their interests and their needs in collaboration between class staff and parents. Learning may take place over the space of a week, half term, term or academic year, this will be based on individual need and progress towards personal goals. Learning to Learn forms part of every child’s day, all day.

Learning to Learn- Curriculum Map content

Body awareness 

Body awareness skills involve controlling and using all of the senses to learn. To be able to do this a person must become aware of  all of the parts of the body, and also be able to coordinate specific parts so that they work together. It is in many ways a highly sophisticated skill but should be seen as a crucial

Listening Skills

The basic skill of listening is an early part of functional communication. It includes both listening to people and to a variety of sounds. The method of an adult teaching by talking and a pupil learning through listening is still the primary teaching method used in most schools today. It is, however, considered to be an ineffective method when teaching most people with an ASD who have considerable difficulty processing speech and are largely 'visual learners.' 

Listening is a different skill from understanding, although when requiring a child to listen to a member of staff, the language used and the sentence complexity should always be within the pupil's level of understanding. It should always be remembered that most people with an ASD have a mismatch between their level of speech and that of understanding.  

Embedded within the skill of listening is that of responding, and it can be difficult to establish whether a person is listening to you, or to a sound, if they do not respond. The two skills should be worked on together although the skill of listening must obviously come first. It may also be appropriate to do a 'sound audit' for those that have  particular difficulties in this area. It is possible that a pupils difficulties in listening are exacerbated by them 'tuning into' a noise that most of us would not have noticed or been distracted by eg a fluorescent tube buzzing, or a pupil's listening skills may temporarily plummet because they are anxious about the noise made by the grass cutter outside.

N.B Listening is an area that is also focused on in the Communication and interaction scheme of work. Within this curriculum listening skills are addressed in terms of Learning to Learn skills.

Attention

This is a very early skill that can be observed in a young baby as he/she starts to look and focus on the world around them. It is one of the most fundamental tools that people need in order to learn. It is also a skill that many if not all of the pupils at Richmond Hill School have difficulties with. It is imperative that pupils learn to look at and attend to their surroundings, both during structured teaching times, and throughout their day. 

Attention skills include the actions both of looking and of concentrating, and the ability to do this is crucial to learning. Pupils need time and experience to build up their 'visual attention span' and work in this area may need to start at a very early level of aiming for someone to look and concentrate on an object or person for just a few seconds. At the early stages, a multi-sensory approach may be needed because at the earliest levels this area links closely to sound, vision, touch, taste, smell and movement.

There are many reasons why we believe that attention skills are an important focus of the Learning to Learn Curriculum. For example, a person use their attention skills to:

• Learn new skills-most people with an ASD are visual rather than auditory learners

• Use and develop self help and independence / life skills

• Occupy him or herself

• Keep safe

The table below looks at various different aspects of attention skills and gives examples of ways in which a pupil may develop their skills in each area.

Play

Play needs to be child centred with the provision for children to experience, explore and engage in their own way. For typically developing children too much structure to a play environment reduces the ability of the child to learn for themselves. However at RHS, adults need to find the right balance between structure and free choice, knowing when to intervene and when to take a step back. This is true of children at any age or ability.

Planning for play is in itself a misnomer as purposeful play needs to come from the child, the child brings their own purpose which will be within their current levels of learning but at the edge of their capabilities. If the objectives are too rigid with clear aims for childrens’ learning then the outcome is not play. However, adults are a key learning resource, children need “the time, space and freedom to initiate, plan, lead and conclude their own play” (Pre-Birth to Three. Positive Outcomes for Scotland’s Children and Families). The role of the adult is to join in to enrich the play and stimulate greater complexity. “Bennett et al (1997) have demonstrated the need to look at play not only as an opportunity for children to learn but also for adults to teach, or at least to proactively contribute to children’s learning” (Stephen 2006 P7).

Through play children learn;

A willingness to explore and experiment

Knowing how and where to seek help

Being inventive - creating problems and finding solutions

Being flexible - testing and refining solutions

Being engaged and involved  - concentrating, sustaining interest, perseverance.

Making choices and decisions

Making plans and knowing how to carry them out

Playing and working collaboratively with peers and adults

Managing self, managing others

Understanding the perspective and emotions of other people.

Listening, language, communication and speech 

Social skills - turn taking, sharing, negotiating, following rules, teamwork

Cognitive developmental skills - sorting, matching, counting etc

Gross and fine motor skills

This list covers every aspect of the EYFS curriculum, therefore making Play the one vehicle through which all learning can take place. However, as a school whose pupil population is largely made up of children on the Autistic Spectrum, free play with a wide variety of choice, is not always the best option, particularly for the least able in the school. Training of staff is key to the success of play development at RHS. The success of children as learners is a direct result of the standard of the skills of the adults working with them. Depending on the ability of the child it may be necessary for adults to intervene more in terms of modelling and teaching children to play in a greater variety of ways. Autistic children get “stuck” in their play, part of the diagnosis is the taking part in “restrictive, repetitive behaviours and interests. So in order to help children we must use a variety of strategies including modelling, scaffolding, backward chaining, demonstrating, copying, questioning, commenting, observing, requesting and suggesting.