Dyspraxia in the Teaching Environment

Course Summary

This highly interactive teacher training course provides a solid introduction to the challenges of dyspraxia in education. The course covers a broad span of ideas and activities to enliven lessons and make them more motivating, and places a strong emphasis on developing practical skills and outcomes for the classroom. The course is useful for both those with some experience of dyspraxia and those new to the condition. Key topics will be addressed, including characteristics and diagnostic criteria, a structured approach to teaching, recognising different types of discriminatory or exclusive behavior, and understanding the causes of challenging behaviours, with the aim of developing a range of best practices. Included is an optional team-building activity.

Target Audience

This course is for all professionals who want to better understand the challenges of dyspraxia within the professional environment. You will learn about what dyspraxia is, how it relates to dyslexia and ADHD, and why understanding dyspraxia is so important. Those who will benefit include teachers, teaching assistants, school heads, counsellors, and teacher trainers. This course can also be combined with other SEN courses in consecutive weeks for form a two-week course. Participants need to be at a minimum B1 level of English.

Preparation

After registration, participants on this course programme will receive:

• a pre-course questionnaire which will enable trainers to learn about the participants’ teaching backgrounds
• information about the Europass Mobility Certificate
• a recommended reading list to prepare participants for various aspects of the course
• information about York to prepare teachers for their cultural experience

Objectives

By the end of the course participants will:

• have an understanding of what dyspraxia is, and how it fits into the dyslexia spectrum
• have practical ideas on how to teach those with dyspraxia, while not negatively affecting other students
• understand key challenges, including managing learning styles, minimising discriminatory behaviour, and creating an inclusive learning environment for all
• be able to understand the positive aspects of dyspraxia in order to create a positive learning space for all
• have enjoyed a positive environment in which to share best practices and exchange ideas with each other

Methodology

Sessions raise and deepen awareness of dyspraxia. An interactive communicative approach is applied, which provides participants with their own experiential learning of the activities and methodologies. Input sessions are in the form of hands-on workshops and involve brainstorming, analysis, problem-solving, and role-play, both in pair work and group work. Participants are actively involved in the sessions to maximize their learning and to experience activities from their learners’ point of view.

Teachers are asked to reflect on the activities, inviting discussion with regard to their own knowledge and experience, teaching methods and contexts, and on adaptation of activities to their own teaching and learning situations. Participants are also introduced to key resources related to the further development of their teaching skills and personal professional development. Both theory and practice are explored, analyzed and discussed, further enabling the participants’ use and development of their teaching and classroom management skills.

Follow Up

The course ends with an evaluation session, where teachers are asked to reflect upon the value of the knowledge gained on the course. They are also encouraged in this session to create a Personal Development Action Plan, and select activities which they would like to try out in their own classes. They are invited to join the York Associates Community, which allows networking and contact with the trainers and fellow colleagues, and with participants from other courses.

Sample Course Programme