On this page, the SEN team will be adding some extra resources, website links and 'top tips' to support your child at home. This may be particularly helpful if your child currently accesses some of our SEN interventions at school. If you get a chance, also have a look at our SEN intervention overviews in the 'Provision at Westacre' section to see what the children get up to in these interventions.

Speech and Language

There are lots of great ideas for how to support your child at home with their speech and language on the Worcestershire NHS Speech and Language website including video demonstrations.

https://www.hacw.nhs.uk/childrens-speech-and-language-resources/ 

Challenge yourself with Home Games! 

How many can you do? Can you make a model, a puzzle, learn a rhyme?  Can you explain and describe what you have done?  Can you take a picture and show us?

We are looking forward to seeing your ideas. :)

During our speech and language interventions we always have time for targeted conversations highlighting our listening and questioning skills.

Have a go at this fun speaking game...lets get talking! 

Memory

Kim’s Game
Kim’s game is a great activity to help develop memory and concentration skills and you don’t need any expensive equipment to join in the fun.
Take about 10 or 12 everyday objects from around your house and place them on a tray or table. Players have about a minute to study and memorise the items on the tray. The tray is taken away and players write down everything they can remember (spelling needn’t be important). The winner is the person who correctly remembers the most items. The game can be made more challenging by including more items or choosing items of the same colour or category. 
An alternative way of playing is to remove only certain items or change their position on the tray. There are so many ways to have fun and the whole family can join in.
The name of the game comes from Rudyard Kipling's 1901 famous novel Kim, in which the hero, Kim, plays the game during his training as a spy.

Attention and Listening

Here are some ways to support your child to develop their attention skills while learning at home: https://www.hacw.nhs.uk/download.cfm?doc=docm93jijm4n1123.pdf&ver=2070

Games:

“I went to the shop and bought…” is a great game that all the family can enjoy. 
Go around the group and each member adds an item to the shopping list while reciting, in the correct order, all the items that have been said before finishing with their new item. Anyone who makes a mistake is out. The winner is the last person still in the round.
To vary the game you can choose different themes for your list e.g. “Before I went on holiday I packed in my suitcase…”, “I went to the zoo and saw…”, “I made a pizza topped with…” etc. The ideas are endless. However you play, have fun and remember, this is a great way to sharpen your attention and listening skills.
 

Touch Typing

Here are some links to some websites to support your child with their touch typing skills. We use these in our Touch Typing intervention. Have fun!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zf2f9j6/articles/z3c6tfr 

https://www.nitrotype.com/ 

Fine Motor Skills at home

Fine motor and eye-hand coordination skills can be developed through everyday activities:

• by preparing food e:g chopping, peeling vegetables, mixing, squeezing and spreading, making pastry etc.
• Puzzles 
• Drawing, colouring in and painting
• Cutting with scissors
• Play-doh
• lego

Here's just a few to get you started, enjoy!

Gross Motor Skills

Here are some fun activities suited for older children to help them build gross motor skills without making it seem like work.

• Playing throwing/catching the ball, turn it into a game, start throwing it to each other closely, move out a step each time to make it more challenging.
• Trampolining-Using a trampoline is a great activity to improve balance.
• Obstacle course- perfect in the garden using hoops, cones, balls etc
• Dancing- helps children develop balance, coordination and motor sequencing skills.
• Football, basketball, tennis, cricket etc.
• Yoga
• Roller blading, cycling.

                                                Enjoy!