Games and activities are a great way for children with special needs to learn important skills. This book provides inspiration and guidance for special education teachers, teaching assistants, parents and carers on how to use lively and engaging play ideas to foster learning and development. Targeting key skills including listening, self-awareness, movement, creative thinking and relaxation, each game has been developed with the capabilities of children with special needs in mind. The appropriate age group is clearly identified, and possible variations for different abilities are provided. All of the instructions are easy to follow and there are cheerful illustrations throughout. Using music, dance, art, word games and breathing exercises, this book is packed with creative and enjoyable games that make learning fun. This user-friendly activity book will be an ideal resource for use in special education schools, inclusive mainstream classrooms, day-care, residential and respite settings, or at home.

Introducing drama to the learning experience is guaranteed to enrich a child's development, and is an especially effective approach for children with special educational needs, including those with autism spectrum disorders. This practical handbook offers teachers an array of simple and easy-to-implement theatrical techniques that will enhance students' learning and encourage artistic expression. The author demonstrates how dramatic play doesn't have to be restricted to drama lessons and can be applied to a diverse range of school subjects and recreational settings. 'The Little Red Hen', for example, covers themes that are relevant to literacy (rhyming and rhythm), maths (counting seeds), science (discussing farming), and art lessons (designing costumes). Step-by-step lesson plans take teachers through every aspect of running fun and engaging story dramas, including warm ups, movement, songs and props. Handy tips throughout suggest ideas for developing the plays further and ways to adapt them according to the needs of the group. This book will be an essential and comprehensive guide for anyone interested in drama as an educational tool in inclusive or special needs settings.

Praise for the First Edition: 'A warm feeling of positive reassurance and guidance runs throughout the book. [It] offers practical and emotional help, not only to a child's family, but equally to health and educational workers starting out within this field. This book should have a prominent place in every toy and leisure library as well as within childcare agencies.' - Play Matters 'This very useful and readable book provides a wealth of resource ideas to support parents of young children with special needs.' - Downs Syndrome Association (UK) 'This is a very practical book, full of common sense and simple ideas. Although intended for parents this book will also be an invaluable resource for anyone working with children with special needs.' - Let's Play When young children are diagnosed with conditions such as Down Syndrome, autism or other forms of developmental delay, there is much that parents can do to help. This new edition of the award-winning Small Steps Forward includes up-to-date research and practice, providing parents and carers with the information they need and a host of ideas to encourage their child's development. The games and activities use toys and materials which most children will already have, and involve no special preparation. They are also fun to play. Sarah Newman divides skills into six areas - cognitive, linguistic, physical, sensory, social and emotional - for convenient reference. She deals with general issues, such as behaviour management, toilet-training and sleep management, which may be encountered by parents of children with any form of disability - physical, learning or sensory. She also provides an outline of child development so that parents can place their child's progress in context, and gives practical advice on coping with stress of having a child with special needs. This book is an essential guide for parents of young children with developmental disabilities and will also be invaluable to anyone who works with children with special needs.

Children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) are far more likely to have communication problems than their peers. Exploring the ways in which children's language and emotional development are linked, Melanie Cross considers the reasons why behavioural and communication difficulties often occur together. Identifying the common causes of these problems and the reasons why they often go undetected, she provides practical guidelines for assessing communication skills and the complexities of identifying communication problems in children, including children in public care. She shows how improving children's communication can also improve their behaviour and that speech and language therapy is an important, although often absent, service for children with EBD. With a range of strategies to help children and young people to develop their emotional and communicative skills, this accessible guide is an invaluable resource for speech and language therapists, social workers, teachers and other health professionals working with young people with emotional, behavioural and communication problems.

In this very special book, teachers, parents and care givers will be exposed to hundreds of age-appropriate activities for young children through grade 5?all aimed at promoting creativity through art activities across the curriculum. The author presents a wealth of information about developing creativity in children and in their adult educators with such activities as art and food recipes, finger plays, and poems and through the use of such resources as book and software lists, advice for choosing children's books, hundreds of resource Web sites and much more. Readers will appreciate the sound theoretical base presented for the hundreds of practical activities designed to encourage creativity in children and their educators. ?This One's for You? and ?Think About It? sections make the text more interesting by expanding coverage to related, thought-provoking research in early childhood education. This book is a must have for those looking to bring creativity to young children in a very engaging way.

This introduction to meditation in education is written as a resource for class teachers and educators as a practical guide. Parents will also find it valuable, though its main focus is in using meditation in schools. The purpose of the book is to inspire and to provide concise, practical and general information, and techniques that can be considered and explored before introducing primary or secondary students to meditative experience.Meditation in schools covers such topics as:o information on schools where meditation is practiced, and the perceived resultso issues and concerns involved with introducing meditation in schoolso the relationship between mediation and other relaxation quieting techniqueso experiential learning and a holistic approach to educationThis essential guide is written from the contributors' personal and professional practice experience and emphasizes how meditation can contribute to the school environment and to the curriculum, as well as developing the positive potential of students' hearts and minds. It includes a useful section on further reading.

The Advocate is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) monthly newsmagazine. Established in 1967, it is the oldest continuing LGBT publication in the United States.

Exceptionally lively, practical, and reader-friendly, this introduction to early childhood education book is unique because of its focus on the value of play. Strong coverage of child development, as well as thoughtful discussions about guiding young children, working with families, and celebrating diversity will help teachers facilitate all aspects of the 0-to-8-year-old child's physical, social/emotional, and intellectual growth. The book also includes an overview and concise history of the field, information on professional development, and clear explanations of theoretical foundations for early childhood education. Chapters on curriculum in the areas of mathematics, science, social studies, language and literacy, and the creative arts show teachers how to link theory to classroom practice, making this comprehensive and engaging book particularly useful.

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