Schoolreaders SEN Forum Notes

On March 25th, 2025, Schoolreaders held an engaging online forum for our active volunteers, featuring a special talk on Special Educational Needs (SEN) by Helen Long.

Helen is a Bedfordshire SENCO, a six-year member of the Schoolreaders Education and Safeguarding Advisory Group, and a staff member at one of our partner schools. The event was attended by 122 participants, including 16 members of the Schoolreaders team, eager to learn more about supporting children with SEN in their reading sessions.

Helen provided an overview of SEN, covering key definitions, the roles of SEN-related staff in schools, and the documents used to support children with additional learning needs. She explained the four key areas of need in SEN:

-              Cognition and Learning

-              Communication and Interaction

-              Physical and/or Sensory Needs

-              Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Difficulties

Helen highlighted common challenges children may face, such as difficulties with phonics, tracking words, auditory memory, and attention span. She also discussed conditions like dyslexia, ADHD, and autism, offering volunteers practical strategies for making reading sessions more inclusive and effective for children with these conditions.

Practical Tips for Volunteers

One of the key takeaways from the session was the importance of creating a comfortable and engaging learning environment. Helen shared several actionable strategies, including:

Using visual prompts like pictures, gestures, or whiteboards to aid understanding.

Encouraging paired reading to build confidence and fluency.

Being mindful of seating positions to minimise distractions.

Offering sentence starters and choice-based questions to support comprehension.

Allowing extra time for children who are dysfluent.

To provide volunteers with first hand insight into the difficulties some children may experience, Helen also led a practical exercise focused on auditory memory challenges. This helped attendees understand how these difficulties can impact a child’s ability to follow instructions and retain information.

Helen was the first guest speaker at one of our volunteer forums, and her session was met with great enthusiasm. Our previous forums have covered topics such as phonics, comprehension, and strategies for supporting reluctant readers. If you have suggestions for future topics, we’d love to hear from you!

For those who missed the live session, you can download the presentation slides here to catch up on Helen’s valuable insights.

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the discussion. Your dedication helps ensure that children receive the support they need to develop their reading skills and confidence.