This essay outlines my experience in a public secondary school in Jersey; educating over 600 pupils aged 11-16. The school has recently enhanced its success after a high-quality head teacher took over in 2009, to help develop the school as a whole. The school educates numerous children from disadvantaged backgrounds and has therefore created departments within the school to support children with a range of needs. My particular aim throughout this experience was to observe and reflect on the provision put in place for children on the autistic spectrum. Being able to recognise the different approaches used to support these children has empowered me to appreciate that each individual child has their own set of needs that can be met in different ways. I was given the opportunity to work alongside an experienced Key Worker, who supported a child in year 8 with severe autism. I observed how the Key Worker would adapt the classroom to suit the child. Doctoroff (2001:106) highlights that adaptation is a significant part to supporting a child with special educational needs, as the environment can determine how focused or unfocused the child could be. Reflecting on …show more content…
Reflection helps us relive the experience and can bring out the tiniest detail that becomes so vital to working out next steps. This is precisely what happened to me during this reflection. Using the Curly Wurly and Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle (see appendix C) I was able to reflect on my practice and its effects on the child. Reflection helped me to understand my actions and how the child may have perceived them. In this situation it could have been that, simply telling him didn’t allow him to register what he was doing with what I was saying. Consequently, to improve my practice I would use symbols or hand signs to enable the child to understand my