Learning Development Programme - School

What to Expect

Students in the Learning Development (LD) programme will receive three individual sessions, plus three group sessions throughout the week. The schedule for coaching sessions will vary depending on the needs of the child, as well as their class activities. Some of these group sessions will include, but are not limited to: Handwriting Skills, Social Skills, Auditory Processing (Listening Skills), and the ALERT Programme.

In addition to the above mentioned coaching programme, students will be doing a Reflex Integration Program every morning before classes begin (at 8am sharp). Therefore it is vital for students to arrive at school on time. More details regarding the Reflex Integration Program will be available in our parent workshops.

During the first 2 weeks of classes, teachers and coaches will be working together to adjust your child’s schedule accordingly. Details outlining your child’s LD programme will be sent home after their schedule is finalized.

Individual Programme

Occupational Therapy using a Sensory Integration Theory Approach

Sensory integration is the ability to take in, sort out, process and make use of information from the world around us. It allows us to make an appropriate adaptive response to meet the demands of the environment.

• Touch (Tactile sense)
• Movement (Vestibular sense)
• Body Position (Proprioception)
• Sight (Vision)
• Sound (Auditory)
• Smell (Olfactory)
• Taste (Gustatory)

Information perceived through the senses is sent to the brain where it is organized and interpreted. As a result, a plan of action is carried out in response, e.g. a feather tickles your hand, so you brush it off.

In order for the higher levels of the brain (cerebral cortex) to work effectively, the lower levels (brain stem) must sort out the information accurately. This processing of sensory information is called Sensory Integration.

The integration of the senses is the basis for the development of intelligence and achievement. Higher levels of thinking and behaviour require integration among sensory inputs and motor action.

Children who present with learning difficulties usually present with a dysfunction of sensory integration.

Sensory Integration therapy is a specialised programme to resolve or improve a child's sensory integration, which can improve academic success and behaviour.

Speech and Language Therapy (SLT)

Speech and Language Therapy ‘speaks’ for itself. The development of speech and language is complex and dependent on the foundation of sensory motor development, which is why a child with a speech delay may also need to see an Occupational Therapist who uses a Sensory Integration approach.

However you may be surprised, as many people are that a child who can speak well needs SLT. The SLT will address areas of Auditory Processing (Listening Skills) which will influence the development of the Receptive Language ability (following instructions and understanding language).

Expressive Language- spoken language and speech articulation are also important areas of language development. The highest level of expressive language is the written word. Children with difficulty planning thoughts on paper benefit from SLT intervention.

Phonological awareness (sound and symbol integration) is an important pre-literacy skill also addressed in SLT.

Literacy Programme

Our Reading and Literacy Specialist will see selected children on a one-to-one basis two times per week. She is an experienced British teacher who has worked as head of sixth-form in a main-stream secondary school in London, International Schools and Special Schools in Madrid and Cairo. She has a Masters Degree in Education with emphasis on Special Educational Needs, a B.Sc. (Honours) and a Post-Graduate Certificate of Education.

The programme follows systematic multi-sensory schemes that are designed around the student's individual learning style.

This programme is for the older child who has progressed from the Speech and Language programme. The reading specialist along with the Speech and Language therapist determine which children are appropriate.

Play Therapy & Counselling

Under construction

Group Programmes

The Reflex Programme

This is a set of exercise to be used in a strict developmental sequence starting with the infants earliest learned skill – the ability to hold the head up. The movements are based upon infant movement patterns acquired during the first 6 to 9 months of life, which form the foundation for all later voluntary movement, including skills necessary for reading, writing, attention and concentration.

The ALERT Programme

We all want our children to learn, however we take basic requirements for granted. We assume they will listen, attend for a period of time, and be calm enough to participate in their learning experiences.
Without these basic requirements all efforts to engage a child in learning will be limited. The optimal state for learning is to ‘CALM’ and ‘ALERT’.

The ‘ALERT’ Programme is an important tool for adults concerned with helping students, particularly those with learning difficulties. It is easy to use, it is fun for students and adults working with them, and it translates easily to everyday life.

The programme is a cognitive approach for children to promote awareness of how they regulate their alertness levels, and it encourages the use of sensorimotor strategies to manage their levels of alertness and concentration.

It is designed for children ages 8 to 12 but has also been adapted for preschool through high school and adults.

It can be used in class, at home, and on the playground.

To help children understand the concept of self-regulation, the analogy of a car engine being like our body helps. If your engine is on low, sometimes it runs on high, and sometimes it runs just right.

Duration and Frequency: Once per week by the OT for 30 minutes

Social Skills Programme

Social skills are taught in order of complexity, starting from the foundational skills and working up to cognitive skills.

Foundational skills are used for basic social interactions.

Interaction skills are skills needed to interact with others.

Affective skills are needed for understanding how your feelings can influence others’ feelings

Cognitive skills are the skills needed to maintain more complex social interactions.

Important social skills that are necessary at all levels of complexity and are taught throughout the programme include:

• The ability to remain calm, or at a tolerable level of anxiety while in a social situation
• Listening skills, including letting others know how you are listening
• Empathy with and interest in others
• Ability to maintain rapport whether natural or learned
• Knowing how, when, and how much to talk about yourself – self disclosure
• Appropriate eye contact

Progress Reports & Meetings

Throughout the school year, you will be receiving the following progress reports for your child’s Learning Development Programme.