Thi is a resource designed for teaching the basics of Venn diagrams with the questions based around Dr Who. It is designed for tutors working with pupils who may have obsessions - for example pupils with high functioning autism. The question pages can be edited to respond to a pupil’s interest and focus. It could also be a reource for pupils using student support and/ or small groups.

Social Stories were Developed by Carol Gray They are trademarked and you have to have accredited training Social scenarios use the same basic principles but in a less precise way This presentation outlines what they are and how to use them.

A document explaining how to help a child meet their targets by focussing on the positive. These are the opening words of this 3 page document with useful diagrams: When you look at a child’s target sheet it is easy for the eye to be drawn to where they have failed and the negative comments that are sometimes there. If you comment about these the child will focus their energy on where it went wrong and their “failure”. It is a bit like saying to someone balancing on the edge of a cliff “Don’t look down!” Their eyes and whole body are drawn to the very things you don’t want them to do! If this negative focus continues, it can then build into feelings for the child such as “I got it wrong” “every time I try I fail” “I can’t do it”. This then gets translated into “I am a failure” “I am bad”. The overall effect is a spiral where the child behaves how he/ she thinks they are perceived and the behaviours we are trying to change become worse not better. The child may even fail to show his/her target sheet to you or “lose” it. Being “solution focussed” turns this on its head. It works on where the child got it right and builds on that. The approach relies on noticing, commenting on and magnifying where the child has “got it right” and subtly ignoring the failures. (This doesn’t negate the need for sanctions for breaches of accepted standards of behaviour).

Second of a series of lessons designed for an intervention/withdrawal group on anger management. This one focusses on fight and flight

This is designed as part of an intervention programme on anger management which I designed whilst working in a withdrawal unit in a secondary school. It involves activities and bodily awareness of anger. You will need a roll of wallpaper and coloured pens for this lesson to draw around a body and mark anger on it.

These cards were designed to be printed off as a 6 x4 car, laminated and used as a prompt for pastoral staff when managing first level interventions with students who had had more than 2 detentions or been sent to isolation. The cards are a script you can use when interviewing pupils. It is based on solution focussed methods, always driving towards solving a problem and doing something different. The only thing you will have to print out multiple times is the scaling line which is there to help the pupil focus on their feelings and improvement. The cards are self explanatory.

This is a modified version of the ABC model which is used in a wide range of school and clinical settings to modify undesirable behaviour. It is used by staff to help them reflect on the environmental triggers for behaviour for individuals and whole groups or in targeted behaviour interventions for whole people What is different about this: The language encourages reflection on self and behaviours rather than blaming someone else. The emphasis on the language is “you” and your behaviour and the choices made. This is very important because bad stuff happens to everyone and those people who mindfully respond to situations generally get a better outcome for themselves and others. Those who externalise their problems “so and so upset me” rarely change their behaviour because they have a ready-made excuse. The drip drip drip of focus on “your choice” “your behaviour” is the only means I know of helping them realise they may not have control over what happens to them but they can control how they respond. The other main difference is that there isn’t just ABC – antecedents, behaviour, consequences but also D. Decision. When things have gone wrong in a situation it is tempting for everyone to do an autopsy. This isn’t helpful. The events are already “gone” and one the slab (to continue the metaphor). D is the “what next” “do something different” it could be setting a personal target. Or if things have gone well, encourage reflection on what well and making it “even better”. If this is about trying something different then try to change one behaviour at a time. So this takes the analysis from the past into trying to make future actions better or even better next time.