Resources for special schools

Teachers in special schools will be aware that, given the particular needs and abilities of their students, many resources recommended here will be more explicit than those for mainstream schools. This will be particularly true for those with severe learning difficulties who may have little or no literacy and little understanding of boundaries of appropriate or inappropriate behaviour.

The National Children’s Bureau, Sex Education Forum, have produced an excellent factsheet, no. 32, SRE for children and young people with learning difficulties, Sex Education Forum, London 2004.

Jiwsi: a pick ’n’ mix of sex and relationships education activities, Mel Gadd and Jo Hinchliffe, fpa 2007. Jiwsi is an fpa community education project delivering sexual health and relationships education to groups of vulnerable young people in community settings throughout North Wales. It has been running since 2002. Jiwsi works with a wide variety of vulnerable young people, frequently adapting existing exercises and creating new activities to meet their varied needs. This book collates a selection of SRE exercises based on Jiwsi work.

How it is, NSPCC. How it is is an image vocabulary for children about feelings, rights and safety, personal care and sexuality, developed to help them communicate about a range of important issues. How it is was developed by Triangle and funded and supported by the NSPCC.

ASDAN offers a wide range of awards for young people of all abilities to recognise and reward their skills as they complete 'Personal Challenges' in such areas as sports, healthy living, community involvement, work experience, expressive arts, relationships, citizenship, personal finance and enterprise. The awards can be achieved in a variety of educational, training, employment, youth and community situations. They are:

• flexible, activity-based programmes
• supported by a framework of assessment for personal and social skills.

ASDAN Sex and Relationships Education award This award has been produced in partnership with the NCB Sex Education Forum. It accredits thirty hours of activity aimed at increasing young people's awareness of, and confidence to deal with, relationships and sexual health. It offers a flexible, multi-level programme aimed primarily at 13-19 year-olds, and provides a stand-alone certificate of achievement as well as progression into nationally recognised awards and qualifications.

SHARE Special, Dixon, H. Me and Us Ltd 2008 ISBN 978-1-905801-12-1  SHARE Special provides curriculum materials on SRE for young people with moderate or severe learning difficulties and/or autistic spectrum disorder in educational settings. It includes 40 lessons for young people aged 11–14, 14–16, and 16 upwards. uitability and adaptation options of each lesson are shown for young people with ASD, SLD, MLD and PMLD.

Picture yourself: social and sex education for people with learning difficulties Dixon, H. and Craft, A., Me and Us Publication. 192 picture cards with teaching notes on CD-ROM (this is also available as part of SHARE Special).

EQUALS PSHE schemes of work EQUALS is committed to improving the lives of children and young people with learning difficulties and disabilities through supporting high quality education. These schemes of work have been written by teachers who have expertise in special education. They are currently teaching pupils who are working with the full range of the P Scales and the early levels of the National Curriculum. Schemes of work are available for EYFS, Key Stages 1-4 and 16-19 pupils.

The SRE Resources website provides resources for people with learning disabilities. The aim of these resources is to increase understanding of safer sex and to empower young people to explore their sexuality. These resources focus on the social skills and communication involved in building and maintaining relationships as good quality and effective sex education does not just involve giving facts about reproduction!

Jemma and Jack Talk about Sex is aimed at young people with learning disabilities. Throughout the story Jemma and Jack learn about:

• Body parts
• Puberty, periods, erections and wet dreams
• Privacy
• Building a relationship; romance, dates, meeting parents, trust
• Consent, saying no!
• What is sex?
• Safe sex: what is a condom? How to use a condom.
• How Jemma and Jack feel after having sex for the first time.
• Reasons to have sex and reasons not to have sex.
• Where to go for help and advice.

Puberty and Sexuality for children and young people with a learning disability, The Children's Learning Disability Nursing Team, Leeds, 2009. This book has been developed to be taught to learning disabled children and young people aged 9-18. A variety of visual and tactile resources can be used with the resource including anatomically correct dolls, role play, dance and movement and experiential learning. There is an accompanying powerpoint presentation.

Life Support Productions offers three SRE / PSHE DVDs for people with learning disabilities and / or special needs. For more about You, your body and sex, Jason's private world and Kylie's private world go to the Life Support Productions website.

Contact us if you'd like to borrow any of our resources. (We lend to schools in Cornwall.)