How DCD friendly is your school? Place a tick in the box for each question to which you can answer ‘YES’ Do all teachers in your school have an awareness of signs and symptoms of DCD and a working knowledge of how to support these children in the classroom? If the answer to the above question is has a training need been identified for INSET training or ‘no’ attendance at a course such as Children with DCD in Primary Schools’? ‘Supporting Children with co-ordination difficulties are often seen as clumsy. They frequently have not mastered foundational motor skills which provide the body with stability for the development of fine motor skills. Does your school run a daily motor skills programme (eg. Fun Fit) to support children with difficulties as soon as they are noticed? PE often presents great difficulty for children with co-ordination difficulties. The class may be working on passing a ball while moving, but if the child hasn’t yet mastered throwing and catching while stationary they will experience failure and other children may loose patience with them. Do teachers differentiate PE lessons so that all children work on skills according to their current level of ability? Handwriting is frequently an area of difficulty. Identifying problems early on and providing support is crucial to ensuring that the child learns how to hold the pen and form the letters correctly. Good practice early on can avoid a lot of stress and frustration in later years. Does the school promote movement-based teaching for handwriting skills in Early Years and Key Stage 1 in particular? Does each classroom have simple equipment to support children with co-ordination difficulties (eg. range of pencils and pens, rulers with finger-grip, writing slopes, self-opening scissors)? Children with co-ordination difficulties may have poor body and spatial awareness and lack confidence in their physical abilities. For these children a large, noisy playground can seem overwhelming and cause a lot of anxiety. Does your school have a smaller, quieter area where children can choose to go at lunch and times? Are lunch-time clubs available for children who may feel more secure in a small group at these potentially noisy, unstructured Self-organisation can be difficult for children with co-ordination difficulties. Do teachers use whole-class strategies to address these difficulties (eg. writing step by step instructions on the board or printed worksheet, getting children to re-iterate what they need to do, or what equipment they need before beginning a task)?
How DCD friendly is your school? Place a tick in the box for each question to which you can answer ‘YES’ Do all teachers in your school have an awareness of signs and symptoms of DCD and a working knowledge of how to support these children in the classroom? If the answer to the above question is ‘no’ has a training need been identified for INSET training or attendance at a course such as ‘Supporting Children with DCD in Primary Schools’? Children with co-ordination difficulties are often seen as clumsy. They frequently have not mastered foundational motor skills which provide the body with stability for the development of fine motor skills. Does your school run a daily motor skills programme (eg. Fun Fit) to support children with difficulties as soon as they are noticed? PE often presents great difficulty for children with co-ordination difficulties. The class may be working on passing a ball while moving, but if the child hasn’t yet mastered throwing and catching while stationary they will experience failure and other children may loose patience with them. Do teachers differentiate PE lessons so that all children work on skills according to their current level of ability? Handwriting is frequently an area of difficulty. Identifying problems early on and providing support is crucial to ensuring that the child learns how to hold the pen and form the letters correctly. Good practice early on can avoid a lot of stress and frustration in later years. Does the school promote movement-based teaching for handwriting skills in Early Years and Key Stage 1 in particular? Does each classroom have simple equipment to support children with co-ordination difficulties (eg. range of pencils and pens, rulers with finger-grip, writing slopes, self-opening scissors)? Children with co-ordination difficulties may have poor body and spatial awareness and lack confidence in their physical abilities. For these children a large, noisy playground can seem overwhelming and cause a lot of anxiety. Does your school have a smaller, quieter area where children can choose to go at lunch and Are lunch-time clubs available for children who may feel more secure in a small group at these potentially noisy, unstructured times? Self-organisation can be difficult for children with co-ordination difficulties. Do teachers use whole-class strategies to address these difficulties (eg. writing step by step instructions on the board or printed worksheet, getting children to re-iterate what they need to do, or what equipment they need before beginning a task)?
dcd_friendly_school_checklist1.docx