Welcome to the course

Welcome to this four-week introductory online course focusing on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and ways of supporting children and young people with identified needs in educational settings and at home.

Over the next four weeks, you will be introduced to some key concepts relating to SEND, including definitions of SEND and two key models of disability. In this video, Anita Collins from the Lifelong Learning Centre at the University of Leeds welcomes you to the course and introduces the topics you will explore over the next four weeks.

You will examine in some detail the different types of SEND needs through four case studies of individuals with particular diagnoses, including Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, dyslexia, and autism. You will explore ways to meet these needs at home and in educational settings. You will be encouraged to reflect on your own prior knowledge and experience to develop your thinking and share this with others taking part in the course.

Finally, you will look at sources of support available regarding SEND and explore further learning opportunities if you are interested in developing your knowledge or potentially exploring a career in SEND.

Course map

This course map provides a quick overview of the four weeks ahead. You can also view the learning outcomes and syllabus for this course or access them from the Downloads section.

The learning time is divided into four weeks, but you can progress through the course more swiftly if you wish to do so.

Ground rules

1. Confidentiality — You and other learners may be sharing personal experiences in the comments section. Please be mindful to not share any identifying information of other people when sharing your own experiences. Please treat other people’s personal experiences as confidential and do not share them outside the course.
2. Respect the contributions of others — You will all contribute in different ways during this course. Please treat the contributions of others with respect.
3. Be kind — Some of the subjects in this course may raise feelings of discrimination, particularly around disability, but also potentially intersecting minority identities. Please be mindful of this and treat yourselves and each other with kindness.

Introduce yourself

You may now like to use the Comments section to tell us more about yourself, including where you are from and why you have chosen to join this course. You can also choose to follow other learners.

Just one of the exciting elements of learning online is the support from other learners. If you have time, please respond to comments from other learners and support them with their learning. Use the Comments section on each step, and the discussions, to ask your fellow learners questions. Developing a collaborative learning environment will lead to a successful and enjoyable course.

Glossary of terms

As you complete the course, you may come across terms and references that require further explanation. To help with this, there is a Glossary that you can view and refer to at any point in the course.

If you come across any terminology during the course that is not included in the Glossary, please use the Comments section to ask fellow learners.

Next steps

When you are ready to move on, select ‘Mark as Complete’. You can monitor your progress through the course by selecting Progress at the top of the page. This will show you the steps you have completed and will provide your score for the end of course test.

Filming permissions

This course was co-created with individuals with special educational needs and with mature students on the BA Learning and Teaching with SEND programme at the University of Leeds (some of whom also have lived experience of SEND). The University of Leeds obtained parental and school permissions for those children appearing in, or mentioned in, the videos. The childrens’ names are not used. The characters featured in the case studies are fictional, but based on the lived experiences of real life individuals with SEND.