Pupil Support – Sixth Form

Colourful Semantics

Is a targeted approach to support children with their sentence building and to teach them about sentence structure.

Widgit Online

Is a desktop publishing program for creating symbol- supported resources for printing. This allows us to communicate with a child who is non-verbal, or unable to sign.

Social Stories

Social Stories were devised as a tool to help individuals with ASD better understand the nuances of interpersonal communication so that they could “interact in an effective and appropriate manner.

Speech and Language Therapy

We have a speech and language therapist who works at Martin Bacon Academy with some pupils. Pupils are referred to the service by their class teacher to address their communication and feeding needs. The Speech and Language Therapists work with children to enable them to communicate to the best of their ability. A SaLT works on developing a child’s understanding and use of language through a variety of methods to enable them to develop maximum understanding and communicate with those around them. This includes using objects, photographs, symbols and speech. Some children use specialised equipment such as a PECS communication book. This involves training, joint assessment, target setting, joint planning, assessment for & provision of equipment and set up & review of communication/ feeding programmes at school & at home. It may also include direct work within a group or individual setting or in the classroom to develop & generalise specific skills.

Music Therapy

Our music therapist creates strategies and pre-teaches skills to encourage and support a student’s effective and independent engagement both individually and in groups to build students’ capacity to participate successfully in the least restrictive environment.

We have a number of Intervention rooms. Some of these will be accessed at MBA site based on individual needs.

Hydrotherapy Pool

Sensory pools make hydrotherapy and movement development more engaging. The use of carefully planned lighting, projections and atmospherics can encourage even the most reluctant user to be more motivated to enter the pool. As well as developing physical skills, a sensory pool can be used for a wide variety of activities, including colour and shape recognition, cause and effect understanding, tracking and switching skills, as well as social interaction and relaxation.

Move and Motion room

This room provides access to a variety of swings and balance boards to support the modulation of sensory feedback through a child’s proprioceptive and vestibular systems.

Sensory room

Multi-sensory rooms can also help develop skills such as switching and cause and effect to colour or hand eye coordination. Using an appropriate, accessible switch in an interactive sensory room provides the autonomy of development of choice, boosting their confidence and therefore their mental health and these benefits can translate over into the rest of their lives.

Explore 1 and 2 room

An Immersive Environment provides the most beneficial multi- sensory experience for all levels of ability and learning. Immersive environments, allow for a calming and engaging place to develop key skills and encourage interaction for all users.