Meeting

for Joshua Hards

22/8/2016
Eleanor, Caroline Swinburne, Jaye Ventura & Carrie Kingsborough

Main Discussion:
Concerns have arisen following recent Private Speech Path and Psychologist sessions Josh is:
Not happy at school
Does not enjoy Daily 5 and spelling lessons
Finds Writing boring
Does not like it when he has to answer questions in front of class

Not acceptable to say writing is boring, however we do understand that it is difficult
Spelling not strong and will most likely have greater success with a whole word approach. Joshs underlying
phonetic difficulties will make it problematic hearing / discriminating and producing sound parts of words.

Eleanor not concerned that he doesn't want to use Proloquo2Go assistive software in classroom but wants
him to use assistive technology for critical communication when needed. Josh has a blocked attitude to
using this in the classroom as he does not like being different in any way to his peers.

Speech difficulties are overt / obvious to others and Josh would benefit from developing a healthier level of
acceptance of this
Eleanor shared that ASD diagnosis almost certain
What would this change in the way we approach his learning and development?
Being well rested makes a big difference to how Josh copes in general

General agreement that we need to develop some non negotiables in his learning. Joshuas attitude and
learning dispositions are blocking some areas of progress and improvement. Mornings are more focused on
explicit teaching and learning, while afternoons are more focused on integrated, social aspects of learning,
collaboration and cooperative learning. Both are very important aspects of Joshuas continued
development. Josh is currently missing or has many times throughout the week disrupted to attend therapy
sessions out of school. These sessions are also important, but it is causing disruption to a balanced
education/learning time at school.
OT has changed to 8.30am on Thursdays therefore will only miss first part of Health.
Will keep trying to move specialist appointments to miss less learning time.
Missing parts of learning affects confidence and connections with learning for Joshua.

Joshua has expressed some concerns over presentations that he may have to complete in front of the class.
Caroline shared that this is supported and practiced. Part of this will be spoken but this can be negotiated
with Jaye or Caroline. Caroline will work through this with class. Happy to negotiate how Josh can succeed
with this presentation.

Jaye would like to build his resilience. When working 1:1 he will/can bounce back quickly.
Caroline would like to work on working through difficulties rather than avoiding them.
Still distracts / avoids self from learning, by asking to go to the toilet, get a drink etc
Using a timer to build up focus / concentration is working with Jaye.
Eleanor sees this lack of focus, flipping from one thing to the next, also at home. Joshua can refuse to
practice things he does not like, at home.
Transfer timer strategy to use in the classroom. Begin in small quantities of time and build up by 5 mins
over time.

Jamie, Nancy supportive peers but may do too much. Need to consider for class placement for 2017.
Eleanor will put considerations in writing to Deb asap.


Jaye has invited Josh into small group work which has helped with confidence and independence

Need to build up ability to solve problems for self, deal with setbacks and persist in areas of difficulty.
Can suggest 2 alternatives to choose from, but not to opt out.

NAPLAN results shared with Eleanor. Josh has achieved NMS in all areas. Lowest area was Numeracy. This
is a positive result.
Can use information in Naplan to help design learning goals eg writing
Online version has been fine for Josh. All NAPLAN will be online from 2017 onwards

Writing with Jaye: will use resources from classroom and own to support planning and development of
written work. Focus on editing and improving a piece of work rather than producing multiple pieces of
work. Quality over quantity.

Group work makes possible opportunities for Josh to show what he can do and understand.

Eleanor would like to connect with Alex Duncan as Josh enjoys PE but does not like Footy (out of school
sport). He finds this hard so maybe about exploring what can we do to get better, stronger, more skilled.
Practice / persistence!

Some work continuing on specific speech sounds. Jaye maintains expectations and has Josh's trust to
practice and master some of these skills.
Eg: d sounds, ang for and
Tongue twisters work.

Try finding stories and picture books to develop this understanding of resilience, practice and persistence.

Power word used by Jaye is known by Josh to remind him to not give up eg Seth/ Sith
Brave Ray
R2D2 is a worrier
These are Star Wars character's personalities

Refer to 5 point scale to regulate behaviour. Teach Josh strategies to manage when issues arise.

Concern for next year with Alex starting Kindy. Kindy allows school children to go inside preschool in term
1; not sure how Alex will handle the separation at end of break. Set the agenda if this is to become a
problem, ie, Ask Josh to not come in, if it creates a problem for Alex.

Eleanor is working on an idea from ASA to develop a Personal Passport to describe Josh and Alex for staff.
Important info to share to create understanding of each child.

Suggestion : Meet again at end of term to check in with how things are going.