The period of lock down and school closure highlighted a need for more widely available ‘parent friendly’ home learning resources and supports for parents of children with complex additional support needs.

A small steering group of Education Scotland staff and Head Teachers collaborated to collate ‘parent friendly’ Resources and guidance for parents to support their child’s learning at home.

Schools can direct parents to specific resources as part of their planned learning programme or parents can directly access the resources for at any time, for example, to use during unplanned periods of absence.

About the resources

The resources take a wide range of formats including  offline programmes, downloadable/printable resources, links to websites or apps, YouTube films, or practical resources/packages/games produced by schools on a range of topic areas. The resources are grouped into the following categories:

• Communication : strategies, stories, games, picture cards, sing or sign along ideas, activities that involve choice.
• Movement, games and play : physical activities that can take place in the home, in the garden, on a walk, in the park and suchlike as well as ideas for movement to music or dance, ideas for games and play, activities that develop motor skills or coordination.
• Making Sense of the World : any activity that connects the child to the world such as developing skills and knowledge, such as, safe use of social media; virtual tours of museums, art galleries, and places of interest; films on the wonders of the natural world; exploring sounds and music; using toys or tools for a purpose.
• Daily routines and skills for independence : learning or practicing daily routines or activities, regular personal routines such as dressing, eating etc.
• Sensory activities : this category overlaps with all the other categories however, these activities specifically focus on sensory stimulation or experiences. For example, a sensory story specifically exploring touch and textures.

A small scale survey of 75 parents of children with complex additional support needs attending Special Schools (November 2020) showed that they often don’t feel skilled or confident enough to support their child’s learning at home despite having resources provided for them. To help parents a second bank of resources to support their understanding or learning has therefore been produced on the following topics.

• communication strategies and approaches
• signing (useful words for use at home)
• speech and language development
• using assistive technology

Many thanks go to the following schools who supported the development of this resource:

• Croftcroign School, Glasgow
• Fairview School, Perth and Kinross
• Haysholm School, North Ayrshire
• Hillside School, East Ayrshire
• Isobel Mair School, East Renfrewshire
• Rosslyn School, Fife