Lifeboats - Specialist programmes for pupils with neurological difficulties

The SHIPS Project Lifeboats

Specialist programmes for pupils with neurological difficulties

Sometimes a child or young person needs to be 'rescued' after an ABI, when they have not learned certain skills alongside their peers.  Help is at hand in the form of a Lifeboat.  SHIPS has developed several  Lifeboats, to be used one to one or in a small group, which have shown very good results. There are a number of different programmes available.

Lifeboat for Language and Literacy

 This Lifeboat is in several parts:

• early reading skills, mostly decoding, including phonics
• later reading skills of fluency, reading for meaning, silent reading and reading extension/comprehension
• handwriting and spelling
• grammar, semantics & composition (under construction)

The early reading skills programme is an intensive course in the skill of reading which takes account of the ways  young people learn after an ABI and the typical difficulties they experience. There are 2 to 3 short reading sessions every day with parents and/or school staff.  It is essential that all who will be involved attend Lifeboat training before the programme is started.  The handwriting/spelling programmes are also organised in units with work sheets and activities to be covered in a regular and frequent manner. Other lifeboats are less prescriptive.  They  look at what needs to be covered with suggestions as to how this may be done. The Lifeboat for Comprehension is currently being developed with funding from The Ernest Cook Trust.

The Lifeboat for Reading may also be used by older learners using age appropriate materials.

Lifeboats for Maths

There are two Lifeboat programmes in this section. Both may involve a group of pupils with similar needs or just a single pupil.

The Lifeboat for Numeracy for KS2 pupils and consists of units of work with high levels of repetition, use of concrete ideas and apparatus and clear methods of teaching.  We recommend that schools obtain a copy of Thyer and Maggs: Teaching Mathematics to Young Children, edition 2 or 3.  This book is no longer published. but is available from Amazon and other second hand bookshops. and contains many of the practical activities used in the programme. The programme outline is available here.

A Lifeboat for Maths for KS3 follows the same principles as the KS2 Lifeboat for Numeracy, but in a format more applicable to older pupils.

Social skills & Awareness

The Lifeboats for social skills, with the Lifeboat for Brain Injury Awareness consist of units of work which can be undertaken with individual pupils. The Brain Injury Awareness course is always led by one of the project team, but the other units may be used by teachers and TAs under the tutelage of the project team.

If you feel a child you know could be assisted by any of the the SHIPS Lifeboats please contact the office.

Lifeboat Training sessions are listed on the courses page.