I am a Speech and Language and Autistic Spectrum Disorder Teacher and have been teaching children with these problems for 12 years. It is a job that I love doing as I feel I can make a huge difference in the lives of my pupils, and in doing that, make a difference in the lives of their parents.

The children I teach are between the ages of 4 and 9 years old and are in a specialist class within a mainstream school. I feel this is an ideal scenario as the children have a small class environment but still are in contact with their peers in mainstream.

I feel that I am very privileged to be a part of these children’s lives as they have so much to contribute in both the life of the class and the school as a whole.

Being a part of a mainstream school has many benefits, not all for the children in the Speech and Language unit. Mainstream children learn about caring for people more vulnerable, that difference is not an issue, that children with language difficulties are often as intelligent or more intelligent than they are, and that they often have very specialist knowledge on varying topics.

 Children in the unit have the opportunity to put into practice their lessons on the social use of language when in the playground with their peers from mainstream, with the support of the teachers. They have the advantage of being in a very supportive and family like class environment but still have an awareness of a general school atmosphere. Even more importantly they have the opportunity to join in lessons that are appropriate to them, with mainstream classes, with support.