We are hearing so much about COVID-19 and wanted to give you a brief overview of how it will affect the SEND5 Dyslexia Consultancy Service. As with any new disease, we must manage the risks as information becomes available to us but we wish to assure our clients/pupils we are following the government guidelines and advice carefully. The uncertainty of the changing situation can be distressing and it is easy to be swept up in fears about what might happen. Therefore, we will aim to support each other in this uncertain time and share the information to keep the education workspaces as safe as possible for consultants and students. These are the approaches/ precautions we are taking at present for working in schools, at a consultant's venue and via Skype for tutoring activities and assessment.
Working in schools
If working in schools, consultants will wash or sanitise hands before working with a student and will only use keypads, iPads, pens and pencils that have been sterilised with a disinfectant described as killing coronavirus prior to the session. Students will be asked to wash their hands at the start and end of each session.
Working at the consultant’s home/venue
If working at the consultant’s venue, the consultant will wash or sanitise hands before working with students and will use keypads, iPads, pens and pencils that have been sterilised with a disinfectant described as killing coronavirus prior to the session. Students will be asked to wash their hands at the start and end of a session. Any surfaces (work surfaces, door handles etc) they are likely to touch will be sterilised with the same disinfectant prior to the session. We ask that students bring their own drinks and snacks.
Assessments via Skype
We are able to offer assessments via Skype. Most assessment tools can be managed via Skype, but we will organise a short follow up session at your convenience e.g. after school/early evening etc, once the COVID-19 crisis has diminished. For the spelling test and writing activities, we ask that you either take a photo of your work with your phone or use Office Lens, which turns your phone into a pocket-sized scanner, allowing you to take pictures of handwritten material and it will enhance and flatten the images so they appear as full-screen pictures. You should then be able to email the images back to us.
Tutorials via Skype
Resources will be emailed prior to the session. We ask DSA students to load any documents that need to be reviewed or worked on jointly into Google Docs.
We ask that if there are cold or flu-like symptoms in the family causing the family to self-isolate that you cancel appointments. Consultants will also cancel a session if there is concern about their own health. There will be no cancellation charge but we ask that you cancel with as much notice as possible.
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