Frequently Asked Questions - Kickstart Learning

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1. Do you only teach students who have special educational needs?
No, definitely not. We specialise in working with children who have conditions such as ASD and ADHD, but we work with any child who needs our help.


2. What training has Kerry had?
Kerry has a degree in primary teaching including Qualified Teacher Status, which was awarded by the University of Worcester in 2005. She was awarded the grade of black belt in 2015 by Combat Academy UK, which is affiliated to the Cobra Martial Arts Association. She has also been awarded her level 1 instructor qualification and, as part of this, she has an up-to-date first aid qualification, DBS certificate and public liability insurance.

Kerry has undertaken child protection training and SEND training.

Recent courses she has attended:
  • Youth Mental Health First Aid (Mental Health First Aid England)
  • Practical Solutions for Dyslexia for Secondary and Further Education (British Dyslexia Association)
  • Practical Approaches for Children with Dyspraxia/DCD (Dyspraxia UK)
  • Identifying Dyscalculia (British Dyslexia Association)

All qualification certificates can be viewed on request.

Kerry also counts her own life experience as some of her most valuable training. Having ADHD, ASD and Sensory Processing Disorder herself, she has a natural and thorough understanding of the difficulties that children with these conditions can encounter and strategies that can be used to overcome these difficulties or make them more manageable.


3. Do all sessions have to include exercise of some form?
Ideally, yes. The key concept of Kickstart Learning is the combination of exercise with learning. Some students detest exercise, but then it's down to our staff to try and find a form of exercise that will motivate and engage that child.


4. Will you come to our house to have sessions with our child?
Unfortunately not. The main reason is that, at the centre, we have access to all the resources we could need during a session. It often helps a child to come out of the home environment for sessions as there are less distractions and they understand that this is learning time rather than play time.


5. What age ranges do you work with?
The sessions are aimed at children from ages 7 to 12 (Year 2 to Year 7). We do occasionally work with children younger than this depending on their specific needs and we have worked with young people up to the age of 21. Please get in contact if your child is younger than 7 or older than 12 as we'd need to discuss your requirements first to see if we thought we would be the best person to work with your child.


6. How do you spread out the classroom based learning and the exercise within each session?
Each child is different and so each session is different also. We always have a plan for a session, but we respond to the child's needs as they arise.

We tend to start each session with a quick chat about how their week has been. This enables us to find out how the child is feeling and what frame of mind they are in. The session will probably develop differently depending on the child's mood as this will affect their levels of concentration, attitude and motivation. Occasionally, if a child comes to the session in a really bad mood or really upset, we might abandon what we had planned and instead work on helping the child to feel more calm and in control of their emotions. We would always communicate this to parents after a session, but it would only happen in exceptional circumstances.

Each child's attention span is different and so we use this to dictate when we switch activities or do some physical exercise. Some children will need frequent changes to keep them focused and engaged whereas other children will be happy to work for an extended period of time and just break once for a mini workout.


7. I suspect that my child might have a Specific Learning Difficulty. Are you able to diagnose him/her?
We are not qualified to diagnose your child with any Specific Learning Difficulty. We are able to conduct various screeners with your child which would show how likely they are to have a Specific Learning Difficulty but this is not a formal diagnosis. We can recommend someone who could potentially diagnose if needed.


8. I think that I might also have difficulties similar to my child. Are you able to work with me also?
Conditions such as ASD, ADHD and dyslexia have been proven to have a genetic link so it is highly likely that your child won't be the only member of the family to be experiencing such difficulties. In fact, many parents only seek a diagnosis themselves after their child has been diagnosed and they recognise the traits in themselves also. We only work with children, but we are able to offer advice and guidance for any parents who need it. We can also put you in touch with professionals who work more with adults.


9. Are you able to offer (such and such) service?
We are very open to suggestions and requests. If we can effectively accommodate a suggestion or request then we will and if we don't think it would be feasible or appropriate then we will explain why not.


10. Can I book tutoring and mentoring sessions for two children to attend at the same time?
Yes, this is possible, but it would depend entirely on what we were going to be focusing on in the sessions. It is usually more important for the children to be a similar academic ability or emotional level rather than a similar age. Please get in touch to discuss this further.
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