I am sharing the SEND ‘Tip of the Month’ for April 2021.

When I studied for my national SENDCo award as delegates we spent a lot of time looking at the ‘Iceberg Theories’ for differing n eeds. This is a strategy to help look at why a student may be behaving in a particular way. Students with Autism often appear to be well behaved using what is called a masking technique. A student masking will be quiet and it is difficult for a teacher to notice if they are struggling. A masking student will usually prefer to ‘disappear’ into the background rather than their mistakes, worries, fears being noticed.

The Iceberg technique teaches one to look beneath the surface of certain behaviours and what appears ‘above’ water and what is really going on ‘below’ the water. I have attached two diagrams to explain this visually for different needs.

This theory is based on the ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’. Maslow describes the biological and physiological needs as being fundamental for the growth of other areas of development. Once these basic needs are met students seek to proceed to the next step in a lesson. Failure to meet these basic needs will result in the student feeling distressed and unable to move on unless their step by step needs have been met.

I hope you find this useful, and it gives you something to think about.