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About Les Staves --   Les staves has worked with very special children since 1973 and was head teacher of Turnshaws, an outstanding special school for children with Severe or Complex Learning Difficulties in Kirklees, West Yorkshire. Since 1999 he has been working as a consultant to Special Schools and has developed a national reputation for inspirational training. He has written materials and delivered training for the National Numeracy Strategy and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. For 2009 Les has written "The EQUALS Guide to Teaching Mathematics", which offers comprehensive guidance about interpreting the mathematics curriculum to develop appropriate learning for very special pupils. Les is now a joint editor of the Information Exchange magazine with Flo Longhorn. Les provides Training Sessions and Workshops for schools and LEAs across the country related to Maths for very special pupils. Sessions cover the teaching of pupils with very special needs who are learning at the most fundamental levels, and those who may spend a long time working towards Level 1 maths. His book "Mathematics for Children with Severe and Profound Learning Difficulties" published by David Fulton sold out the first print run in seven months, and is now regarded as a classic. Some of the articles he has written for SEN publications can be found on this site. The training that Les provides has been described as "Inspirational". He delivers a colourful description of why Mathematics is important for pupils with very special needs and how children establish early mathematical concepts, Right from the beginning of sensory appreciation of quantity, time and space -- through to how children learn about counting and the fundamental processes of numeracy and calculation. Each training session is interwoven with an entertaining demonstration of resources, that will give ideas to teachers of all kinds of children who working towards level one in special and mainstream schools. The training sessions now include an appropriate interpretation of the revised Numeracy Framework. Read more...