3.4 Supporting individual learners
Identifying students who require individual support to access the curriculum fully is a critical aspect of creating an inclusive and equitable learning environment.
Supporting each individual learner to achieve their full potential requires a deep understanding of pupils’ unique needs, abilities and backgrounds, as well as the ability to adapt teaching strategies and resources to meet diverse learning requirements. In this context, listening to learners explain their own experiences is of key importance and can help in future interactions with learners who need specialist provision.
Activity 9
Listen to the following audio where Aqsa, a year 5 pupil at Joseph Clarke School, is talking about her experiences as a visually impaired pupil at a specialist provision. As you listen to the audio, make notes on the points below.
Transcript: Audio 1 Asqa’s voice
My name is Aqsa and I am nine years old. I’m going to turn ten in July. I’ve been here for nearly seven years and I joined when I was three years old. I’m glad to be in a special needs school because I am visually impaired and I haven’t got much sight. So then that’s why I read braille instead of print. If I was in a mainstream school, well I wouldn’t get on very well. I’d need help in a lot of things. And then some kids in mainstream are quite rude. I know I’m glad to be in a special needs school that I usually get on with most people and there are small classes. If we were in a big class, big classes make lots of noise and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on my work.
I have a Brailler and that’s got six keys and you have to press a few keys together to make the right letters and they come up on a dot, like dots. You can feel them on paper so it’s accessible. So you put the paper in the brailler and then you can just braille. It’s got a space bar as well. I started when I was around four years old and then, I’m now nearly finished the braille code. I’ve only got, after this book, I think three more books to go until I finish. My brailer does help me. So I usually do writing on that, but sometimes I can do writing on my laptop, but I usually do it on my brailer. On my laptop I’ve got a screen reader. It’s not very good, but it’s called narrator, but it does help me access the laptop.
At school I like to play with my friends and at home I just like to play in the garden. And then also I, like every Wednesday evenings I go to a club called Brownies for girls. The only place that I find a bit difficult is Brownies, but then all the girls except one is nice. So they usually help me and what they do is sometimes I get a bit left out of things, but then my aunt usually helps me, but then it just feels, I feel a bit left out of the girls always pairing up with other people. So when I went on the camp, there were seven people in my group and then we were told to pair up and then they paired up and left me out because I was the seventh. None of them really know me exactly.
I feel safe and I know that I can be who I am. I can chat, I can make friends and stuff like that. I can learn. Since I was in year one, I started growing independent and now I’m pretty independent. It means that I can be myself, I can make friends, and it means I can focus on what I’m doing without a class of 30 children. I know my way around because some mainstream schools are huge.
- How does Aqsa describe her experience of using assistive technologies in their learning? What specific benefits does she mention?
- In what ways does the Aqsa’s visual impairment impact her school life and learning?
- What do her responses lead you to think educators should consider when supporting students with specialist provision?
Discussion
Aqsa describes using assistive technologies, like Braillers, as empowering and enabling her to access writing information independently.
Aqsa identified many challenges she had in previous schools and in her day-to-day life, such as difficulties with reading printed materials, navigating physical spaces, or participating in visual-based activities. You may have highlighted that these challenges have led to a need for alternative formats and adaptations to support learning and accessibility.
There are implications for classroom practice beyond Aqsa’s individual experience of school. Educators should consider how to support a student who requires specialist provision so that they can access the curriculum giving the student agency and independence where appropriate. Listening to the voices of children is important so that practitioners understand the lived experience of the children and can source the resources that are needed.