FROM THE CLASSROOM SUPPORT TEACHER
NESA - Adjustments
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) and the Disability Standards for Education 2005 outline the obligations of education and training providers to make reasonable adjustments. These reasonable adjustments should ensure that students with disability External link can access and participate in education on the same basis as students without a disability. Decisions regarding curriculum options, including adjustments, should be made in the context of collaborative curriculum planning.External link
Adjustments are actions taken that enable a student with disability to access syllabus outcomes and content on the same basis as their peers. These adjustments relate to teaching, learning and assessment External link from Kindergarten to Year 12. The types of adjustments will vary according to the needs of the individual student. Decisions are made at school level to offer adjustments to students with disability in course work and assessment activities.
In accordance with Nationally Consistent Collection of DataExternal link, teachers and schools use their professional judgements to make decisions to provide adjustments at one of four levels:
- support provided within quality differentiated teaching practices
- supplementary adjustments
- substantial adjustments
- extensive adjustments.
Examples of adjustments can include:
- adjustments to classroom organisation, eg seating, uncluttered wall space, blinds to reduce glare on a whiteboard
- materials and resources that support teaching and learning activities, eg manipulatives or concrete materials, visuals and anchor charts to support concept development, word walls to support vocabulary acquisition
- the use of technology, eg personal devices to access learning
- alternate formats such as large print or Braille
- simplified texts
- captioning of audiovisual material
- oral sign interpreters or readers and scribes
- modifications to equipment or furniture
- adjustments to enable participation in field trips and excursions
- adjustments to the amount of lesson/unit content or the time allocated to complete work, eg consider core or critical content first, teach key terminology to reduce cognitive load
- consideration of individual communication strategies, including verbal and non-verbal communication systems, eg visual prompts, closed questions
- more demonstration of key concepts and skills by the teacher, teacher’s aide or a peer, eg explicit modelling of concept or skill, use of visual supports, scaffolding processes or instructions
- structured opportunities for guided and independent practice
- additional support through group work, volunteer or peer tutoring.
