Inclusive practices refer to the access of and progress in high-quality education without discrimination. Inclusive practices aim to see attendance and achievement of all students, full and effective participation, and accessibility for all learners. Through the implementation of inclusive practices, education becomes inclusive as educational environments are shaped to accommodate the differing needs and identities of the learners (United Nations Human Rights 2016). 

                                           

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. ASD can impact the way an individual behaves, communicates, interacts, and learns. The abilities of those with ASD vary and the help they require will also vary according to their abilities. Children with ASD may find it challenging when it comes to social communication and interaction and may show repetitive or restricted behaviours or interests (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2022; Hallahan, Kuffman & Pullen 2018).

The Disability Standards for Education 2005 have been formed under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. The standards state the obligations of those in education and aim to see students with disability involved in and having access to the education as those without disability (Department of Education 2021). 

 

The NCCD is important for teachers to understand and work with because the data shapes policy development and future planning to better inform schools on how to support students with disability. The NCCD provides teachers with information that helps improve understanding of the requirements and responsibilities that schools inhabit under The Disability Discrimination Act and the Standards. The NCCD provides teachers with a greater understanding of the functional needs of their students with disability (NCCD 2021; Grahm 2020). 

Lucy has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Her parents say she sometimes repetitively shakes her foot when she is sitting on a chair. This has seen to be done when she is nervous, unfocussed, confused, or stressed.

At school Lucy enjoys playing with her friends and sometimes she is happy to play by herself. She is very good at art and mostly enjoys painting.

In the classroom Lucy especially likes to participate in Art activities and shows a great understanding of her Math tables. However, she does have difficulty with understanding other people’s feeling and expressing her own feelings. Because of this, her friendships can sometimes struggle to grow.

At a recent One Plan meeting Lucy’s teacher discussed some of the difficulties Lucy was having in the classroom, especially in Literacy. Lucy has trouble with remembering the structure of a narrative and the elements a narrative includes. It was decided at that meeting to support Lucy improve in her story writing development.

The Australian Curriculum is known as an inclusive curriculum for all students as it states, “Students with disability are entitled to rigorous, relevant and engaging learning opportunities drawn from age equivalent Australian Curriculum content on the same basis as students without disability” (ACARA 2016).

 

Teachers have many roles in inclusive education within their schools. They must work hard to ensue all students are welcomed in their school setting, supported to learn, and progress well, and have an opportunity to actively contribute and participate in every aspect of their schooling. Teachers must create and design an environment that is safe and suitable for the appropriate programs and activities that students will participate in, and these activities and programs need to be appropriate for the students’ needs and abilities (AITSL 2020; DET 2015).

 

Teachers of a student with disability can follow a four-step process that guides their development of personalised learning and support for those students. The personalised learning and support for these students are at the heart of inclusion to ensure these students are able to actively participate and be engaged with their learning and schooling in the same way as their peers without disability (NCCD 2020; AITSL 2020). The four-step process is as follows: 

1.     Meet and begin collaborating with the student and parent/carer

2.     Assess and highlight the needs of the student 

3.     Develop reasonable modifications to support the highlighted needs of the student

4.     Observe, monitor and review how the adjustments are impacting the students learning and schooling 

 

I would collaborate with the students’ parents/carers because they are the people who know the child best. I would like to hear their concerns, advice, story, experiences, challenges, findings, goals, and understanding when it comes to their child and their child’s success in their schooling. I also want these people to hear from me and know that I would like to work and collaborate with them to plan for their child’s success in all areas of their learning. 

 

I would like to collaborate with the student in focus because my goal is to plan for their success in their schooling. I would like to understand them more as a person, develop next steps for their achievement, know what they personally find challenging, know their strengths and interests, plan appropriate goals for their learning, and hear from them and what they have to say about themselves and their schooling. I really want them to know that I’m here for them and that I will be working hard to shape my teaching so that they have an equal opportunity at success just like their peers who may be different to them. 

 

I would like to collaborate with my own colleagues to hear their experiences with their own students who share the same learning needs as my focus student. I would like to understand their journey and know what works well in their classroom and what they find challenging. I find it beneficial to speak with those who are in the same position as me or those who have been in my position and hear their experiences and journeys because I may learn a lot from this information. 

 

Strand: Literacy 

Sub-strand: Creating Texts 

 

Content Descriptor: Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print, and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (ACELY1682)

 

Achievement Standard: ‘By the end of Year 3, students understand how content can be organised using different text structures depending on the purpose of the text.’

 

There are three principles of the UDL framework that provides a set of suggestions that can be used to ensure all students are able to actively participate in and access meaningful, achievable, challenging, and appropriate learning experiences. 

The first principle is engagement. This principle ensures students are engaged in appropriate, and realistic learning experiences that include personalised goals. The main guiding question for engagement that teachers can ask when planning using the UDL framework is “How can I engage and motivate every student to learn?” (NSW Government 2021). 

The second principle is representation. This principle involves reflecting on the content and skills and ensuring they have been presented in various ways. It also ensures the students get to choose the methods and materials they use in order to meet the goal. The main guiding question for representation that teachers can ask when planning using the UDL framework is “How does every student learn best?” and a following question could be “Am I providing options to allow every student to access and understand the content?” (NSW Government 2021). 

The third principle is expression. This principle aims to ensure all students are given a choice and/or scaffolding when they are expressing their knowledge during formative and summative assessments. The main guiding question for expression that teachers can ask when planning using the UDL framework is “How can every student show what they have learnt?” (NSW Government 2021). 

 

In relation to my case study child and the lesson I have designed around narrative writing, the focus area represented in the UDL framework that is in focus during this lesson is ‘engagement’.  I have designed learning intentions and goals of the lesson, implemented modifications, and resources which aim for my case study child to remain engaged with their learning. 

-       Creating separate learning intentions and success criteria for Lucy

-       Allowing Lucy to use sensory tools, noise cancelling headphones and a weighted blanket as she works on the task

-       Providing Lucy with a step-by-step copy of the lessons instructions so she can refer to them as she is completing the work 

 

There are three tiers of the RTI process that provide for the needs off every student in the class. There are differing levels of support provided in each tier and the support should aim to focus on ways to make the student more successful rather than highlighting the student’s lack of success (AUSPELD 2022). 

Tier one refers to the whole class. This tier ensures high quality curriculum and evidence-based strategies, and programs are being constantly provided to every student in the classroom (AUSPELD 2022). 

Tier two refers to small group intervention. This is relevant to students who need further support than they are already receiving from the general curriculum. The school will provide the small group interventions. Students must receive explicit intervention that is more intensive, for example small groups, and more precise, for example step-by-step instruction for a particular area of need. It is important for students to still be involved in whole class instructions, still receiving small group intervention at the same time (AUSPELD 2022). 

Trier three refers to intensive interventions. This tier highlights students who continue to struggle to make progress even with high quality instruction and evidence-based intervention. From these findings, individual assessment may begin to determine if a child meets particular criteria for a certain learning disorder diagnosis (AUSPELD 2022). 

 

This model can be used with my case study child to identify if they are at jeopardy for poor learning outcomes, to monitor their progress, provide evidence-based interventions for their success, and to modify the intensity of each intervention depending on the students responsiveness (AUSPELD 2022). 

 

Systematic instruction will not be something new in my classroom when working with my case study student. I will be implementing systematic instruction from the very first day of teaching lessons around written language. For my case study student in particular, systematic instruction will be used when differentiating the lessons for their needs. I will aim to systematically plan according to their prior knowledge, abilities, strengths, and particular areas that need further development. I will plan the sequence of instruction for this child before selecting resource and activities and will then choose resources appropriate to the child’s needs and abilities. 

·      Lucy should be able to read a narrative and identify each section of the structure 

·      ‘I know I can do this when I have read a narrative and correctly identified each section of the structure’

·      I will ask questions to determine where the students are at with narratives 

·      I will encourage students to participate in a whole class game (refer to lesson plan)

·      I will go through the narrative poster that shows the structure and explain each section 

·      I will read out what the learning intentions are for this lesson 

·      I will state and explain the structure of a narrative (use narrative poster)

·      I will read out the narrative to the whole class 

·      I will read and explain the instructions for the worksheet 

·      I will revisit the learning intentions 

·      Before students leave the mat, I will check if they have any questions and if they need any further clarification with the activity 

·      This will be an independent task which they will complete at their desks 

·      I will walk around the class observing all learners and checking in with those who are in need 

·      I will provide verbal feedback as I go around the class 

·      I will mark finished work to determine success and understanding 

I believe the most difficult information to find about Lucy could be her personal thoughts about herself and her learning. Lucy may have walls that may take time for me to break down before I can gather any information that will help me work with Lucy and provide her with appropriate education. I will need to build a relationship with Lucy before I can try to gather information. 

 

The student-centred approaches I think would work well in the classroom with my case study child would firstly be ensuring the learning that is meant to take place, inhabits the child’s interests and hobbies. I would like to encourage my case study child to collaborate with other peers who have similar interests or other peers who could be a more knowledgeable other to help them with their learning. Another student-centred learning strategy that would work well with my case study child is changing the desk arrangements from rows to clusters where students will be facing each other rather than facing me and this way they are leading their learning rather than their eyes being on me the whole lesson. I think this adjustment would benefit my case study child as it may ease their anxiousness with beginning tasks and if need be, they can ask their peers around them for some guidance. The seating arrangements of clusters however would be organised to see my case study child get along well with their peers and to be surrounded by peers that are friendly, understanding, and willing to help. Another strategy would be to involve more inquiry based or problem-based learning as this encourages my case study child to be at the centre of their learning and invites them to take on various roles that perhaps a teacher-centred activity may not. I would encourage these activities in mainly Math lessons and Art lessons as both areas are a strength and interest of my case study child. 

I would like my case study child to achieve the strategy of choice-making skills. I want my case study child to learn how to choose and decide themselves on their instructional activities they would like to do and partners they would like to work with according to their interest and what will be best for their learning. Overall, I would like my case study child to become more proficient with making choices. 

I believe my case study child should also achieve the goal setting skill. I would like them to state something they would like to work towards, be a part of setting their educational goals and learning intentions, and I would like them to develop a plan to reach these goals. I would work with the child during this but overall, I would like for them to take control of these goals and I will be there for encouragement, guidance, and input.

I would also like my case study child to achieve the self-awareness and self-knowledge skills. I believe they should possess these skills as it will help them in recognising and understanding their emotions, limitations, strengths, and abilities. I would like them to understand how they learn best, what works for them, and what does not benefit them and their learning. Overall, I would like them to draw on these skills to help them in future situations that may be difficult, whether in school, with family, or with friends. 

Visual supports are another evidence-based strategy that will benefit my case study child. This strategy will support their task engagement, independent performance, transitions from one activity to another, and benefit their working memory load (Autism Society of NC 2022).

Cognitive behavioural intervention is an evidence-based strategy that will help my case study child examine their thoughts, emotions, recognise when their feelings and thoughts are escalating, and then apply strategies to change their thinking and behaviours. My case study child has trouble with recognising their own feelings and also other people’s feelings so I think this strategy will benefit them now and in the long run (Autism Society of NC 2022).  

-       Current subject levels 

-       Previous reports 

-       Previous academic results and data 

-       Pedagogical approaches that did and did not work

-       Academic strengths and limitations 

-       Areas of interests 

-       Behaviour management that did and did not work 

-       What distracts the child

-       What helps the child stay focussed 

-       Classroom environment factors that benefitted the child and restricted them 

-       Who does the child get along with and who do they clash with? 

 

-       Personal strengths and limitations 

-       Personal goals 

-       Parents carer and values 

-       Sibling information 

-       Interests and hobbies 

-       How well the child goes with completing homework

-       What do the parents want to see happen in the classroom for their child success? 

-       What do the parents expect of the teachers and school to see their child benefit from their education/

 

This approach is an effective way to keep families up to date with events, important news, curriculum matters, and sharing students’ achievement. The newsletter will help inform families about important events that may be coming up that their child is involved in or that the parents themselves might like to be a part of. It can share information about what each year level is focussing on in the term and can inform parents about what areas each class is working towards or have already achieved. 

 

This approach is one that many families would appreciate and desire to be informed about. This approach can be initiated through, one-on-one meetings, emails, letters, and phone calls. It can be as simple as reporting to families via a note home or a quick email that their child received 100% in their spelling test. It can report on larger grades such as a final grade on a problem-solving activity or research task. 

 

This approach is an effective and well-known approach that families benefit on as they will receive various pieces of important and encouraging information about their child’s school. Teachers can inform families on their child’s success and next steps for their learning, areas of the curriculum the child has been focussing on, projects and assignments they have completed, behavioural success, friendship, and personal growth, and any other important and informing information the families should or will want to be made aware of. 

I would be willing to meet with the student over zoom if they were feeling up to it so that we can do work on a particular activity that they may need further support on. 

I can also send home worksheets or activities I know the student would be able to complete on their own. These worksheets or activities will be a way that I can assess their knowledge of a task or topic we are learning as a class. 

 

AUSPELD (2022), The Response to Intervention (RTI) model, accessed 25 April 2022, available at https://uldforparents.com/contents/identifying-and-diagnosing-specific-learning-disabilities/the-response-to-intervention-rti-model/

 

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) 2016, Student diversity, viewed 4 October 2020, <https://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/student-diversity

 

 

Australian Human Rights Commission (2014), Disability Discrimination Act 1992, accesed 18 April 2022, available at:https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/GPGB_disability_discrimination.pdf

 

Autism Society of NC (2022), Autism Treatment, accessed on 29 May 2022, available at https://www.autismsociety-nc.org/treatment/

 

Cabeza. B, Magill. L, Jenkins. A, Carter. E, Greiner. S, Bell. L, and Lane. K (2013), Promoting Self-Determination Among Students With Disabilities, accessed 22 May 2022, available at https://vkc.vumc.org/assets/files/resources/psiSelfdetermination.pdf

 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), ‘What is Autism Spectrum Disorder?, accessed 18 April 2022, available at https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/facts.html

 

Colorado Department of Education (2019), Purposeful, Direct, Explicit, and Systematic Instruction, accessed 30 April 2022, available at https://www.cde.state.co.us/coloradoliteracy/clf/eightelements_04-purposefulinstruction

 

Department of Education and Training (DET) (2015), Planning for personalised learning and support: A national resource, viewed 7 October 2020, https://docs.education.gov.au/documents/planning-personalised-learning-and-support-national-resource-0

 

Graham.L (2020), ‘Inclusive education for the 21st Century. Theory, Policy and Practice’, Routledge. 

 

Hallahan, D Kauffman, J & Pullen, P 2018, ‘Exceptional learners’, 14th edn, Pearson, Sydney, NSW.

 

NCCD (2021), What is the NCCD?, accessed 18 April 2022, available at: https://www.nccd.edu.au/wider-support-materials/what-nccd?parent=/understanding-nccd&activity=/wider-support-materials/what-nccd&step=-1

 

NSW Government (2021), Universal Design for Learning planning tool, accessed on 25 April 2022, available athttps://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/learning-from-home/teaching-at-home/teaching-and-learning-resources/universal-design-for-learning#tabs2

 

RMIT University (2018), Student Centred Approach, accessed 20 May 2022, available at https://www.learningandteachinghub.com/blog/toolbox/student-centred-approach/

 

Sudderth. L (2022), What Is Student Centered Learning and Why Is It Important?, accessed 15 May 2022, available at https://xqsuperschool.org/rethinktogether/what-is-student-centered-learning/

 

United Nations Human Rights (2016), General comment No. 4 on Article 24 - the right to inclusive education,accessed 18 April 2022, available at https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/general-comments-and-recommendations/general-comment-no-4-article-24-right-inclusive

 

UNSW Sydney (2016), Student-Centred Teaching, accessed 20 May 2022, available at https://www.teaching.unsw.edu.au/student-centred-teaching