EDUCATION FOR ALL:

DISABILITY, DIVERSITY AND

INCLUSION

WEEK 5 – CHANGING CLASSROOM PRACTICE

VIDEO STEP TRANSCRIPT – PRACTICAL TIPS FOR TEACHERS (PART 1)

Hi, my name is Emma McKinney, I'm from the Stellenbosch University where I'm researching issues relating to
children and students with disabilities, as well as employment of people with disabilities. I'm an experienced
teacher of both children with disabilities as well as children who use South African sign language to
communicate. I've lectured at three different universities on inclusive education as well as deaf education, and
I'm also actively involved in teacher training supervision.

The question for today I want you to keep in the back of your mind-- do you think it's important to have money
and a specialised degree in order to accommodate a child with a disability in your classroom? Just keep that in
the back your mind as I said, as you go through this week. OK, so this week we'll be looking at practical ways
of modifying and adapting the classroom or learning environment in order to accommodate a child with a
disability in a classroom. It's aimed at anyone working with disabilities. So that's be teachers, classroom
assistants, managers, support staff. It's also aimed at therapists and, most importantly, parents, because they
have first-hand understanding of their own child and often know the modifications that they require. It will
focus on low-tech, cheap, and easy-to-make devices, classroom modifications, and some practical ideas that we
can use when teaching children with disabilities.

The most important thing for today is to remember that each and every child is different and there is no one
solution, one quick fix for all. We'll be chatting about some ideas that you might want to try and use when
working with children with disabilities. I believe it's also important to involve parents, as I said earlier, and
where age appropriate, the child themselves as much as possible, because very often they know what works and
what doesn't work.

So if you have a facilitator in your classroom, you also need to find out how to work with the facilitator – that’s
really important – and do that before the child is in your classroom, not while you have a packed classroom. Oh,
so what is your job? What do you need to do? How do… sort that out before that child and before the children
enter your classroom.

When accommodating a child with a disability, it's important to take a look at the classroom. I encourage you
to find out more about the child's disabilities from parents, from the child-- as I said, where age appropriate--
past teachers, teachers that have taught that child before, disabled people's organisation, and other sources
within the community where that child resides. Find out what classroom modifications can be made to better
accommodate the child. I encourage you to stand outside your classroom and look through the door.

Issues that you might want to consider as you look at your classroom include, first of all, can the child actually
access the classroom independently? For example, if they're a wheelchair user, is there a built-up lip around the
door frame? Is the door frame wide enough for them to better access? Are the door handles easy to use, not too
heavy to push at the appropriate height for children? Is your classroom well-signposted? Would a child with
low vision be able to see the teacher or the subject name on the classroom door? Is the child able to move from
the entrance of the classroom through to their desk or mat independently?
 Again, stand at the door of your classroom and look at the pathway to the
child's desk or learning area. You need to consider the floor surface. Do you
have a soft or movable carpet? That could be a tripping hazard. Are there
children's bag strewn across the floor and around their desks? Do you have
clear pathways and enough space for a child to manoeuvre to their desk, from
their desk to the door using an assistive device, for example, like a child who
uses crutches.

Have a look at your desks. How are they

arranged within the classroom? Are they laid out in rows? If they are, where
would the best place for that child to sit? Some might need to have an aisle seat
either to use lip reading, for example, or are easily distracted or have low
vision. Might need to face away from windows so to avoid the glare. Some
children may prefer to sit next to a friend for support, or in a small group, while
others might prefer to be slightly separate from other children.

If a child has a facilitator or a sign language interpreter, for example, you need to ensure that they do not block
the view of the other children and are situated at the best location for the child they are assisting. You might
want to think about the height of the tables and chairs. A child with limited growth or a wheelchair user may
benefit from having a height-adjustable table and chair. These often have pegs. So it's a metal structure with
holes in it, with a peg that can be raised up or down, adjusted according to the child's need. If you don't have
access to these tables and chairs, there are many creative and inexpensive ways. For example, using bricks. You
could wrap bricks in newspaper, put that underneath the child's table so they can put their feet on. Or you can
even make little wooden blocks, drill holes where the table legs can fit so that it can be raised or lowered as a
child needs.

For some children with disabilities, lighting and acoustics

are very important. We need to think about where the light
is coming from and how it shines. Is the light source mainly
coming from windows? As mentioned earlier, for some
children who lip read or use a sign language interpreter,
correct lighting is vital. You need to ensure that the light
source does not come from behind the speaker, as
silhouetting makes it very difficult for the lip reader to
understand what the speaker or the signer is saying. The
glare coming from a window can also affect some children's
visual disabilities, who battle with glare. A way of
overcoming that is some children just wearing a peaked cap
can block out some of the glare.

If you have fluorescent lights you need to ensure that these don't
flicker when you have a child a photosensitive epilepsy, for
example. Make sure that they're in good working order, the lights,
and have warmed up before the children arrive in your classroom.
While many classrooms can be noisy, and most children do not
have an issue with this, there are others who find noise very
distracting. For some children, ensuring that you close your
classroom door to prevent noise distractions may help. This may
also assist in helping children who lose focus easily, getting
distracted as people are walking up and down, and those who are relying on lip reading, as they may be less
distracted.

Stellenbosch University, 2016

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.