Transition to Prep for students with disability: Classroom considerations for teachers

Children entering Prep want to feel safe, secure and happy. Having a sense of belonging in the school community is a fundamental right for all (Disability Standards for Education, 2005; The Melbourne Declaration, 2008; United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).

The suite of materials in the classroom considerations section focuses on inclusive pedagogical practices that will support the transition of all young children to Prep. Building a classroom community takes time, intention, effort and collaboration with children, families, staff members and support personnel. An inclusive classroom environment supports and optimises the learning for all students through the intersection of multiple factors. Those factors include teachers’ understandings of young students’ learning and recognition of the knowledge, skills and dispositions towards learning that children bring to school. When combined with careful preparation of the social, physical, temporal, organisational, and teaching and learning environment, the positive transition to school for every student is maximised.

Young students’ learning is characterised in the following ways.

They learn through personal experience. Their comprehension of other people’s talk is often at the literal, not inferential, level. They understand best what they can feel (emotionally), see, touch, hear, taste and smell. Their attachment to particular adults and peers deepens their disposition to learn from and with them. They are egocentric and, through experience and guidance, they learn how to cooperate, share and play

collaboratively. Their enjoyment of learning experiences deepens their understanding and their disposition to persevere when

problems arise. They learn best through interactions with people, objects and representations during learning experiences that

gradually increase in complexity, with appropriate amounts of time to develop deep understandings. They construct understandings of shared symbol systems – writing, mathematical representations, logos,

artistic representations – from personal and shared experiences with concrete materials and throughrepresenting their understandings in multiple ways.

(Early Years Curriculum Guidelines, p. 21)

Temporal environment

Organisational environment

Physical environment

Teaching and learning environment

Social environment

Organised classrooms

Teaching suggestions

• Discuss daily routines on a regular basis so that students have a sense of what is happening throughout the day.

• Introduce students to each specialist teacher and explain what children may do or experience when participating in music, library or PE sessions.

• Explicitly teach students how to seek help from staff and peers. Model specific words, behaviours and voice levels and adapt to meet students’ specific communication requirements and abilities.

• Model desired classroom behaviours through social stories, persona dolls and puppets, e.g. how to wait, to share and to turn take.

• Seize opportunities to provide positive feedback when students show empathy and concern for others or offer assistance. Discuss strategies for dealing with difficult moments when students may need personal space, comfort, or assistance to solve a problem.

• Promote a culture of “can do” and “have a go” where students feel safe to try new experiences.

• Model how to celebrate others’ achievements in all aspects of the daily program.

• Promote opportunities for students to feel successful as part of classroom daily life.

• Model ways for students to relax, to settle and calm. Use “Cooling down” activities after each break to help students to refocus and settle.

• Recognise that students respond to physical touch, proximity, gestures and teachers’ communicative styles in very different ways that reflect cultural values, experience, personal preferences and specific disability.

Social environment: promoting students social and physical wellbeingEstablishing a safe and supportive learning environment begins by building positive relationships with each student and their parent/carer, encouraging relationships to develop between students, and promoting respectful relationships with all members of the school community.

Reflective questions

• How inclusive is the social climate of the classroom? Does it engage all students with a range of diverse needs in the program?

• How are students encouraged to adapt to unexpected changes in routines?

• What strategies are used to promote positive interactions between students?

• How are students encouraged to reflect on their behaviours and the impacts that they may have on the wellbeing of others?

Physical environmentThe organisation of the physical environment is a critical factor in making the learning environment safe, interesting, inviting and welcoming for all students and their parents/carers. Flexible use of space promotes active, independent and collaborative learning. The physical environment includes outdoor learning settings.

Reflective questions• What is the first thing that students

and parents see outside your room and as they walk in?

• How welcoming is the room for all students?

• What message does this send to students and parents/families?

• How does the physical environment support active learning e.g. invite students’ interest to explore, manipulate, create and experiment with resources?

• How does the environment promote multi-sensory learning?

• How does the physical environment respond to the specific needs for students with disability?

Teaching suggestionsProvide a flexible combination of spaces in the room, for example:

• quiet zones for students to process, think and reflect

• group gathering spaces e.g. story time mat that is free of visual and physical distractions

• spaces that encourage independent and collaborative interactions

• spaces where students’ constructions can be worked on over more than one session or day.

Maximise safe movement within the room, for example:

• use classroom furniture to define spaces and create zones

• keep access to classroom areas clear (e.g. bookcases, storage areas and doors)

• define the range of classroom areas (e.g. story time mat, outdoor and indoor play areas, out of bounds, lining-up area)

• consider students’ sensory needs (e.g. glare entering the room, temperature, background noise)

• access furniture that takes into account the needs of students (e.g. desk and chair height)

• place noticeboards at the appropriate height so students can easily read them.

Effective classroom environments are attractive, functional and accessible.

Organisational environmentA well organised and managed classroom is established through a process of careful planning and decision-making that promotes respectful, positive interactions to support the engagement of all students.

Reflective questions• What systems are in place to

encourage students to develop independence?

• How are children encouraged to be agentic and contribute to decisions about their learning?

• How are students encouraged to take personal responsibility, e.g. for their belongings, their choices, their behaviours?

Teaching suggestions• Establish routines and procedures through explicit teaching (e.g. lining up, entering the

classroom, morning procedures, moving into groups).

• Model and explain ways to care for the classroom environment and to keep classroom resources organised.

• Model and discuss routines for caring for personal belongings.

• Collaborate with the student, parent/carer, staff and specialists to ensure student personal care and classroom access needs are considered in classroom routines.

• Develop classroom rules/expectations with the class. Use positive language and visuals to support understanding.

• Display a visual noise monitor to indicate acceptable noise levels for different activities.

• Use a clear, simple, consistent visual timetable. Display timetables on individual desks, the classroom board or wall to show the structure of the day. This provides predictability and supports students to understand what is happening, learn the classroom routines and the flow of the day.

• Supply parents/carers with a copy of the visual timetable. This enables parents to review the day with their child before and after school.

• Embed teacher talk throughout the day and across all activities (e.g. using a visual timetable to explain, ‘Outdoor play is finished. Let’s put that picture in the finished box).

• Establish gestures that support the child’s understanding (e.g. high five for well done).

• Use open-ended questions with students to identify strategies for managing routines organisational issues (e.g. “What can you do if you need help?” “What words do you need to use when asking for help?”).

• Celebrate students’ attempts to try new experiences and persevere with challenges.

• Have adequate and organised places for students to put their belongings.

• Store frequently used materials and equipment in close proximity to students.

• Ensure items are returned to their correct areas.

Temporal environmentThe temporal flow of the day refers to the use of time to respond to and support student learning. Organisation of the flow of the day provides a sense of continuity and predictability that assists students to feel comfortable about what is happening and what to expect throughout the day.

Reflective questions• How are the routines of the classroom

organised within the structure of the school day to support student learning?

• How responsive and flexible is the classroom timetable?

• What opportunities are there within the daily program to respond to spontaneous learning opportunities as they arise?

• What opportunities do students have to contribute to the daily routine?

Teaching suggestions• Explicitly teach children the daily and weekly routines. Reinforce students’

understanding of classroom routines through the use of a visual daily diary.

• Transition to specialist lessons: at the beginning of the year specialist lessons held in the prep classroom can reduce students’ levels of anxiety as they learn the expectations of the specialist teacher in a familiar environment.

• Transition to breaks: discuss the organisation routines associated with meal breaks (e.g. what children need to do first, where they sit to eat, where they place their belongings and where their designated play area is in the playground).

• Model problem-solving strategies for children to use to manage unexpected situations that often arise in the playground. Utilise the period after the lunch break to discuss any problems that arose and encourage children to problem solve solutions collaboratively.

• Provide a mix of whole class, small group and individual experiences.

• Respond to student’s moods and general levels of tiredness in planning and preparation. Consider sensory experiences (e.g. quiet reading, soothing music, textual resources that help students to relax and settle). Students with disability may find the transition to prep very tiring as the energy required to participate, to concentrate and to understand expectations may be greater in some cases.

• Explain the safety rules of the school and classroom and reinforce safe behaviours.

• Explain why personal hygiene routines (e.g. nose blowing, washing hands, appropriate use of toilets matter). Use visual cue cards as prompts.

Teaching and learning environmentLearning environments that are responsive to the interests, strengths and needs of each student require a balance of flexibility and predictability, careful planning and the capacity to draw on spontaneous learning opportunities as they arise in the preparatory classroom.

Reflective questions How do the materials and resources

provided, support students learning? What evidence do I have to support this view?

How are students involved in collaborative decision-making regarding the organisation and care of materials?

What opportunities do students have to suggest or make changes to the learning environment?

What strategies are used to build awareness of a student’s specific disability? How is this information shared with relevant staff?

How is each student’s learning needs met? Consider the strategies used to monitor and assess student learning. Do they enable students to demonstrate knowledge and skills through multiple pathways?

Teaching suggestions Design relevant and interesting learning experiences to engage all students through

multisensory and multimodal pathways.

Plan to use a wide range of instructional strategies that promote collaboration, problem solving and independence.

Plan how you will use support staff in the classroom to support student learning.

Plan assessment alternatives allowing all students to demonstrate learning (e.g. video recording, demonstration, photographs, verbal presentation, multimedia, concrete materials). Use of student artefacts including drawings, designs, reflections and visual diaries can be used to monitor learning and plan for students.

Differentiate classroom tasks to allow all students to access the curriculum and experience success.

Group students in a variety of ways to support the intent of the learning experience (e.g. according to friendship, mixed/same ability, pairs, peer support).

Use pictures, symbols and photographic images to scaffold written material.

Incorporate a wide variety of hands-on materials to support learning.

Access assistive technology and equipment to enable learners to participate fully (e.g. incorporate appropriate use of ICT and augmentative communication).

Model inclusive behaviours and expectations for classroom interactions. Provide explicit support for students about the language used to seek help, to support others, to invite peers to share in an activity.

S simple for students to follow

K kept consistent

Idesigned to invite students' interest and curiosities

P positive and predictable

Organised classroomsFlexibility is a key feature of well-designed and organised classroom environments. Flexible use of classroom space accommodates students’ diverse ways of learning though experimentation and manipulation of materials and objects, and collaboration with peers and adults. Optimising student learning environments requires flexibility, recognition of students’ strengths, interests and support requirements, and supportive learning environments that combine flexibility with predictability. Routines that help all students to settle into school life are: