Working with specialist support staff

You may not actually have to make many changes to your teaching strategies in order to accommodate the needs of a student working with a support worker. However, if you have such a student in your group, do consider whether you need to modify your preparation or teaching methods in any way.

• For group work, encourage the student to introduce their support worker and explain their role. Check with the student first that this is acceptable to them.
• Make sure your seating scheme or organisation of student activity takes account of the presence of support staff.
• If you plan on using a video, allow a deaf student or a blind student to view it in advance with their support worker. This will allow visual content to be described and any sounds or commentary to be translated into BSL. If necessary, discuss alternative ways of acquiring the necessary information.
• If you plan to give your students a test during a teaching session remember that a disabled student will need access to their agreed exam arrangements – this may involve a scribe, in which case a separate room will be required.
• A student undertaking practical tasks with the assistance of a support worker may require an individual orientation session or additional support from you in order to ensure that techniques have been understood and learned. A blind student will not be able to reinforce their learning by watching fellow students.

You may, for example, have a student in your class who works with a note taker not familiar with content of your teaching sessions. If they are supporting a deaf student, they may also be taking quite detailed notes.

• Provide the student with an outline of your teaching session in advance, with any new words explained, to help the note taker follow the lecture and take useful notes.
• Make sure there is somewhere suitable for the note taker to sit – they may use a laptop.
• Structure your session so that it is easy for the note taker to follow what is being said.
• Recap periodically and at the end.

1. Inclusive teaching
2. Universal Design for Learning
3. Preparing to teach inclusively
4. Sustaining self-esteem and motivation
5. Barriers to learning
6. Specialist support staff
   1. Types of specialist support
   2. Support staff for deaf and hard of hearing students
   3. Specialist support staff: Institutional case studies
   4. Working with specialist support staff
7. Assistive technologies
8. Learning environments
9. Learning materials
10. Academic assessment