Some of the children in a special school setting will have highly complex needs and require a differentiated and individualised curriculum.
Pupils with complex needs require a high level of detailed planning to take place to ensure that their needs are met and that lessons are suitably differentiated. This will involve the teacher liaising with specialist teachers, therapists as well as the family.
Chandon is blind but is educated within a class for pupils who, predominately, have moderate learning difficulties.
He spends a proportion of time each week working one-to-one with the QTVI, Tim, who ensures that the skills Chandon requires to access an appropriate curriculum are in place.
Watch Tim as he works one-to-one with Chandon on improving his mastery of the Moon system. Tim explains how Moon can provide access to literacy for blind pupils.
Find out more about the Moon alphabet here.
Why would Chandon be learning Moon rather than Braille, which is much more widely accessible and easily available?
Look at this curriculum model. For Chandon, the National Curriculum forms the major element of his curriculum diet. In addition to this, the therapeutic curriculum, in Chandon's case input from the visual impairment service, forms the next largest element with some reference made to a more developmental approach. The teacher needs to integrate all elements into their planning to ensure that the pupil has access to and receives a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum.
Look at this partially completed lesson plan for Chandon.
Complete the lesson plan. Consider how you might use Tim's skills and knowledge and how you would differentiate the activity for Chandon.