Date
20 December 2024

Provide options for students to create, learn and share

Provide flexible options and tools so students can show their learning and share with others.

Provide options and support for fine motor skills and writing

Provide options and support for fine motor skills and writing

Developing handwriting 

  • Provide a range of letter formation experiences such as sky-writing, sand trays, play dough and sandpaper.
  • Offer a variety of writing tools including different pen types, sizes and colours.
  • Use pencil grips.
  • Offer a variety of different surfaces such as white boards, coloured paper, different lines and margins, or slope boards.
  • Allow students to use technology to type or voice type written assignments.
  • Negotiate expectations and timing to decrease fatigue.

Other fine motor skills

  • Provide multiple opportunities to develop fine motor skills such as using scissors and tying shoe laces.
  • Offer extra time for fine motor tasks such as getting changed.
  • Use easy to access systems for filing and organising resources.
  • Consider ease of access for items such as pencil cases, games and resources.
  • Collaborate with whānau to discuss easy ways to manage clothing options.
  • Assign ākonga an area for storing their equipment.

Remove barriers to writing

Remove barriers to writing

Using a computer gives Tyler the freedom to write creatively as he is not inhibited by the speed of his handwriting or his ability to form letters.

Personalise learning

Personalise learning

Provide opportunities for students to learn in ways that suit their needs and preferences.

  • Set realistic, ambitious, and achievable personal targets.
  • Create opportunities where students can personalise learning tasks and projects to build on their culture, knowledge, experience and strengths.
  • Discuss with students the different ways they can share their thinking and demonstrate understanding.
  • Develop success criteria with the students and present them with clear visual supports.
  • Provide opportunities for students to gain confidence using a range of media so they can select the most appropriate way to express their learning.
  • Offer a flexible learning environment with a variety of seating and working spaces.
  • Offer a reader-writer or assistive technologies to support success in assessments.

Offer options for sharing learning

Offer options for sharing learning

Offer a range of ways for ākonga to express what they know.

Support success in assessments

Support success in assessments

Discuss with students what support they need to demonstrate their understanding in assessments:
  • possible barriers hidden in the physical environment, for example: unfamiliar layout of room, lighting, temperature
  • possible barriers hidden in the resources and materials, for example: cluttered presentation, hard-to-read diagrams, unclear layout, hard-copies only
  • approaches to managing time allocations such as calendar tools and visual timers
  • approaches to managing anxiety
  • approaches to maintaining concentration
  • negotiating breaks
  • use of digital technologies such as text-to-speech and predictive text
  • pre-teaching specific assessment/exam skills, such as how to approach multiple choice questions.

Useful resources

Useful resources

Website

Succeeding at school: Accommodations for students with coordination difficulties

Examples of common accommodations that are helpful for many children who have motor coordination difficulties.

Publisher: CanChild, McMaster University

Visit website

Next steps

More suggestions for implementing the strategy “Helpful classroom strategies years 1-8”:

Return to the guide “Dyspraxia and learning”

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