Support processing and organisation
Suggestion for implementing the strategy ‘Helpful classroom strategies years 1-8’
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Provide students with more time
Provide students with more time
I’ll never forget Mrs. Spencer. She let me go at my own pace and said not to worry about keeping up with the class.
Student
Support task completion
Support task completion
- Break tasks into small achievable steps, starting with what the student can already do.
- Provide breaks between steps.
- Keep instructions as short as possible, provide them one at a time, and reinforce with visual cues as prompts that can be returned to.
- Provide tactile examples of what you are teaching. Allowing the student with FASD to see and touch something will help them succeed in learning.
- Use the student’s own life experiences and knowledge when teaching new ideas. This gives them a reference point for their learning and helps them make connections with their prior learning.
- Reduce impulsivity and risks by providing a one-to-one session with the student before a lesson or trip, to ensure safety messages are understood.
Use visual timetables
Use visual timetables
Provide choices between one or two options
Provide choices between one or two options
FASD means that my brain has trouble thinking of lots of things at once. This makes it really hard for me to make choices and decisions.
It is helpful when I have someone else to help me understand what the choices are and how they might affect me.
Student
Use timers
Use timers
Timers displaying how much time is allocated for activities during the day can help prepare students for transitions.
Useful resources
Useful resources
Effective strategies for information-processing and memory difficulties
Read time: 4 min
Specific classroom strategies for supporting students of all ages with FASD to process information. Part of an online guide for educators called Understanding Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.
Publisher: Duke University
Supporting brain differences
A series of videos with explanations and strategies to support: sensory processing, executive functions, memory difficulties, slow processing pace, impulsivity, attention difficulties and more.
Publisher: British Columbia Ministry of Education
Next steps
More suggestions for implementing the strategy “Helpful classroom strategies years 1-8”:
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Current page Support processing and organisation
Return to the guide “Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and learning”
How to use this site
Guide to Index of the guide: FASD and learning
Understand:
Strategies for action:
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Identify needs and how to provide supportShow suggestions for Identify needs and how to provide support
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Support self-regulation and positive behaviourShow suggestions for Support self-regulation and positive behaviour
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Helpful classroom strategies years 1-8Show suggestions for Helpful classroom strategies years 1-8
- Create structure
- Support participation and confidence
- Support understanding
- Support processing and organisation
- Provide options to create, learn and share
- Manage successful transitions
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Helpful classroom strategies years 9-13Show suggestions for Helpful classroom strategies years 9-13