Date
17 April 2024

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

Linda Ojala uses the same visuals in a range of contexts across her classroom. They support students to know what is happening and organise themselves.

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

Useful resources

Useful resources

Website

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

Visit website

Website

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

Visit website

Next steps

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

Return to the guide “Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and learning”

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