Some students are overwhelmed when too much content is presented at one time. They may need extra processing time, have concentration difficulties or need to put new skills into practice before building upon them. For students with intellectual difficulties, the cognitive demands may surpass the student’s capabilities.
Break longer tasks into smaller, manageable chunks with a self-checking component.
Represent key ideas visually – charts, tables, diagrams.
Incorporate technology to support content eg. short movie excerpts.
Include space for student questions and attend to these promptly.
Teach organisational skills to map assignments into smaller chunks.
Encourage students to identify topic sentences and key ideas with a highlighter pen.
Arrange for content to be available in a variety of difficulty levels.
Encourage student to manipulate information eg sentence strips for sequencing tasks.
Match cognitive demand to student capabilities to avoid frustration.
Allow other students to be involved in delivering portions of a lesson for increased engagement.
Speak in simple, clear sentences.
Allow ‘wait time’ for students to process or absorb the information.
Provide constant monitoring and positive reinforcement to encourage progress.
Allow assignments to be submitted as sections are completed.
Allow students more time or separate supervision for assessments.
Include short answer and True/False questions to reduce demand for student to generate responses.
Create a positive environment with zero tolerance for taunting and put-downs.
Ensure that the area around the student is free from distraction.
Develop a signal so that the student can take a movement break if required.
Give the student classroom responsibilities to maintain sense of inclusion and allow sensory rest.
Provide peer examples of completed tasks.
Encourage work-based discussion for revision and consolidation.
Monitor collaborative tasks to ensure student has active participation.
Broken tasks down into smaller, manageable steps?
Incorporated graphic outlines into written materials?
Issued materials prior to the lesson for students to preview?
Provided audio recordings and technological supports?
Arranged for rest breaks to include opportunities for individualised teacher attention?