Jonathon is a Year 1 student enrolled at a large metropolitan primary school.
Jonathon’s speech is sometimes difficult to understand and class-based literacy assessments indicate that he is performing more than 12 months behind his peers.
Following the class-based assessments, Jonathon’s teacher approached the school’s Learning Support Coordinator (LSC) asking for a meeting with Jonathon’s carer, his grandmother, to talk about a shared learning program between school and home. His teacher, the LSC and his grandmother talked about activities that could be done at home with Jonathon and whether his grandmother would like him included in the school’s special reading group. During the meeting, Jonathon’s grandmother asked to be provided with games and activities for him at home. The teachers agreed to give targeted activities to his grandmother. They also agreed to set up a communication book so that Jonathon could practise targeted vocabulary at home with his grandmother and the school could reward his learning efforts both at home and at school.
In the classroom, his teacher decided to modify how she presents information, slowing down her speech to allow all students to have additional processing time. She also ensures that written information she gives Jonathon is in ‘chunks’, making it more accessible. Jonathon participates in the special reading program.
The LSC, Jonathon’s classroom teacher and his grandmother agreed to meet again in 10 weeks to talk about his progress and the effectiveness of the current adjustments being made for him.