A school's curriculum comprises both statutory elements (including the National Curriculum, religious education and careers educations) and non statutory elements (priorities defined by the school). One of the fundamental principles of the code of practice is that all children, including those with special educational needs should be offered full access to a broad, balanced and relevant education. This is what the national curriculum was designed to provide.
Curriculum content
Some children who are multi-sensory-impaired will follow the National Curriculum, usually with additional support. Others will follow a modified form of it. Still others will follow more specialised developmental curricula which will include teaching a child things that non-disabled children already know by the time they start school.
Even children who follow the same curriculum as non-disabled peers, however, will usually need additional elements because of their deafblindness. These may relate to:
- mobility skills, communication, sensory development or other aspects specifically affected by deafblindness
- therapy needs - for example, physiotherapy
- concepts usually learned incidentally - for example, the interpersonal and independence skills used at break or meal times
Modifying the curriculum
All teachers modify the curriculum in order to meet the range of learning needs in their class. Children who are multi-sensory-impaired are likely to need the curriculum modified on an individual basis, because each child's combination of hearing impairment, visual impairment, other disabilities and learning characteristics will be different.
Children who are multi-sensory-impaired will need help to generalise their learning, because deafblindness prevents children learning incidentally by watching others. Children who are multi-sensory-impaired usually need to be specifically taught how the skills and concepts they already have can be used in a range of situations.
Further information
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) publish a booklet called 'Shared world - different experiences: Designing the curriculum for pupils who are deafblind'.
PLease call the publication hotline to order, tel: 01787 884444.
