Student with dyspraxia in year 7, age 11
When entering sixth grade (6e, the first year of secondary school), a student with dyspraxia has often been given a laptop as part of his PPS (Personalized Schooling Plan, a French document defining accommodations for students with disabilities). The AESH (a teaching assistant for students with disabilities, in France) needs to support its use without becoming the one operating it: helping him open a file, format a page, manage screenshots of worksheets. The QR on the laptop tells any substitute AESH how the work is split between what the student does alone and what he gets help with.
This case concerns secondary school students with dyspraxia (developmental coordination disorder) using adapted equipment under a PPS, with shared AESH support a few hours a week.
The moment as it happened
Science class, sixth grade (6e). Ilan takes out his laptop, opens the worksheet file shared by the teacher. The shared AESH (a teaching assistant for students with disabilities, in France) supporting him this week (she supports three students) comes over. She offers to format the chapter title. Ilan cuts her off: "thanks, I've got that one". She steps back.
Ten minutes later, Ilan gets stuck inserting a diagram. He tries twice, gives up. The AESH takes out her phone, scans the QR stuck on the right side of the laptop. She reads: "help with complex formatting (columns, inserting an image), let him type the text himself, don't correct his mistakes for him". She offers: "I'll show you where to click, and you do it". Ilan clicks. He succeeds on the second try.
By the end of the class, the work is done, at his own pace, without him being stripped of ownership.
- You write it
- The QR is in place
- The reader scans
- Understood, without explaining again
Where to place the QR for this case
The right side of the laptop, on the case above the keyboard: visible to the supporting AESH (a teaching assistant for students with disabilities, in France), not visible to classmates sitting opposite, protected by the case (not rubbed by the pencil case fabric). Rectangular sticker, 3 x 2 cm.
Duplicate it on the laptop's carrying case, for times when the laptop is asleep or closed and the AESH needs to check the sheet. Duplicate it in the AESH binder.
Avoid the keyboard (wear), the screen (visible during a lecture when the child raises the screen). Avoid the outer bag, which stays in the changing room during PE and can be seen by other students.
For computer-based assessments, the head teacher can set up a shortcut to the QR sheet on the desktop of the administrator session: the AESH accesses the profile without handling a phone in the exam room.
For PE and art classes, when the laptop stays in the locker, a card at the bottom of the sports bag with the QR lets the AESH review it before each session.
Pre-written text templates
The three templates below are written in the first person by the secondary school student himself (an 11 to 12 year old can do this exercise, with his parents' agreement and review). The tone is that of someone taking charge of communicating about himself.
For the "Presentation" section
"My name is Ilan, I'm 11 years old, in sixth grade (6e). I have visuospatial dyspraxia and an associated dysgraphia. I write on a computer for anything long. I think fast, I have clear ideas, but it takes me time to lay out what I'm thinking. It's not that I can't do it, it's that it takes longer."
For the "How to help" section
"You can: help me with complex tasks (inserting an image, making a column, printing), photocopy worksheets I can't copy out by hand, give me extra time on written assessments, pair me with a calm partner for group work that also involves handling objects."
For the "What to avoid" section
"To avoid: doing it for me when I'm struggling (it takes away my independence), correcting my text without showing me, making me write by hand when I can type, taking off points for formatting, saying 'make an effort' when I'm already making a lot of effort to reach the same result."
Disabilities and conditions this case applies to
This case starts from visuospatial dyspraxia with associated dysgraphia. It also concerns ideational dyspraxia (planning sequential movements), constructional dyspraxia, and students with dyspraxia without associated dysgraphia who still use a computer.
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View the casePrepare your profile for this situation, without having to explain it again every school year.
You write down the essentials once. The grading teacher, the AESH (a teaching assistant for students with disabilities, in France), the substitute scan and understand. You stop repeating yourself.