Student with dyspraxia in primary school, age 7
The teacher opens the daily notebook, the QR sticker is right there on the inside cover. A quick scan while the students put away their pencil cases, and the context is set: this student's graphic fatigue isn't slowness, writing requires a planning process that the hand hasn't automated. The written work will be assessed differently, with no need to explain it to the whole class.
This situation concerns dyspraxic students in first and second grade (CP and CE1, in France) attending mainstream school, even before a PPS (individualized schooling plan, in France) has been formalized.
The moment as it happened
On Monday morning, the teacher goes through the daily notebooks brought back from the weekend. Most pages are full, the lines follow one another, the capital letters look like capital letters. One notebook has only three lines. The date was copied, poorly, with two words crossed out. A little further down, a drawing that wasn't asked for.
She could sigh. Instead, she looks at the inside cover, the small round sticker the mother had mentioned at the parents' meeting. A scan with her phone. In twenty seconds she reads what the father wrote: "his brain plans movements poorly, writing drains him, don't compare him with his classmates, he knows the lesson if you ask him."
That evening, when she opens the notebook to correct it, she won't count the missing lines.
- You write it
- The QR is in place
- The reader scans
- Understood, without explaining again
Where to place the QR code for this situation
The inside cover of the daily notebook is the best spot, precisely because it's the one page the teacher looks at every time they open the notebook to correct it. A round 3 cm sticker in the top right corner, protected with clear adhesive film, holds up all year, even when the notebook gets damp at the bottom of the school bag.
Avoid the outer cover, it gets lost before Christmas. Avoid the school-home diary, it often stays at home for notes. Avoid the pencil case, the teacher has no reason to look at it.
Add a second sticker in the lesson or assessment notebook if the child has more than one. The same QR code links to the same profile: nothing to update on the family's side. If a substitute teacher arrives, the QR code is already there. If a trainee comes to observe, they can scan it without needing an introduction.
This isn't a medical flag. It's context the teacher reads when they need it, without the child feeling exposed in front of classmates.
Pre-written text templates
Three templates to reuse, shorten, or rewrite in your own words. They cover the three sections teachers open first: who the child is, how to support them, and what not to try. Don't try to say everything, keep what actually helps in the classroom.
For the "Introduction" section
"Louis is 6 years old, in first grade (CP). He has visuo-spatial dyspraxia: his brain knows the movement, but planning the exact sequence of movements costs him several times more effort than another student. He understands spoken language quickly, he likes telling stories, he's tired by midday."
For the "How to help" section
"You can: leave more space between lines, say the instruction out loud while he writes it, stop the copying task once the page is a third full, value what he's reasoned through more than what he's drawn on paper. Photocopying the written work after the effort protects him."
For the "What to avoid" section
"To avoid: asking him to redo a page because of neatness, comparing his notebook to his classmate's, taking off points for presentation when the exercise is assessing content. He's already doing occupational therapy, that's not what solves copying in class."
Conditions related to this situation
This situation is based on developmental dyspraxia (developmental coordination disorder). It can occur alongside dysgraphia or dyslexia without changing how the QR code is used: it lets the teacher read the up to date profile, with no meeting and no file to pull out.
Similar situations
Three other situations where the QR code sits exactly where the teacher looks every day, with no extra step required from the child.
The teacher knows from the start of the year that wandering attention isn't a lack of interest, and favors short instructions rather than re…
View the case Student with sensory sensitivity, age 8 Reader: TeacherThe teacher identifies the triggers (playground noise, fluorescent lights) and allows a calm corner without the student having to ask out lo…
View the case Middle school student with dyslexia, age 12 Reader: Teacher of each subjectEach subject teacher reads the accommodations (font, extra time, oral format) without the student having to request them at the start of eve…
View the caseNo need to explain it to every new person.
Three texts (introduction, how to help, what to avoid), one shared QR code. When they scan it, the person reads what they need to know, in their own language.