Professional Knowledge
Standard 1: Know students and how they learn

An individual educational learning plan for a student with a diagnosed disability of eye-crossing called esotropia which impacts his ability to see effectively for long periods of time due to prolonged stress on one eye.

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This individual learning plan (ILP) was developed initially by the supervising teacher at the start of the year and reviewed frequently to assess the impact of adjustments. I also assessed the impact of specific adjustments implemented during my placement period in Term 4. These were undertaken collaboratively with the supervising teacher, student aide, parents, ophthalmologist, and speech pathologist, as recommended by Hyde, Carpenter and Conway (2014) and the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MDEGYA) (2008). The ILP ensured ‘equity for students with vision impairment’, effectively providing similar conditions for all students conducive to being ‘successful learners’, goals recommended in MDEGYA (2008). Applying some of the strategies discussed below produced considerable progress in English. The mark in monitoring assessment 7 was 61% and in assessment 8 (formative assessments) it rose to 86%, affirming the effectiveness of the adjustments.

Since he was an intellectually capable student, differentiation (gearing down) in the content was not required and would have only pushed the student towards complacency (Hyde, Carpenter & Conway 2014, p.239). I therefore focused more on using remaining vision effectively, as recommended by Hyde, Carpenter and Conway (2014, p.247), supported by modifying environmental factors, including appropriate illumination, suitable print size (magnified where possible) and spacing, suitable seating position ensuring maximum viewing efficiency, high contrast backgrounds like dark lined paper and black felt pen, and lastly time modifications, i.e. more time for hands-on and writing tasks.