Findings and recommendations

Information in schools and colleges is not always presented in ways that are accessible for young people with learning difficulties, disabilities and/or special educational needs.

Young people with learning difficulties, disabilities and/or special educational needs often find reading difficult, especially when words are used on their own. But in all of the schools we visited and in some of the colleges, staff used a lot of text in their teaching. These schools and colleges also often expected their students to understand people speaking – even when the young people communicated in different ways, for example, using a sign language system like Makaton or British Sign Language.

Some young people found it hard to join in discussions or to talk about their ideas in lessons. They sometimes found it difficult to understand the topic or to remember what they were expected to think about. Some young people had hearing or visual impairments and, if staff did not make adaptations, further barriers to understanding and participation were created.

As the research team, we offered these schools and colleges ideas for making information more accessible. We suggested, for example:

• ways to make things easier to read
• ways to help young people to think about ideas
• different ways for young people to share their ideas, other than speech.

Student input can also help staff to see how materials can be developed so they promote understanding and participation. In some of the ‘What about us?’ sites, young people were asked what was best for them. They were shown different ways to access and share ideas and information and were invited to choose an approach that suited them personally. The young people each had different views on what was best, but they did know what they preferred themselves. When young people were given ideas in a different or additional way – in words or pictures, for example – it helped them to understand or remember what the discussion was about. Everyone thought it was easier to understand information when it had some pictures or images – even the adults preferred it! This easy-to-access information helped young people to feel more confident and included. It gave them a feeling of control because they could have a say and make decisions. They could make plans and run meetings – and make records of the meetings that everyone could share.

We suggest:

• All schools and colleges making provision for young people with learning difficulties, disabilities and/or special educational needs should make available, as a routine aspect of policy and practice in relation to accessible communication, means of augmenting or providing alternatives to spoken language, reading and writing
• Information should be personalised to address the communication needs of all young people with learning difficulties, disabilities and/or special educational needs.