Reasonable Adjustments

The law uses the term ‘reasonable adjustments’ in quite a specific way.

It’s used to describe the changes that can be made to support a person with a disability. What’s important to know is many young people with special educational needs may have a disability too. 

The Equality Act 2010 says that someone has a disability if they have: ‘A physical or mental impairment, which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities’.

Long-term means it’s lasted a year or more. Substantial means it’s not minor.

These are some of the things that are considered to be disabilities:

• Hearing and sight impairment.
• Long-term physical or mental health conditions such as asthma, epilepsy, sickle cell disease, anxiety and depression.
• Conditions that change, so sometimes symptoms are minor and at other times they’re more severe, such as rheumatoid arthritis, ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
• Conditions that affect development, such as autistic spectrum condition (ASC).
• Learning disabilities.
• Brain injuries.

So what is ‘reasonable’ ? 

The word ‘reasonable’ isn’t clearly explained in law. So there isn’t a set list of what a school can or should do. Generally, schools and colleges will think about and make small changes to how things are done and use some specific resources or equipment.

As everyone is different it’s to important remember you’re the expert on how you learn and what’s likely to be best for you. 

In the next sections you can find some examples of ‘reasonable adjustments’ that young people have asked for and/or found helpful. 

It’s important to feel secure when you’re learning new things. If you’re constantly feeling worried or always on the alert for threats because you’re not sure what to expect, it’s hard to learn.

This is what young people said helped them: 

• Using a fidget toy or a comfort object.
• Not having to speak in front of people if you don’t feel able.
• Using PowerPoint layouts that are predictable and having a printout of these to work from.
• Not having to show an exit card and instead being able to leave without questions and attention.
• Not having to read out your marks or test results to the whole class.
• Not ranking everyone in the class by results.
• Being flexible about deadlines or deadline extensions when it’s possible.
• Changing assignments to suit individual strengths, for example, group work may not be best for everyone.
• Having brain breaks – doing something else for a short time.
• Having a movement break, which can make it easier to focus for longer.

Starting a new school or going back after you’ve had some time off can be hard. Adjusting to new routines or getting back into a routine can take a bit of time. 

This is what young people have said helped them. 

• Being able to go into schools or college using the staff entrance or a quieter entrance.
• Being able to chill out in a quiet space to mentally prepare for lessons, rather than going to registration.
• Being able to use a phone at specific times to call a parent/carer. This can help some people to stay calm and emotionally in control.
• Not going to, or not always going to assembly.
• Talking to someone about what makes things like sports days, PSHE days or enrichment activities hard. Making adjustments that make it easier to go, or being able to do something else instead. 
• Using visual timetables and something that shows what’s happening now and what is coming next.
• Getting step by step instructions.
• Reducing your daily or weekly timetable for a while, when you’re finding it hard to cope. 
• Allowing things to be changed and adapted when you go back to school after time off. It can sometimes take time to build back up to how things were before. 

Clothes can sometimes affect our sensory needs and how we’re feeling. Some materials and items of clothing can give us comfort and reassurance. The weight, how they feel and how they let us move can be really important to how we feel.

Some materials and clothing can cause such discomfort they distract from everything else. Natural materials like cotton can help with some skin conditions like eczema. 

This is what young people said helped them:

• Not wearing a tie, having a different tie or a loosely tied one.
• Having your top button undone.
• Having a permanent knot in a tie.
• No scratchy jumpers.
• No rigid blazer, so it’s easier to move.
• Wearing a scarf for comfort.
• Wearing a hood up (this can help if you’re feeling a need to hide).
• Having comfortable shoes.
• Letting you take off your shoes in class (can help to feel grounded).
• Being able to wear trousers.
• Being able to wear shorts (to help control temperature).
• Wearing a polo shirt and tracksuit bottoms rather than shirt and trousers (can feel more comfortable).
• Having nothing fiddly like laces or buttons (this helps when you’re getting dressed after PE).
• Wearing nothing that’s tight fitting.
• Being able to wear trousers, skirts or shirts made from natural materials like cotton.

Classrooms are busy places full of sensory stimulation. That means they can over activate one or more of your senses, such as smell, sight or hearing. Some sensory things can be overwhelming. It may be helpful to talk to school staff about what can help you feel safe and emotionally in control. This can make it easier to learn!

This is what young people have said helped them:

• Being able to have natural light and fresh air.
• Thinking about and responding to sensory needs – such as smells, sounds, lighting, so the environment isn’t too overwhelming. 
• Thinking about the temperature – if you are sensitive to being too hot or too cold.
• Talking about the best place to sit so you can learn best. It might be by a window, near the door, at the back so you can see what is going on.
• Sitting square on to the whiteboard.
• Having a different chair or sitting “differently.”
• Wearing headphones to listen to calming music and reduce background noise. Sometimes music can be more calming than ear defenders.

Exam time can be a particularly stressful time but there are practical things that can be done to help. 

The exam boards are the people that set the exams and they allow certain adjustments to be made, depending on your special needs and or disability. These need to be asked for well before you sit an exam. So, it’s really important you talk to staff at school about what helps you so they can tell the exam board in good time. These include things like:

1. Extra time to take the exam.
2. Help with reading and or writing. 
3. Rest breaks. 
4. Using a laptop or other technology.

There are other practical changes that schools and colleges can make that may not need the agreement of the exam boards. Talk to your school SENDCo, or a particular teacher or TA who knows you well, about exam arrangements and what might help you do your best. 

These are some of the things other young people found helped them. 

• Choosing the type of clock to use in the exam – digital or analogue.
• Wearing earplugs can be helpful in quiet spaces.
• Having a separate room with very few people rather than in a big hall.
• Seeing the room set up so you know what to expect.
• Meeting the invigilator, so they are a familiar person on the exam day.
• Seeing if it’s possible to schedule exams with lots of rest between them.
• Using a fiddle toy or gadget to help you concentrate or feel less anxious.
• Having permission to leave when you’re done, or take a break in longer exams

You might find it helpful to practice these adjustments before exams, so you know what works best. Most schools have end of year tests or exams and mock exams where you can try out the support you’ll get.