Reasonable Adjustments
- Katie Walker
- May 6
- 7 min read
Within mainstream environments, SEND placements and EHCP's it is important to include reasonable adjustments suitable to our children's individual needs to ensure that adequate adaptations can be made for our children with Autism/ADHD/PDA so that they access an education. But are they all helpful?
Reasonable adjustments can be as creative as you need but can include some of the following examples:
Movement breaks
Sensory Circuits
Visual Aids
Choice of tasks
Sitting somewhere particular e.g. by the door or at the front of the class.
Access to snacks in class
Extra time on tasks
1:1 help in some areas
Providing sensory friendly spaces or tools
Sensory items / toys
Modification of classroom routine and tasks
Individual behaviour system
Touch Therapy / non verbal communication methods.
Leaving class ten minutes early to move around the building away from the crowds.
Having a coloured card to use the toilet whenever they wish/or to leave the classroom.
The list is endless.
One of my jobs is to help parents brainstorm suitable reasonable adaptations to include on care plans/EHCP's that would be suitable. I also write letters to school advocating the recognition of children's needs (even if undiagnosed) and for reasonable adjustments to be put in place. If you too would like to brainstorm this with me please follow this link;
Although I am an advocate for reaosnable adjustments to be made and believe they are important, I also believe that it is important to manage parental expectations of how helpful these can be. How our children interact with their environment is especially important because sometimes reasonable adjustments that are put in place just don't cut it.
Let me explain.
It could be argued that reasonable adjustments are only needed because the mainstream system has become so unfit for purpose.
Consider the spaces our children have free access to. Currently, the legal framework allows for 32 children per class, and in modern, purpose-built schools with small classrooms, a child with sensory processing disorder, ADHD, or a need for space will likely require reasonable adjustments. These adjustments might include a movement break every 30 minutes or sensory circuits to encourage physical activity. Such adjustments might not be necessary if classrooms were more spacious, had a free-flowing design, and if children were not expected to sit still for extended periods.
When I attended junior school (32 years ago now!), I recall having the freedom to move around extensively, utilizing various spaces such as carpet areas, an art and crafts conservatory, an outdoor patio, and large open corridors for work, along with regular access to big fields and playgrounds. Whenever I needed a break, I was the child who frequently needed to use the toilet, and I would often wander to the toilets without being told to wait until break time. To be honest, I grew up in a very poor area, not a wealthy one, so it wasn't privilege that allowed me this wonderful junior school experience. This was considered normal.
Somewhere between then and now I find myself applying for an EHCP to allow my son (aged 7, Autism/ADHD/PDA) to move from his seat regularly and have a coloured card to use the toilet. On an emotional level that makes me feel really sad.
If the environment was more child friendly, for all children, perhaps some reasonable adjustments would not be necessary.
Another reasonable adjustment that I find difficult to comprehend is granting extra time to a child who is behind in subjects or experiences anxiety during tests like SATs. If a child is academically behind or anxious, why would extending the time by an additional twenty minutes be beneficial, potentially prolonging those negative feelings? It makes sense for children who 'want' extra time, but this adjustment seems to be broadly applied to all children with mental health challenges, which seems unnecessary.
My daughter (aged 14, Autism/ADHD/Dyslexia) was incredibly anxious about sitting her SATs, causing lack of sleep, anxiety and panic attacks. The school explained that they were supportive and would allow her extra time for these tests which in fact created worse problems. A UTI and an emergency hospital visit, caused by stress. Sometimes extra time is not an adequate reasonable adjustment. For a child with only dyslexia then yes the reasonable adaptation of extra time may be beneficial but for a child with dyslexia and anxiety then this reasonable adjustment could indeed create further problems.
My son (aged 7, ADHD, Autism, PDA) has a social and communication disorder, making it very challenging for him to make friends, play games, take turns, and understand social cues. This results in a very isolated life away from other children outside of school. I have discussed this with the school, and they have kindly arranged for him to attend a six-week Lego therapy intervention, one hour each week. I am grateful for this, but is 6 hours really sufficient? Lego therapy involves three children and one adult, making it a small group activity. In a mainstream classroom, Harry needs to learn how to safely interact with large groups of children, participate in sports day, and play on the playground (when the whole school is present) without feeling overwhelmed. This Lego therapy opportunity is wonderful, and I have embraced it wholeheartedly, but is 6 hours over his entire junior school life (4 years) truly going to help him navigate mainstream social expectations? Probably not. However, he might benefit from one hour every week for a whole year. Unfortunately, such a program doesn't exist.
So we are left feeling stuck between grateful yet also resentful (knowing 6 hours of lego therapy likely isn't going to help long term). A feeling I am gettting used to when raising neuro-diverse children.
Sometimes within a mainstream environment it is exactly the environment that is the problem, especially for children with sensory impairments and communication and social difficulties.
Noise levels (due to there being 32 children in the class).
The itchy uniform.
Behaviour management strategies and disruptions in class.
Moving around the busy building between classes.
Regular change of staff and learning new expectations and body behaviours/expectations.
Smells from the school hall.
The temperature.
The strip lights.
The internal comparisons between peers.
Expectations of sitting still for long periods of time
Educational demands on top of all of the above.
The list could go on.
Reasonable adaptations cannot help in these areas particularly well. They may help (in cases of uniform adaptations) but they wont heal and this is why a lot of parents choose to home educate. Parents and carers spend a lot of time applying for reasonable adjustments and so I believe it is important to manage our expectations of these too.
I was this parent! I kept thinking that 'just another 6 week intervention' may help but I was up against an environment that couldn't be changed.
For some children with Autism/ADHD and PDA it is mostly the environment that is causing the most problems. That is the sensory challenges, the social and communication challenges and the lack of consistency/certainty of what each day holds (due to staff changes, special celebrations e.g world book day and peer behaviours).
Some reasonable adjustments can be put in place to help with one need but that same reasonable adjustment can irritate another need. My son, Harry, is a great example of this. He has ARFID (Avoidance ad restrictive eating disorder). He has tried many reasonable adjustments, yet, he still wont eat at school, meaning he can go long periods of time without food. Not ideal!
We have tried now and next boards, visual aids, adapting the menu and a quiet room, all of which have had limited success. Why have these had limiting success? Because Harry is so desperate to have friends and play. Outside of school he has no real friends due to his needs and experiences an isolated social life. School offers a playtime and a lunchtime for him to see other children of his own age. That's a pretty big deal to Harry! He has an eating disorder and also a social disorder. Finding a reasonable adaptation to suit both may be tricky.
I could take him home for lunch, in which I have no doubt he would eat but he would be even more isolated and never have any social time. With the difficulties he experiences within classroom, I would suggest to bring him home for lunch would encourage lack of school attendance in no time. A tricky balance to find the middle ground.
This is not an unusual story. Many children with Autism/ADHD/PDA experience needs that contradict one another (they are noisy themselves but hate noise they are not in control of) or have needs that mean intervening with one, perhaps may irritate the other.
Mainstream environments need to consider children's needs as a whole when considering to put in any reasonable adjustment.
So what can you do? How can you see what exactly is the problem and how to help with reasonable adaptations? How do you know which reasonable adjustments to ask for? Which reasonable adjustments would be adequate enough?
You might consider creating a care plan. Similar to an EHCP, this document is designed for collaboration between you and your child's school. It outlines all of your child's needs, from minor to major. You can specify exactly what your child requires and what strategies are effective, such as a PDA approach, now and next boards, regular exercise, etc. This makes it straightforward to identify which needs can be met with reasonable adjustments and which cannot be sufficiently addressed.
I can help! Follow the link below;
This care plan can be used as evidence for schools, applying for an EHCP and/or applying for DLA which is helpful!
Reasonable adjustments can work but only when carefully considered. You cannot put in a reasonable adjustment that helps one need but hinders another need. A better balance can be found.
It may be that, like myself, you realise that mainstream school can not put in adequate reasonable adjustments to help your child in which case it will save you fighting for something that may only hinder or be inadequate.
I support the idea of requesting reasonable adjustments, but it's crucial to think about how these adjustments are meant to assist. Frequently, parents are given inadequate explanations by mainstream schools about the adjustments being implemented, which may not be helpful and can even be counterproductive. As parents, it's essential to have some influence over what these reasonable adaptations should be and their purpose.
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