What changes do I need to make as an educator to help my students grow?
Supporting Learners with Diverse Needs in a Mainstream Classroom: Reflecting on Today’s Professional Conversation
Today I sat in on a thoughtful kōrero about how we can better support students with diverse needs. As a kaiako of Year 7 and 8 learners, I used this time to reflect deeply on two focus areas within my classroom: students who experience attention difficulties and one student who is nonverbal autistic and is beginning to use spoken language more regularly.
We discussed a range of tools and approaches being used across our kura to support neurodiverse learners:
- Kibeam – a visual storytelling and communication tool
- Muscle Mat – a shared mat allowing wriggling and movement during seated time without disrupting others
- Fair Chair – a movement-supportive seat option for regulation
- Zones of Regulation – a framework for understanding and managing emotions
- Thin Glass Chromebook Screen Covers – being trialled to reduce visual overstimulation
- Speech-to-Text & Apple AI tools – supporting alternative forms of expression
- Worry Dolls – to support emotional wellbeing and provide comfort
While these tools are impressive, my reflection turned to this pātai: How can I meaningfully implement these in my classroom so they support my learners’ mana and individual needs?
For students with attention differences, tools like the Fair Chair and Muscle Mat may help normalise movement and create a more inclusive environment, however, our students don’t cope well with differences and being different. Integrating Zones of Regulation into our morning check-ins and across the curriculum will support emotional literacy and empower students to self-regulate and express how they’re feeling.
For my nonverbal autistic student, tools like Kibeam, speech-to-text, and visual communication supports are taonga that could open up new pathways for interaction and learning. Their recent increase in spoken language is a beautiful milestone, and I’m reminded that communication takes many valid forms — all worthy of celebration.
My Next Steps:
- Trial a classroom-wide approach to Zones of Regulation, integrating visual prompts and consistent routines.
- Introduce speech-to-text tools in a low-pressure way, supporting multimodal communication. Record-to-text tools.
- Work closely with whānau and our support team to ensure my nonverbal autistic student is progressing in ways that feel safe, joyful, and empowering.
- Continue to provide a voice for the students. It’s pivotal in our development, whether it’s expressed through speech, signs, visuals, or movement in all learning spaces.
- Celebrate the small achievements.
- I would also like to create a hub, which has resources or collective ideas we can share to ponder over when we get stuck in the rut of ‘how do we move achievement for our students with diverse needs?’
Every student brings their own wairua, strength, and way of being. It’s our responsibility as kaiako to create learning environments where all can flourish with dignity, with equity, and with belonging.
“Nāku te rourou, nāu te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.”
With your basket and my basket, the people will thrive.
This reminds me that inclusive education is not something we do alone. It takes a collective, whānau-centred approach to truly support the diverse needs of our ākonga.
After the koorero, now what?
- https://sparklers.org.nz/teachers-educators/supporting-tamariki-and-diagnoses/
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