For parents, educators and youth workers
This part of the Academy is for the people around the learner: parents, carers, teachers, trainers, youth workers and volunteers. The lessons are written for the young person. These pages explain what is behind each lesson and how to help without taking the task over.
Seven rules that carry the whole programme
- Talk to the young person, not about them.
- Wait. Give time to think and to answer.
- Help only as much as is needed, and a little less each time.
- Praise the effort, not only the result.
- Let the young person choose whenever you can.
- Make mistakes safe. A mistake is a step in learning.
- Treat young people as teenagers and adults, not as small children.
The five steps of a lesson, and what you do
Every lesson has the same five steps in the same order, so the young person always knows what comes next. Your part changes at each step.
Story
Look at the six pictures together. Let the young person say what they see and guess what happens next. Ani and Emre always make a mistake first, so nobody has to be perfect.
Learn
One idea per screen. If the young person does not read, read it aloud together or use the Listen button. Stop after each idea and connect it to something from their own life.
Play
Let them try before you help. If they get stuck, point instead of telling, and ask instead of pointing. Nothing in the games is timed.
Check
Five questions, no time limit, no minus points. A wrong answer gives a hint and a new try. Resist answering for them; the hint is usually enough.
Try it!
This one happens away from the screen, in a real place. It is where the lesson becomes a skill. Agree when and where it will happen before you close the lesson.
The two levels
Every unit can be used at two levels. At "With help" the quiz gives two answers instead of three, and the games are shorter: fewer cards to put in order, fewer cards to sort, four pairs instead of six, two choices instead of three. At "On my own" the unit is whole. The story and what is taught never change, so a young person at "With help" learns the same things. You set the level on the page of each module, and it holds for every lesson on that device. Start where the young person can succeed and move up when they are ready.
Notes for each lesson
For every lesson there is a short background and five things that help. Choose a module.
My Independent Day
Open the notesMe and Others
Open the notesActive in My Community
Open the notes
The methods behind the lessons
You do not need to be an expert in any of these. Knowing the main idea of each one makes the programme easier to use.
Easy-to-read
Short sentences, one idea per sentence, everyday words, pictures next to the text. The European rules were written by Inclusion Europe together with people with intellectual disabilities.
Visual supports
Pictures, symbols and written words stay visible. Spoken words disappear as soon as they are said. This is why schedules, step cards and picture stories work so well.
Steps and chaining
A big task is broken into small steps. In backward chaining you do everything except the last step, so the young person always finishes the task successfully.
Prompting and fading
Help goes from more to less: physical help, showing, pointing, a picture, a word, nothing. The aim is always to use one step less help than last time.
Errorless and positive learning
The task is arranged so that the right answer is likely, for example two choices instead of four. A mistake never costs points. Praise is immediate and says exactly what was good.
Instruct, show, practise, feedback
Safety and social skills are learned in four steps: explain the skill, show it, practise it in a role play, then say what went well. Knowing a rule is not the same as being able to use it.
Learning with peers
Young people learn a lot from other young people. When peers without disabilities are prepared and take part as equals, contacts increase and attitudes change on both sides.
Three ways to use the programme
About 60% of the learning time should be hands-on: at home, in a group, in the community, in sport, at work. The Academy is the other 40%. Digital learning supports real experience; it does not replace it.
Alone in the Academy
The young person works through the units on a computer, tablet or phone, alone or with you next to them. Stars and badges are kept on that device. Good for learning at your own pace and for repeating a lesson.
In a group
A trainer shows the lesson on a big screen. The group talks about the story, plays the game together and then plays the printed card game. Good for centres, schools and youth clubs.
Printed, without a computer
The picture stories, step cards, card games and challenge cards are printed and used on paper. Good where there is no internet, and for families.
A group session of 60 to 90 minutes
This is the shape of a session that works. The times are a guide, not a rule.
- 5 minWelcome circle. Everyone says their name and how they feel today.
- 10 minPicture story, shown picture by picture. The group says what they see and guesses what happens next.
- 15 minLearn. The key ideas with pictures, real objects and demonstrations.
- 5 minMove! break.
- 20 minCard game or role play, in small mixed groups.
- 5 minQuiz together, on the screen or with cards.
- 5 minTry it! The trainer explains the real-life challenge and hands out the challenge cards.
- 5 minClosing circle. "Today I learned…", stars, applause.
In which order
The modules can be used in any order, but Module 1 builds the everyday skills, Module 2 builds communication and safety, and Module 3 uses both of them in the community and at work. Inside a module, the units build on each other and should be used in order.
The full programme
These pages are a summary. The complete Special Adapted Educational Program, with the printable card decks, the board game and the progress checklists, is on the Outputs page of the project website.
Outputs