Inclusion
SEND, Inclusion & Accessibility
Every classroom has learners who meet barriers: reading, attention, communication, sensory, organisational or confidence barriers. Technology, including AI, can lower some of those barriers. It can also create new ones, or quietly replace the support a learner really needs. This page is about choice.
Not even within one diagnosis. The aim is to try options, listen to the learner, and keep what works. Nothing here implies a particular assistive tool suits everyone.
Five principles
- Start with the barrier, not the tool. Is the barrier decoding text, getting started, remembering steps, or being understood? The barrier chooses the support.
- Learner voice first. Try options and ask what helps. The learner is the expert on their own experience.
- Support, not substitute. Technology opens access without doing the thinking.
- Keep it low-stigma. Offer options widely, so using one isn’t a label.
- Check accessibility, privacy, account requirements and organisational policy before anything reaches a learner.
Barrier-led guide
| Barrier | Options to try |
|---|---|
| Reading and literacy, including dyslexia | Text-to-speech; adjustable font, spacing and line length; reading pens for print (where allowed — see below); teacher-checked AI simplification alongside the original; glossaries. |
| Writing and expression | Speech-to-text followed by editing; sentence starters; writing frames; mind maps; oral, video or annotated-diagram evidence where permitted. |
| Autism | Predictable routines; visual schedules; literal instructions and “what finished looks like”; advance notice of change; quiet ways to ask for help. |
| ADHD | Chunked tasks; timers and checklists; short feedback; an editable first-five-minutes plan. |
| Visual impairment | Screen readers, magnification and specialist-team input; semantic headings, alt text and contrast; audio-described diagrams. |
| Communication difficulties | Symbols, choice boards, speech-to-text and text-to-speech; processing time; checking understanding without relying only on spoken answers. |
| Overlapping needs | Avoid diagnosis-led prescriptions; combine appropriate adjustments with learner input. |
Accessible documents in five steps
- Use true heading styles — not just big bold text.
- Use plain, left-aligned text with breathing space.
- Add alt text for meaningful images; mark decorative ones as decorative.
- Use sufficient contrast, and never rely on colour alone.
- Run the accessibility checker, then test with a reading tool.
Scanned image-only PDFs, layout tables, “click here” links and text boxes that screen readers can’t reach. They lock learners out.
Safe AI adaptation workflow
- Remove identifying details — never paste EHCP, safeguarding or health information into an unapproved tool.
- Ask for draft scaffolds, simplified instructions or schedule outlines.
- Check meaning, accuracy and tone against the original.
- Test with the learner and adjust.
- Keep the original full-level material available — always.
Improved prompt: simplifying instructions
Rewrite the instructions below for Level 1 learners with literacy barriers. Use short sentences, everyday words and numbered steps, one action per step. Keep subject terms such as ‘spreadsheet’ and explain them in brackets. Add a final line saying what a finished task looks like. Do not add new content.
Improved prompt: visual schedule
Create a text outline for a visual schedule for a two-hour ICT lesson: arrival task, teacher input, practical task, break, review. Give each block a short label and suggested simple icon description. Keep it to six blocks maximum.
Alternative ways to show learning
Spoken explanation, annotated screenshots, short screen recordings, labelled diagrams, practical demonstrations with observation notes, structured Q&A — only when the qualification and awarding body permit that evidence method.
Everyday accessibility adjustments in your classroom are your professional territory. Formal assessment access arrangements (readers, scribes, reading pens, extra time) are governed by awarding bodies and JCQ rules, and require specific processes. Always check the current arrangements before making claims about what is allowed in exams.
Current JCQ access-arrangements guidance (checked 7 November 2026) allows a centre-provided examination reading pen for occasional words or phrases, with no online application needed — but the pen must have no built-in dictionary, thesaurus or data storage, headphones are required, and it cannot be combined with 50% extra time in place of a reader. Verify against the current JCQ documents before relying on this in your centre: see Research, Guidance & Evidence.
Ethics and checks
- Approved tools and data protection — always.
- Watch for AI bias, including disability stereotypes in generated content.
- Guard against over-reliance: support should grow independence, not replace it.
- Learner choice — offer, don’t impose.
- No digital exclusion: learners without home internet or devices must not lose access.
- Simplify the delivery, never the ambition.
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Page last reviewed: 7 November 2026 · Next review: by May 2027 · JCQ access-arrangements and DfE/ICO guidance verified on this date — see Research, Guidance & Evidence.