Teaching for pupils with cognition and learning needs should follow the core principles of:
- Consistent high-quality teaching, using a multisensory approach with opportunities for overlearning.
- Interleaved learning (introducing a few new skills at a time alongside previously learnt skills).
- New learning linked with what the pupil already knows.
- Use of visual cues.
- Instructions broken down into chunks, clear and simple.
- Repetition of key information.
- Checking understanding as the lesson progresses.
- Use effective questioning to engage in learning.
- Adapted questioning to meet the children’s needs.
- Additional processing time for responding to questions.
- Opportunities to talk through learning with a peer.
- Distributed practice (little & often teaching).
- Direct instruction (model-lead-test).
- Explicit teaching of how to generalise skills to other areas.
- Regular assessment to inform next steps.
- Assessment through teaching and regular feedback.
- Cumulative learning.
- Understanding strengths and interests.
- Model and scaffold pupils to independence.
- Teaching to fluency.