➜ TEACHING &LEARNING

Ethan used to come homedrainedfrom his new highschool.

Hisbehaviour became difficult forthe whole family.

“He’d come in exhausted after concentrating so intensely allday long,” recalls hismum, Selina.“Highschool was morechallengingthanprimary,” says Selina.“He’sa visual learner,sohe’smore tired on days full of theory-based subjects

“He had to learntolip-read eight or nine teachersinsteadofone.InFrench he had threeteacherswithdifferent accents– it was hard! His auditoryprocessing memory isn’tgreat and when he hadtolook at the whiteboard, lip-readand write, he couldn’t do it.” Aspell of bullying didn’thelp. “Ethan hadalways been confident in his deafness, but he said he didn’twanttobe deaf anymore,” says Selina.

Other meetings brought new ways to support Ethan. Someteachers started supplying Ethan withglossaries of new words andadvance topic information so he could get visual informationonYouTube. Forspelling, Ethan works in thecorridorwitha buddy who gives himthe word in asentencefor context He alsohas ared card for‘mute the mic’ on his radio aid, agreen one for‘unmute mic’and a‘?’ card forasking aquestion. Another thingthathelpedthe family’s homework battleswas homework club

“It’s an hour after school,” saysSelina. “Hedoeshis homeworkthe sameday usually,his academic brainhasn’t switched offyet. Often he gets 1:1support– and a cookie! Homework club has become partof his normal schoolday as he works towards his GCSEs.” “Homework clubhelps because if I’m tired andI’ve gone to theclubIdon’t havetothink when Iget home,” adds Ethan.

“It washeartbreaking.”

Ethan’s teacher of the deaf called ameeting with theschool andthey dealt with the bullying. Ethan gothis confidence back andbecamethe sociable, outgoing boyhe’dformerly been. Selinaasked the school to make reasonable adjustmentstosupport Ethan.

TheysuggestedEthan spend lunchtime in thelibrary, with otherpupilswho needed time out, and access to ateaching assistant “It providedarestfromplaygroundnoise andthe pressure to have conversations, particularlyaftermornings withmore theory-based lessons. On days withless mentally demanding subjects,he’d hang out with his matesinstead,” says Selina