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Key messages
- All students, including students with disability, have the right to be taught all topics.
- Adapted teaching strategies may be needed to assist students with disabilities.
- A list of strategies for making teaching accessible has been provided.
The right to learn
The first thing to be aware of when teaching students with disabilities is that they have a right to be taught all the same topics as students without a disability. The only difference in disabled sexuality education is how it is taught. Like with any students, content may need to be adapted, revisited or creatively taught for it to relevant and understood by students.
Considerations
It is important to reflect upon these questions to ensure the best support for your students with disability:
- How does the student learn best?
- Do they require a support person to assist them in class?
- Are the resources I'm using in Easy or Plain English?
- How much content is appropriate to cover in one lesson - to ensure it is not rushed and to affectively cover topics?
- Do I know how to break topics down?
- How do I ensure I am not making assumptions of prior knowledge?
- Is my classroom set up to provide the best opportunity for learning?
Strategies for effective RSE with disabled students
Take your time
- Allow plenty of time for lessons to occur.
- Expect to cover less as you ensure foundational knowledge before progressing.
- Students require time to ask questions.
- Supports and/or teachers need clarify and reinforce messaging throughout a lesson.
Create a calm environment
- Consider sensory needs of the class - this may be hard with varied needs in the room but try to balance needs.
- E.g Allowing fidget toys, avoid harsh lighting, playing background music during thinking time, ensuring comfortable seating, etc.
Use Easy English
- Source resources that are written in plain or easy English.
- Try to use easy English handouts and descriptions.
- It is often hard to describe or define sexuality topics but there are resources to assist. e.g. SECCA Resources.
- Review what students have learned from a resource before moving on.
Use pictures and videos
- Multimedia resources help to add depth and understanding to complex topics.
- Ensure they are easy English and not using abstract concepts such as the tea consent video.
- The easiest images to interpret are photos, then anatomically correct illustrations, then cartoons.
- The more abstract an image or concept, the less likely the student is to learn the intended lesson.
Understanding the concept of time
- Be aware that time is an abstract concept (e.g. A movie shows a relationship developing from meeting to marriage in 1.5 hours).
- Use activities that encourage students to demonstrate their understanding of time and gradual development.
- E.g. A timeline activity can help students to map out how relationships develop in relation to trusting/touching/etc.
Make it real
- Where possible, use relevant and real photos or images of people, places or things in a student's life.
- Using real images removes the need for students to interpret and reapply information to their own lives and various situations.
- E.g. Instead of using a cartoon picture of a toilet, use a picture of the school toilet.
Make it concrete
- Reinforce, revisit and assess the learning of students to ensure accurate and understood.
- If information is only taught in one way, then it may not be applied to other scenarios.
- E.g. Instead of using only 3rd person scenarios, try to use 1st person scenarios so students know the same information that applies to others also applies to them.
Avoid assumptions
- Information needs to be broken down and ensure that foundational knowledge is covered first.
- E.g. To teach menstruation, you need to first assess what information students have about topics such as - the biological differences between females and males, that there are organs inside our bodies that we can't see, and that not all blood means there is an emergency.
- There needs to be a scaffolded approach to teaching to ensure content is understood and in context.
Give alternatives
- Provide multiple, realistic options for scenarios.
- E.g. For menstruation lessons, talk about the various product options that are on the market; also talk about period troubleshooting - what to do if there is no sanitary bin in the bathroom or your period underwear is full while at school. If only one piece of information is given i.e. 'put pad in sanitary bin', if the bin is full or there is no bin, students can get stuck and not know what to do.
Make it fun
- Like any person, disabled students like to have fun while they're learning.
- Use a quiz, a photography assignment, theatre, skits, videos or songs.
Adapted from SECCAs Top 10 tips to make your teaching accessible
External resources
SECCA
Sexuality, relationships and your rights - physical resource and website to teach about sexual rights and the law
The SECCA App - web-based app to assist in teaching sexuality, relationships education across the lifespan
Feel Safe - protective behaviours education for young adults
Introduction to Consent - introduces important consent topics, examples of consent and ways to communicate.
Introduction to Sexual Consent - introduces important sexual consent topics, examples of sexual consent and ways to communicate.
Further resources available about sexting, gender diversity, online dating, wanted and unwanted touching, sex work, porn, teaching public and private, protective behaviours, early warning signs, and safer sex.
