SEND advice and guidance

Maths

General points to consider

  • VI children and young people will need to acquire information in lessons which other pupils gain incidentally in everyday life (eg perception of 2D and 3D objects or money) – therefore pre teaching of concepts may be required
  • A VI child or young person, whatever their ability, will need additional time to process what they are being asked to do
  • Investigational work can prove extremely difficult and  may need to be guided by staff
  • A Maths Braille code exists for Braillists.

Working from a text book or worksheet

  • Diagrams may need to be differentiated.  They need to be clear and uncluttered, appropriate in size (A4), with good contrast and have any additional information/description before the diagram.  Any irrelevant pictures should be omitted.  It can be a good idea to build up a complex picture by using several simpler ones.  A verbal explanation may also be necessary.
  • Any enlargement of diagrams to assess measurement will change the length. Ensure that the modified diagram is suitably sized – if the standard diagram is measured in whole cms, ensure that the modified one is too.
  • 3D diagrams are often very difficult for VI children and young people to access.  It may be necessary to provide the CYP with the actual solid.  Faces may need to be coloured or textured according to individual needs.  In general, it is advisable to redraw 3D diagrams as a series of 2D diagrams.
  • If the worksheet is a “copy and complete” type, a worksheet can be provided upon which the child or young person can insert the answers, thus saving time and avoiding copying errors.
  • Consider asking the child or young person to do either the odd or even numbered questions, to reduce the volume of work but still ensure a progression of difficulty.
  • Reading tables is much more time consuming for a child or young person with Vl, it is helpful to remove as much extraneous information as possible.
  • Signs should be very clear, plus sign and divided by sign are very easily confused.
  • Consider the use of technology – text books can be downloaded from RNIB Bookshare or an iPad can be used to pinch and zoom

Additional strategies

  • When using a protractor, ensure that all lines on diagrams produced are long enough to be measured with the enlarged protractor.
  • When producing pie charts, all labels should be outside the circle.  Tactile versions are available.
  • A peg board or pin board can be used to teach shape and transformations.
  • Add food colouring to colour water for contrast and a range of clear bottles/containers of different sizes for showing capacity
  • A metal board and shapes attached to magnetic strips or cut from magnetic sheet, are useful for teaching aspects of geometry such as tessellations.
  • Paper folding techniques can provide tactile experience of geometry e.g. fold a rectangle to prove that opposite sides are equal in length.
  • When looking at cross sections, practical examples can be provided by cutting vegetables.

Assessment

  • VI children and young people will usually be allowed 25% extra time (100% for Braillists) in examinations and this needs to be taken into consideration for class tests. Additional advice is available from the Joint Council for Qualifications. https://www.jcq.org.uk
  • The degree of accuracy is reduced from 0.1 cm to 0.5 cm and from 2 degrees to 5 degrees

Useful equipment

  • Tactile graph paper, square paper, dotted paper etc of different sizes and different colours
  • Tactile/large print dominoes and dice.
  • Tactile or high contrast rulers, tape measures and metre sticks
  • Tactile or enlarged protractors
  • Large calculators with clear displays and buttons as well as talking calculators of different specifications.
  • Braille/Large Print watch and clock face
  • Large display or talking digital timer
  • Peg Board with tactile pegs – ideal for sorting or tallying
  • Bun trays for sorting
  • Counting resources such as Numicon, bead strings, multilink, bright counters, real coins etc.
  • Large print, well contrasted number fans
  • Plastic 2D and 3D shapes
  • 3D tactile marker
  • Large squared exercise books
  • German film and Geometry mat
  • Bump ons
  • Elastic bands/ Wikki sticks
  • Tactile or/and large print place value cards – for building 2/3 digit numbers (hundreds, tens, units)
  • Large print compass
  • Tactile or large print fraction board
  • Large display and/or talking thermometer
  • A4 white board and well inked dark pens
  • Erasable ink pens to use as pencils
  • 2b pencil or pen to create a greater contrast with the page
  • Liquid level indicator
  • Non-slip mat such as dycem
  • Magnifying glass
  • Liquid level indicator

You can buy or download resources using the following links (not an exhaustive list)

Additional signposting

Devon County Council
Devon County Council, County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter, Devon EX2 4QD
Our contact numbers