Inclusion in practice: teaching neuro-divergent learners well

Many schools will tell a parent they are inclusive. Far fewer can describe what happens in the classroom when a learner is dyslexic, autistic or hard of hearing. The gap between the prospectus and the practice is where families get hurt.

The schools doing this well invest in the unglamorous infrastructure of inclusion: a trained special-needs coordinator, individual learning plans that teachers actually read, and assessment accommodations arranged with UNEB ahead of time rather than in a panic. We set out what to ask for, and the answers that signal a school has thought about it before you walked in.