In England 23.8% of pupils were recorded in January 2015 as having a moderate learning difficulty (SpLD) and 24.5% have an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). (Department of Education, 2015) Even with a high percentage of children in English schools there is still a shortage of common equipment, for example exercise books that are for children with SpLDs and ASD. There are tinted exercise books and notebooks that are available but these cover the basic problems with reading that many children with SpLDs have where there is room to improve them more so that they can help in more areas. In terms of ASD there is a lot of sensory items, mainly for younger children but not more specific educational equipment.
In response to the lack of educational equipment for children with SpLDs such as; dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and dyspraxia, especially in the age group of 9-13 that I I’m aiming at, as this covers the transition between primary and secondary education, and provides familiarity and support to the transition between the two education stages.. I am going to design two types of exercise books that are used to help students. One will be a basic exercise book with additional printing on the inside and possibly on the back covers and the pages as an extra support. This would also fit in as much as possible with existing exercise books that the majority of the students would be using. The design of these exercise books has the added benefits of being used by all students increasing the inclusivity in the cost effectiveness in schools. The second will be aimed at children who may need more help and support, it will be as flexible as possible and customisable allowing the student to add sections and move parts around to best suit them, the customisable element of the book means that students who need the support are able to make the book fit in with them and they don’t need to fit in with the design of the book. The second book will be able to support any interchangeable multi sensory materials that the student may require.
The aim was to enable children with SpLDs and ASD to be more independent within the classroom with school work and at home with revision and homework. Have a more unified learning resources that promote inclusivity in education. I created two types of school excercise books, one is a set of books that are similar to the traditional exercise books that are common in schools now. They will be A4 and have some added details on the pages used to primarily support students with dyslexia and dyscalculia. There will be enough books for the main subjects that are shared between primary and secondary school; Englsh/Literacy, Maths/Numeracy, Science, Geography, History, Languages and Religious Education. The second is a flexible book based on the discbound/rollerbind notebook system that can be customised and easily added to. There would be customisable front and back covers with plastic wallets and a zipper wallet that can be used as a pencil case or a multi sensory pocket depending on the students needs
Using the different colours for the paper in the books is to benefit the children, but they would likely stick out in a classroom and could lead to questions from the other children. Since they would stick out in the classroom I decided to give each book a cover design relating to the subjects hopefully the designs being what catches people's attention. They also act as a visual que for the subject. The designs are based on the core UK curriculum.
