Foundation / Prep · teacher and family companion · development draft
This is a practical way to customise a SubjectNest activity without losing the idea being taught. Start with the child and the goal, then choose an access route, an example they care about, a response route and a useful next step. Offer choices to everyone; do not assign a child a fixed “visual,” “auditory” or other learning-style label. A child may prefer a different route on a different day. The school's individual adjustment, safety and curriculum decisions remain with the educator and relevant team.
The two-minute change
- Name the one thing you want to learn about. “Can the child compare two collections by quantity?” is clearer than “Can the child finish the page?” For a decoding check, name the taught letter–sound links and word set.
- Keep the idea, change the doorway. Offer an object, larger print, an uncluttered strip, a tactile model, live description, a quiet space or a preview. Ask the learner what works. Sometimes a different format changes the evidence; note that honestly.
- Choose a relevant world. Keep the structure and numbers, swap the setting. Five and three can be library books, art shapes, bus seats, seed packets (paper cards only), game tokens, sports cones, imaginary planets or lunchbox spaces. Do not assume a child likes an example because of their identity.
- Let the child show it. Point, build, move, speak, sign, type, use AAC, dictate or draw as suits the target. Record the response route and help given.
- Decide tomorrow from the evidence. If the idea is emerging, return to the last secure example with a short model. If it is secure, try a new setting or ask for a reason. If it was not observable, offer a different chance; do not score “cannot do.”
Eight concrete swaps
| Original task | Keep this goal | Practical variation | What the variation can and cannot show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decode mat from m–a–t | Blend the taught sound links to read a new word | Use large tactile/movable letters or a clean text strip; let the child indicate the blended word through AAC or pointing to a spoken choice | Can show reading if the choice does not cue the answer. A story picture alone shows meaning, not independent decoding. |
| Retell an adult-read story | Sequence events and explain a character idea | Adult reads live; child orders three object/symbol cards, directs a puppet or dictates in a home language with an appropriate interpreter | Can show comprehension. It does not show that the child decoded the adult-read print. |
| Hear and manipulate an English phoneme | Work with the lesson's specific sound structure | Use visible mouth cues, an accessible sound representation and co-planned specialist support where needed | The teacher must record what sound information was accessible. A visually matched letter is not automatically evidence of hearing a phoneme. |
| Compare two sets to 20 | Count or pair objects and justify more/fewer/same | Use two tactile mats, grippable counters and a child-directed partner; change the setting to animals, transport or art | Can show quantity reasoning. Record partner placement and any prompts; do not score motor speed. |
| Write a sentence about a sign | Compose one meaningful sentence and, separately, practise taught handwriting | Child dictates to a scribe or uses AAC for composition, then chooses a smaller handwriting practice at their taught point | Dictation can show composition, but cannot alone show independent handwriting formation or spelling. |
| Test a roll/slide prediction | Distinguish before-test idea from after-test observation | Child directs an adult to release the object, feels raised start/stop marks or hears an exact live description | Can show reasoning from a described test. Record the access source; do not claim independent visual observation if none occurred. |
| Make a pattern in sound | Identify, continue and explain the repeat unit | Use silent shape cards, soft tactile pulses or a seated object movement; let the child choose noise level | Can show repeating-pattern structure. It may not show auditory discrimination; that needs its own accessible evidence route. |
| Practise asking for help | Choose a safe next step under the school's actual procedure | Use a fictional puppet, private teacher turn, picture/AAC choice or a planned script; let a child pass on public role-play | Can show rehearsal of a help route. A pass on public acting is not a safety-skill score, and no child has to disclose a real incident. |
When the original route does not fit
- Attention or predictability: show the first/then/finish sequence; keep a visible timer optional; split a 35-minute block into two short sessions; give a movement/rest choice. Keep the independent check after the taught idea, not after the child is exhausted.
- Sensory access or comfort: choose quiet cues, non-glare print, clear space and materials whose texture the learner accepts. Ask before touching a child or mobility aid. Keep a text/tactile equivalent for audio or visual aids.
- Mobility or fine-motor access: move the task to a stable table, enlarge/grip pieces, let the learner direct a partner, and use a scribe for the idea. Assess the intended concept separately from a motor skill unless the motor skill is itself the goal.
- Speech, hearing or vision access: offer the child's established communication system and consult relevant specialists for a sound, listening or visual outcome. The response route is part of the evidence record, not a deficit label.
- English as an additional language or dialect: welcome the home language for thinking and explanations, preserve the child's meaning, teach the English term explicitly, and distinguish language development from concept knowledge. Do not publish a machine translation as classroom-ready; record locale, version and fluent human reviewer first.
- Stretch and curiosity: ask for a counterexample, a new context, a different representation or a reason that survives a changed layout. “More worksheets” is not the only extension. Let a child who is secure design a new question or teach a strategy by choice.
- Privacy or distress: use fictional sources and optional private family sharing. Never make a child reveal a birth place, care arrangement, address, body concern or unsafe experience to complete a lesson. Follow school safeguarding routes when a real concern arises.
Keep the evidence honest
Record five things in one line: task · child action or exact words · access route · model/prompt/support · next step. For example: “Compared 8 bus-seat counters with 6 art-card counters; paired them and pointed to 8 as more; large tactile mats, no counting prompt; next, try different spacing.” That is more useful than “good at maths” or “visual learner.”
A teacher can adapt an example's story without changing its mathematics. For instance, 4 join 3 can be four library books plus three books, four toy spacecraft plus three, or four dance markers plus three. Keep the joining action, quantity range and answer (7). A new domain creates interest; it does not replace the check. Avoid cultural, disability, family or gender stereotypes when choosing examples, and let children propose their own worlds.
Source and reuse
This companion sits beside the opening teacher route and its actual lesson scripts. ACARA disability guidance supports reasonable adjustment and consultation; ACARA EAL/D guidance supports curriculum access while developing English and valuing language background. AERO monitor progress informs the observation and next-step cycle. These sources are linked and paraphrased, not reproduced or claimed as approval of this unpiloted playbook. Local teams decide each child's actual supports.
© NeuroForgeIO Pty Ltd 2026, “SubjectNest Make a Lesson Fit the Learner”, version 0.1.0-draft. Original examples, prompts and table are CC BY 4.0: credit SubjectNest by NeuroForgeIO Pty Ltd, link the source and licence, and note changes. ACARA and AERO sources retain their own terms. No third-party story, image or worksheet is embedded.