Learning to include Pete

Abstract

This is an account of how one teacher is working to include a partially sighted boy in her mainstream primary school class. It is seen as a learning process as much for the teacher as for the young pupil himself.

Pete is nine years old, with ocular albinism and nystagmus giving reduced near and distance vision. He has been with us since the Summer term, and in my class since September. I had no experience of working with visually impaired children, and all I knew was that he had a teaching assistant (TA) for 15 hours a week and had 'problems seeing'. Reading the reports on Pete, I understood that he was above average intelligence and needed help accessing the curriculum.