Oral assessment

Individuals with processing and memory diffculties:

• may have an SpLD or neurodiversity, be on the Autistic Spectrum (ASC) or have Fibromyalgia, Myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) Chronic pain, Epilepsy, and similar conditions which may need ongoing medication for management.

• may experience

  • interruptions to production of work due to a disability or medication side effects.

  • that tasks take longer;.

  • difficulty with spelling, grammar, punctuation and proofreading.

  • problems with word retrieval.

  • difficulties with processing receptive oral information.

• may use assistive technology for research and writing and this can be time-consuming.

To support these individuals:

• Students should be allowed to use notes to aid their presentation; for example a mind map. This would be considered a reasonable adjustment. It is unlikely to be considered a competence standard to deliver a presentation without any notes.

• Be flexible with timings for oral output. Students may take longer to make their points, e.g. if they have word-finding issues, so allowing extra time to accommodate this is appropriate, but the student should not be expected to fill a set amount of extra time, such as 25%.

• Make it very clear if a module contains presentations or oral assessments prior to the start of the module.

• Structure the module to allow a student who is unable to do the presentation due to their disability/health, to have another opportunity.

• Adjustments may include pre-recorded, much smaller groups or 1:1 with tutor only.

• For some students, especially certain students on the autistic spectrum who experience extreme anxiety around presentations, offering an alternative can be a much better way of assessing the learning outcomes (Getch, 2016). It may simply be unreasonable to expect to assess them in this mode The Inclusive Support Service would establish this and then an alternative assessment could be agreed in advance.

• For some students, a virtual option can be suitable. e.g. Chown et al (2015) recommend a virtual viva using email or similar.

• In your marking, make allowances for minor mispronunciations or transposing of letters, as you would apply the blue card to written work.

Individuals with sensory overload:

• may have ADHD, ASC, IBD/Crohn's Disease/Ulcerative Colitis, Mental Health difficulties and similar conditions which may need ongoing medication for management.

• may experience

  • interruptions to production of work due to disability or medication side effects.

  • tasks take longer.

  • difficulty with spelling, grammar, punctuation and proofreading.

  • Possible perfectionism.

• may use assistive technology for research and writing which can be time-consuming.

To support these individuals:

• Students should be allowed to use notes to aid their presentation; for example a mind map. This would be considered a reasonable adjustment. It is unlikely to be considered a competence standard to deliver a presentation without any notes.

• Structure the module to allow a student who is unable to do the presentation due to their disability/health, to have another opportunity. Schedule students who may be absent or late, in the first set to give them another opportunity later if they are unable to attend the first session.

• Be prepared to allow some students to deliver the presentation 1-1 or pre-recorded. This will be identified on an ISP.

Individuals who are hard of hearing:

• May be D/deaf or have auditory processing difficulties.

• some people

  • are born Deaf or have hearing loss before they develop spoken language and they may regard their deafness as part of their identity and culture and not as a disability. They may predominantly use British Sign Language. They will not have been able to learn spoken or written English like a native speaker. They may have a sign language interpreter.

  • lose hearing or are deafened after they have acquired spoken language. They are more likely to use hearing aids and lipreading skills.

  • may have difficulty with spelling, grammar, punctuation and proofreading.

• Will rely on captions or transcripts for audio-visual information.

To support these individuals:

• If the student’s first language is BSL and they work with an interpreter they will need them to translate and voice what they are communicating.

• Speak to the student and not the interpreter unless you have a specific question for the interpreter.

Individuals who have a Visual Impairment or Visual Difficulties:

• may have no vision, only some light perception, some colour vision, double vision, nystagmus or tracking difficulties or be short and/or longsighted.

• some people may

  • have been born with little or no vision or may have lost their sight for some reason.

  • need enlarged texts.

  • may need to use a screen reader on their phone or computer to hear information read out loud.

  • may need more light or be able to control light or to reduce glare and to maximize their available vision.

  • need information in Braille if that is a system they have learned.

• A visually impaired person may use a short or a long cane to help with navigation

• A visually impaired person may have a guide dog

• A "mild" visual impairment may be harder to deal with than a severe one especially if someone is having difficulty adjusting to a new way of working.

To support these individuals:

• May have difficulty engaging with other students' input. Ensure that essential visual information is verbalised to enable continued participation.

• Provide students with guidance on how to make their presentations accessible to others.

Individuals who have Speech/Speaking Difficulties:

• May have

  • a Stutter or Stammer - it is not helpful to try and finish people's words or sentences.

  • Selective Mutism - it should be noted that although called selective individuals can't always choose when they can physically speak.

  • Cerebral Palsy that can affect their speech to varying degrees. They may need to use AAD or an Augmented & Alternative Communication Device to be their voice.

  • been born Deaf people and they may need to communicate through an interpreter.

  • Autism which means they may speak in a rigid or repetitive way, although this only affects some people on the autistic spectrum.

• May

  • not be able to speak at all.

  • actually have a processing difficulty which means they find it hard to be put on the spot and formulate a spoken response immediately.

  • actually have an anxiety disorder which means they find it hard to be put on the spot and formulate a spoken response immediately.

  • take longer to get their point across.

  • need to have a support worker.

To support these individuals:

• Be flexible with timings for oral output. Students may take longer to make their points, e.g. if they have word-finding issues, so allowing extra time to accommodate this is appropriate, but the student should not be expected to fill a set amount of extra time, such as 25%.

• Be prepared for some students to submit pre-recorded answers using text-to-speech software or someone voicing the answer for them.

Individuals who have Mobility Difficulties:

• May have these due to congenital issues, or a result of injury, muscular dystrophy (MD), cerebral palsy, amputation, multiple sclerosis (MS), pulmonary disease, heart disease or other reasons.

• some people

  • may use a wheelchair some of the time or a walking aid.

  • may have a visual impairment that affects mobility at least until they have mobility training, although obstacles and changes to familiar environs can also cause difficulties.

  • may take longer to travel between teaching sessions or project meetings.

• A visually impaired person may have a guide dog.

To support these individuals:

• Ensure that the position for the presentation is accessible and doesn’t make the speaker feel uncomfortable or compromised.