Class C

Class C is a young primary class of five students with severe mobility issues, so there is always a teaching assistant for each student. This class often comes with an underlying sense of lull as most of the pupils in this class struggle to make any noise with their voices at all. The trampoline is always set up for this group as one of the teaching assistants is a rebound instructor - she explained to me that having an assisted bounce can help to stimulate core muscles and arouse the vestibular system, which is used for balance.

Pupil 1 however is by far the most able; she can crawl quickly and effectively, though motivating her to do so can sometimes be challenging. She can stand up unassisted, though she struggles to do so, and requires help when attempting to walk. Though she is unable to talk she is certainly the loudest member of the group, and tends to be temperamental.

Pupil 2 was born completely blind and apparently hears what we hear amplified by approximately five times. Occasionally it is obvious when there is a noise that he doesn’t like or finds too loud as he’ll grab his ears and swing his upper body side to side. However he tends to quickly accustom himself to it, and I was reassured that getting used to loud and unexpected noises is something that this pupil may just have to accept. He can use words, but his vocal ability is extremely limited and clearly struggles to formulate words efficiently; he does seem to respond well to singing, perhaps because of rhythm or a certain pitch, or maybe because he simply enjoys hearing songs and trying them himself. He is hyper-flexible which causes an extra problem for him when trying to move by himself as it requires a greater sense of proprioception and appropriate muscle tone.

The last three pupils are all similar in the fact that they cannot stand or walk or talk at all. Pupil 3 wears a lycra suit to prevent him going into severe bodily spasms, and does occasionally wriggle energetically, while Pupil 4 and 5 are both at risk of vomiting, salivating and suffering from seizures; these pupils are constantly supervised and assisted in everything they do, including eating and going to the loo.