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3 Draft Leaving Certificate specifications consultations

3 Draft Leaving Certificate specifications consultations

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Glossary of Action Verbs

This glossary is designed to clarify the learning outcomes of the Level 1 Learning Programme. Students can achieve learning outcomes at any of the progression pathways in a way that suits their individual learning journey. Appropriate levels of adult support for each task will be determined by the teacher, the student’s family and other professionals according to the individual needs of each student.

Action verb

Within the context of their individualised learning journey, students should be able to…

Accept

tolerate/allow an interaction or experience

Acknowledge

change behaviour in some way (gesture/eye gaze/vocalisation/speaking) to demonstrate an awareness of the presence of a person, object or stimulus

Anticipate

demonstrate an awareness of/predict what will happen next

Attend

direct attention (visual/tactile/auditory) to focus on a person, object or stimulus

Awareness

demonstrate understanding of a concept (e.g. object permanence—look for hidden object) or indicate the knowledge of the existence of a person, object or stimulus

Behave appropriately

act in a way that is expected in the surroundings/activity (e.g. sit with the class group at a table for snack while visiting a café). Teachers will determine what behaviour/role is appropriate for each student in different settings, considering their sensory, physical, emotional and cognitive processing strengths and needs.

Choose/Make choices

indicate a preference from given options using any text*

Communicate

adapt behaviour in a variety of ways including, but not limited to: vocalising, gesturing, moving eye gaze or use of text to convey a message

Co-operate

work with/willingly accept support from an adult or peers for a specific purpose

Create

be involved in the process of making something new

Demonstrate

behave in such a way as to display an awareness, skill or understanding

Differentiate

demonstrate an awareness of a difference between things/people (e.g. a student may behave differently when there is a new teacher in the room)

Discover

find/notice, something new, information about an object, stimulus, place or person

Engage

become involved in a task/process (through looking, touching, smelling, listening or tasting)

Exhibit

clearly display a behaviour/response

Experiment

trial or explore an activity/object in a variety of ways, with the potential of acquiring new learning

Explore

use the senses (in terms of touch, taste, sound, sight etc) to inquire into an item/concept/activity. The student may make new discoveries during this process.

Express

convey a feeling, opinion or message through any text*/reactive changes in behaviour

Follow

adhere to rules/conventions specific to an environment or activity (e.g. slowing down from a run to a walking pace in a supermarket in response to the teacher giving the instruction verbally and showing a ‘walking’ symbol)

Gather

be involved in any way with the process of collecting items

Handle

explore an item through touching/feeling it in some way. This may involve body parts other than the student’s hands (e.g. feeling fur rubbed on their arm/cheek) if necessary to support the student’s physical or sensory needs.

Identify

locate and/or specify who or what a person, object or stimulus is. This may be communicated using any text*.

Illustrate

display/show a response or behaviour as outlined in the learning outcome

Indicate

change behaviour in a way that identifies/communicates a response to an object, person, environment or stimulus using any text*. This may or may not be intentional communication (e.g. crying in response to a loud noise).

Initiate

start something. A student that initiates a communication/interaction with someone may do so in a wide variety of ways including seeking eye contact, reaching out to the person, vocalising or touching a familiar object of reference. The student may or may not have an awareness of joint attention in communication yet so may not look at the adult while behaving in these ways.

Interact

experience having an effect and/or being affected by an exchange with another person

Investigate

get to know more about an item, environment, person or stimulus through sensory exploration and examination (e.g. feeling/banging/listening to/smelling/squeezing)

Listen

focus auditory attention on the experience of sounds. Students may not always pay visual attention to the sound source.

Link

form an association between/connect two or more items, people, stimuli or actions

Look

visually attend to something. Some students may use their peripheral vision/an alternative area in their visual field to attend to an item.

Match

indicate an awareness of/identify a connection between items with common or identical features, meaning or qualities

Move

change position in space with or without support

Observe

show an awareness of and adhere to rules or visually notice/attend to a person, activity or stimulus

Participate

demonstrate any type of involvement in the learning activity

Play

perform/take part in a process, game or activity

Practise

repeatedly rehearse a skill or action. Students may show signs of improvement over a period of time.

Predict

indicate an awareness/knowledge of what will come next based on previous learning and experiences (e.g. when the teacher reaches into a bag of props at a certain point in a familiar story, the student reacts by screwing up and moving their face in anticipation of a water spray that is used at this point of the story).

Read

extract meaning from and demonstrate understanding of any form of text (e.g. looking at an object of reference for ‘snack’ then immediately turning head towards the snack cupboard expectantly)

Recall

show an awareness and recognition of past events (e.g. smiling when shown a video of an activity enjoyed that morning/identifying photographs of props used regularly to tell a familiar story)

Recognise

demonstrate understanding of/familiarity with a person, context, object or stimulus from previous experiences. The student may be able to use knowledge, gained from previous experiences, to identify a person, context, object or stimulus.

Request

use any text* to express a desire or need (e.g. pressing a BIGmack switch to request more bubbles to be blown)

Refine

clarify/improve a skill

Respond

change behaviour in some way (movement/shift in eye gaze/respond verbally/communicate through text/demonstrate emotions etc) in reaction to something or someone

Seek

search for/look out for something. This requires the student to focus their attention on the activity/task with intention and purpose.

Show

express awareness, understanding, knowledge or feelings through actions

Tolerate

allow/accept an experience. The student may still appear hesitant or unsure due to the challenges they face during such an experience (e.g. being sensitive to sounds in a noisy room) but they will allow for the experience to occur, even for a brief period.

Use

apply sensory awareness/skills/learning to a practical setting for a given function

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