May 31, 2023 20:50:55 GMT
characters with special needs
Various Common Learning Disabilities | • Your character will get to attend tests/exams in a quiet setting separate from the rest of the class with the special needs professor supervising and will have an extended period to complete the test or exam. • Your character will attend classes regularly and work closely with the special needs professor after class in order to stay on top of your school work. • Any student who struggles with reading will be taught the “Read Me” spell which reads text out loud. • Any student who struggles with writing will be provided with Quick Quote Quills – this quills write down what the author is saying (similar to speech to text for cell phones) |
Various Mobility Disabilities | • Hogwarts has installed a series of ramps and lifts for those with mobility issues that prevent them from climbing the vast staircases within the castle – these are for use only with the school designated passwords. Do not share these passwords as abled body students and staff do not require the use of their supports • Attendance will be flexible for these students as the staff understand the difficulties of getting to and from class therefore these students will not be penalized if they are late within 5-10 minutes of class starting. • Any personal assistive devices your character requires will be at your discretion IE: Canes, Walkers, Wheelchairs, Special Holsters for wands, adaptive devices for wand use...etc. |
Mental Illness and Psychiatric Disorders | • Your character will be assessed by Healers at St. Mungo’s prior to beginning each school term in order to determine your needs and if changes are in order for your medical care plan. • Your character will attend mandatory sessions with the school healers and counsellors at minimum once a month to keep an eye on your progress. • Your character will work with the special needs professor outside of class in order to stay on top of your school work. |
Hearing Impairments | • All classrooms will be equipped with an enchanted wipe board and Professors will have Quick Quote Quills that will write out their verbal lectures on the wipe board for students. • If available, sign language interpreters will be present for students with these impairments. These will mostly be NPC characters for all members to utilize. |
Visual Impairments | • Any student with visual impairments will be taught the “Read Me” spell which reads text out loud. • Any student with visual impairments will be provided with Quick Quote Quills – this quills write down what the author is saying (similar to speech to text for cell phones). • Any student with visual impairments will be provided with textbooks in Braille (if they have learned it) in order to participate in their reading. These textbooks will have a tactile tracing of appropriate wand movements for each spell they will learn throughout their school years. • If they are not fluent in Braille, the student can acquire the same tactile tracing of wand movements from their Professors. |
Speech and Language Impairments (including mutism) | • Most speech and language impairments can be treated, therefore, students will participate in therapies with the school counsellor, the special needs professor and the school healers in order to help them improve/overcome their difficulties. • Should your character have a form of impairment than cannot be improved or overcome, alternative measures of learning will be developed based on a strategic learning plan from healers, counsellors and the special needs professor – approved by staff. • Some speech and language impairments are developed at birth or early age, while others are developed later in life. Depending on when your character has developed these, adjustments may be made to learning non-verbal magic. Students begin learning this in their sixth year so unless your character had speech and language impairments in existence prior to their sixth year, they will not be an exception. |
Rules for Non-Verbal Magic for Those with Disabilities | • Those with Hearing Impairments will continue to struggle because although they can typically speak, they cannot hear the proper pronunciation of spells to be able to cast effective verbally or non-verbally. They will rely on seeing the incantation pronunciation written out for them and may still struggle. There is very little that can be done to improve this and their level of struggle vs success will be up to the writer, please be realistic. • Those with Visual Impairments can still hear therefore are exempt from any special circumstances with regards to non-verbal magic use. You can hear and you can speak therefore you can learn verbal spells beginning in your first year and begin learning non-verbal spells in your sixth year like everyone else with the assistance detailed above. • Those with Speech and Language Impairments will be allotted revised versions of when/how they can learn non-verbal magic and what they can learn based on time frames. |
Born with Speech and Language Impairments | • You may begin learning non-verbal magic upon entering Hogwarts (or your school of choice). • You will follow the same guidelines as students learning magic verbally in that your character can only cast spells based on their year. Ex: First Years can cast first year spells, second years can cast first and second year spells, etc. NOTE: If your Speech/Language Impairment occurs later in life, you will begin learning Non-Verbal Magic when the impairment becomes compromising and you will begin at first year level as you will be basically learning magic all over again and will spend a period with the special needs professor working on your non-verbal magic to keep you up to the same level as your classmates. It will be harder for you to learn new spells within your year but you will not be behind your classmates. |
