Visual Arts - NCCA

Approaches and methodologies
The art of students with mild
general learning disabilities
indicates a similar pattern of
development to that of their
mainstream peers; however, the
actual ages at which changes occur
may vary considerably.
Guidelines Mild General Learning Disabilities / Visual Arts / PRIMARY
Potential areas of difficulty
for students with mild general
learning disabilities
Learning opportunities for the student with mild
general learning disabilities should take into
consideration the individuality of the student. Attention
should be given to the way in which the student learns
best. Art can be a particularly fruitful area, with its
emphasis on process and perceiving. There are many
solutions or responses to any given task or project.
There is no singular, definitive profile for the student
with mild general learning disabilities. Each student
within this category will present with a set of individual
strengths and needs that creates, for each student, a
unique learning style and some special educational
requirements. However, some potential areas of
difficulty can be identified. An awareness of these
can inform teachers working with these students.
See pages 21-26 for more explicit detail on possible
strategies to help minimise these difficulties and allow
access to all strands of the visual arts curriculum.
Stages of development
In order to form a pedagogical starting point for the
student’s learning it is necessary to be aware of the
developmental stages in art and image-making. As the
student’s initial experiences of making images involve
drawing media, such as pencils, crayons, etc., many
studies have focused on drawing. The following pages
outline the normal developmental stages of imagemaking
in children.
1