Supporting students with specific conditions

Below you will find some information and guidance on supporting students with specific conditions beyond the awareness training sessions.

Autism&Uni Guides

The European funded Autism&Uni initiative has two best practice guides available for those teaching and supporting students with Autism.

Viva Guidance

Viva Guidance to raise awareness of the particular difficulties students with ASC may face during their Viva examination. It provides advice on reasonable adjustments and suggests sources for further information and guidance.

Autism Awareness and Acceptance

The Service’s Autism Spectrum Group has produced an Autism Awareness and Acceptance Guide - March 2021 (link opens PDF in new window) for staff and students. 

General guidance

Making teaching more accessible

British Sign Language (BSL)

BSL Awareness Training for staff

British Sign Language (BSL) awareness training is available to all staff looking to support colleagues, improve the accessibility of their services, or just to learn more about Deaf culture. Sessions can be booked through MyEd events. NB: These sessions are not run by DLSS, and we cannot assist participants with their queries.


Mentoring Support

When appropriate, the Service may set a student up with a specialist mental health mentor. The mentor provides support to students with long-term mental health conditions and is funded through Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) or when ineligble by the University. 

Mentors will NOT act as a therapist or counsellor and will signpost students to appropriate external agencies for additional and alternative support as required.

The focus of mentor support is on student academic progression (including perfectionism, procrastination, time-management) as well as wellbeing strategies including sleep hygiene, healthy eating, exercise regimes and relaxation techniques.

Helping students in distress


General guidance

Examples of good practice that are essential for students with SpLDs are:

  • Deadlines, where possible, should be known at start of course.
  • Advanced access to the following session's reading lists, with appropriate advice on priorities.
  • Provision of clear and precise instructions about the nature of the task(s) required for the assessed coursework.
  • Provision of constructive and legible feedback, supplemented and clarified orally, if possible, by a tutor.

The University's Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy ensures the mainstreaming of certain adjustments, previously recommended for disabled students.

In addition, colleagues in Information Services have developed comprehensive guidance to help staff ensure that all of the materials they use in the course of their work are accessible to all: Creating Accessible Materials.

Guidance for coursework assessment for students with SpLDs

No student with SpLDs wishes to compromise the academic standards of the University. However, they do want to be able to demonstrate a clear understanding of their coursework. These students are eligible for Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) to purchase equipment and software, and to employ Student Support Assistants such as proofreaders, note-takers and SpLD tutors.

Why is additional support necessary for in course assessment?

Students who have SpLDs face a number of additional challenges regarding assessments that need to be supported. These can include:

  • Slow speed of processing.
  • Slow pace of reading.
  • Organisational and sequencing skills.
  • Competence in proofreading.

We produced the guidance below to help staff when marking assignments submitted by students who have SpLDs:

Marking Guidance August 2016 (264.08 KB / PDF)

Viva guidelines for staff examining students with a Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD)

These guidelines have been drawn up to:

  • Raise awareness of the particular difficulties that students with SpLDs may face when undertaking a Viva examination.
  • Suggest reasonable adjustments that may be required.

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