Allegra's Journey

Italian schools ensure the inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream classes across all school levels with learning support from a specialist support teacher. This right is guaranteed by Law 104 of 1992. The degree of the student's disability is established by specific medical boards that draw up a Functional Diagnosis, an analytical description of the student's psycho-physical state. Based on this, a Functional Dynamic Profile (PDF) is drafted, which serves as the foundation for an Individualised Educational Plan (PEI).

The educational approach adopted in this case study was structured in compliance with the Italian school inclusion model, following the directives of Law 104/92 and Legislative Decree 66/2017. These regulatory references guided the design toward defining a "life project" based on the criteria of the ICF classification (International Classification of Functioning).

At the municipal level, the contribution of specialist assistance (OEPAC) proved crucial in providing the relational support needed during particularly challenging situations. At the regional level, synergy with the local health authority (ASL) enabled an accurate clinical profile to be developed during the second year of primary school. This framework provided the analytical elements needed to interpret the dynamics underlying her observable behaviour, going beyond mere descriptive observation. This systemic approach is consistent with the goals of the European Strategy 2021–2030, which seeks to advance the inclusive paradigm towards effective, substantial student participation in social and educational contexts.

The school's main activities include providing free education to pupils between the ages of 3 and 14. The learning programme follows the guidelines of the Italian national curriculum with different learning targets depending on the school cycles. The school has some degree of autonomy in identifying key areas of the curriculum that require further improvement, depending on students’ specific needs. Our school focuses, along with academic subjects such as mathematics, Italian language and culture, and English-language proficiency, on increasing the participation of migrant children and children with special educational needs. Additionally, the development of European citizenship competences and skills is a key curricular area designed to help students play an active and full part in society at national and international levels. Such priorities are clearly identified in the school development plan (PTOF), the internationalisation plan, and the RAV.

The case study begins in the first year of primary school, when Allegra captures our attention from the very first day: she presents herself as an affectionate, funny, and witty child. She has a spontaneous personality and a strong interest in conversation and storytelling. Furthermore, we notice strong linguistic abilities, as she has a rich vocabulary characterised by the appropriate use of diverse terms and synonyms. Allegra is a deeply sensitive and empathetic child. However, she often tends to take refuge in the world of imagination. Her self-perception is not yet mature, and she shows a tendency to exhibit "happiness at all costs," considering it the only acceptable emotion, which creates a disconnect with what she is actually feeling.

As the weeks pass, we discover that Allegra's interests are a distinctive part of her profile:

• Languages and Nature: She loves the English language, animals, and nature.
  
• Art: She has a natural talent for drawing, producing expressive and highly detailed artwork.
  
• Music and Rhythm: She loves songs and nursery rhymes and possesses a good sense of rhythm.
  
• Cognitive Strengths: She has excellent visual memory and strong powers of imitation.
  

Also during those early days, the teaching team begins to encounter its first difficulties in supporting Allegra's behaviour. We notice that her behaviour presents us with significant challenges, as crisis episodes arise, ending in crying and refusal. We think this behaviour may stem from the fact that Allegra tends to attribute the cause of what she feels or what happens to external factors, struggling to decipher the context (external locus of control). In high-tension situations, she can escalate to physical conflict with peers (biting, kicking, pushing, hair-pulling). The teaching team feels particularly frustrated and worried about being unable to manage these sometimes unpredictable behaviours. We therefore begin to observe these episodes carefully to understand the triggers.

Our observations show that, in her relationships with peers, Allegra is very selective with friendships and prefers to play in small groups. We also notice that she is often perceived by classmates as "younger" and tends to take offence easily over events she believes are directed at her. We find that Allegra has an "absolutist" view of people and things, categorising people strictly into "good" and "bad." We observe that learning activities requiring sustained attention spans and logical tasks generate a sense of exclusion and psychomotor agitation in her. Furthermore, we witness refusals and mental blocks during academic tasks, potentially due to the feeling of exclusion caused by having to do different assignments from her peers.

We also notice that Allegra finds it difficult to look after her school materials, which she often ruins, loses, or puts in her mouth, and her desk frequently appears messy. From an academic perspective, the teaching team realises her spatial and logical difficulties hinder the development of reading, writing, calculation, and problem-solving skills. In structured physical education activities, Allegra shows coordination difficulties and tends to tire or get bored quickly. Fatigue and hunger (she does not like school food) negatively affect her behaviour, leading to emotional outbursts.

At the beginning of first grade, Allegra does not yet have a formal diagnosis, and her educational journey begins without a support teacher. Allegra's functional profile is completed during her second year of primary school thanks to prompt family collaboration, while support from a specialist teacher and an OEPAC assistant (for autonomy and communication) begins in the third year.

Allegra is diagnosed with borderline intellectual functioning and ADHD (Hyperkinetic Disorder).

• Attention and Concentration: Her attention span is very short. She shows psychomotor agitation, struggles to remain seated, and talks continuously about topics unrelated to the tasks at hand.
  

The Classroom Context and the Shadow of COVID

The journey begins in the 2020–2021 school year. The world beyond the school was being disrupted by pandemic restrictions, and the school bore their marks: masks and social distancing that damaged children's natural sociability.

In this scenario, Allegra's class presented a complex challenge: a diverse group of 21 pupils, including 4 children with ADHD, 1 with autism, and 2 with behavioural dysregulation, without sufficient resources or tools to handle their varied needs. Traditional teaching methods—such as lecturing, textbook lessons, and individual work—proved ineffective given the wide range of needs within the class. Thanks to the school's internal resource reorganisation, Allegra received a few hours of support teaching during second grade.

In second grade, Allegra still struggled greatly with the acquisition of reading and writing, skills that would only begin to develop in fifth grade. Allegra experienced great distress over her status as a child who "doesn't know how to read," and her frustration was overwhelming when she couldn't do what her classmates were doing. Allegra often displayed oppositional behaviour and refused to work. As teachers, we found ourselves in difficulty and began to question our practice, beginning a long process of self-reflection to change our approach toward both the class and the child. The turning point came in third grade when Allegra finally received full-time, stable support teaching as well as an OEPAC assistant. With these resources, the team was strengthened and decided to explore different approaches and strategies to leverage Allegra's interests and regulate her affective-relational sphere—the foundation for designing her learning journey.

As a teaching team, we chose to adopt creative, flexible planning based on analysing the educational needs of every single student in the class. We shared our competencies, trained one another, swapped materials, and attended training courses (UDL, Artificial Intelligence, Storytelling), allowing us to develop effective teaching strategies for Allegra and the entire class. In third grade, once COVID restrictions (distancing and masks) were lifted, we could finally arrange the classroom into working groups.

We implemented a series of strategies, shifting away from focusing on Allegra's difficulties—particularly her literacy struggles—and moving toward a plan grounded in her intrinsic motivations and strengths, using them as the starting point for designing the curriculum for the entire class.

Interventions in the Emotional-Relational Sphere

• Visual Mediators for Emotions: We placed a silhouette of a girl near her desk depicting different emotions (from anger to disgust) to help her name her experiences and understand her context.
  
• Social Stories: We created stories (using tools like Canva and Book Creator) with descriptive and directive sentences to help her understand social dynamics and adopt appropriate behaviour, leveraging her natural capacity for identification.
  
• Role Playing: We leveraged her passion for drawing and paper dolls to simulate real conflicts or situations, asking her to play the opposing role to foster empathy.
  
• Emotional Regulation: We worked constantly on verbalising emotions and breaking down "absolutist thinking," explaining that there are no "good" or "bad" emotions (including fear of the future).
• 
  

Methodological Approach (UDL and Collaborative Learning)

• Adoption of UDL (Universal Design for Learning): We designed flexible activities with multiple means of presentation (diagrams, illustrations, images, iconic mediators, pictograms, videos, audio, visual checklists, graphic organizers, manipulative objects), engagement, and representation offered to the entire class to avoid making Allegra feel excluded. We channelled her love of stories into learning, using her intrinsic motivation to design activities for everyone. Rather than limiting ourselves to simple adaptations for her, we transformed our teaching to make it flexible and accessible for the whole class.
  
• Peer Tutoring: We designed learning activities involving pair or small-group work; in particular, we encouraged Allegra to act as an English tutor to boost her self-esteem.
  
• Experiential, Play-Based, and Workshop Teaching: We turned the curriculum into practical projects (creating perfumes, podcasts, eBooks, Wordwall games) to highlight her creativity and active participation.
• 
  

Subject-Specific Educational Adaptations

• Mathematics: We used picture-based problems, real-life situations, and manipulative tools to make mathematics and problem-solving accessible.
  
• Italian: We adopted pictograms for grammar analysis and AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) to allow her to create and read complex texts.
  
• Discussion-Based Subjects: We provided graphic organizers, images, and audio files with recorded teachers' voices to assist with memorisation and independent study.
  
• Gamification: We increased the use of digital tools (such as Wordwall) to present content, tests, and homework as educational games.
• 
  

Organisational and Routine Interventions

• Managing Physiological Routines: We helped her recognise signs of hunger and fatigue and adjusted meal schedules to prevent emotional outbursts, in collaboration with the family and the ASL, which arranged personalised meals for Allegra.
• Spatial Organisation: We arranged desks in “islands” to encourage active participation and ongoing interaction with peers.
• Self-Regulation Tools: We introduced visual checklists to organise work and school supplies.
• Developing Her Talents: We integrated her sketchbook and free drawing as stress-relief tools and channels for processing ideas during lessons. Her drawing talent was built into educational projects (such as the workshop on Giotto), turning it into a tool for processing concepts and experiences.

The adoption of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach starting in third grade was the turning point in Allegra's educational journey. Thanks to this approach, Allegra transitioned from isolation and behavioural crises to becoming an empathetic, proactive, and independent young girl. Normalising her "difference" within a universal teaching framework enabled her to develop awareness of her capabilities, preparing her with confidence for middle school.

Systemic Barriers

• Primary school started under COVID restrictions that lasted until second grade.
  
• Bureaucratic slowness: Allegra's diagnosis arrived only at the end of second grade, while her support teacher and OEPAC assistant arrived at the start of third grade.
  
• Reliance on traditional teaching methods.
  
• Lack of adequate multimedia tools.
• 
  

Facilitators

• End of COVID restrictions.
  
• Constant, productive collaboration with the family.
  
• Classroom layout arranged in group seating.
  
• Daily use of digital boards starting in third grade, alongside access to the computer lab.
  
• Stable, collaborative team and shared lesson planning.
  
• Curricular flexibility.
  
• Strategic school resource organisation.
  
• Utilisation of open outdoor spaces at the school.
  
• Participation in educational projects and field trips.
  

The success of Allegra's journey resulted not from isolated actions but from effective collaboration among various local stakeholders, turning classroom work into a community-wide network.

Our ongoing communication with child neuropsychiatrists from the local health authority (ASL) allowed us to translate clinical data into daily teaching actions. Through regular meetings, we calibrated the cognitive load of activities to match the child's actual abilities, preventing overload that could trigger new emotional crises. This dialogue ensured that academic expectations remained aligned with her functional profile.

In this framework, the specialist assistant (OEPAC) played a central, proactive role. The assistant was fully involved in the lesson-planning phase. Her presence became an essential facilitator—especially during group work—where she acted as a relational mediator, enabling Allegra to interact with her peers in a safe, constructive way.

Finally, collaboration extended to private specialists, including speech therapists and psychomotor therapists, who worked with Allegra outside of school hours. A constant flow of information built a bridge between the therapeutic setting and the classroom, ensuring that rehabilitative and educational goals were aligned rather than pursued separately. This integrated vision transformed the school setting into the hub of a broad, coherent support ecosystem.

The Support Teacher

My Professional Journey: What I Learned from Meeting Allegra

This reflection stems from the realisation that in a support teacher's professional journey, there is a "before" and an "after" meeting a student like Allegra. Before this experience, inclusion as a collective responsibility was a pedagogical abstraction to me—a chapter read in textbooks. I knew in theory that inclusion should not rest solely on the specialist teacher's shoulders, but only by working with her daily did I understand that genuine inclusion begins when responsibility is no longer delegated and shared educational responsibility spreads across the entire class team.

Meeting Allegra radically transformed how I work, pushing me to challenge the isolation typical of my specialist role. Thanks to her, my Italian and mathematics colleagues, the OEPAC assistant, and I stopped working as separate professionals and became a cohesive unit. We learned to co-design lessons, moving past a "deficit-focused" view to build a universal learning environment. The core of this change was understanding that adaptations for Allegra shouldn't be "extra additions" to the lesson, but integral parts of instruction for the entire class. This shared responsibility allowed the teaching team to reorganise the whole classroom system, changing the instructional setup itself. Group seating, systematic use of multiple presentation channels, and varied avenues for engagement and expression were no longer "special tools" for one student; they became part of a pluralistic teaching style that helps every child learn. I realised inclusion is not an exceptional event, but a structural reorganisation that offers a growth opportunity for everyone.

The deepest aspect of my personal transformation, however, was my perspective: I learned to view Allegra not just as a student who needed support, but as an active, valuable resource for her classmates. Rather than merely integrating her into class activities, we highlighted her areas of excellence. Leveraging her strong phonological skills and interest in English, we encouraged her to take an active role, such as explaining sounds and vocabulary to her peers. Similarly, her love for art and drawing became a powerful communication bridge: the paper dolls she created became tools for pretend play, allowing peers to project feelings and experiences, turning learning into a joyful, shared act. Seeing her in action, the class moved past the stereotype of the student who "needs help" and learned that everyone has a unique talent.

Ultimately, my experience with Allegra taught me how to put Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into practice. The greatest takeaway I carry with me is that what benefited Allegra ultimately proved to be an advantage and an enrichment for all students—and not least for us as a teaching team.

The Mainstream Classroom Teacher

My Experience with Allegra

Meeting Allegra changed my view of school and my teaching methods, and showed me the true power of a cohesive team. The most significant professional transformation I experienced was renewing my practice and recognising the value of shared educational responsibility.

As a mainstream teacher, my remit extended to the whole class. I learned through trial and error that true inclusion happens only by offering a variety of learning opportunities designed for Allegra but valuable for everyone.

From a pedagogical perspective, this journey allowed me to confidently embrace more varied, less traditional lessons. To engage Allegra, I altered my teaching style to activate visual, auditory, and tactile channels.

The goal was to unlock the child's untapped potential by drawing on her strengths and facilitating her expressive skills. Moving beyond my old routines, I built lessons inspired by her strong sensory awareness that were also more engaging and fun for everyone.

Driven by the awareness that every student is unique, I gradually set aside traditional lecturing in favour of more inclusive learning that reaches the whole class. This shift made it possible to tailor instruction to each child's needs, grounded in the knowledge that concepts are better absorbed when tailored to individual learners.

These new opportunities for growth, learning, and sharing involved not just the class, but myself as well. I worked to move past standardised approaches, dedicating time and care to developing the most appropriate learning journey for every pupil and coordinating closely with the teaching team. This strong shared responsibility was most evident when designing and selecting resources and materials suited for every child, not just Allegra.

The task was long and complex, but stimulating and enriching. It was a revolutionary experience that I viewed as an opportunity for personal and professional growth. Close teamwork taught me the importance of actively building a truly universal learning environment.

The Educational Assistant (OEPAC)

Describing what I learned from my relationship with Allegra is not easy, because working on behaviour and relationships—where interactions are reciprocal—makes it hard to single out distinct elements. These aspects are often subtle and less obvious at first glance.

Allegra initially found it difficult to build calm, positive relationships, experiencing frequent emotional swings and possessing limited awareness of herself and others.

In my role assisting with relational dynamics and managing challenging behaviours, the greatest difficulty was containing emotional outbursts stemming from frustration. I often had to manage my own emotions, which could surface simply out of fatigue. I knew I needed to regulate my feelings without becoming overwhelmed, keeping my emotions separate from hers so I could intervene with greater clarity.

At first, the student evoked a strong protective impulse in adults. However, this quickly proved counterproductive to her growth, as it allowed Allegra to do whatever she wanted. The first—and hardest—step was moving past this protective pattern, which required working through the situations and emotions the child could not yet manage herself.

I knew regulating my own emotions was crucial, though it remained challenging. The school environment is inherently complex, and everyone brings their own emotional history and fatigue to it.

However, I learned to manage daily situations patiently, starting with myself and judging when intervention was most needed.

Analysis of this journey shows that school inclusion is not the result of individual goodwill, but the product of rigorous pedagogical design (inclusive design). The approach we adopted reinforced the principle that "challenging behaviour" should not be seen as opposition, but as a dysfunctional form of communication requiring appropriate mediators.

This experience built specific technical skills in using assistive technologies and conflict-management strategies—tools now permanently integrated into daily practice for the entire class. Finally, systematic cooperation within the teaching team proved essential for preventing burnout and ensuring effective educational action. Shared strategies and diverse methodological perspectives enabled significant achievements, culminating at the end of the five-year cycle in the student's conscious narrative of her emotional experiences through poetry and graphic art.

What can the teaching community learn from this story?

• Collaborative Design: The PEI does not belong solely to the support teacher; it is a shared commitment undertaken by the entire teaching team.
  
• Visual Methodology: Images serve as powerful cognitive anchors for all students, not just those with difficulties.
  
• Curricular Flexibility: Nurturing talents (like English and art for Allegra) is the fastest way to repair damaged self-esteem.
  
• Normalisation: "Negative" emotions should not be suppressed, but welcomed. When Allegra accepted that she could feel "angry" without ceasing to be "good," she gained greater emotional freedom.
  

Today, Allegra is ready for lower secondary school. She is independent, aware of her limits, and proud of her strengths. Allegra has clear ideas for her future: she wants to be a fashion designer. And as a team, we are better teachers because we accepted the challenge of looking at the world through her eyes.