Steplab Ormiston Academies Trust review: common SEND interventions in mainstream schools crumble under scrutiny
Steplab and Ormiston Academies Trust have examined ten common SEND interventions used in mainstream schools and found some widely used tools don't hold up under scrutiny.
New research examines common SEND interventions, including fidget spinners, coloured overlays, mindfulness and learning styles
As a response to these findings, Steplab has launched an ‘inclusive teaching framework’ that, it says, encourages schools to move away from reactive, label led responses and toward proactive teaching. The framework is a pyramid: teach well for everyone first, design lessons to be accessible by default, and adapt for individual students only when necessary.
Conducted by Peps Mccrea, Director of Education at Steplab, and Dr Jennifer Barker, National Director of Learning at Ormiston Academies Trust, the evidence review found:
Coloured overlays and tinted lenses show no reliable benefit for reading: Systematic reviews have tested whether overlays cut “visual stress” and improve reading. The effect disappears under proper trial conditions and is largely believed to be a placebo.
Fidget spinners reduce concentration rather than improve it: A trial of 233 children found fidget spinners lowered listening performance, regardless of ADHD status.
Universal mindfulness in schools shows no benefit, and may cause harm: MYRIAD tested a mindfulness curriculum across 84 schools and 8,000+ students, and found no benefit to wellbeing or depression risk. Students already at higher risk of mental health problems felt worse.
Learning styles like “visual” and “auditory” learners don’t help: Testing found no benefit to matching lessons to a preferred learning style. However, the label does damage. When told a child was a "visual learner," parents, teachers and children judged them as more academically able, despite no difference existing.
The report argues that what helps SEND students is high quality, everyday teaching and discourages schools from reaching for a visible, concrete “kit” just because it feels like action.
Peps Mccrea, co-author of the review and Director of Education at Steplab, says: “These interventions are popular because they're visible; otherwise schools can feel like they’re doing nothing. However, there’s not enough evidence to show they work, and the mindfulness curriculum even pointed to harm for students most at risk. Every hour spent on something unproven is an hour that could have been spent focusing on excellent teaching.”
A framework built on what works
The review lands alongside Steplab’s new inclusive teaching framework. It's built on the central argument that the strategies which make core teaching effective are the same ones that make SEND support in mainstream classrooms effective. Strengthening everyday classroom teaching does more for SEND students than any single intervention, it is argued.
High quality teaching should anticipate and remove the barriers that prevent children from learning. It focuses on four of the most universal, prevalent and actionable barriers: speech and language, social and emotional processing, executive function, and cognitive load.
A barrier led approach is not a replacement for targeted specialist support where it is needed. Instead, it strengthens high quality teaching by helping teachers anticipate and remove predictable barriers to learning for all pupils. By getting everyday classroom practice right first, schools can reduce the need for additional adaptations and targeted interventions for many children, while ensuring specialist support is focused on those who need it most.
New resources go live from 1st September.
Claire Hill, Managing Director of Steplab, comments: “The best way to help pupils with SEND is by empowering their teachers to develop great practice. We built our framework and resources with that exact aim: to support high quality teaching and build teachers’ confidence so they can meet the needs of every child in their classroom.”
