At school — Insights from real experiences

School is where many learning difficulties become visible, not only because tasks are demanding, but because children must navigate them within a fast-paced, highly structured environment.
Over the years, working closely with my son Giacomo and with many students with specific learning difficulties, I’ve learned how essential it is for teachers, parents, tutors, and pupils to work as a team.

Teachers’ observations often reveal aspects that families may not see at home, offering a 360-degree understanding of a child’s real challenges.
In my own work — carried out inside a school setting — the most meaningful progress always came from shared insights and open communication.

Many traditional teaching approaches were not designed with diverse learning profiles in mind.
This means that some pupils may not access every part of a lesson as easily as others, even when they understand the content.
Recognising these moments allows teachers, parents, and tutors to work together and find small adjustments that support everyone in the classroom.

The insights shared here reflect some of the recurring patterns I have observed in schools, along with small strategies that helped students stay oriented, engaged, and able to show what they really know.

More school-focused deep-dives are on the way, shaped by what teachers, pupils, and families have generously shared.

As more experiences are shared, these insights will continue to grow and evolve.

Four areas where learning tends to become harder at school

When pupils lose the thread during explanations

Classroom explanations often move quickly, and many students struggle to keep track of the sequence of ideas.
They may understand each part on its own, but lose the overall sense of direction, especially when listening, taking notes, and watching the board at the same time.
This is often a sign of cognitive overload, not lack of ability.

What can often help:

  • Break the explanation into short, clearly separated steps
  • Keep one key idea visible on the board while speaking
  • Allow pupils to check understanding with a quick recap
  • Use simple visual anchors (arrows, numbers, key words)
  • When possible, record a short summary of the main explanation or provide an audio recap. This allows the student to listen again later, reduces the pressure of taking notes, and helps them engage more fully during the lesson.

Difficulty understanding task expectations

Many pupils begin a task without fully grasping what is being asked.
Instructions may seem clear to adults, but a child may struggle to decode them, remember the sequence, or understand what the finished work should look like.
This often leads to hesitation, avoidance, or starting “in the wrong place”.

Simple supports teachers often use:

  • Show a short model or example of the expected output
  • Reduce instructions to one or two essential steps
  • Ask pupils to repeat the task in their own words
  • Keep instructions visible while they work

Managing pace and comparison with peers

School learning is paced, sometimes quickly.
Children who need more time to process information may feel they are “falling behind” even when they understand the content.
Peer comparison, pressure to finish at the same time, or being the last to hand in work can increase anxiety and reduce confidence.

Helpful classroom practices:

  • Provide extra time or flexible finishing points
  • Let pupils focus on accuracy before speed
  • Normalise different working rhythms for the whole class
  • Offer discreet check-ins to reduce pressure

Working-memory overload during classwork

Classwork often requires pupils to hold several pieces of information in mind at once: the rule, the example, the steps, the symbols, the page number.
When memory load exceeds capacity, pupils may freeze, make repeated errors, or lose their place — not because they don’t know the content, but because it cannot all be held in mind at the same time.

Practical ideas that make a difference:

  • Break exercises into smaller batches
  • Keep one reference example visible at all times
  • Allow verbal recall (“What’s the first step?”) before writing
  • Offer a quiet prompt instead of correcting the whole process

Emotional moments at school

School is often the place where emotions surface most clearly.
The pace, the comparisons with peers, the pressure to complete tasks, and the fear of “getting it wrong” can affect how children participate and how they see themselves as learners.

Some children become quiet or withdrawn when they feel lost; others become restless, distracted, or overly talkative.
These reactions usually signal effort, not lack of interest — a way of managing cognitive and emotional overload.

Common moments teachers often notice:

  • A child who understood the content at home suddenly “forgets” everything during the lesson
  • Hesitation or freezing when instructions feel unclear
  • Avoiding raising their hand even when they know the answer
  • Becoming tearful or frustrated if the class moves too quickly
  • Feeling embarrassed when they need more time than their peers

Recognising these emotional signals early helps teachers adjust the pace, check understanding gently, and give pupils space to reconnect with the task.

Strategies teachers have found useful

Teachers often develop simple, thoughtful practices that make schoolwork more accessible — not only for pupils with learning difficulties, but for the whole class.
These small adjustments reduce pressure, make expectations clearer, and help children show what they truly understand.

Strategies many teachers find effective:

  • Using one persistent visual anchor (a key word, symbol, or step) to keep the lesson coherent
  • Reducing cognitive load by presenting only one part of a task at a time
  • Offering flexible pacing, allowing some pupils to finish later without drawing attention
  • Checking understanding privately rather than publicly, to reduce anxiety
  • Creating simple reference models that pupils can use across different tasks, when possible.
    Models provide orientation and a “safe starting point”, reducing uncertainty and helping pupils understand what the structure of a task looks like.
    Over time, they support the development of useful automatisms — organisational patterns that make certain tasks easier to begin and easier to complete.
  • Allowing pupils to refer back to an audio summary or visual guide when available
  • Encouraging collaborative moments, where pupils can briefly compare steps or recap together
  • Normalising different working rhythms so pupils feel safe to take the time they need

Would you like to contribute?

If you would like to share an example from your experience at school, you can also visit our Share your experience page for a short overview of how contributions work.
You should share only what you feel comfortable sharing: no names or identifying details are ever needed.

If you prefer, you can send your example directly using the button below:

Teacher/Tutor

Every contribution helps us understand real moments more clearly, and we read each message with care.

What these insights tell us

Across school experiences, a clear pattern emerges:
children learn best when the pace, the structure of tasks, and the way information is presented match how they process and organise ideas.

These insights are not clinical or diagnostic.
They help us notice where learning tends to become harder at school, and highlight practical patterns that inspire the strategies and tools we develop — helpful starting points, never guaranteed solutions.

They also remind us that small adjustments in the classroom often support the whole group, not just pupils with learning difficulties.
When expectations are visible, when steps are clear, and when pupils feel safe to ask for help, learning becomes more accessible for everyone.