Levels of adjustment
NCCD adjustments: examples by area and level
Examples of NCCD adjustments in all five functional areas, from teaching and learning to movement, at every level, with a log entry that counts for each area.
Updated 25 September 202614 min read
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An NCCD adjustment is something a school changes or provides so a student with disability can access and take part in education on the same basis as other students: a modified task, extra time, specialised equipment or an aide. It is reasonable if it takes into account the student's needs and balances the interests of all parties affected.
This guide gives examples for each of the five functional areas in the official NCCD Quick Guide: teaching and learning, communication, participation, personal care and movement. Each area shows typical adjustments at each level of adjustment and one log entry that would count as evidence. It then covers what does not count on its own, how to choose the level, and how to record adjustments.
The level beside each example is a typical fit, not a rule. The same adjustment can sit at a different level depending on how often and how intensively the student needs it, and the school reports one level for the student as a whole: the highest level provided for at least 10 weeks in the 12 months before Census Day.
New to the NCCD? Start with What is the NCCD?
What counts as a reasonable adjustment
Schools must make reasonable adjustments so students with disability can take part in education on the same basis as other students. That means opportunities and choices comparable with those of students without disability: in enrolment, in courses and programs, and in using the school's facilities and services. The obligation comes from the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005.
An adjustment is reasonable if it takes into account the needs of the student with disability and balances the interests of all parties affected. Each student is considered individually. For the NCCD, a well-evidenced adjustment:
- Responds to the disability: it addresses the functional impact of the student's disability, not only a diagnosis or a gap in learning.
- Is made for this student: it is planned around their needs, even when it is a minor change within everyday teaching (quality differentiated teaching practice, or QDTP).
- Follows consultation: the school consults the student or their associate before making it, and in most cases their parents, guardians or carers. Agreement is not required.
- Adds up to 10 weeks: the student's adjustments cover at least 10 weeks of school education in the 12 months before Census Day.
- Is reviewed: the school checks whether it is working, and changes it when it is not.
Where everyday teaching ends and an adjustment begins is covered in differentiation vs adjustment.
The kinds of adjustment schools make
The NCCD Quick Guide lists the kinds of adjustment a school may make, and says adjustments are not limited to these. In a school they look like this:
| Kind of adjustment | What it can look like |
|---|---|
| Removing physical barriers | Ramps, rails and accessible toilets, or moving a class to a room the student can reach. |
| Modifying programs, teaching and assessment | A modified task or unit, pre-taught vocabulary, extra time or a separate room for tests, another way to show learning. |
| Consultancy support and staff training | A visiting specialist advising the class teacher, or professional learning for the staff who teach the student. |
| Specialised technology, software or equipment | Speech-to-text, a remote microphone, a communication device, specialised seating. |
| Information in different formats | Large print, braille, captioned video, visual schedules, simplified text. |
| Specialist services | A sign language interpreter, a visiting school team or specialist support staff. |
| Additional staff | A tutor, or an aide for personal care or mobility. |
Adjustments can be made in planning, reporting, teaching and learning, extracurricular activities, curriculum, environment, infrastructure, assessment and resources. School-based activities in the holidays, such as a camp, can count toward the 10 weeks.
Teaching and learning adjustments
Teaching and learning adjustments change the curriculum or teaching practice so the student can reach the learning outcomes. Look here first when a student's disability affects how they take in, process, remember or show what they have learned.
| Level | Typical teaching and learning adjustments |
|---|---|
| QDTP | Instructions broken into short steps and checked for understanding; a word bank or worked example on the desk; a seat near the teacher; a little extra time within the lesson. |
| Supplementary | Key vocabulary pre-taught before a unit; a modified task or assessment in one or two learning areas; extra time or a separate room for tests; small-group teaching at set times each week. |
| Substantial | A modified program in most learning areas, with individual goals; an adult helping the student start and finish tasks in most lessons; assessments rewritten to match the student's goals. |
| Extensive | A highly individualised program across all learning areas; intensive one-to-one teaching, with an adult supporting every learning activity at all times. |
For adjustments matched to a particular need, see dyslexia adjustments, dyscalculia adjustments and adjustments for specific learning disorder.
Communication adjustments
Communication adjustments help the student receive and understand information, and get their own message across to others. They often suit students with hearing, vision, speech or language needs, and students who communicate in other ways.
| Level | Typical communication adjustments |
|---|---|
| QDTP | Instructions repeated or rephrased; key points written on the board as well as said; visual cues beside spoken directions; extra wait time for answers. |
| Supplementary | A visual schedule or task cards for particular lessons; a remote microphone for group work; a language program run by school staff at set times; an alternative to presenting in front of the class. |
| Substantial | Most lesson content given in the student's communication mode, such as key word signs, symbols or a communication board; an adult supporting understanding and responses most of the day; resources in large print or braille for most activities. |
| Extensive | A sign language interpreter or trained communication partner at all times; an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system used in every setting, with trained staff supporting it throughout the day. |
For more on these, see hearing impairment adjustments.
Participation adjustments
Participation adjustments help the student take part in the full school program, in class, in the playground, at sport, on excursions and at camp. They include the strategies that keep the student safe. They often suit students whose disability affects social interaction, regulation or safety.
| Level | Typical participation adjustments |
|---|---|
| QDTP | Advance warning of changes to routine; a planned role in group work; a quiet space the student can use when needed; a check-in at the start of the day. |
| Supplementary | A structured lunchtime club or play program at set times; a small-group social skills program once or twice a week; a planned routine for particular transitions; extra planning and support for an excursion or camp. |
| Substantial | An adult nearby in the playground and at transitions most days; a regulation plan with scheduled breaks and a check-in adult, used in most lessons; close supervision planned for most activities. |
| Extensive | Close adult supervision at all times, in class, in the playground and on excursions, to keep the student safe; an individual plan that covers the whole school day. |
Regulation, routines and transitions are covered in more depth in ADHD adjustments and autism adjustments.
Personal care adjustments
Personal care adjustments cover hygiene routines, eating, drinking and dietary needs that need individual management, and procedures in an individual healthcare plan that need specialised support. A condition the student manages alone, with no functional impact at school, does not need one.
| Level | Typical personal care adjustments |
|---|---|
| QDTP | Leaving class for the toilet or a drink without asking; reminders to eat or drink at set times; minor help such as opening a lunch container. |
| Supplementary | Help with toileting, dressing or eating at particular times, such as before swimming or at lunch; a trained staff member carrying out a healthcare plan procedure at set times of the day. |
| Substantial | Adult help with toileting, eating or healthcare procedures at most times, on most days; a staff member trained in the student's healthcare plan on hand for most of the day. |
| Extensive | Full assistance with personal care at all times, including toileting, eating and positioning; specialised healthcare procedures, such as tube feeding, carried out by trained staff throughout the day. |
Movement adjustments
Movement adjustments support mobility and positioning, and the hand-motor skills the student needs for learning activities such as writing, cutting, typing and practical work.
| Level | Typical movement adjustments |
|---|---|
| QDTP | Extra time to move between rooms; a seat near the door; pencil grips or wider-lined paper; the option to type longer pieces instead of handwriting them. |
| Supplementary | Modified PE activities or equipment for particular lessons; a laptop with word prediction or speech-to-text for extended writing; help carrying equipment to specialist rooms; a fine motor program run by school staff at set times. |
| Substantial | Adult help with mobility and positioning at most times, on most days; specialised seating or a standing frame in most lessons; a scribe or assistive technology for most written work. |
| Extensive | An adult supporting mobility, transfers and positioning at all times, including hoist transfers; specialised equipment that needs trained staff to use it throughout the day. |
Adjustments for developmental coordination disorder goes deeper on writing, PE and practical work.
What does not count on its own
Some support is valuable but does not bring a student into the NCCD by itself. A student is counted only when they have a disability as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the school has evidence of adjustments, for at least 10 weeks, that address its functional impact. These do not count on their own:
- NDIS-funded activities: activities funded through the NDIS are not eligible for inclusion in the NCCD. Record the adjustments the school itself provides.
- EAL/D support alone: support for a student learning English as an additional language or dialect, with no evidence of a disability.
- Learning difficulty without a disability: difficulty that comes from limited attendance, trauma or disadvantage and does not amount to a disability under the DDA.
- A behaviour management plan: on its own, for a student with no disability under the DDA.
- A condition with no functional impact: for example glasses that correct a mild vision impairment with no further adjustment, or asthma the student manages themselves.
- QDTP for a student without disability: all students should expect quality differentiated teaching.
- Support that is no longer needed: a learning difficulty that improved through adjustment, where the student no longer needs ongoing adjustment.
- Fewer than 10 weeks: adjustments in fewer than 10 weeks of school education in the 12 months before Census Day. Any amount of adjustment in a week counts as a week, except for Extensive.
A diagnosis is not required, but there must be a disability, diagnosed or imputed. From 2026, before imputing a disability, the school team confirms the adjustments are due to disability, not academic performance, learning difficulties or external factors. Students affected by trauma are included only if they have a disability as defined in the DDA and meet the other criteria. How to impute a disability for the NCCD covers that judgement step by step.
How to choose the level of adjustment
The level is not set per adjustment or per area. The school looks at all the adjustments a student receives and reports one level: the highest level provided for at least 10 weeks in the 12 months before Census Day. Weigh the frequency, intensity and range of the adjustments, and the evidence for them:
- How often: occasionally, periodically or every day?
- How much of the day: parts of it, or the whole day?
- How widely: in some activities and learning areas, or in all of them?
- How much support: prompts within the lesson, targeted help at set times, considerable adult assistance at most times, or intensive support at all times?
- What evidence: does the record show it across the 10 weeks?
Extensive has one more test: the adjustments must be in place at all times, over consecutive weeks. NCCD levels of adjustment sets out each level with its descriptor and its funding, and QDTP vs Supplementary works through the line between the two lowest levels. Review the level every year rather than carrying it over.
How to record an adjustment so it counts
Schools are not required to create new or additional evidence for the NCCD. Adjustments are sighted in the records that already exist, such as a learning plan, a timetable, an email or a teacher's note. What matters is that the record is specific and dated. Every log entry above answers four questions:
- What: the adjustment itself, named plainly, such as pre-taught vocabulary or a rest break, never just "supported".
- For whom and why: the student, and the need the adjustment responds to.
- When: the date, the lesson or setting, and how often it happens.
- How the student responded: what changed, and what you will keep or change next time.
Log adjustments as they happen through the year, not in the weeks before Census Day. Adjustments are one of four areas of evidence: the student's need, consultation, and monitoring and review complete the record (see the four areas of NCCD evidence). For weak and strong entries side by side, see NCCD evidence examples, weak and strong, and for a note you can write in class, how to write NCCD evidence notes mid-lesson.