Read this first. Learning Supports are switches a teacher turns on for a student. ClassSense does not diagnose anyone, does not decide who needs what, and is not a clinical tool. The setup screen itself says these change how lessons look and feel and are not a substitute for an evaluation or an IEP.
Where the settings live
Open a student from your class and choose their supports page. A student has to be actively enrolled in one of your courses for you to change theirs. You can tick a starting bundle, or switch individual tools on and off one at a time. A "see what changes" preview shows the effect before you commit, and nothing is locked in: every switch can be turned back off.
What each setting does
| Setting | What happens on the student's screen |
|---|---|
| Read everything aloud | Lessons, questions, answer choices and feedback are read in a synthetic voice |
| Highlight each word | The word being read lights up |
| Slower reading voice | The voice speaks a little slower |
| Easier-to-read font | Choose Lexend or Atkinson Hyperlegible |
| Extra spacing | More room between letters, words and lines |
| Colour overlay | A soft tint: cream, blue, green, rose or yellow |
| Large text | Everything is a size larger |
| Answer by tapping | Every answer is a tap on a choice, so no typing |
| Focus mode | Only the current question is on screen |
| Movement breaks | A stand-up break every 10, 15 or 20 minutes |
| Same layout, warnings, calm look | Predictable steps, a heads-up before changes, muted colours and no sound effects |
| No timers, hide scores, gentle feedback | Nothing timed, no percentages on screen, calmer wording |
If a student has an IEP or 504 plan
The panel includes a list of common accommodation wordings and switches on the settings that most closely match. That is a convenience for you, not a statement that the plan has been met. Whether a setting satisfies what a plan requires is a decision for the team that wrote it.
- Text read aloud: turns on read-aloud and word highlighting.
- Extended time or untimed work: turns on No timers. That removes the clock. It does not add minutes to anything, and it does not change a paper test.
- Frequent breaks, reduced distractions, advance notice of transitions, large print: map to movement breaks, focus mode, change warnings, and large text with a clearer font and spacing.
Anything that happens outside the app, such as a scribe, a separate room or a human reader on a state test, is entirely unaffected.
Limits you should know about
- The voice is synthetic. It can mispronounce unusual names, technical terms and some symbols. Listen to a lesson before you rely on it for a student.
- If the natural voice cannot load, the app can fall back to the device's own voice, which sounds different and may not highlight words the same way.
- English first. Read-aloud in other languages has not been tested, so do not assume it works.
- Images and equations. Pictures, diagrams and equations rendered as images do not come through extraction, so there is nothing for the voice to read there.
- Practice is multiple choice. That suits tap-to-answer, but it means writing-based accommodations are outside the app.
- Accessibility status. A WCAG 2.1 AA self-assessment exists as a draft, with testing alongside real assistive technology still pending. Read the accessibility statement before you tell a family or a district anything stronger.
Using it well
Ask the student. Many will tell you straight away whether the highlighting helps or distracts. Try one or two switches for a week, then keep what the student actually uses. The settings are also a quiet way to lower the cost of asking for help, since no other student sees them. For the wider picture, read about differentiated instruction and universal design for learning, and if you teach students with plans, the page for special education teachers.
Common questions
Is read-aloud available for every student?
A teacher turns it on per student from that student's supports page. It is not on by default.
Do these settings replace an IEP or 504 accommodation?
No. They change how lessons look and sound in ClassSense. Whether they meet an accommodation in a plan is for your IEP team to decide.
Does ClassSense diagnose dyslexia, ADHD or anything else?
No. A teacher chooses supports, not a condition. ClassSense does not screen, diagnose or treat.
Can other students see who has supports on?
The settings are set by the teacher for each student. They are not shown to classmates.
Does read-aloud work in languages other than English?
That has not been tested, so we do not claim it.