11/21/2025
🙌
Every time you walk into a classroom, a therapy space, or your own child’s bedroom, remember this: presume competence.
It’s not just a philosophy. It’s a radical, respectful, and powerful shift in how we see and support disabled and neurodivergent people.
Presuming competence means:
🌱 Believing that a child understands even if they can’t speak.
🌱 Trusting that behaviours have meaning, even if they look different to what we expect.
🌱 Offering access, challenge, dignity, and opportunity before demanding proof.
When we don’t presume competence, we unintentionally limit people. We teach less. We offer fewer chances. We expect less. And children—especially those with high support needs—learn exactly what we teach them: that they are underestimated.
When we do presume competence? We create spaces where learners can show us what they know. Where they can grow. Where they feel seen and safe and powerful.
Choose this upcoming term to say: “I believe in you. I will teach you as though you understand. I will meet you with respect, every time.” Because that belief alone changes lives.
EDIT: I am learning a lot from these comments. I’ve only ever taught in special education, so for me “assume competence” is really important to remind all adults to ensure we don’t underestimate our learners. However, what I am learning is we actually need the opposite for learners in mainstream, too often adults around the child aren’t seeing the struggle underneath and meeting those underlying needs. Maybe the phrase for mainstream shoud be “believe them”
