Dear Krystal,
in our kids classes we tried teaching forward rolls with big gymnastic balls when we had lots of beginner kids at the same time. I have one big green ball for the big kids (1,40 m or so) and a smaller blue one for the smaller ones (1,10 - 1,20 m). Kids hug the ball and turn the head to the side and then roll with the ball. That worked fine with all kids, until they all learned mae ukemi well and started throwing the ball around...
Then there is a guy who is afraid of forward rolls (a grown-up), even kneeling ones. He always turns his hips to the side and makes a weird side roll over the hips. Or he turns brusquely over and falls on his back. But there is a very, very small roll that makes you roll without having the possibility to make anything wrong. You start like a kneeling roll, but then you make yourself very small, like a ball, and instead of making a circle with the hand over which you roll, you put it between your legs and reach out far behind your feet. Your head looks into that direction, and once you reach out really far you loose balance and roll directly over your shoulder. Shoulder is already on the mat, so it doesn't hurt. And since all body parts are practically on the floor, this roll doesn't frighten beginners. You don't even need to be very flexible to do it. So this roll works for the guy in question, although it doesn't solve the problem how to get him gradually upright. By the way, it also works greatly for mae ukemi from suwari waza. But unfortunately I don't have a link and I'm not sure if the explanation is worht anything...
Wish you much success with the kids classes!
Eva