Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Students with Low-Incidence Disabilities

What are low-incidence disabilities?

·         Low-incidence disabilities – any of the less common disabilities such as multiple disabilities, hearing impairments, orthopedic impairment, other health impairments, visual impairments, deaf-blindness, autism, and traumatic brain injury

·         Developmental delay – the presence of a significant physical, intellectual, communication, or social or emotional delay without specifying a specific disability category

What accommodations can you make for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders?

·         Autism – condition in which an individual lacks social responsiveness from a very early age, has a high need for structure and routines, and demonstrates significant language impairments.  These characteristics interfere with learning.

o   Affects boys more than girls

·         Characteristics

o   Significant difficulty with social relationships

o   Have difficulty learning the subtleties of social interaction

o   Often have significantly delayed language development, and struggle to maintain conversation with another person

o   Narrow range of interests

o   Low threshold for and difficulty in dealing with stress

o   In the classroom, be aware of potentially stressful situations for a student with autism

·         Students with Asperger Syndrome

o   Extraordinary difficulty in social interactions

o   Difficulty in using language correctly

o   Insist on specific routines in the classroom and at home

o   Ma have very high intellectual ability

·         Accommodations

o   Establish clear procedures and routines for classroom tasks and follow them consistently

o   Create a structured and predictable environment and encourage appropriate social interactions

What accommodations can you make for students with moderate, severe, or multiple disabilities?

·         Students with Moderate to Severe Intellectual Disabilities

o   The amount of information they can learn may be limited and the rate at which they learn may be slow

o   May have difficulty maintaining their skills àwithout ongoing practice, they are likely to forget what they have learned

o   May have difficulty generalizing skills learned in one setting or situation to another

o   Difficulty combining a series of small skills into a larger one

o   Create a collaborative effort with families

o   Take advantage of assistive technology

§  Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) – unaided (gestures- or aided (computer software)

·         Students with Multiple Disabilities

o   Most students with multiple disabilities have an intellectual disability and a physical or sensory impairment

o   Majority participate in general education activities

o   Communicating can be a challenge

·         Deaf-blindness

o   Need to stay in touch with the environment

o   Prompt students with special needs and typical learners to interact with each other

o   Interpret behaviors

What accommodations can you make for students with sensory impairments?

·         Students with Visual Impairments

o   Cannot see well enough to use vision as a primary channel for learning without significant assistance

o   Accommodations

§  Help students understand the difficulties that a student with a visual impairment deals with

o   Planning Instruction

§  Orientation and mobility

§  May have to modify teaching

§  Learning tools

·         Students with Hearing Loss

o   Cannot hear well enough to use hearing as a primary channel for learning without significant assistance

o   Accommodations

§  Many students struggle because their hearing loss affects their ability to understand language, which in turn affects their learning

§  Speech reading – watching others’ lips, mouth, and expressions

§  “Buddy system”

§  Learning Tools

What accommodations can you make for students with physical, medical, or health disabilities?

·         Orthopedic impairments (OI) – diseases or disorders related to the bones, joints, and muscles

o   Cerebral Palsy

§  Injury to the brain before, during, or after birth and results in poor motor coordination and abnormal motor patterns

o   Muscular Dystrophy – A group of diseases that weakens the muscles

o   Spinal Cord Injuries – injury occurs when the spinal cord is severely damaged or severed

o   Teaching

§  Depends on the nature and severity of the disabilities

§  Meet the personal needs of the student

·         Other health impairments (OHI) – medical and health conditions such as AIDS, seizure disorders, cancer, juvenile diabetes, and asthma

o   Seizure Disorders

§  A physical condition in which the brain experiences sudden but brief changes in functioning

§  Generalized tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal seizures) – involves the entire body

§  Absence seizures (petit mal seizures) – does not involve the entire body

o   Sickle-cell disease

§  When normally round blood cells are abnormally shaped like sickles which makes the blood thicker and prevents it from efficiently carrying oxygen to tissues

o   AIDS

o   Asthma

o   Cancer

o   Teaching

§  Often accommodations are to help the student make up for work missed

·         Traumatic brain injury (TBI) – any insult to the brain caused by an external force

o  

Outside Resources
Autism Society of America	www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer
Association for Down Syndrome	www.nads.org
A-Z to Deaf-Blindness	www.deafblind.com

Midterm Exam

1.  (Chapter 1) (Special Education Foundations) Discuss the role the Civil Rights Movement had on contributing to new approaches in special education. Be sure to include reference to pertinent court cases and legislation to support your discussion.
1. The Civil Rights Movement originally focused on the rights of African Americans but expanded to include people with disabilities.  In 1954, the Brown vs. Board of Education was the first court case to have a significant impact.  The U.S Supreme Court ruled that it was unlawful to discriminate against any groups of people.  It also established that school segregation denied equal educational opportunities for all students.  From then on, there was a new concept of integration that was introduced into public education, which protected students’ rights to equal opportunities.  There were many other court cases that affected special education.  In 1982, in the court case of Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson School District vs. Rowley, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that special education services must provide an appropriate education for everyone.  In 1993, in the court of Doe vs. Withers, Doe’s history teacher, Withers failed to make accommodations for him therefore causing Doe to fail.   In Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, all students are prevented of discrimination in programs that receives federal funds.  In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed and protects all individuals with disabilities from discrimination and requires most employers to make reasonable accommodations for them.  In 1990, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was the revision to Public Law 94-142.  This law added to accommodations to children from birth to age 5.  It also recognized that most students with disabilities spend all or most of their time in general education settings.  The most recent law passed in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which pushed for all students to be at grade-level at the end of each school year.

2.  (Chapter 2)  (Special Education Laws and Services) Identify and explain the tiers of Response to Intervention (RtI).  When is this process implemented and what is is its significance for educators and students?   (Suggested resources – the Friend text and the IRIS Center -- http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/rti01_overview/chalcycle.htm.)

a.       Response to Intervention (RtI) is an approach for the identification of learning disabilities based on whether student learning progress improve or fails to improve after the student receives increasingly intense, research-based interventions.  There are three ties of Response to Intervention with a universal screening for all students.  In tier one, students receive effective, research-validated instruction in the general education setting. Student progress is monitored on a weekly basis (Iris Center).  In tier two, students whose progress is less than desired receive different or additional support from the classroom teacher or another educational professional. Student progress continues to be monitored (Iris Center).  In tier three, students whose progress is still insufficient in response to Tier 2 instruction may receive even more intensive instruction, and then depending on a state’s or district’s policies, students may qualify for special education services or may receive an evaluation for the identification of a learning disability (Iris Center).  This process is implemented with struggling readers and students with suspected learning disabilities.  Response to Intervention is most likely implemented in the elementary level, but it can occur whenever professionals determine a student is experiencing learning problems that are significant and interfering with achievement.  The significance of Response to Intervention for teachers and students is to eliminate inadequate instruction as the reason for reading problems.

3. (Chapter 3) (Collaboration) You are having a parent conference with Jerome’s father tomorrow about Jerome’s progress in controlling his disruptive behavior. This is the first meeting since initiating a behavior management plan that you and Jerome’s father worked out at your last conference. Using the shared problem-solving model described in chapter 3, describe what you should do to prepare for tomorrow’s conference.  What steps should be taken after the conference?
1. The shared problem-solving model is “a process used by groups of processionals and parents for identifying problems, generating potential solutions, selecting and implementing solutions, and evaluating the effectiveness of solutions” (Friend, 2009, p.532).  The first step in the preparations is to identify the problem.  The problem is Jerome’s progress in controlling his disruptive behavior.  In this step of the model, I would explain some of the instances where Jerome acted out or caused disruption in the classroom.  I would give specific examples of Jerome’s behavior.  The next step, I would propose possible solutions.  Since Jerome already have a behavior management plan in place, it would be appropriate to adjust this plan to improve his behavior.  In this step, the teachers and parent would brainstorm more ideas for behavior management which require being open and creative to new ideas.  We would focus in on specifics and evaluate ideas.  The steps to be taken after the conference would be to implement the solution.  We would implement the new behavior management plan.  After the plan has been in place for some time, we would reevaluate the plan and evaluate the outcomes.  The most important aspect of this process is communication between the teachers and parents throughout all the steps.

4. (Chapter 5) (Planning Instruction – INCLUDE Strategy) You have just learned that the new student who is to join your class has speech impairment. The student’s file does not thoroughly describe the areas of strength or need, but rather indicates generally that the student has trouble with articulation. Based on this limited information, outline how you would use the INCLUDE strategy to help meet the educational needs of your new student. 
1. Step one is to identify classroom demands (Friend, 2009, p. 154).

                                                              i.      As a teacher, I would make sure to implement proximity.  I would try to write any instructions that I verbalize on the board.  I would have the student’s desk closer to the front of the classroom, which is where I would be teaching for the majority of the time.  I would make sure to use a microphone when teaching and allow the student to have a recorder to use for taking notes.  For this student, I need to make sure that how the classroom is organized does not affect the student’s learning.

2. Step two is to note student learning strengths and needs (Friend, 2009, p. 154).

                                                              i.      I would need to analyze the student’s academics understanding and learning.  I would also need to see what the student’s social-emotional development is in the classroom as well as his interpersonal skills and personal-psychological adjustments.  It is also important to analyze the student’s physical development and to see whether or not the students might have any other learning disabilities.

3. Step three is to check for potential areas of student success (Friend, 2009, p. 154).

                                                              i.      Because of the student’s learning difficulties, the student might be self-conscious.  It is important for me to assign activities that will help the student become successful.  It is important for the student to recognize his own potential and his ability to succeed.

4. Step four is to look for potential problem areas (Friend, 2009, p. 154).

                                                              i.      In this step, “student learning needs are reviewed within a particular instructional context, and potential mismatches are identified” (158).

5. Step five is to use information to brainstorm ways to differentiate instruction (Friend, 2009, p. 154).

                                                              i.      In this step, I must work towards making accommodations or modifications for the student.  I can provide accommodations through instructional methods, materials, grouping and classroom management (159).  Through the accommodations and modifications, I must constantly evaluate that the focus is on the student.

6. Step six is to differentiate instruction (Friend, 2009, p. 154).

                                                              i.      In this step, I work towards implementing the ideas for modifications and accommodations.  During this step, I must make sure to give the student choices and keep the strategies age-appropriate.

7. Step seven is to evaluate student progress (Friend, 2009, p. 154).

                                                              i.      In this step, I evaluate the student progress and reevaluate the strategies.

5. See attachments for bulleted chapter notes on chapter 1 through 5 and chapter 13 or see blog: http://edee409inclusionguidekcgriffin.blogspot.com/

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Planning Instruction by Analyzing Classroom and Student Needs

How can the INCLUDE Strategy Help You Make Reasonable Accommodations for Students with Special Needs

·         Step 1: Identify Classroom Demands

o    Allows teachers to anticipate and explain problems a student might experience

·         Step 2: Note Student Learning Strengths and Needs

·         Step 3: Check for Potential Areas of Student Success

o    Analyze student’s strengths in view of classroom demands

·         Step 4: Look for Potential Problem Areas

o    Analyze student’s needs in view of classroom demands (noted in Step 1)

o    Identify learning needs

o    Find mismatches that act as barriers to success

·         Step 5: Use Information to Brainstorm Ways to Differentiate Instruction

o    Two ways to differentiate instruction for students with disabilities

o    Instructional accommodations

o    Instructional or curricular modifications

·         Step 6: Differentiate Instruction

o    Select age-appropriate strategies

o    Select the easiest approach first

o    Select changes you agree with

o    Identify a “can’t” or “won’t” issue

o    Give students choices

o    Select strategies proven to be effective

·         Step 7: Evaluate Student Progress

o    Grades

o    Observations and analysis

o    Portfolios

o    Assessments

o    Ratings by teachers, students, parents

Classroom Environments

·         Classroom Management

o    Physical Organization

§  Classroom appearance, use of spaces (walls, lighting, floor space, storage)

o    Classroom Routines

§  Routines that are carefully structured reduce nonacademic time and increase learning time

§  Academic and nonacademic

o    Classroom Climate

§  Overall atmosphere

§  Communicate respect and trust to students

o    Behavior Management

§  Set rules

§  Brief and specific

§  Positively worded

§  Clearly understood

§  Spell out consequences for actions

§  Monitor behaviors regularly

o    Use of Time

§  Instructional Time

§  Transition Time

·         Classroom Grouping

o    Whole-Class/Large-Group Instruction

§  Pros – spend entire time with teacher, does not single out students

o    Small-Group Instruction

o    One-to-One Instruction

·         Instructional Materials

o    Learning Outcomes

§  Remembering

§  Understanding

§  Applying

§  Analyzing

§  Evaluating

§  Creating

o    Textbooks

§  Cover big ideas, not isolated facts

§  Support for student comprehension

§  Organization of headings and subheads

§  Consistent coverage of topics

§  Clear signals of structure

§  Activate background knowledge

§  Use high-quality writing

o    Manipulatives and Models

§  Manipulatives – concrete objects or representational items (such as blocks or counters)

§  Models – tangible objects that provide a physical representation of an abstract concept (such as scale models)               

o    Technology

§  High-tech and low-tech options

§  Drill-and-practice programs, Tutorials

§  Simulations

§  Assistive technology

·         Instruction Methods

o    Direct Instruction

§  Review previous day’s work (review)

§  Present new content or skills

§  Provide practice, check for understanding

§  Give feedback and correction (reteach)

§  Allow for independent student practice

§  Review frequently

o    Indirect Instruction

§  Students are naturally active learners

§  Students are capable of constructing meaning on their own

§  Inquiry (or discovery) learning – situations requiring initiative and exploration

§  Skills needed for success include classroom behavior, social, group coping, inquiry, and academic skills

o    Scaffolding

§  Present the new cognitive strategy

§  Regulate difficulty during guided practice

§  Provide varying contexts for student practice

§  Provide feedback

§  Increase student responsibility

§  Provide independent practice

o    Independent Student Practice

§  Practice only skills already learned

§  Need desire and reason to learn skills

§  Individualize practice

§  Be specific and systematic

§  Stress much practice on a few skills

§  Organize for high levels of success

§  Allow for immediate feedback

o    Evaluation of Student Performance

§  Determine how well students have mastered academic skills or content

§  Consider how tests and assignments interact with needs

§  Measure a student’s skill or content mastery, not a student’s disability

Additional Resources
Center for Applied Special Technology	www.cast.org/tes
National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS)	www.NIMAS.org
Association for Direct Instruction	www.adihome.org