LEARNING SUPPORT AT BEVERLEY CAMPUS

St Michael’s CollegeStaff Development Pupil Free DaySeptember 2011Kate Tyrwhitt

The Social Construction of “Special Education”

The typical Australian classroom contains students with unique individual needs borne out of changing family circumstances, culture, poverty, health, behaviour and so on. This can be supported by Jewell (2007) who describes “typical” as about 15% of the contemporary school population. He suggests when we make changes or adjustments they should not be labelled as special, but simply as a necessary response to change.

In recognition of this, do we need to think about how to cultivate educational structures and processes that accommodate the naturally occurring diversity within the contemporary school population rather than individual subgroups of learners?

Anna Noble 2011, Flinders University study guide“Educating Children with Learning Difficulties” p.18

Discarding the Deficit Model Beth Harry and Janette KlingnerAmbiguity and subjectivity contribute to the disproportionate placement of minorities in special education.

Many students have special learning needs, and many experience challenges learning school material. But does this mean they have disabilities?

Does it matter whether we use the word disability instead of need and challenge?

February 2007 | Volume 64 | Number 5 Improving Instruction for Students with Learning Needs    Pages 16-21

The deficit model does at least highlight specific areas of difficulty that must be taken into account when planning and implementing classroom programmes….

Trying to identify how best to help a student with general learning difficulties involves finding the most significant and alterable factors that need to be addressed, and providing students with high quality instruction.

Early intervention:First Wave of instruction-good initial early years’ teaching that engages the students desire to learn.The second wave concerns high quality, responsive early intervention . This is implemented when a student is not progressing at the expected rate despite excellent first wave teaching; for many young learners this includes enhancing literacy and language development.The third wave supports students in the middle and upper years. These students are provided with intense, curriculum specific intervention. (Elkins, J ,2007)

What is being done currently:•In class support of students with resourced disabilities (and a few with undiagnosed disorders but obviously need the support)•Accommodations in class and adjustments to the curriculum with the formation of IEP’s Individual Education Plans and Modified Reports. (9 students this year with modified reports, more with IEP’s and over 20 with accommodations).

•In class support in JP for all curriculum areas, MP Kate and Sally RSpecialised programs out side of the classroom such as:•Move to Learn & Fine Motor Program in the sensory room•Reading Rascals (Year 1 Reading groups- 3x a week of 3 students sized group)

•ESL Sally Fry of MP, UP•Intensive Reading Program UP (Sally Fry)•Working with speech pathologists to provide explicit language instruction•Jolly Phonics and Beat Dyslexia for second wave intervention (yr 3, 4

•The Listening Program•Fast ForWord•Gifted Peer Mentoring•Science Learning Support Group (3 yr 5’s this year)•Structured handover time and process•MAZE database, ongoing testing NEALE, Running Records, TAPS, Torch, PIPS

IDENTIFICATION AND TRACKING PROGRESS

Enrolment support procedures with Kindy Visits, tip offs, parents providing assessments (mostly speech assessments)PIPS: Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (First year of schooling)EYA (Early years Assessment)Running RecordsNEALE analysis yr 2-7ESL scalingTorch tests yr 4-7Pat MathsWaddington Spelling and ReadingWestwood SpellingTAPS test (Threshold Auditory Processing Speeds)Consultation with parents, psychologists , Speech therapists, OT’s, Audiologists etc and most importantly the student.

The PIPS On-Entry Baseline Assessment is a CD-ROM based program which assesses students entering primary school.It can assist with:     • assessing the progress of students in literacy, numeracy and phonological awareness • diagnosing individual student work and providing data to indicate what areas students are achieving or underachieving •predicting future performance for identifying individuals who might benefit from early intervention.

http://www.education.uwa.edu.au/pips/future/questions

WHY PROVIDE THE LISTENING PROGRAM AND FAST FORWORD?It is providing an opportunity to reach potentialWorking with familiesThere is an increase in CAPD diagnosis and

sensory integration disorderTrying out unusual approaches as well as

evidence based instruction:

BRAIN PLASTICITY Auditory Processing is

what the brain does with what it hears

Brain Plasticity is the well researched and growing at a rapid rate. We know that if we provide the right stimulation with the right FREQUENCY, INTENSITY AND DURATION we will create changes within the brain.

THE LISTENING PROGRAM® (TLP) FROM ADVANCED BRAIN TECHNOLOGIES IS A MUSICLISTENING THERAPY WHICH PROVIDES ADVANCED AUDITORY TRAINING FOR THE BRAIN. TLP IS PROVIDED WITH THE RIGHT FREQUENCY, INTENSITY AND DURATION THAT TRAINS THEAUDITORY SYSTEM TO ACCURATELY PROCESS THE FULL SPECTRUM OF SOUND FOR IMPROVEDLISTENING, LEARNING AND COMMUNICATION, SUPPORTING SELF REGULATION AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT. I HAVE ALSO FOUND THAT IT HELPS TO DEVELOP SENSORY INTEGRATION.

FAST FORWORD Fast ForWord is a computerised

learning advancement program that exercises the brain to increase processing speed and capacity, just as physical workouts train the body to be fitter and stronger.

Based on over 30 years of research into how the brain learns, Fast ForWord was designed by some of the world’s leading learning researchers. The intensive and effective learning program is typically used 50 minutes a day, 5 days a week for a minimum of 12 weeks, which is the equivalent of over 60 hours of one-to-one learning instruction.http://learningsupportsmc.wikispaces.

com/The+Listening+Program