EDU 477Special Education

week 2 Revision

‘ He has the ability, if he just tried harder, he could do it. He chooses not to do the work.’

‘If she would just pay attention, she would get it’.

‘After I give the instructions, he sits there and stares at his paper. He is not motivated.’

Learning Difficulties

A child with a learning disability cannot try harder, pay closer attention, or improve motivation on their own; they need help to learn how to do those things.

A learning disability, or learning disorder, is not a problem with intelligence.

Learning disorders are caused by a difference in the brain that affects how information is received, processed, or communicated.

Children and adults with learning disabilities have trouble processing sensory information because they see, hear, and understand things differently.

Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students’ individual differences and needs.

This process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials, accessible settings, and other interventions designed to help learners with special needs achieve a higher level of personal self-sufficiency and success in school and community than would be available if the student were only given access to a typical classroom education.

Special Education

Challenges with learning Communication challenges Emotional and behavioral disorders Physical disabilities Developmental disorders

Common special needs include....

...from their medical history. They.... ..may have been diagnosed with a genetic

condition that is associated with mental retardation

...may have various forms of brain damage

...may have developmental disorder ...may have visual or hearing

disabilities, etc.

Identifying students with special needs...

The discrepancy modelDepends on the teacher noticing that the

students’ achievements are noticeably below what is expected.

The response to intervention model Model advocates earlier intervention

Identifying students with LD

...a student receives special educational services for a specific learning difficulty (SLD) if and only if the student has at least normal intelligence and the students’ academic achievement is below what is expected of a student with his or her IQ.

(-):....diagnosing SLD on the basis of the discrepancy

between achievement and IQ does not predict the effectiveness of treatment

....Low academic achievers who also have low IQ appear to benefit from treatment just as much as low academic achievers who have normal or high intelligence.

Discrepancy model

...identifies children who are having difficulties in school in their first or second year after starting school. They then receive additional assistance such as participating in a reading remedation program.

...the response of the children to this intervention then determines whether they are designated as having a learning disability. Those few who still have trouble may then receive designation and further assistance.

...Sternberg: early remediation can greatly reduce the number of children meeting diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities.

...Sternberg: the focus on learning disabilities and the provision of accomodations in schools fails to acknowledge that people have a range of strenghts and weaknesses and places undue emphasis on academics by insisting that people should be propped up in this arena and not in music or sports.

Response to Intervention

1. Inclusion 2. Mainstreaming 3. Segragation 4. Exclusion

Methods of provision

...students with special educational needs spend all, or at least more than half, of the school day with students who do not have special educational needs. Because inclusion can require substantial modification of the general curriculum, most schools use it only for selected students with mild to moderate special needs, for which is accepted as a best practice.

...specialized services may be provided inside or outside he regular classroom, depending on the type of service. Students may occasionally leave the regular classroom to attend smaller, more intensive instructional sessions in a resource room or to receive other related services that might require specialized equipment or might be disruptive to the rest of the class, such as speech and language therapy, occupational therapy or physical therapy.

Inclusion

...refers to the practice of educating students with special needs in classes with non-disabled students during specific time periods based on their skills. Students with special needs are segregated in separate classes exclusively for students with special needs for the rest of teh school day.

Mainstreaming

...in a separate classroom or special school exclusively for students with special needs.:

In this model, students with special needs spend no time in classes with non-disabled students.

Segregated students may attend the same school where regular classes are provided, but spend all instructional time exclusively ina separate classroom for students with special needs.

If their special class is located in an ordinary school, they may be provided opportunities for social integration outside the classroom, e.g.,by eating meals with non-disabled students. Alternatively, these students may attend a special school.

Segragation

A studentwho does not receive instruction in any school is excluded from school. Historically, most students with special needs hav ebeen excluded from school, and such exclusion may still occur where there is no legal mandate for special education services, such as in developing countries.

It may also occur when a student is in hospital, housebound, or detained by the criminal justice system.

These students may receive one-on-one

Exclusion

...are classified as being either accomodations or modifications.

1. Accomodation:...is a reasonable adjustment to teaching practices

so that the student learns the same material, but in a format that is accesible to the student.

...may be classified by whether they change the presentation, response, setting, or scheduling.

For example:The school may accomodate a student with visual

impairments by providing a large-print textbook.

Instructional Strategies

2. Modification:....changes or adapts the material to make it

simpler....may change what is learned, how difficult

the material is, what level of mastery the student is expected to achieve, whether and how the student is assessed, or any other aspect of curriculum.

Instructional Strategies

Skipping Subjects:Students may be taught less information than

typical students, skipping over material that the school deems inappropriate for the student’s abilities or less important than other subjects

For example:Students whose fine motor skills are weak

may be taught to print block letters, but not cursive handwriting.

Examples of Modifications

Simplified Assignments:Students may read the same literature as their peers but have a

simpler version, for example Shakespeare with both the original text and a modern paraphrase available.

Shorter assignments:Ss may do shorter homework assignments or to take shorter, more

concentrated tests, e.g. 10 Maths problems instead of 30. Extra Aids:If Ss have deficiencies in working memory, a list of vocabulary words,

called a word bank, can be provided during tests, to reduce lack of recall and increase chances of comprehension. Students might use a calculator when other students are not.

Extended Time:Ss with lower processing speed may benefit from extended time in

assignments and/or tests in order to comprehend questions, recall information, and synthesize knowledge.

Examples of Modifications

Response Accomodations:Typing homework assignments rather than hand-writing them.

(considered a modification if the subject is learning to write by hand). Having someone else write down answers given verbally.

Presentation accomodation:Listening to audio books rather than reading printed books. Agencies like

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic in America and RNIB National Library Service in the UK offer a variety of titles on tape and CD.

Setting Accomodations:Taking a test in a quieter room. Moving the class to a room that is

physically accessible e.g. on the first floor of a building or near an elevator.

Arranging seating assignments to benefit the student, e.g.by sitting in front of the classroom.

Scheduling Accomodations:Ss may be given rest breaks or extended time on tests

Examples of Accomodations

...to increase the student’s personal and academic abilities. These include:

Speech and language pathology Audiology Psychological Services Physical services Occupational therapy Counselling services ( also includes rehabilitation counselling) Orientation and mobility services Medical services Parent counselling services School health services School social work

Non-academic Services

At-risk students ( those with educational needs that are not associated with a disability) are often placed in classes with students who have disabilities.

Critics assert that placing at-risk students in the same classes as students with disabilities may impede the educational progress of people with disabilities.

The practice of inclusion ( in mainstream classrooms) has been criticized by advocates and some of these students require instructional methods that differ dramatically from typical classroom methods.

Critics assert that is not possible to deliver effectively two or more very different instructional methods in the same classroom

Issues

...is a comprehension assessment of a student’s functioning in 3 primary areas that impact learning and academic functioning.

1. Learning aptitude 2. Basic academic skill development 3. Personality / Adjustment factors.

Psychoeducational Evaluation

...also called intelligence IQ tests, cognitive processing tests investigate a student’s abilities on measures of verbal linguistic skills:

(long term memory, abstract reasoning, vocabulary development, comprehension, and auditory short-term memory)

Non-verbal skills:(visual organization and memory, nonverbal reasoning,

planning ability, visual motor coordination, spatial visualization ability, and short term visual memory)

Supplemental cognitive ( aptitude) tests are given to further investigate any problem areas based on in-take information and observations

1- Tests of Learning Aptitude

..investigate a student’s skills in the area of reading, written language, and mathematics. Within each of academic domains, the student is tested on measures of basic skills development and higher level application and reasoning skills.

For example:Reading tests assess word decoding, phonetic

skills, word identification, fluency/rate and comprehension

2- Tests of Academic Skill Development

...investigate a student’s functioning with regard to the development of his/her academic coping strategies.

...one’s functioning in this regard is sometimes affected by self-esteem, anxiety, internal pressure, motivational levels,etc. that are assessed during psychoeducational evaluation.

...students are also screened for emotional distress ( e.g.anxiety, depression)

3- Tests of Personality/Adjustment Factors

When independent work is presented, try to give it to the student in small segments. ( a test or worksheet could be folded in half)

Allow extra time ( within reasonable limits) for students who have difficulty.

Reduce the lenght of the assignment In your lesson plans, note in italics or highlight your

objectives. His/her objectives do not need to always be the same as the rest of the class. For example:

The whole class might be expected to write paragraph about something they have learned. A student with mild mental retardation in your class might be expected to write 3 facts s/he learned. A student with fine motor problems could write some; you or a peer helper could take dictation on the rest.

Modifying school curriculum

Present information visually ( OHP, posters, data projector, etc) and auditorally.

Have students do simple exercises before writing (pushing palms of hands together, pushing down hard on a desktop, squeezing and relaxing fists)

Have a large variety of multi-level reading books in your classroom. A listening center is also a must have. Have parent, high school and other volunteers put some of your textbooks ( relevant chapters)on tape so that students with disabilities may have these CDs as a tool. Make up a chapter outline and give it to all the students. It teaches them to attend to the important points in a chapter.

Use colour coded index cards in a file box to keep track of your students’ objectives and modifications. The students’ names should not be on these cards. By colour coding, you have the information handy without violating confidentiality.

Modifying school curriculum

1. Input 2. Integration3. Storage 4. Output

Types of Learning Disabilities

This is the information perceived through the senses, such as visual and auditory perception. Difficulties with visual perception can cause problems with recognizing the shape, position and size of items seen.

There can be problems with sequencing, which can relate to deficits with processing time intervals or temporal perception.

Difficulties with auditory perception can make it difficult to screen out competing sounds in order to focus on one of them, such as the sound of the teacher’s voice. Some children appear to be unable to process tactile input.

Input

This is the stage during which perceived input is interpreted, categorized, placed in a sequence, or related to previous learning.

Students with problems in these areas may be unable to tell a story in the corrects sequence, unable to memorize sequences of information such as the days of the week, able to understand a new concept but be unable to generalize it to other areas of learning, or able to learn facts bu be unable to put the facts together to see the ‘big picture’.

Integration

Problems with memory can occur with short-term or working memory , or with long-term memory. Most memory difficulties occur in the area of short-term memory, which can make it difficult to learn new material without many more repetitions than is usual.

Difficulties with usual visual memory can impede learning to spell.

Storage

Information comes out of the brain either through words, that is, language output, or through muscle activity, such as gesturing, writing or drawing.

Difficulties with language output can create problems with spoken language, for example, answering a question on demand, in which one must retrieve information from storage, organize our thoughts, and put the thoughts into words before we speak.

It can also cause trouble with written language for the same reasons.

Difficulties with motor abilities can cause problems with gross and fine motor skills.

People with gross motor difficulties may be clumsy ( they may be prone to stumbling, falling, or bumping into things)

They may also have trouble running, climbing, or learning to ride a bicycle.

Output