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Reading for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities: Culturally Relevant and Inclusive
InstructionSaili Kulkarni
Amy OlsonCarly Roberts
March 3, 2012
Today’s AgendaDiscussion of Culturally Relevant InstructionDiscussion of inclusive literacy practicesExplore Materials
Group ActivityQuestions?
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP)
Success for ALL students
Socio-political
consciousness
Cultural Competence
General Strategies that promote CRPStrategies that are considered inclusive best
practice are also culturally relevantReciprocal Teaching (Palinscar & Brown,
1984)Teaching specific concrete strategies that
students can reapply to future learning (summarization, question/answer, etc)
Cooperative learning groups (Slavin, 1980)Promotes positive race relations in
desegregated schools, improves self esteem, group vs. individual responsibility
Culturally Relevant Literacy Practices Moves beyond the 3F’s: Food, Fun, Festivals
Teachers who are sincerely committed to multicultural education cannot be satisfied with superficial celebrations of heroes and holidays. This approach to content trivializes multicultural education and conveys the idea that diversity issues come into play only during celebratory moments with foods, fun, and festivals.
In the multicultural festival model, teachers, students, and parents typically spend lots of time and energy preparing for an all-school activity. Students may do background research about a culture, prepare maps, and help create indigenous costumes. Parents may help to prepare various ethnic foods. On the day of the festival, members of the school community go from class to class, visiting the various cultures, sampling the foods, and enjoying dances, songs, and arts and crafts. At the end of the day, everyone agrees that the annual event has been a great success. Then teachers and students go back to their “real work”.
In the transformative model, on the other hand, multicultural education is not a separate, isolated, once-a-year activity. Instead, the regular curriculum includes a range of cultural perspectives.
Culturally Relevant Literacy Downing and McFarland (2012)…recommended practices [for students with severe
disabilities] include: systematic and direct instruction within natural learning environments; individualized, meaningful and culturally responsive learning; active family involvement; collaborative teaming; and positive behavior support.
--For students with significant disabilities we can use the same best practices/strategies we would use in inclusive settings, but we would expand the content of these general education lessons.
ExamplesFrom my own practice: Fair Trade Chocolate
Expeditionary Learning Projecthttp://www.globalexchange.org/fairtrade/cocoa/
classroomGeneral Examples
Cinderella story from multiple perspectivesReading/Writing/Rising Up—modified
activities for students to meet their learning needs
Background InformationStudents must receive instruction that is
linked to the general education content (IDEA 2004)
Many professionals do not feel this is applicable to their students with SCD and therefore do not implement such instruction (Agran, Alper, & Wehmeyer, 2002)
Current research suggests that despite this federal mandate, instruction is still primarily functional (Karvonen, Wakeman, Browder, Rogers, & Flowers, 2011)
Effective Means of Instruction (to be used with the practices we introduce)All of these practices have been evidence-
based through researchPrompting Systems
Time delayError correctionLeast intrusive promptsSystematic prompting
Time DelayA method of systematic instruction used for
discrete skillsFirst the teacher presents an attention cue.
Let’s read. Then presents the task direction. Read the
word.In zero delay, the teacher immediately reads the
word. When the student reads or points to the word, the correct response is reinforced.
This continues until the student is able to read or point to the word with the teacher.
Time DelayNext, the teacher will give the task direction.
Read the word. The teacher waits for 5 seconds for the student to respond independently and correctly.
For a correct response: the correct response is reinforced.
For an incorrect response, the teachers goes back to zero delay.
The teacher is working to fade the use of prompts.This system is used to increase the likelihood of
correct responses.
Error CorrectionIf the student is going towards the wrong
answer, lead the student to the correct answer.
Do not label the wrong answer.Don’t give a lot of attention to the error.When trying again, if the student is going
towards the wrong answer intervene by blocking the error and guiding the student to the correct answer.
Least intrusive promptingTeacher identifies the prompts the student
needs to respond. The prompts are put in order of the least to the most intrusive (prompt hierarchy).
Least Intrusive Prompting Example:
Touch the word. (wait 5 seconds). If student does not touch the word
independently, the teacher models and gives a verbal response. If the student does not respond, the teacher gives a physical prompt.
The teacher will move up the list of prompts until the skill is completed.
Systematic PromptingHave a plan for promptingWhich prompts will be used?Develop a plan to fade out promptsSpecific feedback/reinforcing correct
responsesMethod for error correction
Inclusive Literacy PracticesAdapted Grade-Level TextsShared stories with peersLinking functional and academic goalsIntegrating Technology
Adapted Grade-Level TextsAdapted grade-level texts are texts that are
adapted to a level that students with significant cognitive disabilities can access.
These texts are meant to give an alternate means of presenting information to students.
Any text (social studies, essays, novels, etc.) can adapted for students to use.
Adapting textAdapting text may include:making chapters shorterputting less sentences per page including pictures above words to assist
students in reading the textpictures to illustrate what is happening on
that particular pageobjects to use with the text
Shared Stories with PeersUsing the adapted text with peers in general
educationHave partners read aloud using a scripted
lesson with the studentTrain the general education peers in the
aforementioned strategies (prompting systems, error correction)
Can be done in the inclusive classroom
Linking Functional & Academic GoalsPurposefully creating lessons that link academic goals
with the functional IEP goalsInvolves finding a grade level (CCSS or content area
state standard) or alternative grade level standard in literacy to focus on
Linking it in a meaningful way to IEP goalsEx: grade level vocabulary (matching word to picture) matching teacher names to pictures
Ex: answering yes/no questions about text on grade-level contentanswering functional yes/no questions on AAC
Must be done purposefully so that instruction can be designed to integrate both goals
Integrating TechnologyThe following strategies have been shown to
be effective in various research studies…Link the use of their AAC with grade level
contentComputer-assisted instructionAudio/video recordingsInteractive whiteboards
ActivityWith a small group, take one of the activities
listed in Reading, Writing and Rising Up and talk with your group about how you might tailor this activity to a student in your classroom. As a group pick one focus student and share out what you have decided to do with your activity to address your students needs by using a culturally relevant lesson.
Exploring MaterialsAdapted TextsMaterials (flashcards)Sample Lesson PlansHere’s an excellent resource…
http://coedpages.uncc.edu/access/overviews.htm
Questions?
