EAST  LONGMEADOW

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISTRICT

 

CURRICULUM ACCOMMODATION PLAN

 

 

 

 

A Handbook for Teachers, Principals,

Paraprofessionals, and Parents

 

 


Table of Contents

  Foreword ....................................................................................................................................................... 4

 Curriculum Accommodation Plan .................................................................................................................... 4

 Essential Learnings…………………………………………………………… ..…………………………….6

 Classroom Practices…………………………………………………………….……………………………7

 Assessment Practices……………………………………………………………..…………………………..8

 Service Options…………………………………………………………………….………………………...9

  Characteristics: ADD and ADHD ................................................................................................................... 10

  Essential Learnings: ADD and ADHD ............................................................................................................. 11

  Classroom Practices: ADD and ADHD .......................................................................................................... 13

  Assessment Strategies: ADD and ADHD ................................... .................................................................... 14

  Service Options: ADD and ADHD ................................................................................................................. 15

  Characteristics: Deaf or Hard of Hearing ...................................................................................................... 16

  Essential Learnings: Deaf or Hard of Hearing ................................................................................................ 18

  Classroom Practices: Deaf or Hard of Hearing ............................................................................................. 19

  Assessment Strategies: Deaf or Hard of Hearing ........................................................................................... 20

  Service Options: Deaf or Hard of Hearing .................................................................................................... 21

  Characteristics: Deaf and Blind ...................................................................................................................... 22

  Essential Learnings: Deaf and Blind ................................................................................................................ 23

  Classroom Practices: Deaf and Blind ............................................................................................................. 25

  Assessment Strategies: Deaf and Blind .......................................................................................................... 28

  Service Options: Deaf and Blind .................................................................................................................... 29

  Characteristics: Emotional Disability ............................................................................................................. 30

  Essential Learnings: Emotional Disability ...................................................................................................... 31

  Classroom Practices: Emotional Disability .................................................................................................... 33

  Assessment Strategies: Emotional Disability ................................................................................................. 35

  Service Options: Emotional Disability ........................................................................................................... 36

  Essential Learnings:  Gender…………………………………………………………………………………37

  Classroom Practices:  Gender………………………………………………………..………….…………...39

  Assessment Strategies:  Gender………………………………………………………...……………………40

  Service Options:  Gender……………………………………………………………….…….……………...41

 Characteristics:  Gifted and Talented………………………………………………………….……………..42

  Essential Learnings:  Gifted and Talented…..………………………..…………………..….……………….43

  Classroom Practices:  Gifted and Talented ……………………………………………….………………...44

  Assessment Strategies:  Gifted and Talented…………………………………………….……………….…46

  Service Options:  Gifted and Talented………………………………………………….………………..….47

  Characteristics: Learning Disabilities ............................................................................................................ 49

  Essential Learnings: Learning Disabilities ...................................................................................................... 50

  Classroom Practices: Learning Disabilities .................................................................................................... 52

  Assessment Strategies: Learning Disabilities ................................................................................................. 55

  Service Options: Learning Disabilities .......................................................................................................... 57

  Characteristics: LEP ...................................................................................................................................... 58

  Essential Learnings: LEP ................................................................................................................................ 60

  Classroom Practices: LEP .............................................................................................................................. 61

  Assessment Strategies: LEP ........................................................................................................................... 63

  Service Options: LEP..................................................................................................................................... 65

  Characteristics: Physical Disabilities ............................................................................................................. 67

  Essential Learnings: Physical Disabilities ....................................................................................................... 68

  Classroom Practices: Physical Disabilities ..................................................................................................... 69

  Assessment Strategies: Physical Disabilities .................................................................................................. 70

  Service Options: Physical Disabilities .............................................................................................................. 71

  Essential Learnings: Race ................................................................................................................................ 72

  Classroom Practices: Race ............................................................................................................................. 73

  Assessment Strategies: Race ........................................................................................................................... 74

  Service Options: Race .................................................................................................................................... 75

  Characteristics: Significant Cognitive Challenges ............................................................................................ 76

  Essential Learnings: Significant Cognitive Challenges .................................................................................... 77

  Classroom Practices: Significant Cognitive Challenges .................................................................................... 78

  Assessment Strategies: Significant Cognitive Challenges ................................................................................. 80

  Service Options: Significant Cognitive Challenges ........................................................................................ 81

  Characteristics: Speech and Language Disabilities ........................................................................................ 83

  Essential Learnings: Speech and Language Disabilities ................................................................................... 85

  Classroom Practices: Speech and Language Disabilities ............................................................................... 87

  Assessment Strategies: Speech and Language Disabilities ............................................................................. 90

  Service Options: Speech and Language Disabilities ...................................................................................... 92

  Characteristics: Traumatic Brain Injury .......................................................................................................... 93

  Essential Learnings: Traumatic Brain Injury .................................................................................................... 95

  Classroom Practices: Traumatic Brain Injury ................................................................................................. 96

  Assessment Practices: Traumatic Brain Injury ................................................................................................ 98

  Service Options: Traumatic Brain Injury ........................................................................................................ 100

  Characteristics: Visually Impaired ................................................................................................................... 102

  Essential Learnings: Visually Impaired ............................................................................................................. 103

  Classroom Practices: Visually Impaired ........................................................................................................... 106

  Assessment Strategies: Visually Impaired ........................................................................................................ 107

  Service Options:      Visually Impaired      ..................................................................................................……108

 


__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DISTRICT CURRICULUM ACCOMMODATION PLAN FOR MEETING

INDIVIDUAL STUDENT NEEDS

A Handbook for Teachers

 

Foreword

 

 

Revisions to the Massachusetts Special Education Law 28:03 require that all school districts develop a Curriculum Accommodation Plan.  The purpose of the Curriculum Accommodation Plan (“CAP”) is to assist principals in ensuring that all efforts have been made to meet students’ needs in regular education.  The plan is a systemic plan that will be adopted by the district, and although it does not require individual written plans, the intent is to increase the general education capacity to meet the individual needs of diverse student learners.  School principals and school councils are involved in developing and implementing the CAP at the school building level.  The CAP is considered an educational activity for the general education program, not solely or specifically special education.

 

EAST LONGMEADOW CURRICULUM ACCOMMODATION PLAN

 

The curriculum accommodation plan attached was developed to provide guidelines for helping all East Longmeadow Public School students (including those with special learning needs) meet Massachusetts standards and demonstrate success on assessments.

 

Much of this plan was gleaned from the Opportunities for Success guidelines developed by the Colorado Department of Education.  It has been prepared for principals, classroom teachers, and student assistant teams to use as a resource.  There are ten disabilities that are included in the handbook.  They are Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Emotional Disability and Significant Identifiable Emotional Disability, Learning Disabilities, Physical Disabilities (504), Significant Cognitive Challenges, Speech/Language Disabilities, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Visually Impaired.  There is information about these disabilities available in the following areas:

 

 

The East Longmeadow School District has adopted and will implement a curriculum accommodation plan to assist principals in ensuring that all efforts have been made to meet students’ needs in regular education.  The plan shall be designed to assist a regular classroom teacher in analyzing and accommodating diverse learning styles of all children in the regular classroom and in providing appropriate services and support within the regular education program including, but not limited to, direct and systematic instruction in reading and provision of services to address the needs of children whose behavior may interfere with learning.  The curriculum accommodation plan shall include provisions encouraging teacher mentoring and collaboration and parental involvement.

 

Additionally, the school council including the school principal shall meet regularly and shall assist in the identification of the educational needs of the students attending the school, make recommendations to the principal for the development, implementation and assessment of the curriculum accommodation plan required.  The council shall also assist in the review of the annual school budget and in the formulation of a School Improvement Plan.

 

            Documentation

1. Staff Evaluation Instruments

2. Site-based School Improvement Plans

3. District Curriculum Guides

4. State Frameworks

5. District Strategic Plan

 

            Curricular Programs

1.      Program of Studies

2.      Early Childhood Program

3.      Chapter 1

4.      Remedial and Support Services

5.      After school Services

6.      Technology Integration

 

Academic Services

1.      Student Success Plans

2.      Special Education Service

3.      Pre-referral Process

4.      504 Accommodations

5.      Gifted and Talented Programs

 

Professional Development

1.      Addressing different learning styles

2.      Differentiating the curriculum

3.      Instructional strategies

4.      Mentoring

5.      New Teacher Orientation

6.      Technology Training

 

 

Site-Based Curriculum Accommodation Planning

The purpose of this planning is to continually strengthen and improve the general education program, for the benefit of all students.  The Site-Based Curriculum Accommodation Planning is to address various strategies that will help to achieve that objective. Schools are working toward accommodating the needs of diverse learners in all classroom settings. This will be achieved through on-going professional development, support services through general education settings, direct and systematic instruction to all students, encouragement of teacher mentoring and collaboration, and encouragement of parental involvement in their children’s education.  

 

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What are Essential Learnings

 

Essential Learnings are the additional learnings necessary for a given special population to maximize its educational growth and development.

 

Students who have learning disabilities need to learn:

 

1.  Communication skills to express and understand thoughts and opinions in a variety of settings, situations and with diverse populations.

 

2.  Decision making and problem solving skills and strategies.

 

3.  Basic language skills and a broad vocabulary to use as building blocks in developing reading, writing, and critical thinking.

 

4.  Self‑advocacy skills to make needs and wants known in socially constructive ways in learning, work and social situations.

 

5.  Personal strengths and capabilities and use this information to act responsibly at school and work.

 

6.  Social skills to develop positive relationships with peers and adults in a variety of settings and situations and with diverse populations.

 

7.  Organizational skills and study strategies for school and work. Important skills include, but are not limited to: time management goal setting management and use of materials/resources learning strategies

 

8.  Career development skills to make, pursue and maintain personal employment choices.

 

9.  The use of tools and technology to augment learning and access information.

 

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What are Classroom Practices?

 

Classroom practices are the range of instructional practices and strategies that are employed to assist a given special population of students to learn. These include, but are not limited to: time, space, modality, grouping, presentation, classroom organization and behavior management, materials, equipment, technology and environment.

 

With the needs of diverse learners in mind, educators need to promote:

 

1.                  Student Self-Management.

 Use strategies designed to promote student self‑management and independence.

Provide consistency, structure, and clear expectations.

Provide appropriate positive learning reinforcement, feedback, and recognition for student accomplishment.

 

2.                  Setting for Instruction and Learning Promote supportive and responsive climates that facilitate social and cultural learning and allow students to take risks and learn from failure.

Provide opportunities and environments for meaningful participation of all students in instructional and social activities.  Adapt physical environments to match the learning needs of students.

 

3.Instructional Practice Incorporate life skills, social and affective skills, and skills in self‑advocacy throughout the curriculum.

Choose teaching and learning methods that match the learning needs and styles of the student.  Incorporate direct instruction of how‑to‑learn skills and thinking skills throughout the curriculum.   Make sure the language of instruction effectively communicates and promotes student understanding for students with special needs. Use methods to promote active learning, including hands‑on learning, real‑world and experiential learning, community‑based learning, and learning involving student choice. Use learning materials, equipment, and media tailored to the unique learning needs of students. Design and implement specific opportunities for students to apply and transfer learning to a variety of situations, both familiar and novel. Use varied and flexible grouping strategies for instructional purposes. Use flexibility in pacing of instruction, scheduling, and time‑usage based on the needs of individual students. Communicate and collaborate with other teachers, specialists, students, families, and appropriate agencies in planning and implementing effective instruction.

 

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What are the appropriate Assessment Practices?

 

The accommodations and adaptations necessary for a given special population to adequately demonstrate knowledge and skills.

 

In assessing the learning of diverse learners, educators need to:

 

1.      Allow for a variety of assessments that evaluate what is being taught. This may include:

Portfolios Assessment of daily work Observations

Self and peer evaluations Demonstrations and projects

Oral tests Cooperative group assessments Family, community, and employer evaluations/observations

 

2.      Ensure that the language used in assessment is consistent with the language used during instruction and use the student's preferred mode of communication. When assessing, always consider:

Student's culture/preferred language

Clarity of instructions

Verbal and non‑verbal options (e.g., sign language)

 

3.      Consider the student's unique needs when determining the content of the assessment:

Identify the skills or content to be assessed and ensure that assessments test only the content taught.

Design assessments to determine what the student knows as opposed to what the student does not know

Utilize student's prior knowledge to determine instruction and subsequent assessments

Identify individual learning styles and design assessments to elicit a variety of thinking and application skills

 

4.      Design assessment procedures and accommodations to meet individual student needs.

Assess in student's primary communication mode (i.e., Braille, sign language, picture board, etc.)

Utilize a variety of people (i.e., family, peers, employers, other professionals, etc.) in the assessment process Utilize technology for presentation of assessment and student response

 

5.      Allow flexibility in the time and scheduling of assessments.

Allow extended time Allow the student to take breaks. 

Divide assessment into smaller segments Schedule assessment when student can perform best. 

Utilize untimed assessments.

 

6.      Allow for a variety of assessment environments. Consider the purpose of the assessment and the student's unique needs and choose the environment which fits best.

Consider student's physical condition, endurance, emotional state, attention span and distractibility, medical condition, etc., at time of assessment

Control for distractions Create supportive settings that encourage student participation

Use preferential seating

Use real life settings and other alternative environments

 

7.      Consider the evaluation criteria which will be utilized when designing assessments and set the criteria prior to assessment.

Involve others in determining the realistic expectations and goals for the student

Provide family and others the opportunity to assist in interpreting assessment results

Make expectations and criteria clear and explicit

Provide a variety of grading methods, including: individual grading scale narrative reports group grades

 

 

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What does the term Service Options imply?

 

Systems of organizing people and materials to supply and deliver educational opportunities, accommodations and supports in order for students or given populations to be successful learners.

 

For learners with learning disabilities to have adequate opportunities to learn, schools will:

 

1.  Involve families, community members, and peers integrally in the design and implementation of educational services for all children and youth.

 

2.  Use shared and flexible resources, including personnel, fiscal, facility, program, time, and administrative process to meet students' needs and offer appropriate services by providers with specific expertise.

 

3.  Offer curriculum and instruction that is diversified through a variety of modifications using alternative scheduling, accessibility, optimal learning environments, grouping, accommodation of multiple learning styles, setting appropriate expectations, student‑teacher ratios, and using a variety of instructional techniques

 

4.  Support collaborative planning with individual students, team members, family members, the community, and other agencies with the management of time and resources.

 

5.  Design support services for students which help them with life management including safety, health, wellness, social relationships, and learning.

 

6.  Assure students the opportunity to plan and prepare for successful life adjustment after high school including career development, community involvement, post‑secondary education, recreation and leisure choices, and daily living activities.

 

7.  Maximize the use of technology for learning. School professionals, families, and students use technology competently.

 

8.  Offer a menu of educational opportunities to students, families, and school personnel for continuous improvement of services to students.

 

9.       Offer support services for students are available to assist students in managing behavior, expressing needs, developing friendships, resolving conflicts, and making choices and planning their lives.

 

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CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WITH:

ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER (ADD)

 ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD)

 

 



A student with ADD/ADHD may exhibit many of the characteristics listed

below:

• Hyperactivity may or may not be present

• Easily Distracted

• Appears to daydream

• Lack of organizational skills

• Difficulty staying on-task

• Limited impulse control

• Age inappropriate behavior

• Consistently inconsistent

• Limited task follow through, may not be able to sustain effort

• Talks excessively and/or blurts out or interrupts others

• Learns information, but has difficulty demonstrating knowledge in traditional ways

• Lack of motivation

• Low frustration tolerance and low work productivity

• Social/emotional health may be impacted (i.e., social skills, peer acceptance, self-image)

• ADD may co-exist with other conditions (i.e., Learning Disabilities or Emotional Disturbance)

________________________________________________________________________________________

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER (ADD)

ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD) DISORDER (ADHD)

 


Students with Attention Deficit Disorder and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder need to learn:

1. Organization

Students need to be taught/learn the following organizational skills for use in a variety of environments including school, home, and community:

• Strategies for starting/finishing a task

• Study skills

• Time management skills

• Decision-making skills

• Strategies for transitioning between activities

• Memory strategies

• Talking self through a task

• Goal setting skills

• General organization and coordination of materials and assignments

2. Self-Advocacy

Students need to be taught/learn the following self-advocacy skills for use in a variety of environments including school, home and the community:

• Knowledge of ADD/ADHD, legal rights, and impact of ADD/ADHD on self

• Skills for expressing own feelings and needs

• Negotiation skills

• Skills for using technology/alternative formats for assignments

• Strategies for building on strengths

• Ability to know needed modifications and the ability to request that modifications be made

• Knowledge of strengths, weaknesses, personal learning style and their application in daily schoolwork, community life, and career options

3. Self-Control/Monitoring

Students need to be taught/learn the following self-management skills for use in a variety of settings, including school, home, and the community:

• Strategies for staying on task

• Skills for thinking and waiting before acting

• Skills for paying attention to what is important and ignoring the unimportant

• Skills for matching energy level to task and/or environment

• Skills for consistently producing quality work

• Strategies for dealing with change

• Skills for becoming accountable and responsible for behavior and learning

4. Social Skills

Students need to be taught/learn the following social skills for use in a variety of environments, including school, home, and community:

• Skills for resolving conflicts

• Skills for making and keeping friends

• Skills for complimenting others

• Skills for learning to stop inappropriate interactions

• Skills for accepting feedback about behavior and not using ADD as an excuse

• Skills for anger management

• Skills for understanding body language and reading social cues

• Skills for appropriate self-expression

• Skills for taking turns and working in groups

• Attending and listening skills

• Skills for making requests appropriately

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CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER (ADD)

ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY

DISORDER (ADHD)

 


To provide effective classroom practices for students with ADD and/or

ADHD, educators need to:

1. Learning Environment

• Create a structured environment — Consistency, routine, preparation for change, visual cues and

reminders

• Reduce distractions — Use study carrels, headphones, alternative settings for work

• Teach/promote/allow the use of technological aids — Spell checkers with/without auditory feedback, calculators with/without auditory feedback, recorders including variable speed

machines, computers and appropriate software including word

processing

• Limit transitions (class-to-class, number of teachers, etc.)

2. Instructional Techniques

• Teach organizational techniques/study skills — Color code/highlight materials and assignments; break down long term projects into small steps; create daily assignment notebook, use memory strategies such as summarizing and paraphrasing; teach test taking and note-taking skills; teach reading strategies (i.e.,

outlining and mapping) teach editing, prioritizing and list making strategies.

• Provide clear, concise directions, expectations and rules — Repeat directions, model directions, demonstrate task with student imitation; use a multisensory approach; limit number of rules;

create clear concrete rules that are limited in number; teach routines.

• Allow for movement — Provide opportunities for movement with a purpose and use of

manipulatives (silly putty, balls, clay, etc.); allow frequent breaks and recess

• Promote use of peer helpers and improved peer relationships — Create cooperative learning groups with appropriate peers, peer tutoring; facilitate peer acceptance.

• Provide/allow modified or adapted assignments — Eliminate excessive copying from board or books to paper; use of recorded books; alternative assignment formats; provide set of books and materials for home use.

• Communicate with involved persons on an ongoing basis — Use a home/school communication system; maintain a list of "what works" for the student; provide feedback to medical/mental

health personnel as needed; encourage consistency across environments.

• Develop a system with the student to facilitate medication delivery at school.

• Allow the student processing time for questions and information.

• Provide desirable alternative activities for students to access after completing assigned tasks.

3. Behavior Management

• Clearly state and consistently implement expectations and consequences.

• Catch students being good.

• Develop behavior plans to address problem situations across the

day/settings. Train staff to implement plan in a consistent manner.

• Provide meaningful positive reinforcement systems.

• Reward partial accomplishments.

• Increase supervision during unstructured times.

• Set up behavior management systems and frequently review and update.

• Promote use of charting of student progress/promote student use of self-charting.

• Avoid power struggles; pick your battles, and maintain a calm neutral response.

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ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER (ADD)

ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY

DISORDER (ADHD)

 

In assessing the learning of students with ADD and/or ADHD, educators need

to:

1. Consider Contextual Factors Related to Assessment

• Test in one-on-one or small group settings.

• Provide alternative settings.

• Allow for movement/standing instead of sitting.

• Provide extended time with breaks.

• Break tests into smaller parts.

• Give clear descriptions/expectations of what will be assessed.

• Test only what is taught.

• Use community and career development activities to assess skills and abilities.

2. Provide Alternative Formats

Offer students a choice in testing/assessment formats, including the following:

• Allow verbal/oral responses

• Encourage use of technological aids (computers, calculators)

• Promote the use of project portfolios and/or other tactile project choices

• Provide alternatives to computerized answer sheets

• Provide practice tests

• Provide a study format identical to the test format/no surprise quizzes

• Allow open book/open resources

• Provide word bank for vocabulary or fill-in-the-blank tests

• Allow take home tests

• Provide readers or scribes for tests

• Allow tape recording of test and/or student responses

• Use teacher/team observation

• Promote self-evaluation/rating

3. Develop Grading Policies

• Use an individual grading scale

• Grade primarily content/ideas, secondarily, mechanics

• Use narrative report cards or a combination of narrative and traditional grade cards

• Grade based on items completed, not total number of test items

• Use a grade based on efforts of cooperative group

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SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER (ADD)

ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY

DISORDER (ADHD)

 

For students with ADD/ADHD to have adequate opportunities to learn,

schools need to:

1. Ensure training, support, and resources for teachers, staff, parents, students, community members and employers in needed areas, including the following:

• Discipline

• ADD/ADHD

• Instructional practices

• Behavior management

• Technology

• Legal requirements

• Treatment options

• Teaching and learning style

• Teaming

 

2. Provide adequate planning time for consultation, teaming, collaboration

and communication with parents and staff and with service providers

outside of the building.

3. Provide environmental modifications to allow for movement, flexibility

of workspace, etc.

4. Allow for accommodations in learning style; match teaching style with

learning style.

5. Lower student/teacher ratio in regular classroom based on severity and

need, curriculum, age. Use volunteers, mentors, aides, small groups, etc.

to assist with all students.

6. Provide access to full-continuum of service options (i.e., one to one, small

group, full class, etc.).

7. Encourage alternative/flexible schedules and curriculum.

8. Ensure accommodations for diverse learners are built into school

improvement plans.

9. Provide counseling services and social skills groups (large, small, and

individual).

10. Institute a mentor program for students and teachers.

11. Ensure the availability of support groups for students, teachers, parents,

peers, siblings, and the community.

12. Provide tutorial services before and after school (e.g., academics, motor

skills, social skills, organizations, etc.).

13. Assist students in connecting with community agencies that can provide

support in a variety of environments including home, school,

community, and employment.

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CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WHO ARE:

DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING

 

 

 

1. In General:

• An estimated twenty one million Americans have some degree of

hearing loss, mild to severe. Of the 60,000+ students identified with

disabilities in Colorado, approximately fifteen hundred have

educationally significant hearing loss. The great majority of the

students are hard of hearing, not deaf.

• About ten percent of deaf/hard of hearing students in Colorado attend

the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. The rest are in public

schools. More than half spend at least half the day in regular education

classes. Most wear hearing aids or use some form of sound

amplification in the classroom.

• Ten percent of students who are deaf/hard of hearing have parents

who themselves are deaf.

• Hearing loss is not connected to cognitive ability.

2. Communicative Characteristics

• Speech production is generally affected by hearing loss, especially voice

and articulation quality. (Speech is a skill learned through imitation.

It is hard to learn to say that which you have trouble hearing. )

• A delay in language development, telegraphic, incomplete sentences,

pervasive difficulty with syntax, and a lack of facility with idiomatic

language are all prevalent. None of this is necessarily related to

intelligence.

• Sign language, if used, may be a “PIDGIN” form of English; it may be

straight English; or it may be American Sign Language (ASL)--the sign

system used by the Deaf adult community. ASL is neither English nor

a sign system with a written form.

3. Behavioral Characteristics

• Often, may appear to understand, but really doesn’t; require frequent

checks for understanding.

• Will speechread (lipread). This is not an exact science -- the most

skilled deaf adults “get” about 35% of what is said.

• May fail to respond to questions, or responds with seemingly irrelevant

answers

• Occasionally, takes a peculiar listening posture

• May seem more aware of movements than sound

• Confuses words that sound or look alike

4. Learning Characteristics

• For the most part, these students are visual learners.

• They often miss multiple meanings of words and idiomatic language.

• They take a very literal translation of written material, missing

subtlety.

• They require constant rephrasing - not necessarily simplifying - of

information.

• They will require repetition of presentation.

• Generalization and transfer of learned material is not a given - it must

be modeled and required.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

OF STUDENTS WHO ARE:

DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING

 

 

 

 

 

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing need to learn:

1. Adequate language and vocabulary to understand the instruction.

2. Adequate language and vocabulary to ask questions.

3. Sufficient skills to attend to instruction, to study the new material, and

to prepare for tests. This includes:

• Sufficient skill in self-advocacy or sense of personal responsibility to

ask questions whenever and wherever needed, and to "manage the

conversation" in order to get needs met

• Ability to organize, generalize, and transfer learning

• Communication skills sufficient to express needs related to deafness

• Social skills sufficient to participate in the classroom and in

unstructured times

• Knowledge of home community and rights as a disabled citizen in

any setting, the ability to ask for any changes necessary to ensure clear

communication in any environment

• The knowledge of how to work with all support staff, including how

to access and use a variety of technology/equipment.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING

 

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices for students who are deaf or hard of

hearing, educators need to:

1. Create an "interactive" learning environment in which:

• the deaf/hard of hearing child is an active participant

• the student can manage, visually, all the input required to attend to

instruction

2. Instruct using student's preferred mode of communication.

3. Given the student's mode of communication, teach at a pace commensurate

with his ability to process and respond to new information.

4. Instruct at appropriate language/linguistic levels.

5. Repeat and reinforce concepts throughout the instructional day.

6. Provide frequent opportunities to apply new concepts.

• rephrase to accommodate for idiomatic, figurative, and/or complex

language

• set context for new concepts, tying instruction to child's own

experience; establish a "need to know " for the material

• provide materials at appropriate reading levels

• tie all academic teaching to language and communication

• provide frequent examples of- as well as exceptions to- the concept

• teach with frequent use of clear, visual aids

• speak at a normal rate, without over-articulating, and with slightly

greater than normal intensity

• frequently check for understanding

• modify curriculum as needed, e.g., community based

• demonstrated willingness of staff to make accommodations (e.g.,

interpreters, assistive listening devices)

7. Within the learning environment, ensure that:

• there is the possibility of block scheduling for vocational education,

community based instruction, etc.

• there is an appropriate pace to the instructional day, including

providing necessary breaks.

• there is organization to the class such that teaching does not occur

while the teacher is facing the blackboard, passing out papers, or

walking around the classroom.

• a variety of teaching strategies are used especially to promote

generalization and transfer of what has been learned.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING

 

 

 

In assessing the learning of students who are deaf or hard of hearing,

educators need to:

1. Ensure that instructions are clear and in student's preferred mode of

communication.

2. Allow for a variety of ways to assess understanding (e.g., projects,

demonstration, reports, signed vs. spoken).

• Ensure that assessment is tied to content and not necessarily tied to

the ability to read and write English

• Allow for more time as needed and for the possibilities of individual

versus group testing and/or testing in a separate room

• Ensure that what is being tested is that which was taught (e.g., testing

vocabulary comprehension versus child's ability to speak/

speechread/sign)

• Allow for a variety of settings in which to assess understanding (e.g.,

community, at work)

• As appropriate, allow for use of calculator, word processor, and other

technology

• Connect/compare standardized assessment with alternative

assessments

• Consider informing the student of the need for or benefit of the

assessment being done.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING

 

 

 

For students who are deaf and hard of hearing to have adequate opportunities

to learn, schools must:

1. Provide interpreters in any situation requiring them.

2. Provide regular consultation, in-service and other support to mainstream

teachers.

3. Ensure that all service providers can communicate effectively with the

student including through the use of an interpreter.

4. Ensure that each student will have access to speech, language, speech

reading, auditory training, and/or sign language as part of instruction.

5. Ensure that all instructional staff are skilled--expressively and

receptively--in communication mode of child.

• Managed instructional environment: minimum of distraction,

specialized seating, adequate lighting, acoustics, safety (flashing

alarm)

• Access to note takers and peer tutors

• Access to captioned films, videos

• Educational transition services: level-to-level and including

interagency coordination for transition to college or the world of

work

• Access to needed assistive devices/auditory equipment

• Ensure that educational and extracurricular options are not limited by

availability and quality of service providers.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WHO ARE:

DEAFBLIND

 

 

 

 

Vision and hearing are the two key "distance senses", they provide sensory

information from locations away from one’s body. When they are absent or

impaired, in some combination, the child’s development may be greatly

challenged.

Age of onset, the severity of the sensory loss, and the presence of other

disabilities all contribute to the extent of developmental challenge. These

three factors and others are responsible for the great diversity of the

population of learners who are deafblind and the need for specialized

supports to achieve the best education possible. As a result of this diversity,

the needs and abilities of individual learners who are deafblind will vary

highly.

Four areas of primary educational concern for the learner who is deafblind

include: (a) a system of communication, (b) a means of developing social

relationships, (c) personal care and life skills management, and (d) travel

skills. These skills must be taught systematically with carefully planned

strategies to the child since any incidental learning by observation is severely

affected by sensory loss and specialized adaptations or techniques are often

required.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

DEAFBLIND

 

 

 

 

 

Students who are deafblind need to learn:

1. Sensory and Individual Learning Style

• An awareness of objects and people in the environment and

recognition of what the child hears, sees, touches, smells or otherwise

experiences

• Functional use of senses (hearing, vision, touch, smell, etc.) to acquire

and process information

2. Communication Skills

• Vocabulary which is meaningful to the child in his or her home,

school, and community environments

• A variety of methods of expressing and receiving information, wants

and needs, and feelings in a variety of ways such as speech, sign

languages, gestures, picture or object boards, Braille, communication

devices, large print, audiotapes, etc.

• Skills in using technology, including adaptive aids, to enhance both

visual and/or auditory skills: computers, closed circuit televisions,

magnifiers, hearing enhancement devices.

3. Concept Development

• Concepts of body, space, and time (e.g., schedule and sequence of

activities)

• An ability to apply academic learning to everyday life (e.g., functional

reading and writing, money used and time and calendar etc.)

4. Orientation and Mobility

• An awareness of body position in relationship to environment

• Skills to travel as independently as possible in familiar and unfamiliar

environments including use of devices such as a long white cane,

monoculars, communication cards, etc. (with the method of their

choice)

• Familiarity within specific environments (e.g., living environment,

classroom, etc.)

5. Life Skills

• Strategies for organizing personal space, items in the environment,

and daily care routines (how to prepare for getting dressed or eating,

making one’s bed)

• Daily personal care skills such as eating, dressing, grooming, personal

hygiene, and toileting independently

• Skills to manage one's living environment (e.g., making one’s bed,

preparing a meal, doing own laundry etc.)

• Home and personal management skills for grocery shopping, cleaning,

cooking, and paying one’s bills

• Skills in accessing community for shopping, transportation, medical

needs, leisure time and other personal needs

6. Social-Emotional Skills

• Body postures and facial expressions which help facilitate social

interaction with others and replacement of inappropriate behaviors

with socially acceptable behaviors

• Problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills with family, friends, and

adults

• Strategies for initiating and maintaining interaction, and making and

keeping friends

• An understanding and appropriate expression of one's sexuality.

• Self-protection and refusal skills

• Age appropriate leisure activities

• An awareness of age appropriate dress and hygiene in relation to peer

group

7. Self-Advocacy Skills

• An awareness and assertiveness regarding individual abilities and

needs related to both vision and hearing loss (e.g., need to move closer

to the board, need to turn on one’s hearing aid, etc.) in order to be

comfortable in all situations

• An awareness and skills to select the choices available in everyday life

and long range

• Strategies for becoming an active participant in the classroom or

community by communicating what he or she needs to be comfortable,

to learn, and to feel safe

• Methods necessary to obtain information for safety and medical

purposes, as well as getting materials and resources at school, home,

and in the community

8. School to Work

• An understanding of student work responsibilities, teacher/parent/

employer expectations, and the roles of various people within the

student’s environments

• An understanding of work habits and skills such as finding and

keeping a job, maintaining relationships with co-workers and

employers, using time clocks, etc.

• A realistic and accurate concept of self, abilities, post school training

potential, and future employment potential.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

DEAFBLIND

 

 

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices for students who are deafblind, the

educators need to:

1. Methods

• Teach to each individual's unique learning style.

• Make use of other educators including specialists in meeting the needs

of students who are deafblind.

• Provide a system of time organization such as daily, weekly, monthly,

and yearly calendars with objects, pictures, and/or words.

• Give the student appropriate and frequent acknowledgment (e.g.,

verbal praise, a physical token system) when his or her behavior or

responses are correct or incorrect and/or socially appropriate or

inappropriate.

• Expect the student who is deafblind to follow the same rules of

behavior that apply to other children in the classroom and when they

are within the child's capacity to learn and understand.

• Be sensitive for the need to provide extra time for the child to respond,

extra time for task completion, and provide an individualized pace for

presentation of new information.

• Use individualized and multiple methods of communication including

a variety of options to match the student's learning abilities (e.g.,

gestures, sign language, Braille, enlarged print, audiotapes, tactile sign

language, technological devices, use of interpreters, etc.).

• Check frequently to ensure the student is understanding the task and

what is expected of him or her.

• Use, as needed, a high degree of repetition.

• Ensure consistency related to specifics of communication by all service

providers.

• Ensure that each student is challenged and encouraged to perform and

advance academically at his or her ability level.

• Provide Opportunities for Success new information in practical settings

where the child will use the knowledge (cooking in the kitchen,

walking the usual route to classes or to the bathroom, etc.).

• Take into account the child's culture/ethnicity and adapt accordingly.

• Provide purposeful, intensive, structured learning experiences - it may

be necessary to systematically teach each new concept and task.

• Provide opportunities for the student to review and successfully

practice using new skills in a variety of settings.

• Accept and encourage the student's individual approach to learning

(e.g., he or she may use the sense of touch before engaging the sense of

sight or use several senses at the same time).

• Expose student to new concepts and vocabulary before introducing to

the large group.

• Use verbal, written, and/or physical prompts to initiate and to

maintain work habits, knowing which prompt works best for each

child.

• Use appropriate cues to help the student anticipate the next activities.

• Provide the students with opportunities and materials that ensure

he/she is an active participant in his/her daily routine (e.g., choice

making, turn taking, problem solving, decision making).

• Individualize learning experiences to match the student's level of

ability by modifying the content of the curriculum and/or making

appropriate changes in the materials (e.g., enhancing the visual,

auditory, or tactile information).

• Provide consistency and predictability in the daily activities of the child

as a way of facilitating independence.

• Facilitate activities which encourage peer interaction and friendship.

• Set up activities that help the child adapt to events out of the routine

and emergencies.

• Facilitate activities which teach and offer opportunities for peer

interaction and friendships.

• Use a high degree of "hands on", experiential learning.

• Provide hand-over-hand assistance, verbal, and tactual cues only when

necessary. Allow independence whenever possible.

2. Materials

• Use real life materials to reinforce functional learning and provide the

student with opportunities to make choices in his or her daily routine.

• Use specialized materials, equipment, and technology that allow the

learner full access to classroom information that the child who is

deafblind may not see or hear (e.g., amplification devices, low vision

aids, Braillewriter, closed caption video/film, descriptive video,

Braille, large print, sign language, interpreter, TDDs).

• Provide tools for independent mobility, as required.

3. Environment

• Ensure physical consistency of the environment by structuring the

classroom to allow the learner safe movement (e.g., clear obstacles

from travel pathways), maximized travel independence, and increased

access to personal storage space and materials within the classroom

(e.g., designated coat hook or locker, specific items are kept in the same

place).

• Ensure that the student is in a comfortable and supported position for

learning tasks.

• Minimize auditory and visual distractions, and enhance the

environment to optimize auditory and visual reception (e.g., attention

to lighting, contrast, color, angle, and distance of materials, etc.).

• Provide extra space for specialized materials available to the group and

available only to the individual child.

4. Instructional Content

• Teach communication throughout every activity and experience. Start

simple, build to complex.

• Teach communication skills in the context of meaningful social and

education activities by using alternative or assistive communication

systems such as sign language, object or picture boards, adapted for each

individual child.

• Teach adaptive living skills by means of functional practice within the

setting where these skills normally occur.

• Provide for physical activity to promote fitness.

• Teach mobility skills by means of predictable routes with easily

identified landmarks, possible use of equipment such as a long cane,

etc.

• Orient the student with the surroundings in any new setting.

• Provide support for learner to grieve for sensory losses, if the

disability(ies) diminishes suddenly or gradually.

• Provide opportunities for recreation and leisure time activities (at

school, home and in the community).

• Provide opportunities to explore and learn about a variety of jobs

and/or additional work skills.

• Provide support for choosing a job and getting started.

• Provide opportunities for retraining, if vision or hearing status

changes with age.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

DEAFBLIND

 

 

 

In assessing the learning of students who are deafblind, educators need to:

1. Develop an evaluation strategy based upon the educational concerns for

the student, which may or may not involve the use of standardized test

instruments.

2. Use a functional skill assessment (skills within natural context of

learning and in a variety of situations).

3. Eliminate inappropriate assessment items (those that are solely based on

a visual and/or auditory response).

4. Analyze test items to assess what skill or concept is actually being

measured. Then adapt activities and materials to assess these skills in a

way that is appropriate for the child.

5. Modify materials and methods of the assessment procedures to meet the

sensory and/or physical needs of the child without compromising the

intent of the assessment task (for commercial, as well as teacher-made

materials).

6. Utilize a team approach of assessment and include individuals who are

familiar with the student.

7. Conduct an assessment in multiple sessions and across a number of

environmental settings such as the home, school, and places within the

community.

8. Use ongoing observation to evaluate the child's proficiency.

9. Be sensitive to language and cultural implications of the assessment

process and assessment materials.

10. Use extreme caution with the interpretation of assessment results

(especially standardized tests) with learners who are deafblind.

11. Provide assessment materials in appropriate “literacy medium" such as

Braille, large print, etc.

12. Request and acknowledge family input into the assessment process by

using parent interview and/or participation in the actual assessment

process.

13. Take into consideration the influence of medication and medical

condition(s) upon the child's behaviors, responses, and performance.

14. Allow more response time when presenting material and extra

completion time for the task at hand.

15. Be aware of the size and contrast of the testing materials.

16. Become familiar with the child's preferred mode of receptive

communication and communicate with the child in the most

appropriate manner.

17. Acknowledge "subtle behavioral" changes as responses to the assessment

item.

18. Provide breaks for sensory and/or physical fatigue.

19. Ensure comfortable and supported positioning during the assessment

process.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

DEAFBLIND

 

 

 

For students who are deafblind to have adequate opportunities to learn, the

schools need to:

1. Provide a low student-to-teacher ratio. (e.g., the student may require oneto-

one for some tasks).

2. Use a team approach in all aspects of the child's programming which

may include the following members: child, his/her family, interpreters,

regular and special educators, orientation and mobility instructor,

teachers of children with sensory impairment(s), communication

specialist, physical therapists, occupational therapists, medical personnel,

psychologist, paraprofessionals, social worker, rehabilitation counselors,

employers, transition people, and other persons who are directly

involved with the life of the child.

3. Collaborate with the student's family in all aspects of the child's

educational programming.

4. Strive to ensure programmatic consistency between the child’s home

and school life.

5. Build in appropriate time for team meetings.

6. Consider a variety of service options to best meet the student's

individual needs.

7. Examine the need for extended school day and/or extended school year.

8. Address medical needs during school placement hours and identify the

personnel who will need to tend to these needs (e.g., medications,

suctioning etc.)

9. Employ co-teaching between special education and regular education

teachers.

10. Use a supervised paraprofessional who has ongoing specialized training.

11. Provide a skilled interpreter, whenever appropriate, to the child in the

classroom.

12. Access a source of Braille materials, as appropriate, for the child.

13. Provide families with information about deafblindness, related

resources, educational options, and about the special education process

and legal rights.

14. Commence transition planning for students entering adult life, at the

recommended age of 14 years and earlier when appropriate. Transition

planning should include the family, school personnel, and appropriate

rehabilitation personnel.

15. Provide training for parents to provide communication and use of skills

at home.

16. Provide families and the individual with deafblindness with

information on counseling and support resources. This is especially

important for the individual who has a progressive or sudden hearing

and/or vision loss.

17. Provide timely and thoughtful transition planning anytime there is a

change in the child’s program.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WITH:

EMOTIONAL DISABILITY (ED)

(Significant Identifiable Emotional Disability--SIED)

 

 

Characteristics of the SIED population which may be helpful when reviewing

this document: {taken from the Rules (for the) Administration of the

Exceptional Children's Educational Act 2.02(5)(a)}

• May exhibit pervasive sad affect, depression and feelings of worthlessness;

cries suddenly or frequently.

• May display unexpected and atypical affect for the situation.

• May display excessive fear and anxiety.

• May persist in physical complaints which are not due to a medical

condition.

• May exhibit withdrawal, avoidance of social interaction and/or lack of

personal care to an extent that maintenance of satisfactory interpersonal

relationships is prevented.

• May appear out of touch with reality; have auditory and visual

hallucinations, thought disorders, disorientation or delusions.

• May have difficulty getting mind off certain thoughts or ideas; unable to

keep self from engaging in repetitive and/or useless actions.

• May display consistent pattern of aggression toward objects or persons to

an extent that development or maintenance of satisfactory internal

relationships is prevented.

• May demonstrate pervasive oppositional, defiant or noncompliant

responses.

• May demonstrate significantly limited self-control, including an impaired

ability to pay attention.

• May exhibit persistent pattern of stealing, lying or cheating.

• May demonstrate persistent patterns of bizarre and/or exaggerated

behavior reactions to routine environments.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

EMOTIONAL DISABILITIES (ED)

(Significant Identifiable Emotional Disability—SIED)

 

 

Students with Emotional Disabilities need to learn to:

1. Understand and Maintain Physical Health

• Know the effects of behavior on health in order to make healthy,

personal choice

• Know and understand the effects of nutrition and medication on

managing behavior and emotional well-being

• Know about the relationships between personal lifestyle choices and

resulting diseases

• Know about the use and abuse of medication, drugs, and alcohol

• Learn the signs that indicate a need for seeking health care

2. Develop Personal Responsibility

• Learn strategies to prevent and respond to potentially harmful

behaviors and situations

• Learn and practice personal hygiene, promoting social acceptance and

personal relationships.

• Learn how to play an active and responsible role in determining the

outcomes of events

• Learn when it is necessary to comply with social expectations, and

community norms and rules

3. Develop Coping Skills

• Learn a variety of strategies to plan, organize and manage daily

routines and meet personal goals

• Learn to identify and manage big and little stresses

• Learn how to identify and deal with personal emotions and those of

others

• Learn strategies to cope with challenging people and situations

4. Develop Problem Solving and Decision Making Strategies

• Learn to define a problem and select from a variety of options

• Learn and use a variety of strategies for solving problems and making

decisions

• Learn how to recognize when change is necessary

• Learn strategies for handling change

5. Self-Advocate

• Know how to get community resources that provide support such as

mental health, job and housing, and legal assistance

• Learn strategies for asking for help and how to request the supports

that you need

• Learn personal strengths, weaknesses, needs, and abilities and how

these relate to your daily functioning

• Learn how to resolve issues of fairness and differing opinion with

adults and peers

6. Understand Human Behavior

• Learn how to identify and manage feelings

• Learn about the wide range of human social and sexual behavior

• Learn how behavior is affected by cultural values and personal

experiences such as parenting and upbringing

• Learn to tolerate diversity in people and experience

• Develop personal behavior management skills

• Learn to identify the outcomes achieved by specific behaviors such as

attention getting behaviors and the need to belong

• Learn new behaviors which replace the ineffective ones and practice in

a variety of settings

• Learn to recognize situations and events that cause emotional or

behavioral responses and develop ways to manage those responses

7. Use Effective Student Behaviors

• Learn to manage time and materials

• Learn to work independently and as part of a team

• Learn effective skills for interacting with adults as well as peers in

social and academic settings

• Learn to recognize when you are getting nervous or anxious in

academic and social settings and use effective coping strategies

• Demonstrate how managing time effectively, using organizational

strategies, and other learning aids can increase your ability to focus on

learning new skills

• Learn to recognize and accept authority

8. Make and Keep Friends

• Learn how to select, develop and maintain friends who support

appropriate behavior

• Learn how to resolve issues that occur as friendships grow

• Learn to support appropriate behavior of your friends

• Learn to separate personal needs and goals from those of a peer group

and the skills for coping with peer pressure

• Learn effective social skills

9. Live Independently

• Learn to set long and short term goals

• Develop a specific career goal which matches with personal strengths

and interests

• Develop a system of supports for coping with life after high school

________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

EMOTIONAL DISABILITIES (ED)

(Significant Identifiable Emotional Disability--SIED)

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices to students with emotional

disabilities, educators need to:

1. Provide a Safe, Nurturing and Accepting Environment

• Physical Environment

— Arrange tables, desks, chairs, and work spaces so that the physical

space suits the need of each student.

— Allow students whose activity levels are high to listen and do work

in flexible seating arrangements (i.e., sitting on the floor, standing,

using a table rather than a desk).

— Create private spaces for students where they can withdraw from

the group when they need to be alone.

• Routines and Procedures

— Encourage student input when creating classroom rules and

procedures.

— Post rules and routines and adhere to them.

— Notify students whenever possible in advance when routines will

be interrupted.

— Schedule activities, small and large group instruction, and other

classes in such a way that the activity and attention spans of

students are accommodated.

— Teach and review the routines and procedures that students need

for transition from a variety of activities such as large to small

group activities and from the classroom to the lunchroom.

— Create opportunities to practice routines and procedures.

• Social Environment

— Support failures as learning opportunities.

— Use humor with students.

— Provide students with opportunities to make choices and discuss

the outcomes of those choices.

— Teach students to work and play with their peers through positive

interactions.

— Model and reinforce appropriate social interactions with peers and

adults.

— Encourage students to take responsibility for the classroom

atmosphere and to improve it when it is unsatisfactory.

— Allow students time to evaluate their own interactions with others.

— Be able to recognize and admit mistakes.

— Establish a group identity for a class or class period by allowing

everyone to play a critical role.

— Establish and maintain clear boundaries between adult and student.

2. Help Students to Learn to Manage Their Own Behavior

• Classroom Management Systems

— Set clear, concise and achievable standards for behavior in your

classroom and make sure that students and their families know

what the standards are.

— Use structure, consistency, reinforcement, feedback, consequences

and cues to assist students to meet the standards.

— Understand that students have different abilities and modify your

expectations based on those individual abilities.

— Use logical and natural consequences to help your students learn to

manage their own behavior.

— Reinforce students to meet standards and encourage students who

are less successful.

— Promote an atmosphere that respects students' feelings and abilities.

— Recognize when students are frustrated with an activity so that it

can be modified.

— Address issues of fairness.

3. Know and Use Effective Teaching Practices

• Practice Strategies

— Provide feedback and encouragement as students try out new skills.

— Provide homework that students have the ability to complete.

— Provide opportunities for students to role-play and practice

interpersonal skills.

— Provide ongoing feedback to students.

— Provide practice of new skills in a variety of environments.

• Instructional Strategies

— Use a variety of age appropriate activities, methods and materials

when teaching.

— Create simulations or provide hands on experiences that help

students understand a new concept.

— Encourage students to try new ideas, ask questions, and risk failure.

— Use examples from your students’ lives to teach concepts.

— Review daily what has been taught.

— Provide opportunity for cooperative learning.

— Incorporate social skills and life skills throughout the curriculum.

• Crisis Management

— Plan for potential crisis situations that includes necessary building

staff.

— Provide a variety of options for students in crisis and reinforce their

use (i.e., voluntary time out, going to the counselor, principal).

— Teach students in non-crisis times to use options.

— Learn to recognize a crisis, when to ask for assistance, and when to

follow the crisis procedures.

• Individualizing Discipline Procedures

— Write individual plans and evaluate their effectiveness regularly.

— Involve students, their families and other school professionals in

developing an individual behavior support plan.

— Balance proactive with reactive strategies and consider students’

strengths and needs when writing behavior plans.

____________________________________________________________________________________


 
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

EMOTIONAL DISABILITIES (ED)

(Significant Identifiable Emotional Disability--SIED)

 

 

In assessing the learning of students with emotional disabilities, educators

need to:

1. Consider Evaluation Methods

• Use a variety of ways to test for knowledge including verbal responses,

portfolios, shortened tests, open book tests, self-evaluation,

illustrations, computers and peer evaluation.

• Develop the criteria on which students will be evaluated and provide

those criteria to students at the beginning of a unit or class.

• Include teachers, parents, peers, and other significant people in the

students' lives in evaluating how the students are doing in using both

academic and social skills.

• Assess students' knowledge when they are in a non-agitated, non-crisis

mode.

• Allow students to use alternative environments, move around or

change seats during testing, or complete testing at a later time if that

may improve performance.

• Critique works in progress and provide a series of tests over time so

that the student receives useful feedback.

• Provide students with information on performance relative to

themselves and their peers.

• Provide opportunity to retake test or redo lessons using feedback from

the first attempt.

2. Consider Environmental Modifications

• Provide people and/or technology as support (i.e., tape recorders,

scripters, readers, computers).

• Be flexible in choosing the environments in which assessment takes

place (i.e., secluded area).

• Make time adjustments when needed that allow for extra time, shorter

time frames or varied time of day.

• Be flexible in methods of testing such as written or verbal.

• Match written test design to students' strengths (i.e., multiple choice,

fill-in the blank, true-false, essay, matching).

3. Include Opportunities for Demonstrations

• Create situations where students exhibit their skill acquisition and

evaluate their performance.

• Evaluate the student's problem solving process as well as the end

product.

• Use portfolios that show examples of work from the beginning to the

end of a unit or class.

• Allow for group presentations.

• Assess students in real life situations and evaluate their use of skills

(i.e., behaving in social settings, relationships with others in personal

and community settings).

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

EMOTIONAL DISABILITIES (ED)

(Significant Identifiable Emotional Disability--SIED)

 

 

 

For students with emotional disabilities to have adequate opportunities to

learn, schools need to:

1. Assure that each student has access to an adult in the building to build

a trusting relationship.

2. Provide opportunities for collaborative co-teaching to occur between

mental health faculty, special educators, and general educators through

common planning times, flexible scheduling, team meetings, and

shared professional development.

3. Use community resources such as recreation facilities, clubs, and other

experiential education activities to augment the school curriculum.

4. Coordinate with other human service agencies to ensure that the

mental health, social and legal needs of students are met.

5. Provide a variety of career and work opportunities and the necessary

supports so that students will graduate from school and support

themselves through work.

6. Provide off-campus learning opportunities such as job sites in the

community, job shadowing, service projects, and experiential/outdoor

education.

7. Work with families to involve them in their student's education

through a variety of means including the use of conferences, telephone

calls, voice mail, computers, regular written logs and home visits.

8. Work with families to assist in providing parenting skills,

understanding their child's unique needs, understanding legal issues

which relate to their children, and accessing community resources.

9. Provide students with opportunities for support in crisis including

access to a supportive adult, counseling and support groups.

10. Provide students with the opportunity to remove themselves from the

classroom setting when their emotional or behavioral needs indicate a

need for a physical change.

11. Allow for flexibility in scheduling including adjusting start and finish

times to the school day, class scheduling, use of breaks, involvement in

community activities, and alternative course options.

12. Consider student-teacher ratios in programming for students with

social and behavioral needs which accounts for the need for individual

and small group instruction and behavior and classroom management.

13. Provide staff development and continued support to assist personnel

in understanding and working with students with significant social,

emotional and behavioral needs.

14. Provide critical information regarding behavior issues to appropriate

school personnel.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

THAT IMPACT:

GENDER

 

 

 

Students of both genders need to learn:

1. A variety of learning styles.

• Need to take risks

• Need high expectation

— boys need to learn to respect girls

— all students need a conscious learning of differences in

communication styles based on gender in world cultures

— face failure (internally).....males

— perseverance in the face of failure (externally).....females

2. Essential learnings for females

• Believe they can learn

• That success is OK

• Need direct communication styles, i.e., "no" as opposed to "I don't

think so!" (will have cultural variances)

• Motivate for success. Reduce the concern about competition from the

perceived conflict between femininity and achievement.

3. Social/emotional needs

• Feel safe-physical safety, emotional, free from sexual/racial

harassment

• Assurance of each student’s right to learn

• Self expression for all students needs balance; girls need

encouragement to express ideas equally and openly (Native

American & Asian Pacific male and female students may need

additional encouragement and permission; African American males

may need to be assured that someone consciously hears their

contribution.)

• External affirmation (i.e., males need to affirm themselves, other

males, especially girls for their skills and abilities and not their

appearances; females need to affirm themselves, other females

especially males for their sensitivity and nurturing characteristics and

not their aggressiveness and competitiveness.)

4. Academics

• Critical thinking skills....to recognize unfair representation of females

and males in their environment in the media.

• All genders/races need math, science and technology - girls tend to

stay away from upper level courses and minority students are not

encouraged to participate.

• Females need to affirm that they must prepare to be economically

self-sufficient.

• Understand the coping skills needed in a school climate and the

behavior practices that support them.

• Need role models from both genders in every area of achievement.

• Need and understanding that child rearing is not restricted by gender.

• Need balance by gender in communication.

• Sensitize females and males to appreciate and utilize one another's

interests and abilities.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

THAT IMPACT

GENDER

 

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices for students of both genders,

educators need to:

1. Encourage the display of equitable responses based on gender.

2. Hold high expectations for all students, performance (i.e., males being

praised for poetry writing; females being praised for technological

development).

3. Provide equitable rewards and consequences.

4. Encourage students to take pride in their abilities--especially African

American, Native American and Hispanic females.

5. Use a variety of teaching and evaluation strategies (i.e., cooperative

activities, and independent ways of learning).

6. Use gender fair, bias free, equitable language and behaviors in the

teaching environment.

7. Intervene and confront others immediately to reduce instances of gender

bias, gender stereotyping and harassment.

8. Discuss sexual harassment, sexism and identify their impact and power.

9. Explore the dual cultures and expectations that confront minority

females and males

10. Develop classroom activities which may meet the different needs of

females and males of different culture.

11. Have responsibility for implementing gender equity through Title IX of

the Education Amendments of 1972 in the classroom.

12. Eliminate traditional groupings (i.e., lining up by sex for the bathroom or

boys competing against girls).

13. Encourage females and males into activities, assignments and tasks

where they have historically been underrepresented.

14. Help students visualize gender in a variety of new roles as in careers,

especially the new technology.


 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

THAT IMPACT:

GENDER

 

 

 

In assessing the learning of both genders, educators need to:

1. Provide assessments that are gender fair.

• Language appropriateness

• Non-stereotypic model

• Inclusivity

2. Offer a variety of assessment strategies based on gender and cultural

locality.

3. Provide performance or authentic assessment, based on measurable

gender outcomes of achievement and learnings.

4. Provide gender relevance to experience.

5. Develop reliabilities and validities across gender and ethnic groups.

6. Record assessment results across gender and ethnic groups.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

THAT IMPACT:

GENDER

 

 

 



For students of both genders to have adequate opportunities to learn, schools

need to:

1. Make community and parent involvement meaningful.

• Seek programs and community volunteers to lead and encourage

students, especially minority females and males, participation.

• Maximize parent’s desire to contribute by creating an award system

for parent’s time, energy and commitment.

2. Develop and complement policies/procedures to support gender equity.

All means all.

3. Be in compliance with federal and state laws such as Title IX of the

Education Amendments of 1972, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,

504, Carl D. Perkins for Vocational Education, Americans with

Disabilities Act, school-to-work, drug free workplace, ethnic

intimidation, family leave, Safe Schools Act, etc.

4. Utilize community service activities for all students to connect/expand

the in-school educational activities.

___________________________________________________________________________________


 
CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WHO ARE:

GIFTED & TALENTED

 

 

 

 

Gifted individuals can generally be characterized by:

1. Extraordinary learning strength or ability apparent through behavioral

traits, performance, or aptitude.

2. Capacity to learn with unusual depth of understanding, to retain what

has been learned, and to transfer learning to new situations.

3. Capacity and willingness to deal with increasing levels of abstraction and

complexity in their areas of talent or intellectual strength earlier than

their chronological peers.

4. Ability to make unusual connections among ideas, concepts, and bits of

information.

5. Ability to learn very quickly in their areas of talent or intellectual

strength.

6. Unusually strong curiosity or inquisitiveness; unusually strong desire to

find answers to questions or problems that interest them.

7. Unusual insightfulness and/or intuitiveness, especially in their areas of

talent or intellectual strength.

8. Tendency toward heightened emotional and/or physical sensitivity.

9. Tendency to hold high expectations (sometimes unreasonably high) of

one’s self and others.

10.  Capacity for intense concentration and/or focus.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

GIFTED & TALENTED

 

 

 

 

Students who are gifted and talented students need to learn:

1. Self-directed learning skills (e.g., study skills, organization skills, time

management skills, etc.) which allow them to maximize their learning

effectiveness and to excel at optimal levels of performance.

2. Critical and creative thinking skills and problem-solving strategies,

integrated with solid learning content.

3. Knowledge about and skills necessary to manage potential difficulties in

learning often experienced by exceptionally able individuals, such as

perfectionism, risk-taking, stress, heightened sensitivities, pressure to

perform, and high expectations of self and others.

4. Attitudes and skills necessary for accurate and fair self-criticism and

evaluation of one’s own products, performances, and progress in

learning.

5. Research strategies and skills essential for in-depth study and advanced

learning, taught as early as possible in student’s educational career.

6. Knowledge of self (including learning abilities, learning styles, interests,

nature of giftedness, etc.) and knowledge about other gifted individuals

as a resource for personal development.

7. High-level development of effective communication, collaboration, and

self-advocacy skills.

8. Self-understanding gained from consistently experiencing learning

situations that are challenging enough to make hard work necessary.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

GIFTED & TALENTED

 

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices to students who are gifted and

talented, educators need to:

1. Use teaching methods and learning opportunities shown by research and

practice to be especially effective with gifted and talented students,

including, but not limited, to:

• curriculum compacting and acceleration strategies

• fast-paced instruction and provisions for progress through curricula

at the student’s personal rate of learning

• direct instruction in basic and advanced research and study skills and

in the use of a wide variety of technology

• instructional planning that anticipates differences in diverse learning

needs and characteristics of individual students (differentiated

instruction, personal learning plans)

• interdisciplinary instruction and cross-disciplinary application of

learning content

• thematic instruction

• emphasis on involvement of student choice, interests, and learning

strengths

• in-depth learning projects and independent investigations, done both

individually and in small groups

• judicious use of competitions

2. Provide content learning that requires gifted and talented students to be

engaged a majority of their learning time in higher-level thinking,

abstract thinking, problem-solving, creativity and innovation, and high level

research and study skill development.

3. Use flexible, non-permanent instructional grouping practices designed to

facilitate accelerated/advanced academic learning (e.g., cluster-grouping,

cross-age grouping, grouping by achievement level for specific

instruction, interest grouping, collaborative problem-solving groups,

etc.).

4. Offer counseling and guidance strategies specifically designed around the

unique affective needs of gifted and talented students (e.g., feelings of

being different, effects of uneven development, need for effective selfadvocacy,

motivation, interpersonal skills, coping with learning barriers,

etc.).

5. Provide opportunities for “real world” investigations and experiences,

both inside and outside of the regular classroom (e.g., in-depth study of

real problems, work-study, exploration of local and global issues, career

exploration, community service experiences, etc.).

6. Use flexible scheduling allowing for a variety of learning opportunities

and purposes.

7. Provide access to scholars, expert practitioners, and gifted role models

(especially important for gifted female students and gifted minority

students).

8. Provide opportunities for students to demonstrate achievement and

excellence through competitions, exhibitions, performances,

presentations, etc.

9. Provide exposure and access to advanced ideas, research, and works of

eminent producers in many fields.

10. Provide frequent and regular opportunities to learn and work with peers

of like ability and interest.

____________________________________________________________________________________


 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

GIFTED & TALENTED

 

 

In assessing the learning of students who are gifted and talented, educators

need to consider:

1. Allowing gifted students to test out of required course work,

“challenging” a class or unit of study, or waiving requirements based on

satisfactory demonstration of prior knowledge, skill, or ability.

2. Pre-testing before instruction in order to make decisions about

appropriate instruction for the student.

3. Creating assessment tasks that require complex and abstract thinking, are

appropriately challenging, allow divergent responses, emphasize both

the depth/breadth and quality of the student’s learning, and motivate

students to show their highest level of performance.

4. Using portfolios of the student’s work and/or performance over time

that

• Keep track of continuous progress in the curriculum

• Incorporate evidence of learning through a variety of assessment

methods

• Make accommodation for different learning styles

• Show evidence of complexity of learning

• Provide opportunity for timely and constructive feedback on

student’s products or performances, including opportunity for

student to revise or improve his/her work

• Give evidence of affective growth and development

5. Emphasizing student self-evaluation using agreed-upon or predetermined

standards of excellence in evaluation criteria.

6. Providing supportive assessment environments that both encourage

and allow high-level performance and risk-taking.

7. Using out-of-level tests (e.g., 5th grade level test for a student currently

in 3rd grade, end of unit exam from a class above current grade level,

taking Scholastic Aptitude Test as a seventh grader, etc.) to determine

student knowledge and/or aptitude in a curricular area.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

GIFTED & TALENTED

 

 

 

 

For students who are gifted and talented to have adequate opportunities to

learn, schools need to:

1. Offer accelerated learning opportunities and settings in the regular

school program (e.g., advanced academic classes, advanced classes in the

arts, advanced placement programs, honors classes/programs,

International Baccalaureate Program, grade-skipping opportunities, early

admissions, etc.).

2. Provide grouping arrangements that provide intellectual and interest

peer group interactions (e.g., cluster groupings, pull-out programs,

seminars, magnet programs, collaborative problem-solving groups, self-contained

programs, pre-school programs, etc.).

3. Create personalized Learning Plans developed cooperatively by students,

parents, teachers, and counselors, covering a variety of time frames (e.g.,

unit of study, semester, school year, multiple years, etc., especially for

highly gifted students).

4. Offer supplemental inside-of-school and outside-of-school enrichment

and extended learning programs and activities (e.g., Super Saturdays,

summer academic and enrichment programs, clubs, field trips, extended

travel, student exchange programs, academic contests and competitions,

mentorships/internships, community service activities, etc.).

5. Provide career exploration and career counseling programs, including

future education planning, counseling, and guidance.

6. Offer counseling and guidance services especially for gifted students

provided by educators with expertise in gifted and talented student

education (e.g., self-awareness programs at the elementary level, advisor advisee

groups at middle school, special counseling and advisement at

high school).

7. Offer support services in the school for gifted and talented students

provided by persons with expertise in both gifted and talented education

and specialty areas (e.g., counselors, special education personnel, teachers

for the visually and/or hearing impaired, teachers for students with

limited English proficiency, etc.).

8. Design efforts to coordinate, combine, and/or share resources, people

and facilities within a district or building in order to maximize access to

and utilization of available resources for supporting student learning

(e.g., very talented younger students utilizing studios or laboratories at

high school or college, high school teachers working with talented

middle level students in accelerated academic programming, etc.).

9. Offer programs for providing information and training in gifted and

talented education for parents, teachers, and administrators.

10. Offer support and information services for parents and professional

educators provided by trained persons who have responsibility for gifted

and talented education programming (e.g., state director of gifted

programming, district and building coordinators, school-based resource

teachers, etc.)

11. Facilitate cooperative agreements between K-12 schools and institutions

of higher education providing for concurrent enrollment, dual credit,

and other advanced and/or postsecondary options.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WITH:

LEARNING DISABILITIES

(Perceptual/Communicative Disability)

 

 

 

1. Students with learning disabilities often tell us things like:

• ‘‘It’s just harder for me to learn than for the other kids.”

• “ I feel frustrated when I can't do it.”

• “Sometimes I don't feel very smart.”

2. Teachers often say things like this about students with learning

disabilities:

• “I know she’s bright, but she can’t perform tasks that other students

can. She has so much trouble reading (or writing, or doing math).”

• “He’s so disorganized, nothing ever gets done.”

3. Parents may tell us things like:

• “She doesn’t have many friends.”

• “He doesn’t like school.”

• "She's just slower than her younger sister."

• "He's just not motivated."

4. Research and experience tell us:

• Students with learning disabilities:

— are capable of learning and can be productive, participatory

students and citizens.

— form a heterogeneous group with a wide range of skills, talents and

needs.

— may experience difficulty learning throughout their lives.

• Learning disabilities are related to differences in central nervous

system functioning which affect perception and language and cognitive

processing. This leads to difficulty acquiring academic and social skills.

As a result students may be less actively involved in learning and may

be less efficient learners.

• Students with learning disabilities may experience difficulty:

— developing effective social skills

— acquiring academic skills

— applying what they've learned

— making appropriate decisions

— expressing themselves and understanding others

— remembering information

— utilizing effective, efficient learning strategies

• Learning disabilities are not caused by mental retardation, emotional

disturbance, sensory impairments, or other disabilities.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

LEARNING DISABILITIES (LD)

(Perceptual/Communicative Disability)

 

 

 

Students with learning disabilities need to learn:

1. The essential, component skills necessary to learn to read, write and do

mathematics.

The skills of reading, writing, speaking/listening and mathematics are

essential learnings for students with learning disabilities and are inherent

to the acquisition of all other learning. The development of these skills

are ongoing and should be incorporated across content and grade levels.

• Essential, component skills for reading that may prove difficult for

students with learning disabilities include:

— decoding skills

— vocabulary skills

— accessing essential background knowledge

— comprehension skills

— summarization

— self-monitoring for accuracy and comprehension

• Essential, component skills for writing that may prove difficult for

students with learning disabilities include:

— development of ideas

— retrieval of background information

— organization for and of writing

— sentence formulation

— mechanics and spelling accuracy

— penmanship

— self-monitoring of writing process

• Essential, component skills for mathematics that may prove difficult

for students with learning disabilities include:

— understanding the language of math

— understanding and applying math concepts

— fluency and automaticity in using math facts and procedures

2. Effective techniques, strategies and tools to compensate for their learning

difficulties.

• Memory strategies

• Study strategies

• Listening strategies

• Attending strategies

• Computers and calculators

• Manipulatives

• Multi-sensory strategies for perceptual deficits

3. The self-management skills necessary to control their learning, their

behavior and their lives.

• Self-monitoring techniques

• Time-management techniques

• Effective organizational strategies

• Long and short term goal setting techniques

• Coping/stress management techniques

• Conceptual maps and notebooks, clear assignment sheet for grades

4. The social skills necessary for successful interpersonal relationships.

• Initiating and maintaining conversations

• Cooperating with peers and adults

• Interpreting verbal and nonverbal cues

• Resolving conflicts through positive and socially acceptable methods

• Identifying and using various roles appropriately in the family,

community and school

5. The skills necessary to be an effective self-advocate.

• An understanding of their own personal strengths, skills and needs

• The ability to build on and develop strengths and talents

• The reasons for personal success and failure, including understanding

the positive results of persistence

• Negotiation skills

• The ability to seek assistance, including knowing when, where, and

what to ask of whom

6. The problem solving techniques to respond flexibly in various situations.

• Decision-making

• Critical thinking

• Awareness and knowledge of cause and effect

• determining appropriateness of risk taking

7. Practical life skills necessary to function effectively and with satisfaction at

home and in the community.

• Maintaining health and hygiene

• Developing leisure activities

• Managing personal finances

• Choosing and maintaining appropriate living arrangements

8. Career development skills to make and pursue appropriate personal

employment choices.

• Behaviors necessary for successful employment and training

• Awareness of career interests and aptitudes

• Skills for considering and pursuing future education and training

options

• The specific skills necessary to obtain and maintain targeted

employment when needed

9. Language skills necessary to adequately express themselves and

understand others.

• Vocabulary

• Grammar

• Pragmatics

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

LEARNING DISABILITIES (LD)

(Perceptual/Communicative Disability)

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices to students with learning disabilities,

educators need to:

1. Teach using effective instructional strategies.

• Present the same information and directions through various

modalities.

— utilize materials such as charts, maps, tapes, overheads, flannel

boards, chalk boards, VCRs, video cameras, and hands-on materials

to present information

— color code written material provided to students when appropriate.

(For example, all information that needs to go home could be on

yellow paper, all science material could be on blue paper, the

student can edit or highlight with different colors, or written

directions can be consistently highlighted in the same color.)

— give directions in both oral and written formats. Written directions

may be on the chalkboard, on the overhead, on chart paper, or on

handouts or outlines

• Provide opportunities for active learning.

— provide a variety of experiential activities such as math

manipulatives, music and physical movement, role playing, science

experiments

— provide opportunities for students to have frequent, short exchange

of ideas and information with each other

— present challenging, relevant problems to students to solve

• Establish relevance so the student can relate learning to real life

experiences.

— provide opportunities for community members to work with

students to enhance the relevancy of the skills being taught

— provide opportunities for students to learn and apply skills outside

the school setting

• Provide outlines, study guides, and graphic organizers prior to and

during instruction.

— have visual charts and diagrams to help students see relationships

between and among concepts

— help students learn to develop their own visual organizers

• Modify assignments and tests when appropriate.

— provide a) alternative assignments, b) shortened assignments,

c) alternative resources (large print books, reading materials on tape,

calculators, alphabet strips, Franklin spelling devices) and d) worksheets

with clear and limited print

• Give students more time and support to process information.

— allow extra time for students to answer oral questions or

opportunities to "pass" and answer later

— provide quiet time and/or extra time to facilitate the processing of

new information

— ask students to repeat or rephrase directions

— redefine terms or rephrase information to facilitate student

understanding

• Thoughtfully and deliberately select and use specific instructional

methods for students needing alternative approaches to develop

essential reading, writing and mathematics skills.

— select from a variety of approaches so that the instruction matches

student's learning style and needs

— select from a variety of approaches including direct, explicit

instruction and exploratory, discovery activities as determined by

student need and task constraints

— select from a variety of approaches including multi-sensory

phonetic, linguistic, and whole language to teach language skills

• Check frequently to ascertain student understanding.

— have students paraphrase or put information in their own words

— have students use hand signals to indicate whether they are with

you or not (thumbs up, "yes", thumbs down, "no")

— use frequent, short quizzes

2. Establish supportive classroom environments.

• Group and regroup students using a variety of arrangements.

— group and regroup students by multi-age, ability and mixed ability

levels, learning styles, and cooperative learning

— provide small group or one-on-one instruction

• Arrange the classroom so there are quiet places and social places.

— provide areas in the classroom for students to be away from others

(a study carrel, sofa, bean bag, or desk which is separated from the

other desks)

— provide seating arrangements and activities to facilitate

development of social skills

• Establish and communicate high, yet realistic and specific expectations

for performance.

— provide opportunities for learning from errors and for overlearning

through review, repetition, drill and practice, direct

instruction

— provide grading criteria prior to student beginning a project so

student knows what is expected of him/her

— consistently and positively reinforce students when they meet the

expectations

— consistently provide immediate and informative feedback on

student performance when appropriate

— allow opportunities for the student to monitor, evaluate and

describe to others his/her own progress and record growth and

changes on graphs, learning or behavior contracts, or incentive

charts

— provide ongoing home-school communication about student

progress, resources for appropriate emotional and academic support,

and appropriate way parents can help students

— establish and follow classroom routines

— teach with enthusiasm

• Provide frequent opportunities for student success and acknowledge

the strengths and positive aspects of students' work and behavior.

— provide opportunities for enriching, challenging work in strength

areas

— assist students in understanding and using their strengths and

talents

— assist students to understand and explain to others their learning

strengths and needs

3. Deliberately focus instruction on what students need to learn.

• Identify and focus on the most important information/concepts of the

curriculum.

— develop a master list of essential information to be learned for each

class, unit, or subject area and teach it

— model and provide guided practice of material presented in class

before expecting the student to practice on his/her own

— teach concepts in several different ways to facilitate student's

application to several different situations

• Make sure that the important terminology is clear.

— provide direct, explicit instruction in essential vocabulary

— teach procedural terms as well as subject and concept vocabulary

• Develop students' thinking skills.

— provide direct instruction, modeling and practice to develop

problem solving and decision making skills

— plan activities that require students to remember facts, understand

information, apply learned information, synthesize information,

analyze information, and evaluate information

• Teach specific skills necessary to be a successful student and learner.

— provide instruction, modeling and practice in listening, speaking,

and attending

— provide instruction, modeling, and practice in memorization

strategies such as clustering and mnemonic devices

— provide instruction, modeling and practice in self-monitoring and

regulation skills

— teach the skills necessary to be successful in cooperative learning

activities in which each student is responsible for decision making,

responsibility, and sharing his/her portion of the work

• Provide and teach the students to use learning aids and technology.

— alphabet strips, number lines, Franklin spelling devices, calculators,

word processing, computer-aided instruction, tape recorder,

amplification devices, and spell checkers when appropriate

• Teach career related skills.

— provide career awareness, exploration, choice and preparation

experiences as part of various thematic units

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

LEARNING DISABILITIES (LD)

(Perceptual/Communicative Disability)

 

 

 

In assessing the learning of students with learning disabilities, educators need

to:

1. Consider the following factors in the development, norming and

standardization of tests used to determine whether students meet a

standard:

• Alternative assessment methods that are specific to individual

strengths and needs (i.e., portfolios, paper-pencil tests, demonstrations,

interactive computer presentations).

• Language and readability levels (i.e., simple instructions with

controlled vocabulary and short, declarative statements are most easily

understood).

• Test format

— variety of question formats (multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank,

matching, etc.)

— computerized presentation versus paper-pencil tasks

— enlarged print as appropriate

— white space on paper to provide organizational cues, work space for

problem-solving and assist in visual tracking

• Assessment of a range of thinking skills (for instance, representative of

a hierarchical taxonomy, i.e., Bloom’s).

• Test design to allow for various response methods

— untimed administration

— expression of learning through oral, written and graphic/pictorial

responses

— oral versus written responses

— short and long forms of the test

— score is based on content mastery rather than quality of written

response (i.e., avoid grading content acquisition based on

grammatical structure, spelling, neatness)

2. Consider the following in administrating standards-based assessments:

• Provide for technological accommodations for student responses

— computer access, calculator, tape recorder, an extra copy of the test

(to mark or write on), etc.

• Provide individuals with procedural accommodations

— readers, writers for oral responses,

— extra paper for making notes,

— extended time

— more than one opportunity to take the test

— people to supervise procedural changes, i.e., when the time allowed

for taking the test is extended, when the test is administered a

second time, when taped administration/ responses are to be used.

• Provide for environmental accommodations

— preferential seating based on specific needs (seating away from

windows or hall noise)

— control for distractions (separate room or smaller room rather than

a large group setting)

3. Consider the following for classroom assessments of standards.

• Teacher observation across time and settings

• Anecdotal records

• Student self-assessment

• Mastery of skills related to “essential learnings”

• Hands-on performance

• Demonstration of learnings (written, oral, projects, visual arts,

performing arts)

• Interviews of students

• Assessments of developmental milestones for age appropriate skills

• Social skills assessment

• Reports/observations from internships and vocational experiences

• Products from cooperative groups

• Grading assessments using alternative grading methods

________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

LEARNING DISABILITIES (LD)

(Perceptual/Communicative Disability)

 

 

For students with learning disabilities to have adequate opportunities to

learn, schools need to:

1. Provide staff development and follow-up activities to assist staff in

working with students with learning disabilities.

2. Provide trained staff to help students acquire communication skills,

motor skills, social skills, academic skills, and affective skills.

3. Support collaboration between special educators and classroom teachers

by establishing common planning time, flexible scheduling, and team

meetings.

4. Utilize teams (including parents, teachers, students, and agencies) to

problem-solve and determine appropriate and timely interventions for

students experiencing difficulties.

5. Adjust student-teacher ratios to allow for effective instruction, frequent

student feedback, opportunities for individual instruction, and effective

classroom management.

6. Provide opportunities for students to receive direct instruction in small

group and individual settings--in or outside the regular classroom--to

address student needs.

7. Provide alternative scheduling options for students

8. Enhance the learning environment through the use of current

technologies and multimedia equipment to compensate for students’

learning differences.

9. Provide planning and instruction for students’ post secondary goals.

10. Collaborate with parents and families to gain mutual understanding of

their child’s needs and strengths.

11. Provide opportunities for students to help other students.

12. Help parents and students explore community resources to provide

experiences for students to participate in community groups and

activities.

13. Collaborate with community agencies to help students, preschool - 12th

grade, attain the skills needed for educational success and independent

living.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CHARACTERISTICS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY (LEP)

 

 

 

 

Research has shown that students acquire a second language in the same way

that they acquire the first language. It is an exploratory process with verbal

expression increasing as confidence and knowledge are gained through trial

and error. Researchers have defined the following stages with corresponding

expectations. Since language acquisition is an ongoing process, stages may

overlap and growth may occur at varying intervals.

1. Silent/Receptive Stage

The student does not verbally respond to communication in the second

language although there is receptive processing. The student should be

actively included in all class activities, but not forced to speak. Employing

the natural approach and total physical response strategies will allow the

student time and clues to encourage participation. Students are likely to

respond non-verbally to peer buddies, inclusion in general activities and

games, pictures, audiovisuals, and “hands on” projects. As students

progress through this stage, they will provide one word verbal responses.

• Characteristics:

— verbally unresponsive advancing to one word responses

— hesitant, often confused and unsure

— indicate comprehension nonverbally

— develop listening skills

— associate sound and meaning

2. Early Production

The student begins to respond verbally using one or two words and to

develop the ability to extract meaning from utterances directed to them.

The student continues to develop listening skills and builds up a large

recognition (passive) vocabulary. As students progress through the stage,

two or three words may be grouped together in a short phrase to express

an idea.

• Characteristics:

— relate words to environment

— improve comprehension skills

— grasp main idea without understanding all parts

— focus on key words and contextual clues

— one word verbal responses advancing to groupings of two or three

words

3. Speech Emergence

The student begins to respond in simple sentences if he or she is

comfortable with the school situation and engaged in activities in which

he or she is receiving large amounts of comprehensible input. All

attempts to communicate (gestures, attentiveness, following directions,

etc.) should be warmly received and encouraged. It is especially important

that neither instructor nor students make fun of or discourage attempts at

speech.

• Characteristics:

— produce words that have been heard many times and understood,

but may be mispronounced (Young students’ pronunciation will

improve naturally as they interact with peers.)

— errors of omission

— produce what is “HEARD” such as common nouns, verbs, and

adjectives

4. Intermediate Fluency

The student gradually makes the transition to more elaborate speech so

that stock phrases with continued good comprehensible input generates

sentences. The best strategies are to give more comprehensible input,

develop and extend recognition vocabulary, and give students a chance to

produce language in comfortable situations.

• Characteristics:

— errors more common as utterances are more complex

— grammar not acquired yet (Concentrating on grammatical elements

is counterproductive to the process of language development.)

— extensive vocabulary development

5. Advanced Fluency

The student begins to engage in non-cued conversation and to produce

connected narrative. This is appropriate timing for some grammar

instruction, focusing on idiomatic expressions and reading

comprehension skills. Provision should be made for activities designed

to develop higher levels of thinking, vocabulary skills and cognitive skills,

especially reading and writing.

• Characteristics:

— level of comprehension higher but not advanced enough for all

academic classroom language

— can interact extensively with native speakers

— fewer errors in grammar

— many students in transitional English reading program

— although many reading skills transfer from one language to

another, extensive vocabulary development in English is still

required

— student may still be functioning in BICS (Basic Interpersonal

Conversational Skills) language proficiency level

Adapted from “Project Talk,” a Title VII Academic Excellence Program,

Aurora Public Schools.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY (LEP)

 

 

 

 

Students with Limited English Proficiency need to learn:

1. Language

• Since thoughts and rhetoric vary across languages students need an

understanding of these patterns.

• The student needs to learn listening with comprehension.

• The student needs to learn speaking with clarity.

• The student needs to learn reading for understanding.

• The student needs to learn writing for effectiveness.

• The student needs supplemental instruction and support to learn

social and academic language.

• The student needs supplemental instruction and support to learn

content area vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, modals (i.e., will,

could, should) and tag verbs (i.e., make: make-up, make-believe,

make-out).

• The student needs supplemental instruction and support to learn

note taking.

• The student needs supplemental instruction and support to learn test

taking.

• The student needs supplemental instruction and support to learn

phonics, spelling, and grammar, in addition to the syntactic and

semantic aspects of the second language.

2. Classroom

Skills and strategies in cross-cultural communication include:

• How to express opinions and thoughts.

• How to seek and interpret feedback.

• Understanding strengths and capitalizing on those strengths.

• Strategies of active learners.

• How to work competitively as well as cooperatively.

• How to ask for help.

• How to take risks.

3. Rights and Responsibilities

Skills and strategies in cross-cultural communication include:

• Learning attendance, discipline and all other school and district

policies such as grading, holidays, standards and assessments.

• Learning grievance policies and procedures.

• Learning strategies and knowledge for successful interaction both

within/without own culture.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY (LEP)

 

 

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices for students with limited English

proficiency, educators need to:

(These recommendations need to be evident in every classroom with a

language minority student at the elementary and secondary levels.)

1. Use Effective Teaching Strategies

There is a broad range of instructional practices and strategies that need to be

employed in assisting language minority students to learn content area

concepts as they learn the English language. These teaching strategies

include, but are not limited to:

• Giving students flexible time for learning.

• Teaching to different styles including cross-cultural mediation in

groups avoiding cultural conflict.

• Using content area materials leveled to the English language

proficiency of the students (native language when appropriate and

possible).

• Guiding students in the acquisition and improvement of academic and

social skills.

2. Use Effective Instructional Strategies

There is a broad range of instructional practices and strategies that need to be

employed in assisting language minority students to learn content area

concepts as they learn the English language. All teachers should:

• Utilize the home language and culture in instructional activities.

• Design challenging content area assessments tailored to English

language proficiency of students.

• Provide linguistically meaningful activities and instruction that allow

students to attain or exceed content area standards.

• Provide direct instruction for language development as it relates to the

content areas.

• Utilize classroom activities that teach to diverse learning styles that are

culturally based.

• Develop and provide reading and writing instruction in all content

areas that is consistent with the district/school wide language policy.

• Begin every lesson with an identification and preview of key content

vocabulary and concepts.

• Review key concepts and vocabulary in a variety of ways and

modalities.

• Use team teaching and creative student scheduling to utilize language

and content expertise of staff.

• Utilize bilingual instruction when possible, avoiding concurrent

translation.

• Provide content learning and language usage through meaningful

activities.

• Employ a variety of strategies to monitor student comprehension

which go beyond simple yes/no responses.

• Allow "thinking time" for student to process information before

requiring a response.

• Acknowledge that beginning second language learners will be silent

learners.

• Create a learning environment that is language rich (bilingual).

• Provide instruction in how to read course texts, handouts and other

classroom materials.

• Encourage parents to use the native/home language with the student.

3. Establish a Positive Learning Environment

• Understand and utilize the language policy of the district/school.

• Understand cultural and linguistic code-switching.

• Understand and support psychological saturation point related to

second language learning.

• Avoid stereotyping or comparing ethnic groups.

• Provide support with commitment to the expectation that language

minority students are to meet high content standards.

4. Use Support Strategies

• Time/scheduling, materials, technology, community.

• Use a buddy system to provide peer tutoring and other cultural and

social help as needed.

• Provide a comprehensive training on language minority students’

education to the entire district staff (i.e., first/second language

acquisition, culture, etc.).

• Utilize parents and community resources for linguistic and cultural

enrichment.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY (LEP)

 

 

 

 

In assessing the learning of students with limited English proficiency,

educators need to:

1. Develop Procedures

• Assessments should be consistent with the language of instruction and

individual linguistic abilities.

• Assess prior learnings in the native language whenever possible and

applicable to establish appropriate instruction.

• Utilize bilingual/ESL program staff to provide detailed information

about students' language proficiencies in order to develop language

appropriate assessments.

• Skill being assessed must be identified--academic knowledge and skills

being assessed must be distinguished and separated from competency

in the English language (Is language usage or math computational

skills being assessed?).

— instructors must realize that most assessments will actually

assess both the content area concepts and the students'

language ability (especially reading/writing skills)

— assessment of English language proficiency must include all skill

areas--reading, writing, understanding, speaking, and viewing

• Alter the procedures used to administer the assessment.

— give instructions orally using native language or English as

appropriate

— allow students to respond orally using native language or

English as appropriate

• Set and assess additional performance benchmarks and linguistically

appropriate goals to measure students' progress towards attainment of

content standards.

2. Consider the Type of Assessment

• Utilize language appropriate alternative forms of assessments to

provide students opportunities to demonstrate both prior knowledge

and progress toward attainment of content standard(s).

— portfolios with rubrics

— individual and group projects

— non-verbal assessments: visuals, drawings, demonstrations,

manipulatives

— self-evaluation

— performance tasks

— computer assisted assessments

3. Consider Timing

Allow for time flexibility in assessment administration to accommodate

students' linguistic competencies.

4. Determine Whether or Not a Student Has Met Standards.

Assessments for possible placement in special education programs must

take the following into consideration:

• Language dominance must be determined before any further

assessments are administered

• Length of time the student has been exposed to English

• Previous educational history

• Appropriate use of qualified translators, diagnosticians, and/or

other trained personnel

• Bilingual evaluation instruments administered by trained by

bilingual teachers

• In the absence of reliable native language assessment

instruments, appropriate performance evaluations

should be used.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY (LEP)

 

 

 

For students with Limited English Proficiency to have adequate opportunities

to learn, schools need to:

1. Implement personnel practices that:

• Provide the services of trained bilingual or ESL (English as Second

Language) specialists.

• Provide the services of trained translators and interpreters.

• Provide systematic professional development in first and second

language acquisition principles and supporting classroom practices.

• Canvass all district personnel to find untapped bilingual resources.

• Recruit bilingual classroom teachers and special educators.

• Recruit and train bilingual/biliterate paraprofessionals and volunteers

to provide native language and English support in the classroom.

• Recruit bilingual, non-instructional support staff (office, custodial,

transportation, etc.).

2. Develop supplemental instructional programs that are offered outside the

traditional school day or as otherwise appropriate to student need, such as:

• Before and after school, Saturday, and/or summer school programs

that focus on standards and language proficiencies.

• Year round schools with tutorial programs during intermissions.

• Magnet school programs for second language learners.

3. Create partnerships with businesses and community organizations that

value bilingualism to provide:

• Opportunities for students to apply bilingual skills.

• Corporate internships for language minority students.

4. Expand existing alternative programs to meet the needs of older language

minority students who have not yet met graduation level standards

through:

• Vocational education

• Partnerships with community colleges

• Open or alternative schools

• Adult education classes

5. Develop and support family literacy programs that provide:

• Opportunities to develop English language proficiency and literacy.

• Opportunities to develop home language proficiency and literacy.

• Support for home-school connections that promote parental

involvement.

• GED programs.

6. Provide all teachers with instruction and practice in second language

strategies that include:

• The ability to discern essential content area concepts and vocabulary

(Sheltered Language Techniques).

• Allowing language minority students to see, hear and experience

content area concepts and vocabulary using realia, visuals, and other

hands-on materials in a variety of different settings: reading, writing,

listening, speaking, action dramatization, small group work,

contrast/compare, matching, etc. (Sheltered Language and Total

Physical Response Techniques).

• Delivering content area curriculum using clear, easily understood

language. Systematic checks need to be made to monitor student

understanding (Sheltered Language Techniques).

• Understanding the role of first and second language acquisition. This

includes how social language precedes academic/concept language

learning.

7. Provide all school staff (administration, teaching, office, professional,

custodial, paraprofessional) with instruction, understanding, and

resources for the affirmation of students' home language and cultural

diversity. Staff training is necessary in order to develop culturally appropriate

home/school partnerships by:

• Teaching communication strategies to staff as well as to the parents of

language minority students in order to foster understandings across

language and cultures.

• Teaching how to utilize bilingual staff and trained translators that are

available for school meetings, parent-teacher-student conferences, and

home visitations.

• Teaching culture-specific social interactions.

 

 


 

CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WHO HAVE:

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES/504

 

 

 

1. General Characteristics

• Communication difficulty (written, verbal, non-verbal)

• Lack of independent mobility

• Difficulty with fine/gross motor skills

• Frequent medical and educational interruptions or interventions

• Difficulty with activities of daily living

• Families with extra ongoing responsibilities

2. General Needs

• Special seating, positioning, lifting, transporting

• Adaptive equipment/atmosphere

• Physical assistance

• Adaptive communication

• Specially trained staff

• Flexible Scheduling

• Access to building/classroom(s)

• Mobility training

• Liaison between school, home, community, health care provider.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE:

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES/504

 

 

 

Students with physical disabilities need to learn:

1. Different ways to communicate verbally, non-verbally and in written

language in order to facilitate effective interactions with others.

2. Skills to accomplish maximum independence in activities of daily living,

transportation, health, safety and accessing services to compensate for

physical limitations.

3. How to safely use special equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, adapted

book holder, communication devices, etc. to maximize abilities and

mobility.

4. How to effectively build friendships to facilitate positive socialization due

to physical dependence.

5. Skills to realistically explore and prepare for meaningful employment

choices.

6. Effective skills for requesting assistance to accomplish personal goals in a

socially constructive manner.

7. Adaptive strategies to enable participation in physical and leisure activities

to improve muscular control, socialization and life-long leisure skills.

8. Skills to help manage their environment and decrease their real and

perceived dependence.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE:

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES/504

 

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices for students who have physical

disabilities, educators need to:

1. Provide availability and opportunity to safely use adaptive (special)

equipment such as computers, videos, books-on-tape or special air filters.

2. Allow for additional time to complete educational activities, activities of

daily living and specific health procedures.

3. Provide an accessible environment with adequate space available for

movement and equipment.

4. Revise curriculum to meet physical abilities and developmental level.

5. Assure proper positioning for learning and testing.

6. Modify written expectations.

7. Provide smaller groupings to promote peer interactions, master skills

and sensitize others to special needs.

8. Allow for flexible scheduling or shortened day.

9. Provide shared opportunities for learning.

10. Provide opportunities to explore, try out meaningful jobs and activities.

11. Provide opportunities to explore or participate in leisure activities.

12. Allow students to assume different roles in a group.

13. Adapt homework assignments to accommodate physical abilities.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE:

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES/504

 

 



In assessing the learning of students who have physical disabilities, educators

need to:

1. Allow for use of augmentative devices or assistive technology.

2. Use parent, teacher, support staff, student and peer observations,

evaluations and checklists to gain understanding of student's current

level of proficiency.

3. Allow for additional time to complete assessments.

4. Allow for demonstration of learning in a variety of familiar settings.

5. Allow for alternative test forms such as taped, verbal or scribed responses

and reduced number of test items.

6. Allow for "hands on" assessment for activities for daily living in settings

where it actually occurs.

7. Use a portfolio of work that may include audio or video tapes.

8. Allow for group or alternative projects.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE:

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES/504

 

 

 

For students who have physical disabilities to have adequate opportunities to

learn, schools need to:

1. Provide well trained personnel to:

• Safely assist with/provide daily living skills

• Provide and/or delegate, teach and monitor health care procedures

• Provide educational strategies

• Develop Health Care Plans when appropriate

2. Provide transition planning - multidisciplinary and ongoing with parent

input.

3. Ensure collaboration of student, parent, school, community agencies to

procure necessary augmentative and medical equipment and supplies.

4. Provide liaison between school, home, community and health care

provider.

5. Offer support for maximum appropriate participation with typical peers

(may include team teaching and/or support personnel).

6. Facilitate business-community-school partnerships to assist in the

preparation for employment related and daily living skills.

7. Provide direct instruction for use of assistive technology by student and

staff.

8. Offer student assistance teams for providing support and strategies.

9. Facilitate interagency coordination to develop a system of community

support for the student.

10. Offer peer tutors or adult mentors for academic support.

____________________________________________________________________________________


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

THAT IMPACT:

RACE

 

 

 

 

Students from all races need to learn:

1. To have high expectations of self and of the educational environment

(e.g., teachers, rules, school, safety, communication/information,

physical plant, support staff, etc.).

2. The skills of duality (learning to live in a world of a dominant culture

that is not currently their own and feeling positive about both).

3. Self-identity and respect.

4. A curriculum that is multicultural and multiethnic.

5. Tutorial access from a skilled educator or knowledgeable peer.

6. Literacy-vocabulary-sight vocabulary.

7. Different ways of learning and being responsive to different ways of

teaching.

8. Career exploration options begin early in education.

9. Problem solving skills, ways to study and scheduling free time.

10. Conflict resolution and mediation skills.

11. Anger management (anger/impulse control).

12. Communication skills

• Assertiveness

• Active listening

• Audience appropriateness

13. Work skills (K-12)

• Organization

14. School readiness

• Social skills

• Timeliness

• In-school and district-wide resources

15. The "rules" of the game of life

16. Appreciation for life-long learning

17. Acquisition of vocabulary

• Home and pre-school programs of language enrichment

18. Relevance to school, workplace and every-day living

19. The primary language of home and secondary language of the school

culture.

20. Academic study skills, test-taking skills, how to use internal/ external

resources, organizational skills and research methods.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

THAT IMPACT:

RACE

 

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices for students of all races, educators

need to:

1. Know and teach cultural duality and how it is valuable in the school and

community.

2. Aid parents and others to access the school system, understanding the

rules and regulations.

3. Teach basic skills.

4. Use diagnostic teaching.

5. Understand the community.

6. Provide a variety of interventions and instructional strategies rather

than making a quick referral to special education when students are

having difficulties learning.

7. Recognize many modes of communication to reach all students.

8. Examine quality vs. quantity of essential material presented.

• relevance to student and usage

9. Provide inclusion in curriculum and classroom activities from a

multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual perspective.

10. Validate students’ cultural duality.

11. Research contemporary multicultural education practices.

12. Create opportunities for all students to share their personal histories and

cultures.

13. Provide instruction in all learning styles especially through

visual/spatial and/or hands-on experiences.

14. Replace social promotions of all students, especially ethnic-minority

students.

15. Study ability and age grouping throughout the system; investigate

demonstrated skills as an option.

16. Provide a variety of exposures to the humanities as art, music, dance, etc.

17. Provide timely feedback of students’ test scores to the parents/guardians,

especially multilingual families.

18. Teach academic study skills, test-taking skills, how to use

internal/external resources, organizational skills and research methods.

19. Create a nominative culture which enhances relationship with everyone

in the school (staff, students and parents) especially with students

empowering, supporting and affirming each other.

• need to confront students on behaviors, words and comments that

have negative impact on a positive racial learning environment.

20. Create a positive, safe environment in which learning can take place.

21. Provide high expectations of all ethnic minority students.

22. Affirm, recruit and provide opportunities for ethnic minority student

leadership and participation in all school and community activities.

23. Connect learning experiences to the world of work.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

THAT IMPACT:

RACE

 

 

 

 

In assessing the learning of all races, educators need to:

1. Develop assessments that are essential to real life and life-long learning.

2. Provide a variety of assessments.

• Portfolios

• Observations (peer-teacher)

• Standardized tests

3. Develop assessments which measure multiple intelligence/learning

styles.

4. Be aware that districts with significant minority enrollment should

provide an improvement plan with specific strategies and time lines for

bringing minority students to competencies where needed.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

THAT IMPACT:

RACE

 

 

 

For students of all races to have adequate opportunities to learn, schools need

to:

1. Ensure appropriate advocacy on staffing committees.

2. Provide basic academic skills for parents who need them

• Provision of child care

• Literacy programs

• Discipline/parenting skills

3. Provide workshops for parents in "Family Math-Family Science."

4. Enable parent advocacy to access school/community services.

5. Provide teacher education inducements for graduating students to

return to the district as teachers (concept: LEAs recruit and nurture new

teachers from their own student graduates).

6. Use parents, peers, business, community service organizations as experts

in classroom resources and mentors.

7. Provide university-college partnerships with schools.

• Smaller teacher student rate

• Personalizing curriculum

• Role models

• Emotional support

8. Maximize the current technology to create opportunities for learning.

9. Maximize collaboration with members of the multi-ethnic/lingual

diverse community.

___________________________________________________________________________________


 

CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WITH:

SIGNIFICANT COGNITIVE CHALLENGES

 

 

 

 

Characteristics of learning which appear to be common for students with

significant cognitive challenges include specific learning traits which require

more direct and intentional strategies, and provide multiple opportunities for

practice in a variety of learning environments. Certainly all students with

cognitive challenges do not exhibit the same combination of learning traits

nor to the same degree. In addition, characteristics may vary within a

particular child at different ages. Through an understanding of the unique

learning characteristics of each student, curriculum can be selected and

instruction designed to maximize learning opportunities throughout the day.

Opportunities must be present for direct instruction, ways in which to

compensate for skills with which the student may currently be struggling, and

functional, life skills practiced in "real world", natural environments.

The intent of instruction must focus on recognition that certain

approaches may provide better learning opportunities for some students than

for others. The goal is to build on individual strengths and aptitudes, while

providing support in areas of need. Each student with cognitive challenges

must be supported in a manner which facilitates development of new skills

and abilities which result in participation in an ever changing world.

One key aspect of supporting learning for students with cognitive

challenges is a sense of belonging. The student must feel that she/he is

accepted by a peer group, recognize that acceptance, and choose to see

him/herself as a full participating member of that group, wherever that

group functions, be it home, school or community. The conclusion of the

focus group for students with cognitive challenges was that a sense of

belonging is an integral part of all four categories of Opportunities for Success,

and that it is much more. Furthermore, it is the interaction between the

district/school/classroom/individuals and the student with disabilities which

creates the environment for a sense of belonging, or at least allows it to

develop. The focus group developing these Opportunities for Success was

unified in seeing a sense of belonging as the most critical aspect of educational

opportunity.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

SIGNIFICANT COGNITIVE CHALLENGES

 

 

 

 

Students with Significant Cognitive Challenges need to learn:

1. Skills for age appropriate participation in school/community activities

including:

• Making transitions from one activity/person/situation/environment

to another

• Functioning independently and interdependently with relevant others

in a variety of environments/activities

• Solving problems by making decisions

• Self-initiating (start independently) communication

• Self-initiating activities of the student's choosing and those required by

the routines of school, home and community life

• Managing time and schedules

• Being aware of one's own behavior, needs and feelings ( by using self monitoring

strategies, as necessary)

• Setting goals, making plans to achieve goals and evaluating progress

toward goals (i.e., self-determination skills)

• Advocating for one's self

• Establishing work related skills and habits to be successful in chosen

careers

• Developing job skills required for specific employment opportunities

2. Communication skills for contributing and responding including:

• Expressing needs, wants, feelings and information

• When needed, using alternative communication systems and/or

modalities to effectively communicate

• Understanding others’ messages as demonstrated by:

— the ability to follow directions

— acknowledge and honor others' statements of needs, wants, feelings

— understand and use information provided by others

• Gain and maintain attention and end interactions in an appropriate

fashion

3. Interaction skills for establishing and maintaining relationships including:

• Demonstrating socially acceptable behavior in a variety of school,

home and community settings

• Using conflict management techniques to manage stress, frustration

and anger in social situations

• Initiating social amenities (i.e., greetings, being helpful, follow expected

social interaction patterns)

• Developing a repertoire of interests, abilities and leisure skills which

provide opportunities for interactions with others

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

SIGNIFICANT COGNITIVE CHALLENGES

 

 

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices for students with significant

cognitive challenges, educators need to:

1. Create instructional environments to meet individual student needs and

encourage active participation of all students, including:

• Instruction provided in multiple natural, age appropriate, school and

community environments

• Utilization of a variety of people to support the student

• Insuring the building, classrooms and other school settings allow access

to learning for all students

• Extending time to participate in and/or complete activities

• Assuring availability of age-appropriate/functional instructional

materials

• Creating environments and schedules that are comfortable, predictable

and safe for the student and that allow for flexibility in physical

positioning

• Creating space in classrooms to support active participation of all

learners in small groups activities/centers

2. Provide a variety of instructional opportunities/methods to meet

students' unique needs, including:

• Activities that foster interdependence among all students

• Role playing, experiential learning, activity based instruction

• Varied methods to accommodate individual learning styles

• Opportunities for learning and practice in large group, small group and

individualized situations

• Classroom learning linked with home and community

• Team teaching/co-teaching involving regular/special educators,

related service personnel, peer tutors

• Opportunities to participate in cooperative learning groups to

experience teacher/learner roles with people of different abilities

• Opportunities for functional application of academic skills

• Opportunities for a career awareness/exploration, development and

real work experiences across all age levels

• Activities designed to allow practice of functional communication

skills

• Opportunities for direct/intentional instruction and practice

• Use of positive reinforcement/feedback by all people involved with the

student

• Instruction on identifying and responding to natural cues

• Activities designed to build on student's strengths

3. Support optimal development and implementation of individualized

education programs by:

• Empowering the IEP team, including the student and his/her family, to

identify and prioritize educational goals/objectives that are most

meaningful for the student's current and future life

• Individualizing curriculum to meet the educational needs of the

student by adapting or modifying assessment, instruction and

performance expectations and/or providing additional supports

required by the student to participate, learn and demonstrate

knowledge

• Developing and using behavioral plans based on identification of

motivation for behavior (as needed)

• Incorporating related services and supports into natural settings

(including general education classes)

• Teaming to solve problems and celebrate successes by regular/special

educators/students/families and other IEP team members

• Developing an array of supports for general educators and typical peers

active in supporting the learner

• Creating collaborative partnerships with parents

• Establishing a mechanism for peer review (including feedback and

suggestions from all members of the IEP team)

• Sharing information among all individuals who know the student to

identify individualized learner outcomes

• Providing ongoing opportunities for professional development.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

SIGNIFICANT COGNITIVE CHALLENGES

 

 

 

 

In assessing the learning of students with significant cognitive challenges,

educators need to:

1. Design assessments that evaluate a variety of types of information,

including:

• Student's skills, abilities and interests

• Student's preferred learning styles and/or environments

• Level of assistance required for success

• On-going student progress

• Information for program planning and revision

2. Offer assessments that are designed to allow the student to demonstrate

his/her best level of performance.

3. Select a variety of assessment methods, depending on the purpose of the

assessment and the needs and preferences of the student. Options include:

• Conduct assessments in natural environments

• Collect information in varying ways (i.e., teacher observation/report;

review of student history and previous assessment information; video

tape student activities for review by one or more service providers;

self-report, etc.)

• Utilize of a variety of people to construct, conduct and interpret

assessments (parents, friends, employers, etc.)

• Limit sensory stimulation if necessary

• Present information and allow responses in ways that match the

student's preferred learning style and mode of communication

• Utilize portfolios--accumulate examples of work, projects, video tapes,

etc. which show student progress.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

SIGNIFICANT COGNITIVE CHALLENGES

 

 

 

For students with significant cognitive challenges to have adequate

opportunities to learn, schools need to:

1. Ensure that the district philosophy/vision includes statements which

support all children having the same rights, choices and opportunities

within their neighborhood/community such as the following:

• All students can learn

• Families are partners in the educational experience

• Learning in the classroom extends to the school, home and general

community

• The appreciation of diversity is evident in all school activities

• All students are included as members of their appropriate grade level

class and benefit from learning together with appropriate supports and

services

• Encouraging schools to be caring communities which foster peer

relationships and friendships

• Students are served in their neighborhood schools or as close to home

as possible with involvement of the neighborhood school

2. Encourage and actively support the use of a variety of instructional

methods as evidenced by:

• Devotion of resources to support instructional personnel in using

expanded teaching strategies which include experiential learning,

curricular modification/adaptation, cooperative learning, co teaching/

team teaching, technology-based strategies, use of peers for

instruction/support and other alternative learning methods

• Standards education and implementation strategies that include

Opportunities for Success

• Support and encouragement for the use of multiple forms of

performance based assessment and accommodation strategies

• Effective teaming practices for developing meaningful IEPs and

instructional programming based on individual needs but reflective of

district content standards

• Availability of training for students in the development of skills

relating to friendships and effective student relationships

• Service providers performing in a transdisciplinary manner and

related services infused throughout the student's school day

3. Support collaboration between team members, family members, the

community and other agencies as evidenced by:

• Ongoing activities occurring between educators and families to

facilitate shared understanding of all student needs

• Flexible instructional options jointly provided in various

environments by regular and special education which demonstrate the

use of shared resources and which require the sharing of information

across grade levels/buildings

• Systems created which facilitate shared planning time, training,

scheduling of meetings, etc. with all educational team members

including families and which allow for the sharing of staff/family

expertise across and outside of the district

• Options available for addressing students' transportation needs and for

providing access to extra-curricular activities

• Opportunities provided for teachers/families to jointly observe other

programs

• Opportunities available for educators to develop mentoring

relationships

• IEPs developed reflect effective teams which include students (when

appropriate) and families in the process

4. Support joint training for administrators, regular, special and support staff

and families in the district philosophy, collaborative planning efforts and

in a variety of instructional methods as identified in the preceding

statements.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WITH:

SPEECH/LANGUAGE DISABILITIES

 

 

 

1. In general, speech/language disabilities may:

• Interfere with ability to communicate with friends, teachers, family

members and people in the community.

• Interfere with learning in school and the community.

• Interfere with the student's ability to progress in school.

• Interfere with ability to understand and process information.

• Lead to students needing more time to respond.

• Lead to students exhibiting behavior difficulties as a result of poor

communication skills.

• Make social communication difficult.

2. Students with language disabilities may:

• Have limited speaking vocabulary.

• Use sentences which are grammatically incorrect when speaking or

writing.

• Speak or write only in short simple sentences.

• Use incomplete sentences or thoughts when speaking or writing.

• Misunderstand or use questions inappropriately when speaking or in

writing.

• Have difficulty:

— with oral questions and directions

— remembering and following directions, memorizing information,

or recalling previously learned information

— understanding and explaining similarities and differences

— understanding concepts involving time, space, quantity, quality,

and directions giving location

— understanding, explaining, or interpreting what's wrong with a

picture or a sentence

— solving math word problems or understanding math vocabulary.

— understanding what he/she reads

— understanding and using words with the same meaning, words

with opposite meanings, words that sound the same with different

meanings, comparisons, and multiple-meaning words

— understanding idioms, (e.g., "It's raining cats and dogs.")

— understanding the meaning of words which indicate a question

— describing objects or events

3. Students with difficulty with functional/social language skills may:

• Have difficulty:

— understanding and using spoken and/or nonverbal language

— providing reasonable or logical responses to questions

— understanding humor, sarcasm, inference

— asking for help, or getting more information when needed

— understanding that what happens provides a result

— beginning a conversation, keeping a conversation going, ending

a conversation

— using information learned in one setting in a different situation

— have difficulty pretending, role-playing, imagining

— being spontaneous or original producing information

— giving greetings or saying good-byes

— understanding and using polite or formal language forms

including giving greetings and good-byes, requesting, etc.

• Not use a variety of sentence forms in social/verbal interactions.

• Be slow to respond.

• Give a response that is off-topic.

4. Students with learning difficulties may:

• Have speech that is interrupted by repeating parts of a word or whole

words, holding a sound longer, or adding a sound to a word.

• Show tension, such as tightness in the neck or face muscles or other

physical signs of stress.

• Show interruptions/tension(s) that interfere with daily

communication and cause negative reactions from the listener.

• Show signs of frustration.

• May be fearful, be anxious or avoid speaking situations.

• Use unusual word substitutions in an avoidance attempt.

• May demonstrate inadequate breath support.

5. Students with voice disorders may:

• Have a voice quality that sounds different from other students of the

same age/sex.

• Have voice that is completely lost, is too loud or is too soft.

• Have a voice pitch that is too high or too low.

• Speak in a monotone.

• Have a medically diagnosed condition.

• Demonstrate inadequate/abnormal breath support patterns.

6. Students with articulation difficulties may:

• Substitute one sound(s) for another sound(s).

• Leave out a sound(s) in a word(s).

• Put an extra sound(s) in a word(s).

• Distort or mispronounce words or sounds.

• Have difficulty imitating speech sounds.

• Show signs of frustration when misunderstood.

• Have difficulty putting speech sounds and syllables in correct order.

• Speak too fast or too slow.

• Have difficulty hearing the difference between speech sounds.

• Have difficulty coordinating the structures and muscles of the mouth.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

SPEECH/LANGUAGE DISABILITIES

 

 

 

 

Students with speech/language disabilities need to learn:

1. Language:

• Strategies to expand the student's understanding and use of

vocabulary.

• Strategies to understand and use concepts like direction/position,

shape, texture, amount/size, etc.

• Strategies to understand and problem solve which may include

identifying a problem, recognizing causes and possible solutions and

what effect they have, planning, making changes to a plan when

necessary.

• Strategies to express thoughts and ask questions in complete sentences,

in oral and written form, using appropriate syntax/grammar.

• Strategies to help the learner understand when they need assistance.

• Strategies to increase the number of words used to express a thought.

2. Social Language:

• Strategies for talking to others in a variety of settings and situations

with peers and/or adults, individually and in groups. Talking with

others involves a variety of skills - in a conversation a learner must be

able to begin, join, continue, and end a conversation, interrupt

appropriately, greet others, give their feelings and opinions, give

enough information for a listener to understand, take turns, etc.

• Strategies for asking and answering questions.

• Strategies for requesting help when needed.

• Strategies for using and understanding body language - body posture,

eye contact, personal space, gestures, facial expressions.

3. Auditory Listening Skills:

• Strategies to listen to and recognize different and similar sounds.

• Strategies to listen and respond to sounds in daily life.

• Strategies to remember what is heard.

4. Articulation/Correct Production of Speech Sounds:

• Strategies for recognizing differences between sounds.

• Strategies for using correct speech sounds in words, phrases, reading

and conversations.

• Strategies for using the best speech possible when there are physical or

coordination limitations.

• Strategies for ways to help the listener understand when speech is

unclear.

5. Assistive Technology:

• Strategies for the learner to use their assistive technology to help them

communicate and be more independent in their home, school and

community. Strategies include both teaching the learner how the

technology works as well as how to use it to interact in a number of

situations.

6. Fluency (Stuttering):

• Strategies to reduce the number and severity of dysfluent speech.

• Strategies to help the learner and others to understand the disorder.

• Strategies to help the learner teach others how to help him/her.

7. Voice:

• Strategies to produce the best quality voice possible so that it is not

distracting to the listener.

• Strategies to use appropriate loudness levels for the situation.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

SPEECH/LANGUAGE DISABILITIES

 

 



To provide effective classroom practices for students with speech/language

disabilities, educators need to:

1. Focus on speaking skills/communication

• Use alternate modes of communication: Be sure that all forms of

communication are encouraged. Students may use other ways to

communicate such as gestures, communication boards (which may

have letters and/or pictures or objects on them), an electronic device,

computer, a switch, sign language, and so on. Include these students in

all activities and encourage their communication.

• Provide extra time for the student.

— to respond (may need extra processing time) and complete their

thoughts

— extra time for task completion

— provide a slower pace for presentation of new information

(as the student requires)

• Provide playing experiences.

— encourage role playing where the student can be a speaker,

listener, and person older and/or younger than themselves

— learning refusal skills

— social situations -- focus on taking turns, changing topics,

beginning a conversation, ending a conversation

continuing a topic, etc.

— mock interviews

• Structure classroom activities/assignments so that multiple kinds of

communication (e.g., discussion, asking questions, requesting,

summarizing, commenting, describing reporting) is encouraged in an

accepting and comfortable environment.

• Provide students with idea starters, story starters, fill-in-the-blank

ideas, picture cues or actual objects (as you would with written

language) to help with oral language, conversations and oral

presentations.

• Provide students with opportunities to make choices and to learn from

them.

• Call attention to specific sounds or sentence patterns in their speech

that the child needs to work on by signaling that they used the sound,

emphasizing it in their speech, underlining in printed material.

• Share humor with students and help them to understand why it is

funny. This may include explaining certain vocabulary words,

experiences, and/or relating it to the student's experiences.

• Use equipment and technology that allows full participation in

learning such as:

— talking books

— manual or computerized communication boards

— computers (including personal)

— switches

— page turners

— special seating and positioning (cube chairs, corner chairs,

side lying, appropriate chair and table size, etc.)

— alphabet strips

— number lines

— calculators

— word processors

— tape recorders

— amplification systems

— spell checkers, etc.

• Understand the influence of cultural differences and various dialects.

2. Attend to listening and remembering

• Provide clear, concise directions and expectations by:

— repeating directions; have student repeat directions

— modeling directions

— demonstrating task with student imitation, use visual aids

— limiting length of directions, break long directions down into small

parts

— checking with the student for understanding of directions given

— being prepared to explain the directions in another way

• Provide extra time for the child to respond, extra time for task

completion, and provide a slower pace for presentation of new

information (as the student requires).

• Preteach vocabulary of the lessons and questions they may be asked

during the lesson so that student understanding may be increased.

• Provide a variety of strategies/opportunities that will facilitate the

student's ability to remember information such as:

— grouping information

— note taking

— outlining

— mnemonics

— small group instruction

— peer/study buddy

— extra time to process information

— scripts or outlines of lesson

— flexibility to leave classroom/area for quiet time

• Provide instruction, modeling and practice in:

— how to listen

— why listening is important

— how to monitor your own degree of listening

— how to show that you are listening

— how to ask questions

• Provide instruction, modeling and practice in:

— how to pay attention

— why paying attention is important

— how to monitor your own degree of paying attention

— how to show that you are paying attention

• Provide students with cues, signals or reminders in their classroom to

help them remember a behavior.

3. Focus on social communication/body language

• Model and reinforce appropriate social interactions with peers and

adults.

• Provide role playing experiences for:

— learning refusal skills, stranger awareness

— social situations (for example, focus on taking turns, changing

topics, beginning a conversation, ending a conversation, continuing

a topic.)

— mock interviews

— practice appropriate body language and facial expressions

4. Help students learn problem solving and understanding instruction

• Plan activities that require students to

— use learned information

— pull pieces of information together and use it to make a decision

— take pieces of information apart

— evaluate information

— comment on how a decision was reached

— comment on the appropriateness of decision

• Use logical and natural consequences to help students learn to problem

solve. Be sure to discuss consequences with students rather than just

letting them happen.

• Allow opportunities for the student to monitor and evaluate his/her

own responses and progress and record growth and changes on graphs,

learning or behavior contracts or incentive charts.

5. Provide help with organizational skills

• Provide outlines, study guides and/or notes prior to instruction to help

the student with organizational skills and with their learning.

• Provide instruction, modeling and practice in organizational skills

through the use of student notebooks, note taking, color coding,

planners, etc.

• Teach and write out the routines and procedures as well as how

students should be able to move between routines and discuss with

students in advance when routines will be interrupted.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

SPEECH/LANGUAGE DISABILITIES

 

 

 

 

In assessing the learning of students with speech/language disabilities,

educators need to:

1. Utilize appropriate evaluation methods/ procedures

• Use a variety of ways to assess a student's progress:

— classroom observation and descriptions of classroom

performance

— language samples with peers and adults

— video tape

— self evaluation

— peer evaluation

— cooperative group assessment

— real life situations

— study format identical to test format

— portfolios

— practice tests

— shortened tests

— open book tests

— take home tests

— verbal or written responses

— projects

— interviews of teacher, parent, peer, student and other significant

people

• Provide assistance as needed:

— reader

— writer

— assistive technology

— computers

— tape recorders, etc.

— listening devices

• Allow an opportunity for student and teacher to discuss instructions to

be sure that they are understood.

• Contract with the students at the beginning of a unit for what will be

tested.

• Evaluate/grade daily/weekly or unit work instead of or in addition to

tests.

• Develop the criteria by which students will be evaluated and provide

those criteria to students at the beginning of a unit or class.

• Provide all students with information on how they did relative to

themselves, their peers and the set of teacher expectations in the form

of a graph or chart.

2. Provide environmental modifications

• Make time adjustments as needed that allow for extra time, shorter

time frames or varied times of day.

• Simplify the vocabulary within instructions to help students

understand what to do.

• Change the format of written tests (i.e., size of type, number of

problems, length of test, etc.).

• Match written test design to student’s strengths (e.g., multiple choice,

fill-in-the-blank, true/false, matching, essay, word banks, etc.)

• Teach students how to take tests and monitor their performance.

• Be flexible in choosing the environments and the time requirements

for assessments.

• Allow opportunities for students to retell what needs to be done and to

ask questions during the assessment.

• Give credit for attempting to use strategies to complete a task even if

the task is not fully completed.

• Assess for auditory/listening skills in a natural vs. quiet environment.

3. Utilize appropriate grading methods

• Create narrative report cards instead of grades.

• Create individual grading scale.

• Determine grades based on number of items completed, not total

number of test items.

• Give grade based on efforts of cooperative group.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

SPEECH/LANGUAGE DISABILITIES

 

 



For students with speech/language disabilities to have adequate opportunities

to learn, schools need to:

1. Enhance the language environment and communication abilities

through the use of current technologies (computers, telecommunications,

adaptive/assistive devices, phones, audio/video tapes, assistive

listening devices, etc.) to compensate for communication disabilities.

2. Provide training to assist staff in working with students with communication

disabilities including observations of classrooms where

language is encouraged.

3. Provide training for peers of students with communication disabilities

so that these peers can encourage appropriate communication.

4. Provide for the adaptation/modification of curriculum, including

accommodating communication needs.

5. Encourage parental and student participation in the development of

IEPs.

6. Assist parents and families in understanding their child's needs and

strengths and provide information regarding ways to improve

communication at home.

7. Provide flexible scheduling to maximize opportunities so that

communication needs may be met.

8. Provide for collaborative co-teaching between Speech/Language

Pathologists (SLPs) and classroom teachers by allowing for common

planning time, flexible scheduling, team meetings, training, etc.

9. Provide opportunities for speech language services to be provided and

acquired in a variety of settings with SLPs and other service providers,

as appropriate.

10. Utilize teams (including parents, teachers and SLPs) to problem solve

and determine appropriate interventions and provide alternative

teaching strategies for students experiencing communication difficulties.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WITH:

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI)

 

 
 
The overriding critical attribute of Traumatic Brain Injury is that every

person with a brain injury is affected uniquely, depending on factors

associated with the injury. The attributes generally associated with a

traumatic injury to the brain include the following:

1. Learning and understanding new knowledge is more difficult after the

injury and the student may adopt different learning styles.

2. Although healing is life-long, the person with a Traumatic Brain Injury

may experience spurts of rapid recovery and erratic changes in behavior,

especially in the first two years after the injury. The effects of a brain

injury are long lasting and may be permanent, but these effects are not

always easy to predict.

3. Cognitive functioning is often affected by:

• Slow processing or interpretation of what is seen or heard may delay

response reactions

• Memory problems

• Organization problems

• Sensory overload and fatigue

• Attention and concentration problems, impulsivity, distractibility

• Problems seeing the "whole picture" or getting a concept.

• Difficulty with initiation

• Varied performance

• Inappropriate repetitions of thoughts or behaviors

4. Perceptual problems may result in difficulty with orientation to time or

body in space, and difficulty with tasks which require visual/auditory

interpretational skills.

5. Speech and language difficulties or changes may appear in understanding

others or expressing him/herself, including word retrieval problems,

slurred speech, understanding abstract language, the need for a longer

response time, and the tendency to make things up inappropriately.

6. Rapid fluctuations in emotions are commonly associated with Traumatic

Brain Injury, as seen in frequent mood swings, overreactions, impulsive

crying, inappropriate reactions, aggressiveness, apathy, and/or errors in

judgment. The sense of cause/effect may be impaired, which may impact

emotional responses to situations.

7. Self concept may be affected by the impact of dealing with newly acquired

disabilities. A person with a Traumatic Brain Injury may or may not have

a clear sense of being different from who he/she was before the injury.

Different persons have different degrees of awareness about the changes.

8. Social readjustments are often necessary. Due to the combined effects of

the injury and its impact on the student and his/her family, the student

may experience a change in social activities and friendships.

9. Physical problems may be evident, including:

• Decrease in energy: General discomfort and/or fatigue are often

present and may be compounded by the effects of medication, stress,

illness, and other physical conditions.

• Motor planning (movement), balance and coordination

• Constant or intermittent pain, headaches, or dizziness

• Sleep disturbances, appetite control, and nausea

• Seizure activity

• Visual and auditory impairments

• Paralysis and/or spasticity

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI)

 

 

 

 

Students with traumatic brain injury need to learn:

1. Organizational and management skills , for time and materials, at school,

home, and in the community.

2. How to develop skills and techniques to assist and improve memory,

such as use of a daily planner, wall calendars, visualization strategies and

memory-retrieval strategies.

3. How to select and use socially acceptable and sexually appropriate

behaviors in response to feelings of anger, frustration, or confusion. The

student needs to learn which behaviors are appropriate for a variety of

social situations, e.g. school, community, home, and work.

4. How to transfer skills and abilities from one environment to another.

5. How to understand the nature of his/her own injury and its effects on

personal learning styles and abilities.

6. How to set realistic academic, social, recreational, and career goals that

are consistent with his/her healing and abilities.

7. Skills to improve and help concentration and attention to task , such as

selecting the appropriate environment in which to study.

8. How to compensate for impaired judgment, balance and coordination

problems, increased fatigue, and impulsivity.

9. How, when, and where to be an effective self-advocate, to ask for what

he/she needs , or to find an advocate.

10. To use verbal and non-verbal communication skills with peers and

adults in problem solving, conflict resolution, and social interactions.

11. Strategies for word retrieval and verbal expression , such as word

association memory cues or taking time to organize thoughts before

speaking.

12. Study skills such as:

— when and how to ask questions

— how to prepare for tests

— how to take tests

— where and how to find information

— how to identify and separate essential information from nonessential

information

— active learning strategies such as note taking and outlining

— strategies to enhance comprehension, such as rereading,

summarizing main ideas, and self-questioning,

using checklists, and role playing

13. How to re-learn skills , to the extent possible, that were mastered prior to

and affected by the injury and to compensate for missing skills in an

ongoing process.

14. How to prevent a second brain injury by not entering the hallway at the

busiest passing times, using seat belts and protective headgear, and not

drinking and driving.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI)

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices for students with Traumatic Brain

Injury, educators need to:

1. Focus on instructional strategies

• Teach organizational skills, e.g., with color coding, labeling of

materials, assigning specific places for belongings, use of assignment

notebooks, progress reports, daytimers. Provide written

schedules/assignments that are systematically checked by student,

teacher and family.

• Specifically teach rules and routines of the learning environment,

including building orientation, school and workplace rules, class

policies, and room design.

• Provide numerous opportunities for repetition, reinforcement and

practice for all daily routines and skills.

• Provide learning in the community to ensure the transfer and

application of skills learned in one environment to another. These

experiences should include using self care skills, volunteer experiences,

social activities, academic preparation and work.

• Provide concrete learning experiences to reinforce abstract reasoning,

memory, and language. Avoid subtleties and ambiguities.

• Allow the student adequate time to respond to questions and

information. Specifically ask the student to paraphrase questions or

instructions.

• Give explicit written and oral directions and have the student repeat or

demonstrate to check for understanding. The teacher should

encourage the student to ask questions to increase understanding.

• Offer a variety of ways to learn information including visual, auditory,

verbal, and hands-on opportunities.

• Build new skills from old, familiar, learned skills.

• Written materials may need to be modified to account for perceptual or

scanning problems, e.g. larger print, double spaced, reduced quantity.

• Homework assignments may need to be modified and strategies

provided for organization and completion, e.g., have a system of

sending notes home to the family.

• Provide students with materials appropriate to both age and

performance levels.

2. Provide classroom support strategies

• Provide frequent, ongoing reevaluation, (e.g., every 6 weeks) due to

rapid, variable recovery in the first two years following a Traumatic

Brain Injury.

• If appropriate, refer the student for special education evaluation to

determine if assistance is necessary to compensate for any physical,

social, communication and/or learning limitations.

• Provide technical devices, (e.g., computers, spell checkers, alarm

watches, beepers, planners, tape recorders, etc.) to compensate for

organization and memory deficits.

• Use a buddy system to provide help as needed for peer tutoring, note taking,

finding one's way around, social skills, physical assistance, class

routines and safety.

• Give peers, building and community personnel information about

Traumatic Brain Injury and how it affects the student. Offer the

opportunity for the student to speak about his/her disability.

• Provide daily home/school/employer contact through use of a

notebook to ensure organization, communication, daily situations and

changes that may affect the student.

3. Include environmental management strategies

• Provide scheduling that allows for appetite/nutritional needs,

accommodates fatigue, and maximizes alert periods with provisions

for necessary rest periods.

• Provide an environment that reduces distractions (noise, light,

movement) as much as possible, e.g., consider seating arrangements, or

use items such as headsets and study carrels.

• Allow the student to move from the situation to rest and regroup

when noticeably stressed, overwhelmed or tired.

• Work with those who are providing support for the student with

Traumatic Brain Injury to arrange appropriate schedules and places to

meet.

4. Develop behavioral management strategies

• Teach students how to ask for help and where to go to get their needs

met.

• Teach non-verbal or verbal cues for use in getting help and assistance

from other students and teachers.

• Establish a system to assist students to begin work (e.g., buddy, teacher

proximity, non-verbal cue, work partner), since students with

traumatic brain injury may have difficulty initiating tasks.

• Monitor students to assist with time on task, to decrease distractibility,

and to ensure safety. Teach students to do this on their own as they are

able.

• Use alternative strategies for behavior management if needed (e.g.,

physical or verbal cues, discussion before or after behaviors occur.)

Traditional behavior management techniques which reward or

provide consequences may not take into account problems with cause

and effect, memory or impulsivity of the student with Traumatic Brain

Injury.

• Develop and teach a system to the student and his/her peers for how to

deal with a crisis, such as when things go wrong, are not in the right

place or when the student with Traumatic Brain Injury becomes

confused.

• Develop a new sense of success, since the students may not be able to

perform tasks which they previously could. They should be

encouraged to do their best and to look at failure as not trying, rather

than not succeeding.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ASSESSMENT PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI)

 

 



In assessing the learning of students with traumatic brain injury, educators

need to:

1. Consider time factors

• Adjust time limits as determined by student’s needs.

— determine the best time to assess, when the student is not fatigued

— provide intermittent breaks (e.g., allow for rest breaks or assess over

the course of several days)

— allow flexibility in set time (e.g., change day, time or length of

assessment)

— eliminate or modify time limits

— allow intermittent nutrition breaks to compensate for fatigue

2. Develop appropriate procedures

• Assessments should be ongoing and varied.

— evaluate how to best assess (e.g., oral, written, hands-on,

observations, with assistive technology, or a combination, etc.)

— utilize strongest learning styles (e.g., hands-on, oral, written, visual,

etc.)

— repeat opportunities to demonstrate skills since healing is ongoing

— provide necessary assistance as determined by the task (e.g., reader,

writer, large print, computer, etc.)

— provide opportunities for student and teacher to discuss

instructions to ensure understanding

— provide frequent encouragement

— check to see how medication might affect testing

— check to see if physical and/or emotional condition(s) (e.g.,

cold/allergies, tolerance, stress level, busy schedule, conflicting

deadlines) are factors when assessing

— speak slowly when giving directions or asking questions

— break down complex tasks

3. Consider the environment

The assessment setting should be adapted to the student’s individual

needs so the student can display his/her best effort, and a variety of

environments should be utilized, including school, community and work

settings.

• Be sure the testing environment is:

— quiet

— private

— calm

• Be sure the testing environment has:

— decreased auditory or visual distractions

— appropriate lighting

— comfortable seating

— proper seating or positioning available

4. Provide a variety of types

Alternative forms of assessment need to be considered, in order to

demonstrate what the student has learned. Student and family input is

essential in determining the format of assessments. Below are a few

examples of assessments that could be used for various purposes, to be

used alone or in varied combinations.

• Peer and family feedback - checklist

• Video tape

• Oral reports

• Assess skills used in context vs. skills tested in isolation

• Self-evaluation (How does the student feel about his/her

performance?)

• Portfolio (i.e., a collection of the student's work)

• Cooperative group assessment

• Individualized assessment

• Gather information from various school personnel and family

members

• Interdisciplinary (e.g., assessing students about maps can cover two

disciplines -- math and social studies)

• Classroom observations

• Observations during unstructured times

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WITH:

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI)

 

 

For students with traumatic brain injury to have adequate opportunities to

learn, schools need to:

1. Establish a Traumatic Brain Injury Team in every school district, which

may include experts from each of the involved professions, such as

occupational therapist, speech and language specialist, physical therapist,

psychologist, social worker, curriculum specialist, nurse, etc.

The team will be responsible to act as a referral source to the medical

community and an informational resource for teachers and students

with traumatic brain injury and their families.

2. Maintain frequent communication between educational and medical

providers and family.

• Have more frequent IEP updates due to changes in abilities and

needs.

• Designate specific time frames for on-going contact. Schedule team

meetings as necessary depending on the student's needs.

3. Provide teacher and staff training.

• Provide information on general characteristics and possible behaviors

of children with Traumatic Brain Injury.

• Identify areas to monitor, such as stress, medication, illness, and

family changes or any accidents which occur during recreation or

sports activities.

• Identify techniques or modifications to use.

• Identify resources and experts in Traumatic Brain Injury.

• Explain how to talk to medical professionals.

• Provide a Traumatic Brain Injury Resource Handbook with general

characteristics, possible behaviors and needs, behavior management

techniques, recommended classroom practices, essential learnings,

and assessment procedures.

• Involve Traumatic Brain Injury survivors and family members as

trainers.

4. Provide a consistent, coordinated system of case management which

includes all responsible agencies. Ideally, this would be a person who is

available all year long for multiple years.

• Case management responsibilities would include: Advocating for the

person with traumatic brain injury, assisting the student with

making connections to appropriate agencies which can support

healing and transition, interagency coordination (education, medical,

therapies, and adult services for independent living and employment),

coordination of daily contacts with the student, community resources,

and management of transitions in learning, family, and life

environments.

5. Provide technological devices as necessary for reminders, references,

repetition, retrieval of information, to block out distractions and to

increase mobility and independence. Examples: Communication

devices, books on tape, computers, headphones, carousels, recorders,

timers, word boards, etc.

6. Increase classroom support for students with Traumatic Brain Injury

through the use of trained peers, paraprofessionals, volunteers, and

adults with Traumatic Brain Injury.

7. Provide services as determined by the staffing team, for occupational

therapy, physical therapy, therapeutic recreation, speech and language,

social work, etc., to assist the student in the classroom as appropriate.

These services need to be on-going and long term due to changes in the

student's abilities.

8. Provide counseling support as needed for the student and family

(including siblings) around issues of grief, depression, denial behavior,

delusions, finances and effects of disability.

9. Access local support groups for families, and form peer support groups

for students with Traumatic Brain Injury with emphasis on coping skills

and social development.

10. Conduct regular and ongoing screenings.

• Screen for students with Traumatic Brain Injury through questions

listing possible ways children may have acquired brain injuries.

Include questions on forms during Fall registration, Child Find, and

ongoing screenings. If Traumatic Brain Injury is suspected, contact

the special educator and/or Traumatic Brain Injury team in the

school district.

• Sample questions may include:

"Traumatic brain injury is not of congenital origin or of a

degenerative nature. Have any of these occurred?

— child abuse

— automobile or motorcycle accidents

— gunshot or other wounds to the head

— falls

— trauma to the head from hard objects such as bats or balls

— other accidents which involve the head that cause brain trauma

— whiplash

— sports injuries (concussion or dazed)

If any are checked, please explain."

(from: Guidelines Paper: Traumatic Brain Injury , CDE, March 1991)

11. Reduce overall student teacher ratio.

12. Provide space for flexible accommodations, so that areas are available for

quiet, individual work or rest, as well as for group work.

13. Educate community members through one-on-one contact, round-table

meetings, and group presentations, so that students with Traumatic

Brain Injury can participate and learn in the community.

14. Educate policy makers and public to increase funding to provide case

management and technology for persons with Traumatic Brain Injury to

meet recommendations for support systems.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CHARACTERISTICS

OF STUDENTS WHO ARE:

VISUALLY IMPAIRED

 

 

 

 

1. Every student with a visual impairment is unique. Visual functioning

can change from day to day, hour to hour or minute to minute.

2. Individual learners with visual disabilities may present a wide range of

cognitive and other disabilities (severe cognitive needs, deafblindness,

gifted and talented, physically challenged, etc.)

3. Each student may need learning materials in alternative media that may

change over time.

4. Incidental learning (learning without specific instruction) is affected by

lack of or limited day to day visual observation.

5. Learners may have difficulty traveling independently and safely without

direct intervention.

6. Learners need to have visual information presented in multisensory

modalities.

7. Learners may need alternative organizational skills to be directly taught.

8. Learners will have difficulty in physical environments that are not

consistent and predictable.

9. Many learners cannot visually receive nonverbal communication and

must be specifically taught how to express thoughts and feelings

nonverbally.

10. Learners depend upon adaptive equipment and technology to facilitate

learning in the general classroom and on the job.

11. Learners require specialized strategies in order to acquire independent

living skills (cooking, marking appliances, etc.)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ESSENTIAL LEARNINGS

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE :

VISUALLY IMPAIRED

 

 

 

 

Students who are visually impaired need to learn:

1. Literacy skills

• Skills in the use of all appropriate media for reading and writing in a

variety of settings to include but not be limited to the following:

— auditory

— print

— print enlargement

— Braille/tactile

• Skills for the use of technology associated with reading and writing

media (keyboarding, electronic texts, closed circuit television, Braille

access technology, screen readers, screen output devices, tape

recorders, etc.)

• Skills for using adapted and non-adapted tools -- rulers, maps, graphs,

globes, calculators, abacuses, optical aids, corrective lenses, compasses,

protractors, watches, signature guides, etc.

2. Orientation and mobility skills

• Fine and gross motor development

• Concept development (time, distance, interpretation of physical

objects)

• Orientation skills to new environments (home, school, community)

• Pre-cane skills

• Sighted guide technique (using and teaching untrained guides)

• Knowledge of different modes of mobility (cane, dog guide, electronic

travel aids, adapted aids, etc.)

• Techniques for cane travel

• Soliciting and refusing aid

• Street crossings (urban and rural settings)

• Cardinal directions

• Planning and using routes

• Knowledge/ familiarization with community

• Using public transportation (buses, taxis, planes, and trains)

• Sensory use

— understanding concepts not directly accessible when one has little

or no vision

— eccentric viewing (positioning to see when central vision is

unavailable)

— visual efficiency (or maximizing remaining vision)

— tactile exploration and skills

— identification and localization of sound listening skills

3. Self advocacy/social skills

• Taking responsibility for self in the learning environment

— devising strategies for seeking help and assistance

— explaining needs to others

— acquiring adaptations and materials

— adjusting light, seating, and location of materials

— transferring self advocacy skills to different environments

— understanding eye condition and its impacts

• Dealing with psychological issues associated with blindness

• Acquiring knowledge of and accessing agencies that can provide

support

• Participating in social activities with peers with sight and peers with

visual disabilities

• Acquiring knowledge and use of nonverbal communication skills

— body language

— facial expression

— gestures

— eye contact

• Finding solutions to problems, establishing a safe physical

environment, and handling emergencies

• Concepts of sexuality

4. Skills and knowledge related to employment and career options

• strategies for dealing with preconceived biases of employers regarding

impact of visual loss

• exploring a variety of job experiences

• developing a realistic and accurate concept of self and abilities

• acquiring skills in technology to be competitive in the job market

• linking with adult services

• acquiring strategies for planning and setting goals after high school

5. Life management skills (strategies to include but not limited to acquiring

the following skills with little or no vision)

• Eating independently in different settings

• Dressing

• Personal hygiene

• Recreation/leisure

• Telephone use

• Shopping

— familiarization

— money

— using a guide

— calling ahead

• Laundry

• Cooking

• Money, finances, checking, budgeting

• House cleaning

• Handling emergency situations

6. Organizational skills (particular to visual impairment/blindness)

• Generalizing organizational skills from one environment to another

• Labeling and marking

• Study skills

— note taking

— tape recording

— organizing notebooks and other data sources

— outlining research

— accessing computer bulletin boards

• Goal setting

• Time management

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

CLASSROOM PRACTICES

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

VISUALLY IMPAIRED

 

 

To provide effective classroom practices for students who are visually

impaired, educators need to:

1. Provide adapted tools, texts, and materials.

2. Provide disability awareness for peers with sight.

3. Provide materials in appropriate media.

4. Provide environmental modifications.

• lighting

• positioning

• increasing/decreasing visual information

5. Encourage use of a variety of literacy options.

6. Adapt assignments and tests as needed.

7. Provide opportunities for pre-teaching skills.

8. Provide opportunities for direct instruction and practice of nonverbal

communication skills.

9. Provide opportunities for students with visual disabilities to discuss the

impact of their disabilities with other people with visual disabilities.

10. Provide opportunities to role play social situations.

11. Provide audio descriptions of visual presentations.

12. Provide community referenced instruction.

13. Provide adaptations and opportunities to practice life management

skills.

14. Provide opportunities to learn organizational systems for home, school

and work.

15. Provide direct instruction in travel skills in the home, school and

community.

16. Provide instruction in and opportunities for proactive self advocacy

skills.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


 

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

VISUALLY IMPAIRED

 

 

 

 

In assessing the learning of students who are visually impaired, educators

need to:

1. Provide tests in appropriate media.

2. Provide alternative methods of assessment (oral response, format change,

time change, etc.).

3. Explain unusual or difficult-to-access test format.

4. Use technology and adapted tools.

5. Create and assess attainment of IEP goals to specify learnings, in addition

to state and local content guidelines.

6. Provide environmental changes for assessments.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 


 

SERVICE OPTIONS

FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE:

VISUALLY IMPAIRED

 

 

For students who are visually impaired to have adequate opportunities to

learn, schools need to:

1. Allow teacher for students with visual disabilities to plan or co-teach

with general education teacher.

2. Provide one-on-one and small group instruction.

3. Offer consultation with general education teachers and other service

providers.

4. Offer parent training in skills specific to students with visual disabilities

5. Link with adult services.

6. Provide extended school day or school year.

7. Provide team meetings with service providers and parents.

8. Ensure specialized instruction by Orientation and Mobility Specialist and

Teacher for Students with Visual Disabilities (Braille, cane travel, specific

technology, etc.).

9. Provide use of paid or volunteer readers.

10. Provide use of audio descriptor service.