Of Cabbages and Chemistry

Casey Boyles and Rachel Peace

Accommodations for Special Needs Students

Emotionally Disturbed, Dysgraphic

Accommodations for Emotionally Disturbed Students

http://www.tusd.k12.az.us/contents/distinfo/sect504/accomed.asp

Approve early dismissal to attend therapy.

Maintain weekly/daily journals; self-recording of behavior.

Establish home - school communication system.

• Schedule periodic meetings with home and treatment specialists.
• Provide carry over of treatment plans into school environment.
• Assist with agency referrals.
• Develop behavior management programs.
• Write contracts for student behavior.
• Post rules for classroom behavior; teach expectations.
• Provide counseling, social skills instruction.
• Ensure agency - school collaboration.
• Educate peers and staff.
• Provide carryover treatment programs into home environment.
• Reinforce positive behavior.
• Schedule shorter study and work periods according to attention span expected.
• Be consistent.

For the Cabbages and Chemistry lesson, make sure the student works with the teacher or another student to balance the working environment. Write a contract for the lesson plan to make sure they stay on task and publicly display the safety rules of the lesson. If possible, alert the parents of the lesson plan before hand to make sure the student is prepared for the experiment.

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Accommodations for Dysgraphic Students

http://mislabeledchild.com/html/Library/DysgraphiaWritingProblems/dysgraphia%20accommodations.html

Provision of Teachers notes, or a fellow student's notes (students with dysgraphia often struggle with note taking)

Opportunity to tape record or use a laptop to take notes in class

Dramatic reduction in written expectations

• Opportunity to keyboard or dictate responses to demonstrate knowledge
• Opportunity for a scribe for standardized tests

Use of word prediction software (for dyslexic dysgraphia)

For the Cabbages and Chemistry lesson, allow only one person per group to write the results of the experiment. If the experiment is being performed individually, pair the dysgraphic student with another student and/or allow the use of a tape recorder or laptop.

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