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Emotionally Disturbed,
Learning Disabilities, Blindness/Visually Impaired
Modification for
Emotionally Disturbed
General Strategies
- Bring to the student's attention science
role models with disabilities with a similar disability to that
of the student. Point out that this individual got ahead by a combination
of effort and by asking for help when needed.
- Ask previous teachers about interactive
techniques that have previously been effective with the student in
the past.
- Expose students with behavioral disorders
to other students who demonstrate the appropriate behaviors.
- Direct instruction or target behaviors
is often required to help students master them.
- Have preestablished consequences for
misbehavior.
- Administer consequences immediately,
then monitor proper behavior frequently.
- Determine whether the student is on medication,
what the schedule is, and what the medication effects may be on his
or her in class demeanor with and without medication. Then adjust
teaching strategies accordingly.
- Use time-out sessions to cool off disruptive
behavior and as a break if the student needs one for a disability-related
reason.
- In group activities, acknowledge the
contributions of the student with a behavioral disorder.
- Devise a contingency plan with the student
in which inappropriate forms of response are replaced by appropriate
ones.
- Treat the student with the behavioral
disorder as an individual who is deserving of respect and consideration.
- When appropriate, seek input from the
student about their strengths, weaknesses and goals.
- Enforce classroom rules consistently.
- Make sure the discipline fits the "crime,"
without harshness.
- Provide encouragement.
- Reward more than you punish, in order
to build self-esteem.
- Praise immediately at all good behavior
and performance.
- Change rewards if they are not effective
for motivating behavioral change.
- Develop a schedule for applying positive
reinforcement in all educational environments.
- Encourage others to be friendly with
students who have emotional disorders.
- Monitor the student's self-esteem. Assist
in modification, as needed.
- Self-esteem and interpersonal skills
are especially essential for all students with emotional disorders.
- Do not expect students with behavioral
disorders to have immediate success; work for improvement on a overall
basis.
- As a teacher, you should be patient,
sensitive, a good listener, fair and consistent in your treatment
of students with behavioral disorders.
- Present a sense of high degree of possessiveness
in the classroom environment.
Teacher Presentation
- After a week, or so, of
observation, try to anticipate classroom situations where the student's
emotional state will be vulnerable and be prepared to apply the
appropriate mitigative strategies.
- By using examples, encourage
students to learn science so they can emulate adult behaviors.
- Check on the student's basic
capacity to communicate and adjust your communications efforts
accordingly.
- Use a wide variety of
instructional equipment which can be displayed for the students to look
at and handle.
- When an interest in a particular
piece has been kindled, the instructor can talk to the student about it
and show him or her how to use it.
- Instructions should be simple
and very structured.
- Group participation in
activities is highly desirable because it makes social contacts
possible.
- Monitor the student carefully to
ensure that students without disabilities do not dominate the activity
or detract in any way from the successful performance of the student
with the behavioral disorder.
- Teachers should reward students
for good behavior and withhold reinforcement for inappropriate behavior.
- Some aggressive students act as
they do because of a subconscious desire for attention, and it is
possible to modify their behavior by giving them recognition.
- Have the individual with the
behavioral disorder be in charge of an activity which can often reduce
the aggressiveness.
- Special efforts should be made
to encourage and easily facilitate students with behavioral disorders
to interact.
- Show confidence in the students
ability and set goals that realistically can be achieved.
- Plan for successful
participation in the activities by the students. Success is extremely
important to them.
- The environment must be
structured but sensitive to the needs of these youth with behavioral
disorders.
- Expose students with behavioral
disorders to other students who demonstrate the appropriate behaviors.
- Direct instruction or target
behaviors is often required to help students master them.
- Consultation with other
specialists, including the special education teacher, school
psychologist, and others may prove helpful in devising effective
strategies.
- Keep an organized classroom
learning environment.
- Devise a structured behavioral
management program.
- As an educator you serve a model
for the students who are behaviorally disturbed. Your actions
therefore, must be consistent, mature, and controlled. Behavioral
outbursts and/or angry shouting at students inhibit rather than enhance
a classroom.
- Provide a carefully structured
learning environment with regard to physical features of the room,
scheduling, routines, and rules of conduct.
- If unstructured activities must
occur, you must clearly distinguish them from structured activities in
terms of time, place, and expectations.
- Let your students know the
expectations you have, the objectives that have been established for
the activity, and the help you will give them in achieving objectives.
- When appropriate, seek input
from the students about their strengths, weaknesses and goals.
- Do not expect students with
behavioral disorders to have immediate success; work for improvement on
a overall basis.
- Be fair and consistent, but
temper your consistency with flexibility.
- You should refer the students to
visual aids and reading materials that may be used to learn more about
the techniques of skill performance.
- Present a sense of positiveness
in the learning environment.
- Remain calm, state the
infraction of the rule, and avoid debating or arguing with the student
with a behavioral disorder.
- Have preestablished consequences
for misbehavior.
- Administer consequences
immediately, then monitor proper behavior frequently.
- Enforce classroom rules
consistently.
- Make sure the discipline fits
the "crime," without harshness.
- Provide encouragement.
- Reward more than you punish, in
order to build self-esteem.
- Praise immediately and all good
behavior and performance.
- Change rewards if they are not
effective for motivating behaviral change.
- Find ways to encourage the
student.
- Be positive and supportive.
- Develop a schedule for applying
positive reinforcement in all educational environments.
- Encourage others to be friendly
with students who have emotional disorders.
- Monitor the student's
self-esteem. Assist in modification, as needed.
- Self-esteem and interpersonal
skills are especially essential for all students with emotional
disorders.
Group Interaction and Discussion
- Acknowledge the contributions of the
student with an emotional disorder.
- Call for responses and participation
commensurate with the student's socialization skills.
- As the student's comfort level rises
and when a safe topic is available, encourage the student to be a
group spokesperson.
- Along with the student, devise a contingency
plan in which inappropriate forms of response are replaced by appropriate
ones.
- Gradually increase the challenges in
the student's participation in group exercises while providing increased
positive reinforcement.
- Help the student to feel as though he
or she has something worthwhile to contribute to the discussion.
- Some students may experience considerable
strain in social adjustment in a group context. It may be necessary
to work gradually toward group activities. One can devise a strategy
of progressing from spectatorship to one-to-one instruction and eventually
to small group discussion.
- Should monitor carefully to ensure that
the nondisabled students do not dominate the discussion or detract
in any way from the successful performance of the student with the
behavioral disorder.
Reading
- It is necessary to target
specific prosocial behaviors for appropriate instruction and assessment
to occur such as:
- Taking turns, working with
partner, following directions.
- Reading in group or with
others.
- Increasing positive
relationships by means of awards when they read appropriately.
- Demonstrating appropriate
reading
- Instructional strategies
involving self-control, self-reinforcement, self-monitoring,
self-management, problem solving, cognitive behavior modification, and
metacognitive skills should be focused on teaching students reading
skills
Field Experiences
- Use appropriate general strategies.
- Consider alternate activities/exercises
that can be utilized with less difficulty for the student, but has
the same or similar learning objectives.
- In field activities acknowledge the contributions
and assistance of the student with an emotional disorder.
- Help the student to feel as though he
or she has something worthwhile to contribute to the field trip.
- Use a buddy system.
- Gradually increase the challenges in
the student's participation in field exercises while providing increased
positive reinforcement.
- Group participation in field activities
is highly desirable because it enhances social contacts.
- Make the student with the behavioral
disorder become one of the field trip leader of an activity which
can often reduce their disorder.
- Special efforts should be made to get
students with behavioral disorders to interact with other students.
- You should encourage students to practice
field skills during their free hours.
- Every effort should be made to arouse
the interest of such students in activities, so they will learn to
perform the activities with success and pleasure with appropriate
behaviors.
Testing
- Be sensitive to the student's
reactions to the various aspects of assessment.
- For each student, accumulate in
his or her portfolio several examples of work (quizzes, assignments,
projects) that demonstrate knowledge of the subject matter or the unit
of study.
- Make special arrangements for
the student with an emotional disorder according to what their special
needs are and that they do not compromise the integrity of the testing
situation.
- Stay on top of student progress
through informal assessment, don't wait until it's too late to discover
that there is a problem.
- Provide private room/smaller
group setting/alternative test site (with proctor present);
alternatively screens to block out distractions.
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Modification for Learning Disabilities
From: www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/math.asp
An article entitled: Mathematics Strategy Instruction (SI) for Middle
School
Students with Learning Disabilities provided me with a wealth of relevant
information. First, some general tips and guidelines:
One effective approach to assisting middle school youth with LD in accessing
challenging mathematical concepts is to provide strategy instruction
(SI).
This brief defines strategy instruction, identifies key features of
effective strategies, and identifies key components necessary for
instructing youth in the use of a strategy. In addition, we provide
a
practical example for the use of a math instructional strategy that
can be
applied to a variety of concepts and settings, and provide some key
considerations when using strategy instruction in mathematics classes.
What Is a Strategy and What are the Key Features?
A strategy refers to, “a plan that not only specifies the sequence
of needed
actions but also consists of critical guidelines and rules related to
making
effective decisions during a problem solving process” (Ellis &
Lenz, 1996,
p.24). Some features that make strategies effective for students with
LD
are:
(a) Memory devices to help students remember the strategy (e.g., a First
Letter Mnemonic, which is created by forming a word from the beginning
letters of other words);
(b) Strategy steps that use familiar words stated simply and concisely
and
begin with action verbs to facilitate student involvement (e.g., read
the
problem carefully);
(c) Strategy steps that are sequenced appropriately (i.e., students
are cued
to read the word problem carefully prior to solving the problem) and
lead to
the desired outcome (i.e., successfully solving a math problem);
(d) Strategy steps that use prompts to get students to use cognitive
abilities (i.e., the critical steps needed in solving a problem); and
(e) Metacognitive strategies that use prompts for monitoring problem
solving
performance (“Did I check my answer?”) (Lenz, Ellis, &
Scanlon, 1996).
The article contains a number of examples and considerations following
the
introduction of these general principles, and I dare say that they all
could
have some merit in the classroom, even if there were not any students
with
Learning Disabilities.
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Modification for Blindness
For accomdating blind students, I found the following
advice at the University
of Washington website
(http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Academics/science_lab.html):
- verbal descriptions of demonstrations
and visual aids
- Braille text and raised line images
- Braille/tactile ruler, compass, angles,
protractor
- Braille equipment labels
- notches, staples, fabric paint, and/or
Braille at regular increments on tactile ruler, glassware, syringe,
beam balance, stove, other science equipment
- different textures (e.g., sand paper)
to label areas on items
From the UWU website, I found a load of information
at http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/vision.html,
and these tips on the site are particularly important:
General
Information Access for Persons with Vision Loss
- Visual
material needs to be accompanied by a verbal description
.
If you are demonstrating how to use a piece of equipment, be sure to
describe the equipment and what you are doing to operate it. Read
overheads aloud and describe the content of slides (see
note below about large print). In a conference presentation setting,
you will probably want to provide all descriptions yourself. If you are
showing a videotape, describe the action. If you distribute videotapes
as handouts, any action or an explanatory text that is crucial to
understanding the text of the presentation should be narrated.
- If there
are multiple speakers (such as a panel), have each speaker introduce
himself or herself to the audience so that the speakers' voices are
keyed for the audience as to their identity.
- Be
certain that your presentation can be clearly heard by everyone in the
room and repeat all questions from the audience, prior to answering.
- Handouts
should be available in large print, audiotape, computer disk
,
and/or Braille formats. If this is not possible prior to your
presentation, note the various individuals' preferred formats and then
make your materials available to them within a short time after your
presentation.
- Large
Print * -
People who have some functional vision may be able to see print if it
is large enough. Prepare print information on white paper with sharp,
black ink. Standard print is generally 10-12 point type. Large print is
16-18 point and up, generally an enlargement setting of 160-175% on a
copy machine. In the case of documents that already exist in print
form, use a copy machine to enlarge each page onto 11 x 17 paper. Try
darker settings on the copy machine to increase contrast without
producing streaks. Many computer programs offer a variety of font types
and sizes.
(On most newer versions of browsers, you can select Text Zoom from View
Menu of the browser for larger view).
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