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Students with Exceptionalities

Although statistics are difficult to obtain, it has been estimated that between 10 and 13 percent of the

school-age population has exceptionalities.

Thus, in an average-size classroom of 25 students, it is conceivable that 3 or 4 individuals will exhibit one or

more exceptionalities

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/special-education/new-teacher/48459.html?page=1&detoured=1

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• Intellectual. This includes students who have superior intelligence as well as those who are slow to learn.

• Communicative. These students have special learning disabilities or speech or language impairments.

• Sensory. Sensory-grouped students have auditory or visual disabilities.

• Behavioral. These students are emotionally disturbed or socially maladjusted.

• Physical. This includes students with orthopedic or mobility disabilities.

• Multiple. These students have a combination of conditions, such as orthopedically challenged and visually impaired.

Tips For Working With Exceptionalities

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Special Education Terminology

Accommodations, Strategies, and Modifications are all common terms

used in Special Education today.

http://specialed.about.com/cs/teacherstrategies/a/terminology.htm

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Accommodations refer to the actual teaching supports and services that the student may require to successfully

demonstrate learning. Accommodations should not change expectations to the curriculum grade levels.

• taped books • math charts • additional time • oral test • oral reports • preferred seating • study carrel • amplified system • braille writer • adapted keyboard • specialized software

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Modifications refer to changes made to curriculum expectations in order to meet the needs of the student. Modifications are made when the expectations are beyond the students level of ability. Modifications

may be minimal or very complex depending on the student performance. Modifications must be clearly acknowledged in the IEP.

• second language exemptions

• withdrawal for specific skills

• include student in same activity but individualize the expectations and materials

• student is involved in same theme/unit but provide different task and expectations

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Strategies refer to skills or techniques used to assist in learning. Strategies are individualized to suit the student

learning style and developmental level.

• highlighting • rehearsal • color coding • memory joggers • visual cues • number lines • alphabet strips • keyring sight words • flip chart • organization/transition cards • jello powder, play doe, seed spelling • window paint • bingo dapper • stencils • ink stamps

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A List of Typical Special Ed. Accommodations Individualized accommodations are put into place to

help learners at risk and students with special needs to have success in their IEP or academic program.

Typcially, accommodations are listed in the student's IEP. Here is a list of suggestions for accommodations

for a variety of disabilities:

http://specialed.about.com/od/iep/a/accomod.htm

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• Try ability grouping. Have a few peers that can support the student experiencing weaknesses.

• Provide photocopied notes to avoid having these students copying from the board or chart paper.

• Make use of Graphic Organizers.

• Provide organization tips and let parents know about the organization tips they can use to support these students at home.

• Declutter! If your classroom is cluttered, this can be very distracting for students with needs. Declutter and help students to declutter.

• Provide time management tips and skills. Sometimes it helps to have sticky notes on the student's desk to remind the student of how much time they have to complete tasks.

• Tracking sheets. Provide a tracking sheet of expected assignments for the week/day.

• Keep lessons concrete. Use visual and concrete materials as much as possible.

• Use assistive technology when available.

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• Provide a buddy and let the buddy know what their role is - supportive.

• Keep instructions and directions 'chunked'. Provide one step at a time, don't overload the student on too many pieces of information at once.

• Color code items. For instance, put some red tape on a math text book along with red tape on the math note book. Color code items that help the child with organization tips and that provide information about what is needed.

• Make sure there are visual clues around the room to help.

• Provide extra time for the processing of information.

• Larger size font is sometimes helpful.

• Provide auditory supports to avoid the student from having too much text to read.

• Give repetition and clarification regularly.

• Provide close proximity to the teacher.

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• Seat the child away from distractions whenever possible. Think critically about seating arrangements.

• Provide reminders on the desk - taped 100s charts, number lines, vocabulary lists, word bank lists taped alphabets for printing or writing etc.

• Provide a study carrel or alternate place to work for specific tasks.

• Provide scribing or a peer for scribing when necessary or utilize the speech to text software applications.

• Give ongoing feedback.

• Pay close attention to lighting, sometimes preferential lighting can make the world of difference.

• Provide a 'chillax' area, a quiet location to enable the student to 'chill out or relax'.

• Provide headphones to remove extraneous noises.

• Let the child provide oral responses instead of written where appropriate to demonstrate understanding of concept.

• Provide time extensions as neccessary.

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Adapting Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science Materials for the Inclusive

Classroom When instructional materials present a barrier to student

learning, teachers often adapt the materials to allow students greater access to the information to be taught. These adaptations may involve changing the content of the

materials (the nature or amount of information to be learned) or changing the format of the materials (the way information

is presented to the learner).

http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=CEC_Today1&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=4218

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Adapting Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science Materials for the Inclusive Classroom

Step 1. Create a Plan for Adapting Materials

Step 2. Identify and Evaluate the Demands that Students Are Not Meeting

Step 3. Develop Goals for Teaching Strategies and Making Adaptations

Step 4. Determine Whether Content or Format Adaptations Are Needed

Step 5. Identify the Features of the Materials that Need To Be Adapted

Step 6. Determine the Type of Adaptation That Will Enable the Student To Meet the Demand

Step 7. Inform Students and Parents About the Adaptation

Step 8. Implement, Evaluate, and Adjust the Adaptation

Step 9. Fade the Adaptation When Possible

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Are Teachers Required to Provide All Accommodations & Modifications Listed in the

Child's IEP?

My question concerns accommodations and modifications in the the IEP. If an accommodation or modification is marked in the IEP, is the regular ed teacher required to include that accommodation on every test or activity they create? For example, if "word bank" is marked, does the teacher have to include a word bank on everything? And

what about a calculator - can the teacher make an assignment where students are not allowed to use calculators?"

http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/ltrs/accoms.mods.kelly.htm

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Pete Answers: You will not find a clear answer to your question in the statute, regulations, or caselaw (all three are in our book, Wrightslaw: Special Education Law). IDEA 2004 does include new language about accommodations guidelines and accommodations on state and district tests.

• Your question goes to the specific skill or content area that is being taught and how the child's learning (mastery of the skill or content area) will be measured. For example, assume the child is studying history. The school will measure the child’s knowledge of history on an essay test. Assume that this child has severe dysgraphia (a learning disability in writing). An essay test is also a test of penmanship. On essay tests, the child must produce information by putting pen to paper.

• Will an essay test measure this child’s knowledge of history? Or will this essay test measure the child’s disability (inability to write)? In this case, an appropriate modification may be to allow the child to write answers using a computer. The purpose of testing is to find out what the child has learned.

• When teachers read an IEP and did not have input into the document, they often have reasonable and logical questions about how the IEP is to be implemented. If you need additional information about a student's needs (and you probably do) and what the IEP requires you to do, you need to take your questions to the IEP team and ask for their guidance.

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http://www.hishelpinschool.com/adaptation/modadapt.html

• MAKING ACCOMMODATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS:What ARE They?

• Understanding Accommodations • Modifications of Learning Material • Accommodations and Testing • Using Alternative Assessments for Special Needs

Students at Home • Meeting Individual Needs in Lesson Planning • Sample Rubric for Cursive Writing