Modifications and Accommodationsfor Students with Special NeedsMarilyn Shank, Ph.D.
Needs-Based Planning for Universal Design for Learninghttp://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/ (try the tabs at the top of the page, too!) http://www.startechprogram.org/stech/udl.html http://www.uni.edu/coe/inclusion/strategies/types_adaptation.html
1. To use universal design for learning, your curriculum and instruction must be planned with the needs of all learners in mind. 2. We have listed nine categories of learner differences that must be considered during lesson planning. 3. Plan for supports, services, accommodations, and modifications that students may need during any given instructional activity to help them master the objective. 4. Also specify any activities that you think will especially address the needs of students with a particular difference. 5. Note any accommodations or modifications that will be needed for students with a particular difference for assessment and grading. Learning Differenceshttp://www.aelweb.vcu.edu/publications/LDGuide/toc.htm http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/learning.html http://www.ldat.org/ld_info/accommodations.html 1. Students with learning differences include students who have learning disabilities, no longer qualify for learning disabilities services, or who almost qualify for learning disabilities services that have average or above average intelligences but experience difficulties in written or spoken language or math. 2. For many of these students, you will need to plan the use of assistive technology or other methods to help them compensate for reading difficulties during your activities. Ability Differenceshttp://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/intel.html#sect2 http://www.k8accesscenter.org/accessinaction/documents/readingADAPTATIONS.pdf 1. Students with ability differences have been diagnosed with mental retardation or fall into the borderline “at-risk” category with IQ’s of 70 to approximately 85. 2. Your first question is what is most important for these students to learn? These students will need more repetition to learn those skills. How will you provide repetition in novel ways? You will also need to explicitly explain relevance and provide opportunities for generalization in real-life or simulated real-life experiences. Functional skills are key. Communication Differenceshttp://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/documents/MathHandout.doc http://www.rehabtool.com/at.html http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/comm.html http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/aspe http://www.coping.org/specialed/inclusion.htm 1. Students with communication differences have difficulty with speech and language, ranging from stuttering to being totally nonverbal. Students who use nonstandard English or for whom English is not their primary language also fall into this category. 2. UDL for communication disorders includes creating a nonthreatening environment in which students do not feel anxiety about being teased for their speech and language challenges. You will also want to consider the use of alternative and augmentative communication devices. How can you use the lesson to help develop vocabulary in a non-English speaking student? Can you provide photos or have students perform skits to help students who have language deficits understand the concepts? Behavior Differenceshttp://www.teachervision.fen.com/teaching-methods/discipline/2943.html http://www.behavioradvisor.com/
1. Students with behavior differences consistently engage in externalizing (kicking, yelling, swearing, etc.) or internalizing (depression, social withdrawal, phobias, etc.) behaviors. Students with AD/HD who are hyperactive or hypoactive may demonstrate impulsive behaviors or lack of follow-through that teachers who don’t understand about AD/HD often describe as laziness or noncompliance. 2. Do you have a consistent behavior plan for your classroom? Is the plan clear to your students? Do students know that you give one warning only and then follow through with consequences? Do you focus on positive behaviors? Have you applied ABC (antecedents, behavioral description, consequences)? Do you have a safe area designated in your classroom? A time-out area? Do you have an emergency plan for students whose behavior may become out of control? 3. When you think about your lesson plan, do you list some activities that will prove challenging for these students? How will you involve them if they have social challenges? Are some of the activities likely to cause a student to lose behavioral control (too difficult or for some other reason trigger a particular behavior)? Describe how you plan to provide an alternative activity or place supports in place to help prevent the behavior. Attention Differenceshttp://addwarehouse.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/article4.htm http://addwarehouse.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/article10.html http://addwarehouse.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/article3.htm http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/add.html
1. This category includes students with inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, or combined attention-deficit disorders as well as those you wonder why no one has ever diagnosed! They may have difficulty concentrating while instructions are given, locating or remembering necessary materials, and starting or following through with a task. 2. Teachers often make the mistake of thinking that giving students with AD/HD more time is the solution. Wrong! Doing so can cause them to lose focus even more. Usually, students with AD/HD need novelty, relevance, and challenge to help them stay focused. If you can convince them that a task is meaningful to them, they might even hyperfocus on it, and you will have difficulty getting them to stop! Kids with AD/HD need you to remember that the behavior is not willful but comes from a glitchy brain. Remembering that fact can help you with patience. Also, they need you to teach them how to organize. Often challenging them to “beat” a timer that is sitting on their desk can help them focus on a mundane but necessary task. 3. What tasks on your lesson plan are likely to cause students with AD/HD to lose focus? How can you add novelty, relevance, and challenge to keep them focused? Motivational Differenceshttp://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/self_esteem/helplessness.html http://www.shearonforschools.com/learned_optimism.htm http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/TeacherHut/Teachley/TeachleyText.html
1. Students with AD/HD, BD, and LD may have difficulty with motivation. You may also have students who are gifted, have undergone some personal challenges, have been retained, etc., who lack motivation. Some of them, quite frankly, are simply fed up with school. 2. Do you have some special tricks up your sleeves to motivate these students? List them here. Sensory Differenceshttp://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/hearing.html http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/vision.html http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/vision.html http://www.rehabtool.com/at.html
1. Students who have visual and hearing impairments fall into this category. 2. Which of your activities require students to hear to receive the most benefit? Which require students to see? How can you compensate? Many times, using technology is beneficial. If you have a student with hearing or visual impairments, you will probably be able to borrow materials for them from local, state, or national services for the blind and deaf. Look through some catalogs for the deaf and blind to see how materials such as games are accommodated. Sometimes, you can adapt materials yourself. For example, you can get a tube of raised paint from a local craft store (often used on sweatshirts) and outline a map for a student who is blind or has a severe visual impairment. Remember that, although your students with hearing impairments might be able to read, their vocabulary is often severely limited. They may need visual cues for content vocabulary. Physical Disabilitieshttp://www.rehabtool.com/at.html http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/motor.html http://www.pecentral.org/adapted/adaptedmenu.html (adaptive PE)
1. Students with orthopedic (muscle or skeletal) disabilities as well as students with health impairments or traumatic brain injury are included in this category. 2. For students with physical disabilities, you will have to consider the setting and physical demands of the activities in your lesson. Will a student in a wheelchair be able to participate? Do you have a student with epilepsy who might be triggered by a fast-paced piece of software? What will you do if the student has a seizure when you are on a field trip? Do you have health plans in place for students with diabetes or other potential health emergencies? Do you have a student with cancer who is absent frequently? For students with frequent absences, it’s important to ask what’s most important for them to learn. In addition, plan ways that they can learn those skills while at home or in the hospital? Is there a good video on the Civil War that you can have the student watch to learn the objectives? Can you have them research and create an interesting project that will help them learn the objectives? Cultural Differenceshttp://www.as.wvu.edu/~equity/equity.html http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/diversity/index.htm http://www.intime.uni.edu/model/democracy/tole.html
1. Many times the materials we use and even the concepts we teach are relevant only to the majority culture. 2. What cultural differences are represented in your classroom? Are all your materials and activities sensitive to and respectful of those cultures? Are their cultures represented in what you teach? Can you integrate activities or materials to increase the appreciation of all your students for diversity? Autismhttp://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/moreno_tips_for_teaching.html http://www.teacch.com/structur.htm http://aspiesforfreedom.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
1. This category includes students with autism, pervasive developmental disorder, and Asperger’s syndrome. Some students with nonverbal learning disabilities can fall loosely into this category. 2. For many of these students, one of the biggest concerns you will have with activities in your lesson plan is the issue of overstimulation. If the students receive too much visual, auditory, or tactile stimulation, they can become overwhelmed, resulting in withdrawal, self-stimulating behaviors, or acting out behaviors. How will you plan for this issue or other specific issues your student might encounter related to her disability during the lesson? Severe and Multiplehttp://www.kidsource.com/NICHCY/severe_disable.html http://circleofinclusion.org/ http://www.tash.org/inclusion/index.htm http://www.ccids.umaine.edu/ec/growingideas/index.htm http://www.emtech.net/inclusion.htm
1. This category requires some of the same adaptations as ability differences, physical differences, and communication differences. However, these students have severe- to profound-mental retardation as well as physical and/or sensory disabilities. 2. Because of the severity of their disability, these students will, in all likelihood, not master your objectives. However, the WVDE is developing expanded objectives, which will allow you to find functional-skill objectives that relate to the objectives you are teaching. Are there ways that you can integrate these functional skills in your activities so that these students can participate? 3. Because of the severe physical disabilities of these students, we may not know what their cognitive ability is. The stimulation they receive in a general classroom could be invaluable. The social interactions can be invaluable for them and their peers without severe disabilities. 4. Be creative. I heard one teach talk about how she had her kids with SMD participate in cooperative-learning science experiments in inclusion classrooms. Their responsibility was to use a switch to take a picture of the experiment. The group added the picture to their summary sheet. Enrichmenthttp://www.hoagiesgifted.org/educators.htm http://www.nc.uk.net/gt/general/04_inclusion.htm http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=652 http://www.academicinfo.net/edteach.html
1. Students who demonstrate mastery at the pretest level do not need repeated instruction for a skill they already know. Please, do NOT assign them more of the same thing for enrichment. 2. Enrichment allows the students to perform the skill in more depth or at a higher level. Think of Bloom’s Taxonomy. 3. Students contract to work on a particular project while the rest of the class receives skill instruction. 4. Beware the peer-tutoring pitfall! This strategy is not enrichment! Students who are advanced resent being asked to teach others instead of being able to further their own learning. 5. Enrichment must be determined by pre-testing rather than assumptions about student ability. A student who is gifted may need a particular math skill while a student with a learning disability may already know how to do that particular skill. |