Thursday, October 21, 2010

Strategies for Students with Disabilities

Students with disabilities are always in need of “systems” and routines in their daily lives to make things less difficult for them.  Strategies are a way for them to learn new things in their lives, both academic and personal.  Strategies are often used by kids with disabilities but are useful for all people, as they help a person learn and remember new things. 
There are two main things that strategies do; one, it gets the subject active in their learning, and two, it moves the subject toward metacognition.  These are both very important in learning because the subject, or student in particular, will become more interested in what they are learning and will remember it better.  It will also assist them in learning the best way for them to effectively learn any subject matter, which will be useful for them in many aspects of their lives.  Generally students will not willingly consent to using strategies, but once they experience success with it they will adapt the strategy so it works better for them and will be excited about using it.
One of the most used strategies for students with disabilities is the “SQ4R” strategy for reading.  It is an acronym for multiple steps in reading and is used as follows:
S: Survey.  The student surveys the text, the content of it, any objectives involved in it, the introduction to the text, and the summary of the text.
Q: Question.  The student asks themselves multiple questions about the text, including what may happen, what the definition of something may be, who the main subject of the text is, and many others.
R (1): Read.  The student reads through the text, answering the questions they previously asked themselves, and paying attention to everything in the text.
R (2): Recite.  The student answers the questions they are answering out loud, reinforcing the knowledge of the text they are gaining.
R (3): Relate.  The student relates the text and happenings in the text to their own lives and events that they have encountered themselves.
R (4): Review.  The student reviews everything they read and recalls events and facts from the text.
This is a very successful strategy for students with disabilities to use when reading.  It helps them to concentrate on what they are reading and become active in their reading.  They can also use this strategy in areas of their everyday life that require reading, whether it be instructions, directions, or many other things.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Richard Lavoie

FAT City: A Look Ahead

Richard Lavoie created a video called FAT City, and we recently watched a follow up to this video in which Lavoie describes the first video and what things in it mean.  FAT City is an acronym for frustration, anxiety, and tension in the classroom, and is referring to the feelings that students with learning disabilities have while in school.  In the second video Lavoie gives many insights about how adolescents with learning disabilities feel, which is very important for teachers to know in order to be good at helping their students.
In my opinion, one of the most important insights that Lavoie offers is pointing out that school is a child’s job.  When they fail at school they are essentially failing at the biggest aspect of their life at the time.  This creates negative feelings about school for these students, and often makes them want to avoid school altogether.  School is a very large chunk of a student’s life, so when they are struggling with it, and especially when they are failing in it, they begin to feel like a failure, and their self-esteem and self-worth takes a dramatic blow.  As a teacher, it is incredibly important to make a student with a learning disability successful so their self-esteem does not decrease, and they can be happy.  You also need to make them feel safe and comfortable in school, so they do not develop negative feelings toward it, and want to come to school and succeed.
Lavoie also points out that learning disabilities are pervasive in a child’s life, and in their life as an adult.  A learning disability is not something that occurs only in school and is something that an adolescent will grow out of, it is with them in every area of their life, for their entire life.  If  a student has trouble reading in the classroom, they will have trouble reading outside of the classroom as well.  All learning disabilities are present in a child’s life no matter where they are, and a teacher must realize this in order to best teach a student.  If I teach a student with learning disabilities I must realize that the strategies I teach them so they can effectively learn in my classroom must also apply to their learning outside of the classroom.  If a student feels more confident that they can effectively learn in all areas of their life their self-esteem will be boosted and they will be more productive and a better learner in the classroom.
These are only a few insights that Lavoie offers in the video, which is very educational and promotes a better understanding of adolescents with learning disabilities.  It is a great video and I recommend that all teachers, teacher aids, and any other people involved in educating a student with a learning disability watch it.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Accommodations: Observations

In studying the many kind of accommodations, I have learned that there are many ways in order to accommodate for a child with a learning disability.  Among many other things students with disabilities should be observed in the classroom in order to learn the best way in which to accommodate them.  There are strategies for observing them, ecological assessments in which the student is observed in multiple environments, multiple observation methods, and many questions to ask while making observations.
Students should be observed objectively throughout the year to determine if the negative behaviour they are exhibiting is general or specific.  This is very important because once it is determined what triggers the behaviour the teacher and school can make accommodations for the student in order to minimize the negative behaviour.  It is also important to do an ecological assessment in order to determine if the stimulant of the negative behaviour is environmental, such as another student, a certain place, or a teacher’s methods, so accommodations can be made for any of these things as well.
There are multiple methods of observation in order to record the student’s negative behaviour and determine a stimulus.  It is possible to keep anecdotal records, event records, duration records, or checklists/rating scales.  Each of these things keeps records in a different way, although none are more or less important than others.  Each has benefits to them, and depending on what the most prevalent misbehaviour is and what accommodations you are attempting to make it is necessary to keep one of, or many of these types of records.
In keeping these records it is easier to make appropriate accommodations for the student with the disability, and accommodations can change over the school year as necessary.  The student will get the best education out of this effort, and will be able to succeed in school.