Exceptionalities Folder
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Definition: The range of functioning in multiple skill areas found among those with autism disorder.
Strategies:
Learning Disabilities
Definition: a condition in which one or more of the basic psychological processed involved in understanding or using language is deficient
Strategies:
AD/HD
Definition: a disorder characterized by: impulsive actions, hyperactivity, and difficulties in maintaining attention
Strategies:
Emotional/ Behavioral Disorder
Definition: Behavior problems, frequently internal, exhibited by difficulties in expressing emotions evoked in normal everyday experiences.
Strategies:
Communication Disorder
Definition: impairment in the ability to receive, send, process, and comprehend concepts or verbal, nonverbal and graphic symbol systems
Strategies:
Traumatic Brain Injury
Definition: an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance.
Strategies:
Hearing Loss
Deafness Definition: A hearing loss greater than 90 dB. Deaf individuals have vision as their primary input and cannot understand speech through the ear.
Conductive Hearing Loss - hearing loss resulting from poor conduction of sound along the passages leading to the sense organ
Sensorineural Hearing Loss - hearing loss resulting from an abnormal organ (inner ear), and a damage auditory nerve
Strategies:
Vision Loss
Legal Blindness Definition: Visual acuity of 20/200 or worse in the best eye with best correction and/or a visual field of 20% or less
Strategies:
Gifted, Creative and Talented
Definition: Gifted, creative and talented are terms applied to individuals with extraordinary abilities or the capacity for developing them.
Strategies:
Definition: The range of functioning in multiple skill areas found among those with autism disorder.
Strategies:
- Use consistent classroom routines
- Watch for signs of high anxiety or difficulties a student may be having with sensory and emotional overload
- Understand the need for transition time and plan for it
- Encourage students to use one or two sentence knowledge summaries
- Give examples of the finished product and writing assignment
- Provide academic visual supports
- Allow student to avoid physical contact with other students
- Extended time on tests or assignments
- A note taker
- Reduced distraction testing room
- tape recorder
- overhead projector
- timer
- calculator
- computer
- Laminate daily schedules and place on the student's desk or in the front of a binder
- Give visual instructions, rules and use visual classroom schedules
- Making a visual boundary on a table/area that many students share.
- Schedule the day with a visual calendar that includes pictures of various tasks
- Divide large classroom into stations or areas.
Learning Disabilities
Definition: a condition in which one or more of the basic psychological processed involved in understanding or using language is deficient
Strategies:
- Thoroughly teach and reinforce the basic elements
- Have student demonstrate mastery before moving on to new lessons
- Use examples relevant to the student to increase retention
- Employ a variety of methods to convey each lesson
- Word of the day or Math problem of the day
- Involve student in modeling demonstrations
- Extended time on tests or assignments
- Oral rather than written tests
- Allow use of calculator
- Grade written work based on content rather than spelling
- Note taker
- Audio recorder
- Writing software
- Talking calculators
- Proofreading program
- Alternative keyboards
- Color coded folders to assist with organization
- Desk away from other students
- Desk away from windows
- Flexible classroom which allows movement
- Order a second set of books to keep at home in the event that a student leaves his books at home
AD/HD
Definition: a disorder characterized by: impulsive actions, hyperactivity, and difficulties in maintaining attention
Strategies:
- Set specific goals
- Provide rewards and consequences
- Teach social skills
- Be consistent with rules and expectations
- Use clocks and timers
- Offer rewards or consequences immediately
- Adjust the length of assignments to fit a student’s attention span
- Vary lectures with hands-on experiences and physical activities
- Involve child whenever possible in tasks requiring activity such as running an errand or handing out papers
- Allow movement
- Use planner to assist with organization
- Distraction free testing room
- Take tests in the morning
- Use of calculator
- Maintain email contact with parents
- Computer
- Calculator
- Tape recorder
- Timers
- Seat child away from windows
- Post daily schedule
- Keep a written plan of behavioral expectations within view of the student
- Provide a stress ball or other device to redirect excess energy
- Surround the student with other students who focus well on their own work
Emotional/ Behavioral Disorder
Definition: Behavior problems, frequently internal, exhibited by difficulties in expressing emotions evoked in normal everyday experiences.
Strategies:
- Positive reinforcement for good behaviors
- Focus on fairness
- Limit the number of rules
- Use motivational strategies
- Instruction should be highly structured and relevant to the student’s life
- Set limits and Boundaries
- Allow for mini-breaks
- Greater tolerance for disruptive behaviors
- Limit number of days student can be suspended from school
- Teach self-talk to relieve stress and anxiety
- Develop and use behavior contracts
- Adventure games on computer to promote problem solving
- Programs or lessons which build web sites often improve self-image
- WatchMinder is a device which reminds students about behaviors so that they can self-monitor their behavior throughout the day
- Word processing programs with voice recognition software
- Pagers may be used to send messages that remind students about behavior expectations as well as positive reinforcement messages
- Establish a quiet “cool-off” area
- Supply relaxing times within the class
- Use seating arrangement to encourage social interaction.
- Set clear rules and expectations with visual stimulating material.
- Classroom should be highly organized
Communication Disorder
Definition: impairment in the ability to receive, send, process, and comprehend concepts or verbal, nonverbal and graphic symbol systems
Strategies:
- Provide positive reinforcement when the student demonstrates improvement
- Model more elaborate language
- Ask a variety of questions to encourage student to respond in whatever way they can.
- Accept non-verbal responses
- Repeat instruction in varied ways
- Use a variety of visual supports (graphic organizers, photos, etc).
- Allow students to tape lectures.
- Allow more time for the student to complete activities.
- Design tests that are appropriate for the student's disorder (written, drawn, or oral
- Writers could be provided for test taking if the individual requires such assistance
- Check to be sure that test instructions are completely understood by the child and provide any additional assistance that may be needed
- a personalized text-to-speech synthesis system
- FM systems use radio signals to transmit amplified sounds
- A telecoil, or t-coil, is a coil of wire that acts as a miniature wireless receiver.
- Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices
- Assistive listening devices (ALDs)
- tape recorders
- overhead projectors
- voice output communication aids (VOCAs)
- Make instruction clear and easy to understand by reducing background noises as much as possible
- Keep the classroom environment relaxed and organized
- Do not tolerate teasing or bullying by other students
- Seat student close to the teacher
- Students’ language skills can be increased by hearing text read aloud
Traumatic Brain Injury
Definition: an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance.
Strategies:
- Exercise patience
- Avoid activities which require the student to concentrate for long periods of time
- Minimize distractions
- Give the student more time to finish schoolwork and tests
- Give directions one step at a time. For tasks with many steps, it helps to give the student written directions
- Show the student how to perform new tasks. Give examples to go with new ideas and concepts
- Have consistent routines.
- Show the student how to use an assignment book and a daily schedule.
- Realize that the student may tire quickly. Let the student rest as needed
- Allow the student more time to complete tasks and
- Oral rather than written tests
- Allow use of calculator
- Note taker
- Tutor
- Provide books and lectures on tape
- Schedule organizers
- Specialized watches
- Speech recognition software
- Academic software packages
- PDA devices
- Keep the environment as distraction-free as possible
- Have relevant pictures and posters on the walls to reinforce lessons
- Windows should be closed to minimize outdoor noises
- Write homework assignments on the board as a reminder
- Post list of rules and behavioral expectations on the wall where clearly visible
Hearing Loss
Deafness Definition: A hearing loss greater than 90 dB. Deaf individuals have vision as their primary input and cannot understand speech through the ear.
Conductive Hearing Loss - hearing loss resulting from poor conduction of sound along the passages leading to the sense organ
Sensorineural Hearing Loss - hearing loss resulting from an abnormal organ (inner ear), and a damage auditory nerve
Strategies:
- Face student when speaking, allow time for interpretation.
- Don’t speak while writing on the board
- Make sure you have the attention of student before communicating
- Outline schoolwork/schedule visually
- Use visual aids
- Instruct from a well-lighted area of the room
- For classroom discussions, sit in a circle, have classmates speak one at a time, and point to the student who will speak
- Show only captioned films or videos
- Translate auditory materials
- Provide an ASL interpreter
- Provide a note taker or hand out for each lesson
- Seat student in front of the classroom
- Oral exams provided in written form
- Augmentative communication devices
- Hearing aids
- Captioned videos
- Cochlear implants
- Assistive listening devices (ALDs)
- FM Systems
- Avoid seating student in high traffic areas
- Have student sit where class and teacher are visible
- Eliminate background noise
- Visual representations of ASL
- Remove visual interferences such as items on a table, an opened door, hands in front of the mouth, a projector in the way, etc.
Vision Loss
Legal Blindness Definition: Visual acuity of 20/200 or worse in the best eye with best correction and/or a visual field of 20% or less
Strategies:
- Speak to class whenever entering or leaving
- Minimize or eliminate the use of videos
- Verbally describe visual occurrences important to learning
- Give verbal notice of events, meetings and assignments
- Don’t interfere, pet, or play with the guide dog
- Have an orderly, well organized classroom
- Stand away from window when instructing
- Guide dog
- Braille text book, tactile models
- Allow student to leave for next class a few minutes early to avoid crowded hallway
- Allow student to tape lectures to assist with note taking
- Provide a sighted narrator
- Provide enlarged printed materials
- Order text books in the preferred medium of the student
- Voice input device for computer
- Braille keyboard, label maker, etc
- Magnifying devices,
- Screen reader
- Low vision projector screen
- Allow student to sit close to visual objects associated with lessons
- Organized, dependable classroom
- No sharp edges, loose cords or anything else sticking out that could cause injury to the student
- A lower noise level in the classroom is important for hearing
- Passageways through the door and aisles should be kept clear
Gifted, Creative and Talented
Definition: Gifted, creative and talented are terms applied to individuals with extraordinary abilities or the capacity for developing them.
Strategies:
- Create alternative activities that go beyond the regular curriculum
- Increase challenge rather than increasing work
- Encourage research and experimentation
- Provide students with a variety of learning options
- Create a multicultural learning environment and make sure the curriculum reflects a variety of cultures
- Use thematic instruction to connect content areas
- Use differentiated instruction
- Evaluate students individually instead of as a group.
- Allow gifted students to pre-test before starting a new unit to see what information is already familiar to them
- Expand students’ time for free reading
- Provide opportunities for students to use their leadership abilities
- Provide learning centers where students are in charge of their learning
- Avoid drill and practice activities.
- Ask students’ higher level questions that require students to look into causes, experiences, and facts to draw a conclusion or make connections to other areas of learning.
- Provide an adult mentor that shares similar interests.
- Allow children to be highly mobile as they move in and out of groups and tasks at their own pace.
- Virtual museum tours
- Computers
- Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
- Telementoring
- iPad
- Classroom should be organized for flexibility and openness.
- Small class size to allow more individualized instruction
- Classroom should invite inquiry by having a variety of books, art, and areas for music
- Supply reading materials on a wide variety of subjects and levels.
- Create an environment where ideas are accepted without being evaluated and criticized; where risk-taking is encouraged