This is the real nuts and bolts of teaching the student with —- disability. You will address specific methods and strategies that have been identified as evidence based practices or best practices by the experts in the field.
Focus on making this a useful resource that you will reference in the future in your clinical courses and as a professional educator.
Terms to know:
- Accommodations refer to “an adjustment in what a student is expected to do relative to what most students are doing, but that does not change the content or proficiency level of the content.”(Lenz, & Deshler, 2004). Accommodations refer to teaching supports. Accommodations should not change the curriculum or grade level expectation.
- Modifications– are adjustments, variation, or difference in what a student is expected to do or learn, how a student is expected to demonstrate knowledge may or may not be the same content or conceptual level of other students in the class. (Lenz, Deshler, 2004). Modifications are changes to the curriculum to meet the needs of the student. Modifications must be clearly stated in the IEP.
- Learning Strategies– are techniques, principles, or rules that facilitate the acquisition, manipulation, integration, storage, and retrieval of information across situations and settings. (Alley & Deshler, 1979, pg 13).
- Teaching methods include: direct instruction, inquiry based learning, cooperative learning, problem based learning, and experiential learning. More specific methodologies may include, modeling, demonstration, recitation, role playing, chunking information, debate, service project… etc..
- Intervention- is a term that refers a program, set of steps or a strategy to attain a specific learning goal, or it may be used broadly to refer to a framework like the “response to intervention” or RTI programs
- Evidence-Based– If an educational strategy is evidence-based, data-based, or research-based, educators compile, analyze, and use objective evidence to inform the design an academic program or guide the modification of instructional techniques. (Glossary of Education Reform, 2016)
If you would like to see examples of accommodations that are cross referenced with “characteristics” of disability, check out the resource below, in addition to the weekly readings and resources.
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- The Colorado Dept of Education has a 182 page manual on Accommodations for Student with Disabilities. It is not categorized by disability, but instead by student characteristics. I recommend going to the section on Instructional Accommodations Linked to Student Characteristics. Within the list of accommodations, assistive technologies are highlighted. There are assistive technologies mixed in with the accommodations.
Key Takeaways: Summarize key instructional strategies, interventions, accommodations and teaching methods, specific to the disability.
The focus of the this section will vary slightly among the different disability categories. The direction of your research will be found in the Disability Summary Overviews.
- This should be the most comprehensive section of each summary.
- Provide sufficient detail in the summary-, summarized and cited and in your own words.
- Information from the course required readings needs to be evident and properly cited.,
- You are welcome to research beyond the course required readings, but not in place of the course readings.
References
Alley, G. R., & Deshler, D. D. (1979). Teaching the learning disabled adolescent: Strategies and methods. Denver, CO: Love.
Lenz, K.B, Deshler, & D.D. & Kissam, (2004). Teaching Content to All: Evidence-Based Inclusive Practices in Middle and Secondary Schools, Pearson Education Inc.
The Glossary of Education Reform, (2016). Evidence-Based. Retrieved from https://www.edglossary.org/evidence-based/ (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
File folder graphic from Pixabay, public domain
