Teaching Learning Disabled Students
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Melissa Said:
.... special education teaching methods ...?We Answered:
Visit www.newhorizons.org or www.co-operation.org . They have great information on cooperative learning groups. Gillies & Ashman also have some very good information in the Journal of Educational Psychology and the Journal of Special Education. Both of these journals are available through askEric.Also, I teach in a self-contained setting consisting of students labelled learning disabled, behavior disordered, or mildly mentally disabled and use cooperative learning groups every week. I have witnessed great results from ALL the students... in fact, they are scoring proficient or distinguished on many of the district's assessments!! In the past I felt that group work allowed the lower students to ride on the coat tails of others, but I haven't had many issues with that. I let each student score the members of the group confidentially and that is a great motivator!!
Good luck!
Aaron Said:
I teach special education. I teach an 8:1:1 class of students that are seriously learning disabled.?We Answered:
Hi!I have the same kind of class in a high school setting. Let me know the age group and I would be willing to share thhoughts and ideas with you.
Paulos
Ray Said:
Did you know on the FCAT (FL test) a child can get a 1 or 2, fail, and still have a score better than 70% US?We Answered:
No, i wasn't aware.Teresa Said:
What do you think of the following article?We Answered:
I saw this with my own eyes when I was a substitue teacher for a class of deaf students in a hearing school. One deaf student came up to me very upset, because she found out that she was not getting a real high school diploma. All she was getting was a certificate for attending this high school.Parents are failing to be their children's advocate. They mistakenly believe that the schools will take care of their disabled kids. The schools don't have the means and the staff to spend extra time with these kids. They need to develop an IEP and make sure the schools follow the IEP and also make sure themselves that their disabled child is on target with their education.
I am a child of the 60's. As a deaf child, there were no such thing as special education classes etc. My parents were told to send me to a deaf school, which my mother refused to do. She helped form a group of parents that advocated for their deaf kids and petitioned the General Assembly to pass laws allowing disabled children to be put into the public school system. What everyone failed to realize was that not every disabled child can function or learn in a public school setting. As a result of these laws, a majority of schools that were geared to children with disabilities have closed down.
As I said before, it is up to the parents to be their children's advocates. The public school system is ill equipped to educate disabled children.
Eduardo Said:
Mainstreaming Education. Special Needs in Mainstream Classrooms. Mainstream Teachers and ED/LD students onlyWe Answered:
As a special education teacher, I have found the main problem with "mainstreaming" students with special needs is the lack of training for the regular ed teachers. Also, sadly, there are regular ed teachers that do NOT want to deal with anything other than working at grade level in their classrooms. What many regular ed teachers have difficulty understanding is that we are looking for academic gain at the student's own level of ability, rather than emphasizing grade-level skills in the short term (our long-term goal is always, of course, to enable the child to achieve at grade level). As the child receives exposure and guidance regarding grade-level benchmarks, with the boost to reading, writing, spelling, math, and metacognitive skills given by Resource programming, progress can be quite dramatic. But even when I have a student that is starting to approach grade level in his/her skills, teachers like these (either untrained or unwilling) refuse to start to incorporate/invite the student into activities at grade level. Since administrators can only be in one place at a time, even when administrators insist that the regular ed teacher make the effort, often it does not happen.However, there are many regular ed teachers willing to adapt, and are either already trained or open to training in instructional approaches. It is exciting to see the progress made by our shared students over the year, with the "tag team" effort between Resource Room and Regular Ed.
This year I had about 1/3 of my kids (starting at least at 2 years below grade level) rise to within (although low) grade-level expectations in reading comprehension and writing skills. The other 2/3, well, I only have 2 moving up to 6th grade that are below 3rd grade level in reading, and the rest (those not moving to 6th grade) have another year or two with us to find their wings.
I just wish that the regular ed teachers who are resistant to having special needs kids in their rooms, could open their hearts. I also firmly believe in pull-out programs... students that are seriously below grade-level in skills have more negative peer attention from their failures in the regular ed class than from them quietly slipping out to join the Resource teacher for a subject or two. In Resource, we can work at their instructional level without the student feeling embarrassed by it.
Dale Said:
Whats the point of organizations for the disabled?We Answered:
I would try and go back to the reason why you volunteered in the first place.Whether there are changes or not among the students, it is ok. Maybe their disabilities are to the effect that change is not to be expected that much. Maybe your expectations are too high, you were hoping for vast improvements and miracles?
I think it is great that you volunteer and though you may think there is no point to what you are doing, there is.
you are making a difference in someone elses life. Even if the activities seem repetitious and you may think things are forced and planned. There maybe reasons for the set schedule.
You just try and be the best volunteer you can, smile and interract as much as you are able with the students. That is all they may be needing is just caring and love and fun. It may seem boring and simple to you, but it may mean alot to them.
I just wanted to add though. If you have an idea that you may think would bring some variety and you think the student would be capable of doing it and enjoy it. Then I would say something to the owner/leader. I don't think it would be looked at as complaining, but that you care about the students and you want to help. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make positive changes. You can always try.
Don't get disheartened. You are doing something really good.