Adaptations the Teacher Makes to Accommodate Disabled Students Learning Activities - Case Study Example

Classroom Case Study: The Case of Nathan Student name Course Tutor Date: The three activities that have been identified for use by the teacher for use to enhance Nathan’s reading, writing and talking/listening skills are as follows: 1. Reduce the complexity of the readings that Nathan does. As an eight-and-a-half year old child, Nathan is in grade 3. In order to enhance his reading skills, the teacher will need to teach him word reading strategies, something that the rest of his classmates already know well. As indicated by Olinghouse (2008) word reading strategies include activities such as various vowel sounds, sound affixes, letter-sound relationships, and reading by analogy among others. The ideal starting point is to use less complex readings – e.g. from lower grades (i.e. grades 1 and 2). 2. To enhance Nathan’s talking/listening skills, the teacher will reinforce oral presentations with written words, diagrams, charts or pictures. This will enable Nathan to have better concentration and thus improve his talking/listening skills. 3. To enhance Nathan’s writing skills, the teacher will encourage him to use adaptive devices such as erasable pens, pencil grips, special pen holders, and/or colour-coded or raised lines. To enhance Nathan’s inclusivity with the rest of his classmates, the teacher will use the aforesaid adaptive devices within writing assignments during the lesson, but will separately coach Nathan if the need to do so arises. -- Adaptations that the teacher will make in order to accommodate the abovementioned learning activities will include classroom accommodations, which will be physical in nature; instructional accommodation; and assistive technologies. According to Alberta Learning (2003), “accommodations must match the specific learning needs of the individual student” (p. 36). In Nathan’s case, classroom accommodations and especially adjusting his sitting position to an ideal position in the classroom will enable the teacher to pay specific attention to him, without attracting curious gazes from the rest of the students. The sitting re-arrangement will also enable the teacher to encourage him to use written words, diagrams, charts, or pictures without attracting much attention from other students. Instructional accommodations on the other hand are according to Alberta Learning (2003) appropriate for use where the teacher has understood how a student learns best. In Nathan’s case, instructional accommodations will allow the teacher to support his learning in a manner that supports his learning needs. Using written words as a way of enhancing Nathan’s listening/talking skills is an example of the instructional accommodations that the teacher will make. Such accommodations will be specifically targeted at Nathan and will require planning on the teacher’s part so that they can fit well into the classroom activities as has been suggested by Scanlon and Baker (2012) and Fielding-Barnsley (2005). The interventions identified for use in Nathan’s case – i.e. reinforcing oral presentation with written words, diagrams, charts or pictures in order to improve his listening/talking skills – fall into the presentation category as described by Thompson et al (2005). The accommodations will allow Nathan to engage in the same educational curriculum as his classmates, although the teacher will modify the instructional method to match Nathan’s learning abilities as suggested by Conway (2005) According to Thompson et al. (2005), instructional accommodations can be grouped into four categories: response, presentation, setting, and scheduling/timing. Depending on the time that the teacher would need to spend on using the reinforcing devices on Nathan, and depending on whether there are other special needs students in the classroom, the teacher can chose to co-teach with a special educator as suggested by Scanlon and Baker (2012). The two authors – Scanlon and Baker (2012) – observe that co-teaching “allows paired teachers to balance content-area knowledge with pedagogical expertise and specialised supports” (p. 212). Notably however, co-teaching would require a great deal of collaboration and open communication between the two teachers in order not only to benefit Nathan but the entire classroom, most especially by upholding the tenets of inclusivity of learning in schools. Assistive technologies enable students with learning disabilities to benefit from learning by reducing barriers caused by their cognitive, physical or sensory factors (Alberta Learning, 2003). In Nathan’s case, the assistive technologies will be used to help him overcome his writing difficulties, and if the need to do so arises, help him in his reading too. According to Stanberry and Raskind (2008), there are various assistive technologies that can be used to assist students struggling with reading and writing. Stanberry and Raskind (2008) however observe that before using assistive technologies on a learner, the teacher needs to identify the specific challenges and needs in the learner, identify his strengths, and identify the technology that serves the child’s interests best. With this in mind, the teacher will work with Nathan’s parents in order to identify his strengths, needs and challenges, and hence identify the right assistive technology for use. In class, the assistive technology can be done in just a small fraction of the teacher’s time in class – specifically because it includes adaptive devices such as grip pens, which do not require much effort and time dedication from the teacher. The teacher could also consider the getting paired with a specialist educator in a collaborative teaching approach as suggested by Idol (2006), Epps (2007) and Scanlon and Baker (2012). The collaborative approach is ideal where the needs of the special education students are overwhelming and where the teacher’s concentration on assisting them would pose a disadvantage to the general education of the students. However, and as noted by Merbler, Hadadian and Ulman (1999), collaborative approaches “require careful planning and policymaking at both the classroom and school system levels” (p. 113). In other words, if the teacher opts for the collaborative approach when using adaptive devices to enhance Nathan’s writing skills, he will need to consult not only with Nathan’s parents, but also with the school system. Overall, the effectiveness of the three accommodations identified above will most likely support Nathan in accomplishing educational objectives in relation to his reading, listening/talking, and writing skills. However, and as noted by Scanlon and Baker (2012), the teacher needs to peg the accommodations on three aspects namely: identifying the right accommodations; providing the most appropriate accommodation for use in individual students; and evaluating the effect of the accommodation on the learner, in this case Nathan. This means that the accommodations indicated herein will need to be evaluated after a specific time and their efficacy in enhancing Nathan’s reading, writing, and listening/talking skills established. Should the results be impressive, the teacher will continue using them until a time when the teacher will identify a need for change. Should the accommodations be deemed to have failed in enhancing Nathan’s reading, writing, listening/talking skills, the teacher will need to go through the processes anew starting with identifying the right accommodations, providing them to Nathan, and evaluating their efficacy or lack thereof. Such a process will ideally be repeated until such a time that the right accommodation that will improve Nathan’s learning abilities is identified and implemented. -- The rationale for the accommodations identified above is pegged on Scanlon and Baker’s (2012) observation that a teacher needs to understand the student before picking accommodations. In this case, Nathan’s abilities and learning needs were identified, and the accommodations that appeared to suit his context best were picked. As Alberta Learning (2003) indicates, it is the teacher’s prerogative to ensure that the adaptations picked are effective based on their efficacy in helping individual students in learning. In Nathan’s case, I was convinced that a combination of accommodations were necessary since his physical sitting position would affect how he reacted to the different activities used by the teacher on him. Additionally, I was also aware that naturally, the extra attention he would get would arouse the curiosity of other students. In the spirit of inclusivity in learning, and to avoid a scenario where Nathan would become the centre of attention, the sitting arrangement, which is a representation of classroom accommodations, became an essential consideration. Instructional accommodation was on the other hand picked because Nathan’s inability to comprehend the writing, reading, listening/talking skills of his grade meant that the teacher needed to instruct him differently from the others. Specifically, and in order to reduce the complexity of learning, work from lower grades will be used on him. Ideally, Nathan’s knowledge on less complex learning will create a good foundation for future and more complex learning. Assistive technologies were chosen because as Scanlon and Baker (2012) note, different learners understand instructions differently. While Nathan may have difficulties understanding oral instruction on writing, reading, listening/talking, he will probably take considerable interest in practical instructions, which include charts, diagrams, and pictures among other illustrations. Overall, the choice of the adaptations was made in consideration of the activities which the teacher had identified for use with Nathan. The adaptations were ideal for use with the three activities, and combining them gives Nathan a good chance of improving his reading, writing, talking/listening skills. If not, the teacher still has a chance to evaluate the activities and/or the adaptations and pick a different approach, which may help Nathan attain, understand and retain knowledge. References Alberta Learning. (2003). The learning team: a handbook for parents of children with special needs. Edmonton: Alberta Learning. Conway, R. (2005). Adapting curriculum, teaching and learning strategies. In P. Foreman (Ed.), Inclusion in Action (pp. 95-163). South Melbourne: Thomson Learning. Epps, J. (2007). The influence of assistive technology on students with learning disabilities in the inclusive classroom. Fielding-Barnsley, R. (2005). The attributes of a successful learning support teacher in Australian Inclusive classrooms. Journal of Research in Special Education Needs 5(2): 68-76. Idol, L. (2006). Toward inclusion of special education students in general education. Remedial & Special Education 27 (2), 77-94. Merbler, J., Hadadian, A. & Ulman, J. (1999). Using assistive technology in the inclusive classroom. Preventing school Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth. 43(3): 113-117. Olinghouse, N. (2008). Designing lessons for diverse learners. 1-18. Retrieved July 09, 2013, http://education.msu.edu/te/secondary/pdf/Designing-Lessons-for-Diverse-Learners.pdf Scanlon, D. & Baker, D. (2012). An accommodations model for the secondary inclusive classroom. Learning Disability Quarterly. 35(4): 212-224. Stanberry, K & Raskind, M.H. (2009). Assistive technology for kids with learning disabilities: an overview’, Reading Rockets. Retrieved July 09, 2013, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/33074/ Thompson, S. J., Morse, A. B., Sharpe, M., & Hall, S. (2005). Accommodations manual: How to select, administer, and evaluate use of accommodations for instruction and assessment of students with disabilities (2nd ed.). Washington DC: CCSSO State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards Assessing Special Education Students. 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