Developing Learning Programs - Literature review Example

Individualized Learning Plan Introduction Learning forms a crucial part in a person’s life since it entails enhancing one’s mental power, and acquiring new skills, knowledge, ideals and behaviours and helping one know how to synthesize varied forms of information (Chance, 2008). Often, learning happens as a part of education, individual growth and through training. Learning for students with special needs is rather different due to the fact that these students are unable to obtain learning in the pace and form that regular students are able to. Their limitation to learn as regular students is due to varied limitations such as learning difficulties, communication difficulties, physical impairments, development disorders and emotional and behavioural disorders as noted by Poon-McBrayer & Lian (2002). According to Daniels & Garner (2000), to ensure effective and adequate learning for these students therefore, it requires learning be structured in such a way to address each students’ individual needs and differences, which entails developing individually designed and methodically monitored teaching processes that contains adaptable learning materials and settings which generates a favourable learning environment and experience for them. This forms the basis of this report, which seeks to develop an individual learning or behaviour plan for a student with autism, which will provide focus for teachers and the wider learning community for about six months. Background information According to Blanc & Volkers (2007), autism is a life long developmental disability where the information processing part of the brain is affected, which makes it heard for individual with autism to comprehend what they hear, see, feel and sense which generates to severe challenges that hinder their ability to communicate, learn, socialize and it injures their behaviour. Autism affects how autistic individuals perceive the world and they are often lost in their own world where there are no rules or restrictions. Although all autistic people have similar challenges, their conditions impact on them in varied ways with others being able to live almost autonomously while others requiring special help and reinforcement throughout their lives as indicated by Wetherby & Prizant (2000). These are some of the core issues to consider when developing an individual learning plan for an autistic student. When developing the plan, it will highlight the strengths and needs of the students in order to generate effective strategies to capitalize on the strengths to overcome the needs. Student strengths, interests or abilities The individual plan is meant for an autistic student in the first grade attending mainstream classes, who has the following strengths and needs: the student is able to learn and remember simple information if the said information is in form of pictures The student produces coherent sounds the student has self-stimulating behaviour of nodding her head repetitively in order to calm herself down the student positively responds to music when agitated The student likes the company of other children Needs the student is unable to understand information given orally or written down the student cannot carryout out a conversation to facilitate social interaction Students has trouble disengaging and shifting attention from one stimulus to another The student tends to focus their attention on a restricted area of the environment such that she can look at a doll and fail to notice the person it is being passed on to. Once agitated or when they do not want to engage or participate in something or when they are simply saying no, the student throws a tantrum and repeatedly rams his head on the wall Goals The main goals of the individual learning plan is to Facilitate communication by developing the student’s expressive skills Enhance social skills development interactions Mold behaviour suitable to varied settings and situations Strategies The individual plan incorporates strategies that are meant to ensure they utilize the student’s strengths and skills to overcome the needs, they allow the student to learn at their own pace, generates new learning opportunities that fosters the safety of the student and balances learning with play. Use of visual materials in teaching To achieve all the set goals, which include developing the student’s expressive skills, enhancing social skills development interactions and moulding behaviour suitable to varied settings and situations, the first strategy would be for the teacher to use pictures and visual representations. Using this strategy will enhance the ability of the student to not only focus and retain her attention, but also, capitalize on her strength of learning and understanding information presented in form of pictures. Use of pictographic will ensure she learns, communicate and develop her capacity to concentrate and focus on what is important in the environment as indicated by Ministry of Education (2000). An added benefit of teaching using visual support is the opportunity for the student to utilize them and even analyse them as long as they may need to process the information intended compared to oral teaching, which is transient. Use of pictures to teach will be helpful since it will help the student concentrate on the information as discussed by Quill (1995). The types of pictures for this student range from colour visuals, black and white photos, line drawing which can be upgraded to graphic symbols depending on the level of understanding and learning progress of the student. Using visuals aids will help in giving instructions, reinforcing suitable conduct such as posted visual rules, where for instance to imply silence a person is drawn with a finger on the lips. Teaching self-control where pictures are presented to prompt behaviour expectations and teaching social skills where pictures are used to tell social stories depicting social situations with suitable social responses (Swaggart, et al., 1995). Important to remember is to develop an individualized visual classroom schedule which incorporates varied learning activities such as blending preferred and less preferred tasks, group and individual tasks and incorporating play intermittently. Visual aids will be crucial in teaching the students how to use their coherent sounds to make meaningful conversations, to enhance their social interaction skills by presenting social situations and cueing for appropriate response and helping develop appropriate behaviour for varied situations (Swaggart, et al., 1995). To ensure consistency both in and out of school, parents and family should be actively involved in order for them to extend the same learning materials at home, where certain signs, pictures and symbols signify the same thing whether in school or at home (Magyar, 2010). Offering the autistic student chances for meaningful contact Among the most effective way that children learn are from interacting with others as recorded by Smith (2011). Although autistic students rarely learn from observing and being engaged, the fact that this particular student responds to well to other children provides an opportunity where other peers can participate. To ensure the student is able to enhance their ability to relate with others, it will be crucial to expose her to social situations in order to condition her behaviour to what is appropriate by giving her situation- specific behaviour expectations as echoed by Magyar (2010). The student should be given the opportunity to have meaningful contact by engaging her in mutual learning arrangements, interchanging peer cronies to safeguard against dependence and ensuring the student participates in after-school group activities, which incorporate the student’s interests as highlighted (Ministry of Education, 2000). It is important that the group activities be aligned with the student’s response to varied stimuli such as music. To enhance her social skills through meaningful social contact, it will be crucial that fellow/ regular students are taught about autism to make them understand better the student’s behaviour, which can be achieved formally or informally and teaching them on how best to initiate communication (Smith, 2011). The peers can be taught ways to utilize particular cues to set off and sustain interactions with the autistic student as suggested by Quill (1995). It is crucial that just as the autistic student is supported in facilitating social interactions with others, the same case should apply to her peers by supporting their role in participating and enhancing learning for the autistic student. Smith (2011) suggests that peers to the autistic student should be reinforced in creating ways to improve the autistic student’s social competence. Among methods, they can be taught include the PRT or pivotal response training, which is utilized during recesses to enhance social interactions, to initiate communication and encourage use of language. The PRT technique equips regular students with varied methods they can use to gain the attention of the autistic student, engage the autistic student in play, help model the student’s appropriate social conduct, initiate and sustain conversations and take turns or share as described by Ministry of Education (2000). Parents and siblings to the student should also be taught on how to facilitate and help advance communication, social skills and engage with the student. Teaching the autistic student an alternative behaviour In order to alter the inappropriate behaviour of the autistic student which includes throwing a tantrum and ramming her head on the table, which the student does to indicate agitation or to signify her saying no, it is vital to establish a suitable and easy to integrate behaviour which the student can use to express the same feelings. As noted by Ministry of Education (2000), teaching the autistic student an alternative behaviour is not meant to discipline her but to enhance the student’s ability to utilize an alternative behaviour. This is more suitable in not only getting what she wants, but also minding the welfare of the other regular students who may be terrified or may feel uncomfortable with the existing behaviour of head banging or tantrums. According to Magyar (2010), alternative behaviour is meant to train her on effective and appropriate way of communicating her feelings, socializing with others and is a technique, which can help identify other sensory stimulations of the student. It is important for the teacher to offer support and guide the autistic child in the processing of embracing an alternative behaviour (Quill, 1995). The participation of the family or parent is required to facilitate consistency in successful adoption of alternative behaviour. Support personnel/agencies To ensure the individual learning plan for the autistic students is effectively implemented, monitored and reviewed for changes, it will require the commitment, accountability and engagement with key people who include Parents or family guardian to ensure planning is followed at home School representative with power to allocate resources An autistic expert Regular teacher Professionally trained special education teacher Local special education agencies Local autistic- related agencies Wider school community Reporting After the implementation of the individual learning plan, regular teachers and the professionally trained special education teacher should co-operate and help monitor progress and write reports about the performance of the students in relation to communication, social skills and behaviour on a day-to-day basis. After every month, comprehensive reports should be written by the teachers on the effectiveness of the strategies applied and recommendations for changes where applicable. Review An assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the suggested strategies in enhancing learning for the autistic student shall be carried. After every six months period, a meeting of the relevant support personnel/ agencies shall be arranged to discuss the logistics, review progress and develop new strategies that are aligned to the level of learning and progress made by the student on the three areas based on monthly reports and recommendations made by the teachers. In addition, an analysis of the achievement of the set goals shall be done to understand if they were achieved or not, if they were achieved, what was the impact and if they were not, what were the obstacles and how can they best be achieved. Conclusion Designing a suitable learning tool for a special needs student is a daunting task as each special needs student need to receive as much attention and learning just as their counterparts would, regardless of the fact they have a blend of skills, talents , challenges and needs with learning, which requires developing a customized learning plan fit for them. Developing learning programs that are specifically designed to cater for individual needs and differences of special needs students enhances their chances to acquire effective learning and achieve anticipated learning outcomes. These programs may involve using varied teaching styles and approaches, applying relevant technologies and strategies and developing a specifically adapted teaching set up. The report has developed a comprehensive individual learning plan specifically meant for a student with particular strengths and needs. The strategies developed are aligned to the needs and strengths of this student and they include use of visual materials in teaching, offering the autistic student chances for meaningful contact and teaching the autistic student an alternative behaviour. References Blanc, R. L. & Volkers, H. (2007). What You Should Know about Autism Spectrum Disorders. New Jersey: Cranendonck Coaching. Chance, P. (2008). Learning and Behavior: Active Learning. Melbourne: Cengage Learning. Daniels, H. & Garner, P. (2000). Inclusive education: supporting inclusion in education systems. Upper River Saddle: Routledge. Magyar, C.I. (2010). Developing and Evaluating Educational Programs for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. New York: Springer. Ministry of Education. (2000). Teaching students with autism: A resource guide for Schools. Ministry of Education, Special Programs Branch (BC). Accessed on 30th Sept 2011 from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/docs/autism.pdf Poon-McBrayer, K.F. & Lian, M.J. (2002). Special needs education: children with exceptionalities. Beijing: Chinese University Press. Quill, K. A. (1995). Visually cued instruction for children with autism and pervasive developmental disorders. Focus on Autistic Behaviour, 10(3), 10–20. Smith, T. (2011). Making Inclusion Work for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Evidence-Based Guide. London: Guilford Press. Swaggart, B. L., Gagnon, E., Bock, S. J., Earles, R. L., Quinn, C., Myles, B. S., & Simpson, R. L. (1995). Using social stories to teach social and behavioural skills to children with autism. Focus on Autistic Behaviour, 10, 1–17. Wetherby, A. M. & Prizant, B. M. (2000). Autism spectrum disorders: A developmental transactional perspective. Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks. Read More