Different Educational Needs of Students - Assignment Example

Teaching Adjustment Plan Name Institution Teaching Adjustment Plan This paper focuses on two main areas. First, there is the description of the different educational needs of the two students that I observed and documented while undertaking my practicum. In this section, I will give the summary of some of the learning and teaching principles and strategies that are appropriate when adjusting for the unit in order to meet the specific learning needs of the students. The second section of the teaching plan entails the plan and preparation of detailed unit that I will use to teach the second practicum placement. In this unit, there is inclusion of a sequence of nearly 8-10 learning activities. With the detailed lesson plan of the various activities the unit will be in a position to meet the different requirements of the relevant Australian Curriculum documents or the essential learning. Detailed Descriptions for the students I have always felt for a long time that no individual should be absent let alone being excluded from two main things, education and training of the mind. This should only happen when there is no common good to the society. The main point in question is whether the blind, deaf and the retarded should get education and what modes of teaching and learning should be used. The answer is as simple as any other person would want to put it. That all humans need to be educated especially given that they need help that nature may not offer them especially for the handicap. Gone are the days when the handicapped persons were concentrated in just the special schools and had separate education system from the rest, the non-handicapped. To this end, most of the institutions currently employ the use of inclusive education system and this is mainly based on the belief that every individual has the right to get equal chance to education. This is such an important concept in learning environments today. Upon its full interpretation, it is able to represent a potentially significant shift that is away from various policies and practices common to individuals. Detailed Description of Visually Impaired Student While doing my practicum, one of the students that I met during the period was a visually impaired student. In fact, the class has two students who were physically challenged with the other student having a hearing impairment problem. Given that at the moment I am taking students through year 7 work, I have to prepare my teaching plan to be in synch with the needs of the students. Ideally, there is undoubtedly the need to ensure that there is full transformation of curricular material and the social as well as pedagogical life of the students. The curricular that I have to prepare must ensure that these students are fully incorporated and do away with barriers that might be a challenge in their study. The visually impaired students are those with diagnosable condition of the eye and/or visual system that results in a vision loss which when corrected is so severe that it affects the ability of the persons to learn through the normal visual sensory channels. However, there is a wide range of vision impairment and spans right from low vision to blindness. Usually, the eye is made of three parts and these include the receptor (external eye), the optic nerves and the visual center of the brain. Any of these parts of the eye can be damaged and in effect impact on the vision of persons. Vision is deemed as the sense through which objects that are within the external environment are perceived through the light that they reflect. The loss of vision can either be partial or complete. The visually impaired individuals with visual handicap are persons who suffer from different types and levels of lowered visual abilities. Precisely, the term refers to people who in their daily life activities are to some extent affected by the impairment and at all costs cannot be repaired through common optical aids. These individuals are further divided in two groups, the weak-eyed and the blind. Usually, there are other groups of persons who are visually impaired and these include those with low vision or individuals who are legally blind. Even though there are different groups of visual impairments, there some with low vision. Those with low vision are known to suffer a severe visual impairment. Normally, this does not necessarily entail the distance vision problem. The term applies to all persons that are not able to read the normal text of a newspaper within the recommended reading distance. This form of disability in most cases cannot be corrected by use of glasses or lenses. The individuals in this category usually use another sense or possibly employ the use of other senses to learn. Some like the student I had had to make use of additional lighting and change in the size of text for them to survive. In addition, there is a group of legally blind persons. This group is normally construed to make up individuals or persons with less than 20/200 sight in the better eye. 20 represents the length in meters that is needed by the visually impaired person to spot an object and the second number, 200 indicates the distance, usually in meters that is required for the non-visually impaired individuals to also spot the object. In most cases, persons suffering from this form of visual impairment has very limited field of vision. The other noteworthy category is the very blind persons who are individuals that have to learn using the braille print and other non-visual aids. Some of these people like the student I met during the practicum are not able to perceive the difference between light and darkness. Owing to these, I had to come up with the lesson plan in a manner that supports the special education of the persons. Hearing Impairment The second student that I met during the practicum had a hearing impairment challenge. Normally, the students who suffer from hearing impairments are those who in one way or another have their ability to hear interfered with. Usually, there is wide range of hearing impairment and these ranges from mild levels to very profound levels. Normally, some students are born with hearing impairment while others acquire a hearing loss later in life. Hearing impairment results due to a number of reasons and factors and these include maternal rubella, Rh blood incompatibility, cytomegalovirus (CMV), heredity, and ototoxic drugs that are taken by the mother. After birth, there are chances that persons may develop hearing problems and some of the cause includes meningitis, infection of the middle ear and even encephalitis. Usually, the hearing loss can be categorized accordance to the level of loss and some of the levels include mild, moderate, severe, and profound. The students that have mild hearing loss are likely to comprehend the conversational speech face to face though they may miss much of the discussions that occur in classes in the event that voices are faint or the speaker is not within their line of vision. Usually, the students require that they are given the hearing aid, taken through auditory training and also given speech therapy. On the other hand, the students with moderate hearing loss stand higher chances of having difficulty in hearing and at the same time comprehending the discussions at group level. These students require that they be given hearing aids, auditory training program and speech therapy. There is need for the development of the specialized input that relate to communication and the language development. A student suffering from severe hearing loss may be in a position to hear loud sounds; but only when such sounds are close. These students often require that they have the hearing aid, they be presented with auditory training and additionally given speech therapy. Just like the ones suffering from moderate conditions, they too need specialized input that relates to communication. Additionally, they require the language development. Nonetheless, a student that suffers from a profound hearing loss may only hear some loud sounds. The student relies on vision and not hearing at all as vision like signing and leap reading is their major avenue of communication. The student will need the applicability of the hearing aid, auditory training and speech therapy. The specialized input that relates to communication as well the development of language is also required. Usually, some of the students that suffer from severe or profound hearing are taught in their own classes, that is, they are segregated from the rest. This is mainly because their needs are far much different from the rest and additionally they require special form of attention. In most cases, the deaf or the hearing impaired students experience distortion of sounds that they can hear. The distortion mainly interferes with the ability of the students to access speech and language. In the long-run, the ability of the students to produce clear speech is affected. This in most cases happens simply because the auditory feedback of the affected persons are due to the distortions that are present in the surrounding. A hearing impairment is labeled depending on the hearing loss and include; conductive, sensorineural and mixed. For the conductive hearing loss, there is always interference that occurs in the transmission of sound specifically going through the outer and the middle ear. On the other hand for sensorineural hearing loss, it occurs when there is interference that occurs in the processes of the inner ear. A case in point is the damage to or absence of the nerve hairs within the cochlea or even the absence of cochlea itself. Lastly, the mixed hearing loss combines both of the above categories. Specific Needs of Students with Hearing Impairment The needs of the students suffering from hearing impairment are different and in most cases they depend on the type and level of the impairment. There are also other specific areas where the needs of these students may be affected. First, there is speech. Often the ability of the students to produce sounds largely is dependent on the level of hearing that they can associate themselves with. This directly or indirectly determines the hearing loss. The other factor is the amount of distortion that these persons experience and the speech program. This then means that the persons have to take into consideration the above factors when preparing the lesson plan. When making the plan, care is taken to note that not all the hearing impaired students will speak clearly enough to be understood by all and this is also in reference to the case of the student that I am handling. In development of speech skills of these persons both lessons and incidental learning must be given chance to take place. The other aspect is language. Language is considered in this case as an integral part in the teaching of the individuals suffering from the hearing impairment. Therefore, when designing the teaching plan, language aspects must be taken into consideration across and it must be taught throughout the curriculum. This will then definitely contain the language aspect being taught in year 7 class. Additionally, when developing the plan for this student, the language has to be incorporated in a manner that it is taught as total development and not selection or concentration of just one area. additionally, when teaching the aspects must be actively taken into considerations by all subject teachers especially the teachers that that take the specific teaching of genres and vocabulary in a subject. Also, in the plan, the teaching of it, I will ensure that is well within the various genres of the main learning areas. Another main aspect is the communication method. When coming up with the method through the hearing impaired student will use to communicate will also depend on numerous factors. First, I will look at the oral/aural ability of the student. This is largely informed by the fact that most of the students rely on speech and listening or even reading of the speech for them to communicate. Also, the other factor is the signed communication. Even though a small percentage of students use signed communication, I will seek to find out if the student depends on it such as Signed English or Auslan. The other integral part of this category is modification of program. The hearing impaired student will definitely require that I modify parts and some elements of the curriculum. The modifications in this sense details the classroom, the strategies that are used to deliver content, the communication strategies, the duration required to complete a task or an assignment, the assessment strategies employed and the concepts that are taught. In assessing and reporting the performance and progress of the students, the various modifications that are made include having consideration on the duration of time allotted to complete assessment pieces, the length of the written tasks that are meant for assessment, the existing alternative forms of assessments and the signed version of orals. Additionally, there is modification that is done for the reporting process in order to fully take into account the needs of the individuals with the hearing impairment. Upon doing the modifications, both the students and the parents are then in a position to be aware of the achievements that have been made within the plan. Further, the modifications also cover the regular class reporting process. There other needs are the listening devices. For the individuals with hearing impairment, use of equipment or technology helps them to get the information that is passed squarely. Further, the curriculum must be designed to also have these persons incorporated within the groups of persons with the same problems, a case in point is the Auslan (Australian Sign Language). Allowing the student to participate in other activities in the deaf communities is essential for their progress. Designing the lesson plan to have them participate ensures that they feel a sense of identity and belonging and pride themselves in being with individuals who recognize them. Through this identity, they can achieve what they would not achieve elsewhere. Part of the curriculum adjustment and a very critical need for the individual with hearing impairment is teaching of history especially taking the individuals through the history of deaf people, the language that was created, the traditions, experiences, and the cultural norms and values that have developed with this groups of persons. This ensures that they are able to understand their issue in totality. This form of adjustment is very critical especially in the cases where persons have not grown and learnt within the deaf community. Read More