Teaching Strategies for Special Education

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Teaching Strategies for Special Education

• Donna Graham, M.Ed.

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An intellectual disability is defined as a
person who has limitations in mental functioning.

• The limitations include
• Communication
• Social skills
• Self care (adaptive behavior)
• Cognitive delay (academic delay)
• Behavior difficulties
• Sensory processing disorder

Indicators -Poor language and/or verbal
skills -Social inappropriateness -Difficulties
with easy tasks -Delays in development -Difficu
lties making or keeping friends -Sensory
challenges
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Children with disabilities will behave
differently than the other children

• They may
• Resist change
• Have difficulty expressing their self
• Have poor eye contact
• Prefers to play alone
• Trouble following multi-step directions
• Weakness in auditory memory, organization, and
  concentration
• Emotional immaturity

• difficulty with reading, math, and writing
• Difficulty interpreting nonverbal language
• Easily frustrated
• Speech disorder
• Have difficulty with appropriate behavior in the
  classroom or in structured environments
• Poor attention span

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Teaching Strategies

• Classroom structure
• Use routines
• Specific feedback
• Cooperative learning groups
• Adult supervision
• Special seating
• Include movement in lessons

• Provide choices
• Reduce instructions into small steps
• Multi-sensory learning
• Early intervention
• Frequent breaks

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It is best to begin interventions as soon as the
disability is suspected.

• Teach responsibility and accountability
• Maintain high expectations
• Build self-esteem
• Structure the childs environment

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Accommodations within the classroom setting.

• Flexible seating arrangement
• Flexible time limits
• Assist with organization
• Positive reinforcement
• Sensory integration and teaching
• Modify/repeat directions

• Use positive reinforcers
• Play calming music
• Use music or rhyme
• Avoid long periods of deskwork
• Make a schedule
• Extra time to communicate

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Planning

• To be able to plan effectively you must know
  the needs of your students.
• Planning is an ongoing process.
• It is important to know your students.
• Develop an individualized plan for students with
  special needs.

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Points to Consider about Needs Assessment

• What are the strengths of the student and how can
  we build on their strengths?
• What are the students areas of concern or
  weaknesses and how can they improve?
• The goal of needs assessment is for the teacher
  to be able to increase student performance. This
  is done by planning.

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Individualize Plan

• The individual plan is intended to meet the
  individual needs of the student
• Lines out the strategies of how the student will
  be taught. i.e.. Change in curriculum,
  modifications, and accommodations
• The goals are measurable

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When writing goals, keep the following tips in
mind

• Be very specific about the action. For example
  raise his/her hand for attention, use a classroom
  voice, do 5 addition problems
• Then provide a time frame or location/context for
  the goal. For example during the lesson, when
  you want to talk, during the math lesson.
• Then decide what determines the success of the
  goal. For example how many consecutive periods
  will the child remain on task? What percentage of
  accuracy? How often?

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Sample Goal

• The student will be able to correctly complete 5
  addition problems using his/her fingers for
  assistance by the end of the school year.
• The student will sit quietly and listen to the
  reading lesson no longer than 10 minutes at a
  time by the end of December.