Extended Content Standards

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Extended Content Standards
NC Department of Public Instruction Exceptional
Children Division

• Three Levels of Access
• So That ALL Children
• Can Participate in the General Education
  Curriculum

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Why Change?

• The short answer
• It creates high expectations
• It allows for creativity and making learning fun
  and challenging.

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• The extended standards document is presented in a
  "top down" structure.
• The Standard Course of Study
• The Extension
• The Symbolic access point
• The Early Symbolic access point
• and
• The Pre-symbolic access point .

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• This structure is intended to help the IEP team
  understand the standard and find a point at which
  a link between the student's ability and the
  standard can be identified. School personnel
  should note that providing exposure to the
  standards at levels that assure skill development
  is critical.

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Three Levels of Access

• Symbolic
• Early Symbolic
• Pre-symbolic

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Symbolic

• Communicates with symbols (e.g., pictures) or
  words (e.g., spoken words, assistive technology,
  American Sign Language, home signs).
• May have emerging or basic functional academic
  skills
• decoding and comprehension
• knowledge of meaning in a variety of symbols
  (pictures, logos, signs, letters, numbers,
  symbols or words)
• counting or number recognition
• identifying or categorizing by a variety of
  attributes
• emerging or basic number sense and/or computation
• understanding of models or simple representations
• emerging writing or graphic representation for
  the purpose of conveying meaning through writing,
  drawing, or computer keying

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Early Symbolic

• Demonstrates emerging knowledge of symbols (e.g.,
  pictures, logos, associated objects flag for
  circle time).
• May have limited emerging functional academic
  skills
• limited or emerging knowledge of graphic symbols
  (logos, restroom signs, etc.)
• limited or emerging knowledge that objects may be
  symbolically or graphically related to an
  event, activity or another object (cereal box for
  cereal, photo of toys for play area, picture of
  bus for go home)
• may respond to a variety of instructions (verbal
  or pictorial)
• may categorize by one or more attributes
• may demonstrate knowledge of a variety of
  cause-effect relationships

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Pre-symbolic

• May demonstrate intentionality shows interest,
  directed focus, purpose or desire for a result
  through behavior
• Beginning to build intentional communication may
  use idiosyncratic gestures, sounds, and movements
  to communicate with others
• Does not discriminate between pictures or other
  symbols (and does not use symbols to communicate)
• Associates objects or physical settings with
  routine activity - cup means drink, diaper means
  lie down
• Demonstrates limited or simple understanding of
  cause and effect with immediate and frequent
  routines
• May have the capacity to sort or combine (e.g.,
  stack) very different objects, may use trial and
  error
• May demonstrate emerging knowledge of
  cause-effect relationships
• May manipulate (put in mouth, touch, grab, etc.)
  or engage in repeated movements to gain knowledge
  of objects

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Extended Content Standards
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Access Points
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Demonstrators
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Demonstrator Match appropriate number of objects
(pencils, markers, CDs, pens, etc.) to a
picture/picture symbol of the designated number
of objects.

• Is it linked to the content standards?
• Is it functional? Does it lead to positive
  outcomes?
• Am I starting at a level that the student can
  perform?

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Creating Curriculum From the North Carolina
Extended Content Standards

• How Do I Do This?

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Rule 1

• If the skill is important to the student,
• Put it in the IEP.
• Just Because a Skill is Not Linked to the
• Standards Does Not Mean it is Not
• Important to the Student
• Issue of Time Money in Secondary Grades

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Rule 2

• The Demonstrators are Examples,
• They are NOT the Entire Curriculum
• Teachers Must Find the Curriculum that Addresses
  the Students Functional and Academic Needs

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Rule 3

• Try to Assure Demonstration of Progress from Year
  to Year!
• Expand, Generalize, and Apply
• Working on the Same Goal Each Year is Suspect.
  Get Proficiency and Progress.
• Scope Sequence is Individualized!
• The Demonstrators Cannot Address Individual
  Differences.

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Kellys Story

• Label of autism and mental disability
• I.Q. of 40, developmental age of 36 months
• Seizures and sensory impairments
• Fine and gross motor skill deficits
• No conventional communication
• Runs away and sometimes hits
• Does not appear able to read
• ILSSANAAC, UK BAP, UNH

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Our Dilemma

• What should her educational program look like?
• Academics?
• Discrete trial training?
• Functional skills?
• Separate classroom?
• Part time in general education?
• Full time inclusion?

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Our Dilemma

• How do we support her communication?
• Content vocabulary?
• Functional words?
• Sign language?
• Low tech or high tech?

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Resolving the Dilemma
We should apply the least dangerous assumption
when considering the competence of children with
autism and mental disabilities.

• Intelligence is not a single characteristic.
• All people have different talents and skills.
• People learn best when they feel valued, when
  people hold high expectations for them, and when
  they are taught and supported well.

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Kellys Dilemma

• Presume the student will learn
• What decisions might we make about
• Kellys educational program and supports?

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Influence of Assumptions on Educational Decisions

• Decisions
• We teach her the general education curriculum in
  the general education class.
• Kellys IEP goals reflect general education
  curriculum content AND learning functional skills
  within typical routines.
• AAC system has age-appropriate social and
  subject-matter vocabulary.

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Influence of Assumptions on Educational Decisions

• Decisions
• Classroom materials reflect same learning goals
  as students without disabilities.
• We talk to Kelly about current events,
  age-appropriate subjects.
• Kelly is supported to engage with her classmates
  in typical social activities.

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What will be lost if we teach and give access to
the general education curriculum?

• If we have high expectations and teach to those
  expectations
• If we address both functional and academic needs
• Nothing will be lost

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Influence of Assumptions on Educational Decisions

• Presume the student isnt able to learn
• What decisions might we make about Kellys
• educational program and supports?

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Influence of Assumptions on Educational Decisions

• Decisions
• Exposure to general education curriculum is for
  the purpose of learning access or functional
  skills.
• Kelly is not included in general education or
  only for social reasons.
• IEP goals focus primarily on communication,
  movement,self-regulation, self-determination,
  work skills, social skills.
• AAC system has social and academic vocabulary
  related to Kellys perceived developmental level
  or measured I.Q. level (e.g., more, eat,
  break, bathroom, yes, etc.)

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Influence of Assumptions on Educational Decisions

• Decisions
• Materials reflect different learning goals than
  those of students without disabilities.
• We talk to Kelly in a way that might be
  appropriate for a younger student at the same
  developmental level as the reports indicate.
• Kelly is not supported to engage with her
  classmates in social activities because we say
  she is too immature, too naïve, or isnt
  interested in those kinds of activities.

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What has been lost?

• If we dont have high expectations and teach to
  those expectations
• If we dont address both functional and academic
  needs
• Kelly may have been able to learn more than we
  allowed her to attempt.

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• We lost an opportunity to teach Kelly things she
  could have learned.
• We didnt include her as much as we could have
  and she did not develop a wide network of social
  relationships.
• She missed out on the typical school experience.
• We might have negatively influenced her
  self-esteem by treating her as if she were not
  smart.
• We might have narrowed the possibilities for her
  future career or postsecondary education.
• We wasted a lot of money pursuing the wrong
  educational program.

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How Do We Decide IEP Priorities?

• Step 1
• Determine Students Present Level of Academic
  Achievement and Functional Performance
• Step 2
• Prioritize Functional Needs

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Priorities

• Step 3
• Determine Grade Level Standards
• Step 4
• Select Access Points for each competency of the
  NCECS
• Step 5
• Integrate Priorities

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Priorities

• Step 6
• Develop Draft Goals and Objectives/ Benchmarks
• Step 7
• Conduct IEP Meeting

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Specially Designed Instruction

• Federal Regulations define it as
• adapting the content, methodology, or delivery
  of instruction to address the unique needs of the
  child and to ensure access to the general
  curriculum so that the child can meet the
  educational standards within the jurisdiction of
  the public agency that apply to all children
• 300.39(b)(3)

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Three Indicators of Requirement in the IEP

• Statement of how the childs disability affects
  the childs involvement and progress in the
  general education curriculum.
  300.320(a)(1)
• Annual IEP goals to be designed to enable the
  child to be involved in and make progress in the
  general education curriculum.
  300.320(a)(2)(i)

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• include a statement of the special education
  and related services the child will receive, as
  well as the program modifications or supports for
  school personnel that will be provided, to enable
  the child to be involved in and make progress in
  the general education curriculum.
  300.320(a)(4)

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Present Level of Educational Performance

• Wording has been changed to read
• a statement of the childs present levels of
  academic achievement and functional performance
  614(d)(1)(A)(i)(l)
• a statement of measurable annual goals,
  including academic and functional goals
• 614(d)(1)(A)(i)(ll)
• In Essence
• We are to create a balance between academic and
  functional skills

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In Short

• We are required by law to teach the Standard
  Course of Study to all students.

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GOOD NEWS

• Teachers of students with significant cognitive
  disabilities have, for the first time, a course
  of study with which to focus their instruction.
• New teachers will no longer be at a loss for what
  to teach.
• The Extended Content Standards will afford
  students with significant cognitive disabilities
  access to the course of study.