Chapter 6: Students with Low-Incidence Disabilities

·         Low-incidence disabilities include autism, moderate, severe, and multiple disabilities, sensory impairments, and physical, medical, and health disabilities.

·         Asperger syndrome are students who have extraordinary difficulty in social interactions, such as making eye contact, using facial expressions appropriately and understanding those of others, and seeking out peers and other people, even though their language and intellectual development are typical.

o   Resource: http://specialchildren.about.com/od/aspergersyndrome/a/ASschool.htm

o   This website provides teachers with 5 things they should know about a child with Asperger’s syndrome.  It is written by a parent which a child entering a public school.

·         Students with sensory impairments have either vision loss or hearing loss so significant that their education is affected.

o   Resource: http://www.trinity.edu/org/sensoryimpairments/

o   This website provides advice for teaching students with sensory impairments strategies for mainstream teachers.  It includes many links that provides information for vision loss and hearing loss.

·         A type of hearing device is an FM system consisting of a microphone worn by the teacher and a receiver worn by the student.

·         Generalized tonic-clonic seizures involve the entire body.  A student experiencing a generalized tonic clonic seizure falls to the ground unconscious; the body stiffens and then begins jerking.  Absence seizures occur when students appear to blank out for just a few seconds.

o   Resource: http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/living/children/education/managing.cfm

o   This website is from the epilepsy foundation and tells teachers exactly what to do if a child in your classroom has any type of seizure.

·         At the end of 2005, approximately 1411 children under the age of 13 were living with AIDS.

·         In one study of parents’ and educators’ perceptions of problems faced by children with chronic illness, parents reported that their children’s most frequent problems were “feeling different”, undergoing constant medical procedures, experiencing pain, and facing death.

Chapter 5: Planning Instruction by Analyzing Classroom and Student Needs

·         INCLUDE gives teachers a systematic process for accommodating students based on their individual needs and the classroom demands on or expectations of the teacher.

·         Universal Design is the idea that instructional materials, methods, and assessments designs with built-in supports are more likely to be compatible with learners with special needs than those without such supports and they minimize the need for labor-intensive accommodations later on.

o   Resource: http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/UniversalDesign.asp

o   This website is a great resource for the concept of universal design because it explains in detail what it is, and gives different benefits and examples of the idea.

·         Students’ diverse needs are met by differentiating the content being taught, the process by which it is taught, and the ways students demonstrate what they have learned and their level of knowledge through varied products.

·         The classroom climate concerns the overall atmosphere in the classroom-whether it is friendly or unfriendly, pleasant or unpleasant, and so on.

·         Same-skill groupings are helpful when some but not all students are having trouble mastering a particular skill and need more instruction and practice.

·         Mixed-Skill groupings is that they provide students with special needs a range of positive models for both academic and social behavior.

·         Assistive technology is any piece of equipment that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability. 

o   Resource: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te7assist.htm

o   This website provides a lot of general information and information about the types of assistive technology for many different needs. 

·         Indirect instruction is based on the belief that children are naturally active learners and that given the appropriate instructional environment, they actively construct knowledge and solve problems in developmentally appropriate ways.

o   Resource: http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/hutt/strateg/indexpl.htm

o   This website is very informative and has links to different forms of indirect instruction.

Chapter 4: Assessing Student Needs

·         The major program placement decision involves the setting in which a student’s special education services take place.

·         Program Evaluation decisions involve whether a student’s special education program should be terminated, continued as is, or modified.

·         Curriculum-based assessment is a method of measuring students’ level of achievement in terms of what they are taught in the classroom.  Student performance is measured repeatedly over time, and the results are used to guide instruction.

·         Alternate assessments are given to those who typically work on a more individualized curriculum and do not have to meet the same requirements as those students graduating with a standard diploma.

·         Psychological tests measure abilities that affect how efficiently students learn in an instructional situation.  They can include intelligence tests and tests related to learning disabilities.

·         Standardized achievement tests are divided into group types: Group-administered tests are completed by large groups of students at one time and individually administered tests are part of a student’s case study evaluation.

·         High-stakes tests are assessments designed to measure whether students have attained learning standards.

o   Resource: http://www.crsep.org/Annotated%20%20Bibliography.pdf

o   This website is an annotated bibliography full of other resources about high-stakes testing.  It gives you 48 pages of books to look at if you are interested in all aspects of high-stakes testing.

·         Criterion referenced tests involve comparing student performance to a specific level of performance, or benchmark, rather than to a norm, or average, as with traditional standardized achievement tests.

o   Resource: http://www.education.com/reference/article/criterion-referenced-tests/

o   This website explains what criterion referenced tests are and the similarities and differences between norm referenced and criterion referenced testing.

·         Academic Probes can help teachers make many of the assessment decisions.

o   Resource: www.cise.missouri.edu/links/research-cbm-links.html

o   This website provides teachers with a wealth of resources to help implement research-based practices related to curriculum-based measurement. 

Chapter 3: Building Partnerships through Collaboration

·         Professionals often use the term collaboration to describe any activity in which they work with someone else.

o   Resource: http://www.wjcc.k12.va.us/jbms/FACULTY/ScullionTim/index-2.htm

o   This website is designed as a starting point and a quick reference guide for implementing collaboration in any classroom, with book references, research citations and links to other websites for a more in-depth understanding.

·         Co-teaching occurs when two or more educators-one a general education teacher and the other a special education teacher or other specialist-share the instruction for a single group of students, typically in a setting classroom setting.

o   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCn4qDyuZVE

o   This is a youtube video that shows what co-teaching looks like in a classroom.  It includes all the different co-teaching strategies such as One Teach, One Observe, station teaching, parallel teaching, and team teaching.

·         There are many responses that parents have to having children with disabilities: Grief, Ambivalence, and optimism.

·         Family-Centered Practices are based on the notion that outcomes are best for students when their families’ perspectives are respected, their families’ input is sincerely sought, and school professionals view their job as helping families get the information they need to make the best decisions for their children. 

·         A positive call is particularly important for parents of students with disabilities because they often hear from educators only when a problem exists. 

·         Paraprofessionals: school personnel employed to assist certified staff in carrying out educational programs and otherwise helping in the instruction of students with disabilities.

o   Resource: http://education.state.mn.us/mdeprod/groups/SpecialEd/documents/Instruction/010619.pdf

o   This is a PDF article that is called “Directing the Work of Paraprofessionals in a classroom for Students with Cognitive Developmental Disabilities.”  It includes steps on how to work effectively work with a paraprofessional in your classroom.

Chapter 2: Special Education Procedures and Services

·        Self-determination: students will be able to directly state their needs and goals and learn to advocate for themselves.

o   Resource: http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Promoting_Self/

o   This website has an article entitled “Promoting the Self-Determination of Students with Severe Disabilities.”   It has information for how to effectively promote self-determination and notes on whether or not it will truly benefit the student.

·        Sometimes parents sense that they do not know enough about the policies and procedures that govern special education to represent themselves so they get an advocate.

·        Multidisciplinary team: is a team consisting of parents, educators, and others as appropriate who assume responsibility for making educational decisions regarding the student.

·        Parents’ Rights: It is essential that the teacher understands how central parents are in all aspects of the referral, assessment, eligibility, planning, and placement process.

·        Due Process is the set of procedures outlined in the law for resolving disagreements between school district personnel and parents regarding students with disabilities.

o   http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/dp.child.perspective.brody.htm

o   This website includes much information on the process of a due process hearing.  I thought it was really interesting because it has an article from a 10 year old child’s perspective of a court case his family went through.  It also has an article from a mom’s perspective and advice on how to prepare for a due process hearing.

·        The Individualized education program (IEP) addresses all areas of student need, including accommodations to be made in the general education setting and the services and supports to be provided there.

o   Resource: http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/learning/iep.html

o   This website is all about kid’s health and includes a section dedicated entirely to IEPs.  It explains what an IEP is and who needs an IEP.  I think it would be a great resource to give parents because it seems to be more catered toward parents, but also a great resource for the classroom teacher.

Chapter 1: The Foundation for Educating Students with Special Needs

·         Inclusive Practices is founded on the belief or philosophy that students with disabilities should be fully integrated into their school learning communities, usually in general education classrooms, and that their instruction should be based on their abilities, not their disabilities.

·         Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) 2004: specified that all students with disabilities must participate in all assessment conducted by local school districts with needed supports provided.

o   Resource: http://idea.ed.gov/explore/home

o   This site is part of the U.S. Department of Education and  it explains with detail the IDEA act of 2004.  It has video clips, news, notes and is considered a “one-stop shop” for resources related to IDEA.

·         No Child Left Behind Act of 2001: the goal is for all students, including those with disabilities, to be achieving at grade level in reading and math by the end of the 2013-2014 school year.

o   Resource: No Child Left Behind: Past, Present and Future by William Hayes. http://books.google.com/books?id=W67vHaByunAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=No+Child+Left+Behind&source=bll&ots=XPt0ERRVK6&sig=wNQzmHQeR_j-ObMvku4toRJwNTI&hl=en&ei=jT4zTbLHIsH_lgeZxuSECg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=13&ved=0CIUBEOgBMAw#  

o   This book goes through the historical background of the Act, the law itself, the first five years that it was implemented and what the critics have to say about it.  It also has chapters that include “How are we doing in Reading?” “What is happening in math?” “Additional Provisions” and “The battle for Reauthorization”.  At the end it has a future section that takes a look at “What’s Ahead.”

·         Some professionals argue that students with disabilities sometimes need a small-group, highly structured environment that is difficult to create in the general education classroom, and they conclude that inclusion is not sound educational practice.

o   Resource: http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues43/concerns.html

o   This website includes an article of the pros and cons of Inclusion.  It primarily addresses concerns and arguments about Inclusion and includes many people’s points of views why inclusion may or may not be good for the student and the classroom teacher.