Week 7 Teaching Students With Developmental Disorders

Welcome to Week 7's posting on students with autism spectrum disorders/pervasive developmental disorders. An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week numbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP224Ch7.mp3 .

Chapter 10 addresses the following questions concerning teaching students with developmental disabilities . What is the definition of a developmental disability? What are the characteristics of students who exhibit developmental disabilities? What are some strategies for teaching students with developmental disabilities?

Definition of "developmental disability" - the definition of developmental disabilities is as follows:

"...physical or mental disabilities that impair the person's functioning in language, learning, mobility, self-care, or other important areas of living, ranging from mild to severe."

Mental Retardation Mental retardation falls under the category of a developmental disability, with Down syndrome being the most recognized of this group mostly characterized by their slow rate of learning.

The following excerpt is from Professor Jerome Lejeune, Nobel Prize Winner, Discoverer of the gene for Down syndrome

"Many years ago, my father was a Jewish physician in Braunau, Austria. On a particular day, two babies had been delivered by one of his colleagues. One was a fine, healthy boy with a strong cry. His parents were extremely proud and happy. The other was a little girl, but her parents were extremely sad, for she was a mongoloid [Down syndrome] baby. I followed them both for almost fifty years. The girl grew up, living at home, and was finally destined to be the one who nursed her mother through a very long and lingering illness after a stroke. I do not remember her name. I do, however, remember the boy's name. He died in a bunker in Berlin. His name was Adolf Hitler."

Click here for a personal Saga of a child with Downs syndrome: A couples' story: http://www.squidoo.com/down-s-syndrome .

It used to be that the definition of mental retardation was restricted to below average IQ scores, however, according to the text, students who are diagnosed as mentally retarded have limited function in four areas:

intellectual - below average IQ in the range of 70-75 or below.

adaptive behavior - inability or delay in being able to function independently in society.

devleopmental period - limitations in intellectual and adaptive behavior relative to age appropriated behaviors before the age of 18 years.

systems of support - unless mentally retarded students are provided mega-support from teachers, parents, specialists, they are not as capable of operating as a sustainable functioning person in society. (Vaughn, et al, p. 163, 2007)

Mental retardation now is classified as mild (IQ 50-55 to 70-75); moderate (IQ 35-40 to 50-55); severe (IQ 20-25 to 35-40); and profound (IQ below 20-25) (Vaughn, et al, p. 163, 2007)

Read Matthew's story: http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs8txt.htm )

originate as a result of poverty stricken environments, neglect and abuse! 1 in 30 newborns will experience head injuries as a result of neglect! Students born in poverty stricken environments have an increased chance of being lead poisoned, underfed, polluted by harmful environs, abused, underinsured therefore not receiving appropriate medical attention. The majority of these cases are students who are mildly retarded, but require intervention strategies in order to be successful in the regular education classroom.

Characteristics of students with developmental disabilities: Students with developmental disabilities generally learn slower and learn less than other students. A report cited that "the characteristics of developmental disabilities are 'physical or mental impairments that begin before age 22, and alter or substantially inhibit a person's capacity to do at least three of the following: take care of themselves (dress, bathe, eat, and other daily tasks), speak and be understood clearly, learn, walk/move around, make decisions, live on their own, and/or earn and manage an income.'"
See http://www.bostoncares.org/news/issuebriefs/disabilities.pdf to read more.)

What Are the Signs of Mental Retardation?

See: http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs8txt.htm ).

What are some strategies for dealing with developmentally disabled students?: Below are tips for both parents and educators as offered by the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY stands for the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities ????) website at http://www.nichcy.org/index.html .

Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:

Learn about mental retardation. The more you know, the more you can help yourself and students.

Share skills students are learning at school with parents, so that they can extend those learning opportunities at home. For example, if such students are learning how to count money, have parents allow them to help count out the money at the grocery store.

Keep in touch with the parent(s).

Find out what student's strengths are and capitalize on those. Create success opportunities.

If you are not part of the student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) team, ask for a copy of his or her IEP. The student's educational goals will be listed there, as well as the services and classroom accommodations he or she is to receive.

Talk to specialists in your school (e.g., special educators), as necessary. They can help you identify effective methods of teaching this student, ways to adapt the curriculum, and how to address the student's IEP goals in your classroom.

Be as concrete as possible. Demonstrate what you mean rather than just giving verbal directions. Rather than just relating new information verbally, show a picture. And rather than just showing a picture, provide the student with hands-on materials and experiences and the opportunity to try things out.

Break longer, new tasks into small steps. Demonstrate the steps. Have the student do the steps, one at a time. Provide assistance, as necessary.

Give the student immediate feedback.

Involve the student in group activities or clubs.

Optional:  Post A Comment on the following quote [at least 200 words] - I look forward to the day when a mongolian idiot, treated biochemically, becomes a successful geneticist....quote from Professor Jerome Lejeune...

Sincerely,

Dr. Herring

Week 6 Teaching Students with autism spectrum disorders/pervasive developmental disorders

Welcome to Week 6's posting on students with autism spectrum disorders/pervasive developmental disorders. An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week numbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP 224Ch6.mp3


According tothe DSM there are five categories of Pervasive Development Disorders (1) Autistic Spectrum Disorder, (2) Rett's Syndrome, (3) Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, (4) Asperger's Disorder, and (5) Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, or PDDNOS (see website on Pervasive Development Disorders).

Autistic Spectrum Disorder has become more prevalent just in the past few years, although there is no documented rhyme or reason why this disorder is on the increase. At least, for parents and educators of such children there is now available concrete information that can be useful in providing the best possible care for them. ASD students usually have already been identified and hopefully intervention methods are already in place by the time they enter public school. Such students have an IEP in place, with assistance provided from special education teachers and paraprofessionals who work with general education classroom teachers. The following website The Camp MakeBelieve Report on Autism provides further insight on the disorder, along with facts vs. myths on frequently asked questions.
Asperger's Syndrome is also referred to as 'highly functioning autism' as most children with Asperger's are highly intelligent but lacking in social skills. The following website The Asperger's Child: The Different Drummer follows that such students may respond to repetitive intervention, needing an IEP in the general education classroom as well.
Characteristics of students with Pervasive Development Disorders: Check the book.

See Autism Speaks ( a series of video clips on uptodate information on Autism)...you will need Windows Media Player or a comparable media player to view these).
So if such students are going to remain in my classroom, what are some strategies for dealing with them?:
Visit the following website: http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs20txt.htm#education .

Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:
Become familiar with Professional and Parental Support groups in the state of Illinois. Share this information with other educators/parents.
Access as much information as is possible on the IEP of students with PDD; work very closely with the special education teacher and paraprofessionals. If a FBA (functional behavior assessment) has been done on the student, be sure and use it. See website: http://cecp.air.org/fba/default.asp ) .
Visit (pass on) Other Websites -
International Society for AAC
Positive Behavior Interventions and the Law
TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic an d related Communication and handicapped CHildren)
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What are some of your thoughts on the similarities and differences in social skills and behavior problem in children with autism and Asperger's disorders? What do you think would be ways to improve social skills and decrease problematic behaviors? Find and post two website links (not any of the websites already given in this lesson) that support your answers.

Week 5 - Teaching Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Welcome to Week 5's posting on students with emotional and behavioral disorders. An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week numbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP224Ch5.mp3 .

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Chapter 8 addresses the following questions concerning teaching students with emotional and behavior disorders:

What is the federal government's definition of the "emotionally disturbed"?

What are the characteristics of students who exhibit emotional or behavioral problems?

When is it appropriate to refer students suspected of having emotional problems to special education?

What are some strategies for teaching students with emotional or behavioral problems?

The federal definition of "emotionally disturbed" as suggested the text is as follows:

A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree, which adversely affects educational performance including:

- an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors;
- an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers /teachers;
- inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;
- a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or
- a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal/school problems
this includes children who are schizophrenic; but not children who are socially maladjusted,

unless it is determined that they are emotionally disturbed."

Wow! It is interesting the statistic of emotional disturbance is cited as affecting from 10 to 20% of students, yet only 1% of such students are actually served by special education services. So what does that mean? It means perhaps that most of these students who should be receiving help are not. It means perhaps that most of these students who should be receiving help are in regular education classrooms and are being underserved, especially if the teacher is a) not aware and b) not equipped to help. It is interesting to note also that most of these students are boys, outnumbering girls as high as 8 to 1, with students from minority populations being disproportionately represented as well.

I was one of those middle school teachers who started my first year of teaching armed with pedagogy and content but not experimentally prepared for students like one named Albert B. In hindsight and armed with what I know now, I would place Albert B. somewhere between exhibiting severe emotional behaviors and being affected by puberty issues. It was difficult sometimes to know which was which. I do know that even though all of the other boys around his age were going through puberty as well, none of them behaved like he did in my classroom! He would 'swing' into the class each day from the door frame...every day! He loved toys and gadgets, so he brought one with him to my class...every day! By the end of the school year, I had quite a collection of his toys: from a plastic roach to a skeleton's head that shocked you when you picked it up. I'm sure part of his misbehavior could have had a lot to do with my inexperience with classroom management.

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Want my suggestion? First year teachers should not be armed with the most challenging students in the school. I had been exposed to the Discipline with Dignity concept of involving the student in the process of negotiating what behaviors are expected in the classroom without shaming them, yelling at them, etc., etc, but none of that seemed to work for Albert, at least not with me. He laughed out loud, he shot 'butterfly' spitballs all up in the ceiling that I didn't know were there until towards the end of the schoolyear. Even though the class was hands-on with the computers, he managed to 'break' his...he talked incessantly...fidgeted...crawled on the floor...managed to have students 'scream out' for something he'd done to them...his classmates HATED him and SO DID I. (I realize HATE is a strong word but I chose this adjective to describe what Albert was bringing OUT of all of us in my classroom...I didn't 'really' hate him...) I would ask for assistance, seek council from other teachers, the principal, ANYBODY! However, Albert was doing wonderful in most of his classes. He wasn't an "A" or "B" student, but he knew how far he could take these behaviors in other classrooms. I didn't want to use those methods however.

One thing that I have learned is that there is no one specific catch-all way of determining emotional or behavioral disturbance because it is a social construct; what might be emotional disturbance in one classroom might not be so in the next classroom. It calls for teacher judgment as to whether students are acting under one or more of the federally defined definitions above. Even after teacher judgment, others will have to further determine if the behavior falls in the category of requiring special services. Most teachers seek to have such students removed from their classroom if it is possible. However, new IDEA laws now support inclusion to the greatest extent possible. If the student is found to not have severe emotional problems, he or she will remain in the regular education classroom. Therefore, other techniques, avenues will have to be explored in dealing with such students and attending to all others as well.
Characteristics of students with emotional/behavioral problems: Students with emotional/behavioral disorders can exhibit internalizing or externalizing behaviors and both types of behaviors should be equally attended to. Externalizing behaviors fall in the category of hitting, aggression, and impulsive behaviors; internalizing behaviors are those that are 'quiet' such as being shy, fearful, anxious, depressed and withdrawn.

Either type of behavior indicates that the student may need help. External behaviors are conduct disorder, aggression, hyperactivity, socialized aggression, and sometimes pervasive developmental disorder (example: student yelling out of character, saying strange things, rocking, knocking the head, nail biting). The following website gives a wonderful recap of each of these: http://www.slc.sevier.org/emoclass.htm .
Appropriate teacher referral of students suspected to have emotional/behavioral problems: How does a classroom teacher know when it is appropriate to persistently refer a student for special services? As noted from the textbook on pages 129-130 below:
- behavior-age discrepancy: note whether or not the student is inappropriately and consistently behaving unlike his or her peers in that age bracket in your classroom.
- frequency of occurrence of the behavior: note whether or not the student is inappropriately and consistently over time exhibiting unseemly emotions.
- number of symptoms: note whether or not the student is inappropriately and consistently over time exhibiting several symptoms of emotional disturbance.
- inner suffering: note whether or not the student is inappropriately and consistently over time exhibiting sadness, low self-esteem, helplessness symptoms.
- harm to others: note whether or not the student consistently over time harms others/animals with no remorse.
- persistence of the behavior: note whether or not the student consistently over time exhibits the same behaviors, regardless of intervention/assistance from others.
- self-satisfaction: note whether or not the student consistently over time exhibits a general negative behavior toward others and/or him or herself
- severity and duration of the behavior: note how often and how long the behavior occurs; note under what conditions and to what extent the behavior occurs; note what triggers the behavior and the outcome after the behavior has occurred; note whether or not the behavior occurs as a result of your relationship with the student or 'is the problem with the student?'; note whether or not others (family/you/other school personnel) have done anything to address this problem. (pp 129-130, Vaughn, et al, 2007))
Appropriate documentation/observance of any of the above consistently and over time should 'provide indications of the of emotional disturbance and the likelihood for referral.' (Vaughn, et. al, 2007)
So if such students are going to remain in my classroom, what are some strategies for dealing with them?: Visit the following website: http://www.slc.sevier.org/emoclass.htm .

Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:

Emotionally disturbed students fair much better in structured, clean, orderly classroom environments; when they are aware of what the teacher expects of them; and when rules are present and enforced with care and dignity toward students. Emotionally disturbed students do not respond well to threats, yelling, cursing and 'emotionally-charged-teacher-responses.'
Someone has to be the adult, in control, calm and respectful: that someone should always be the teacher, no matter what the student does. The teacher should be pro-active in that he or she should know ahead of time what building/classroom procedures should be followed in the event of a classroom disturbance: example, should another student be sent to get the assistant principal or another teacher? etc.
Always get to know the special education teacher(s) or expert in the school: ask for help, strategies that they use, ask how they would handle such a student. Continue to speak out, ask for help until you get what you need to work with such students in the classroom.
Get to know the parent(s).
Find out what management technique is used in the home to encourage positive student behavior. (You don't want to use abusive techniques from home, however...instead report any abuse that you are aware of or suspicious of to the appropriate authorities offering child protective services.)

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This Week's Optional Posting for Shared Discussion

 The authors believe aggression and school violence are both results of school social dynamics and the developmental histories of youth who are at high risk for involvement in antisocial behavior. in the following article The Developmental Dynamics of Aggression and the Prevention of School Vioence . How do school social interactions impact a student's behavior? What role should the teacher play in the social dynamic? Do you agree or disagree with the steps the authors propose to prevent school violence? (p.208 in the pdf file) Why or Why not? After reading the chapter, listening to the audio, and post your comments to the Week 5 blog posting to comment on the questions provided.

Week 4 - Teaching Students with Communication Disorders

Mr. Monk/me communicating in China

Welcome to Week 4's posting on students with communication disorders. An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week numbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP224Ch4.mp3 .

Chapter 7 addresses the following questions on teaching students with communication disorders. What are communication disorders? What signs should you look for in students with communication disorders? What are some classroom strategies for accommodating students with communication disorders? Why is it important to consider a student's cultural, dialectic and/or whether or not they learned English as a second language (being careful not to label such students as having a communications disorder due to these factors)?

Communication Disorders refers to difficulties with the transfer of knowledge, ideas, opinions, and feelings (Vaughn, et al.). Since schooling is based on speaking and listening behaviors, students who suffer with communication disorders are very easily identified if they are not operating at the expectations of age-appropriate behaviors. Students with this disorder usually manifest it in at least one of three areas: speech, hearing and language. Speech and language disorders are discussed in chapter 7. Speech disorders refer to challenges with voice articulation, fluency and/or quality. Language disorders refer to developmental delays in receptive and/or expressive language.

Recognizable Signs of Communication Disorders 

oldest daughter - Deigh

Students with communication disorders are easily recognizable in the classroom. Early education teachers are especially in a position to spot these disorders as students are learning speech sounds. According to the text, 10% of boys and girls exhibit signs of communications disorders in elementary school.. If a student is having problems articulating, making articulation errors, then it is possible that the student needs further speech services (see page for specific articulation errors).

My husband and I adopted our oldest daughter at the age of two months. She did not begin talking in complete sentences until she was two years old. She attended a Catholic school beginning in kindergarten where it was noted that she was having communication problems, however the school did not provide the services she needed and I allowed her to attend the school again in 1st grade (of course part of this was due to my being in total denial). By second grade, I enrolled her in the neighborhood school: the problems persisted (not paying attention, blank stare when you ask her a question, not answering when you ask her a question). At that time, we had a complete psychological work up done on her and she was diagnosed as having "inconclusive ADD", along with needing the services of a speech pathologist. She received those services through twelfth grade and they benefited her immensely. Early recognition by knowledgeable teachers is a great benefit to such children, especially when caretakers/parents do not want to hear such. The earlier the problem is identified the better for the child in terms of length of intervention and success in the general education classroom.  On a beautiful note, Deigh graduated high school on time, reluctantly attended college for one semester, and now works for Hope Institute, serving students with special needs.  She loves it!

Considering a student's cultural, dialectic and English as a second language background Students who are just learning the English language may not be candidates for speech disorders, they are simply learning a new language! Some students' cultures may explain the uniqueness in their approach to the English language also. How students communicate verbally can be a result of their cultural upbringing and as classroom teachers we must acknowledge and respect that, not 'passing off' such students as having articulation disorders. For example, in the following article discussing low context vs. high context cultures, much of the differences between these two cultural upbringings is reflected in they way they each communicate:

A low context culture is one in which things are fully (though concisely) spelled out. Things are made explicit, and there is considerable dependence on what is actually said or written. A high context culture is one in which the communicators assume a great deal of commonality of knowledge and views, so that less is spelled out explicitly and much more is implicit or communicated in indirect ways. In a low context culture, more responsibility is placed on the listener to keep up their knowledge base and remain plugged into informal networks.

Capt Jim Lund and David Letterman

In a broad, general sense...Low context cultures may include Anglos, Germanics and Scandinavians. High context cultures may include Africans, Japanese, Arabs and French. (continue reading at: http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/cultural.htm .)
African American students who have been reared in a cultural setting that speak the AAVE dialect may face challenges in the classroom when it comes to speaking in formal English register. Such students may not be candidates for speech therapy, however. They should learn formal English, along with being respected for knowing the dialect of their culture. I always say that I can speak at least two languages fairly well, AAVE and English. I know some Spanish from high school Spanish courses that I have taken, but I can speak both AAVE and English rather fluently! I recommend you visit the Language Varieties website for further reading: http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/.  NOTE:  the photo with Capt Lund and David Letterman was given to me by Capt Lund:  he was one of my first online students deployed to Iraq, taking this course while he was abroad; the communication was great!  :)

Classroom Strategies for accommodating students with communication disorders
See Strategies for Teaching Students with Communication Disorder .
For General Strategies
See http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/text/comm.html
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Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:
Pay attention to students' conversation as they are involved in various settings. How do they conversate in your classroom? the hallways? the playground? the lunchroom? Use this informal knowledge of what students are talking about to build into a new lesson or classroom concepts. Make similarity connections to what students already know to help them learn the new content.
Practice 'wait time.' Give students several seconds to respond after asking them a question. Refrain from 'jumping in' to fill up the silence while students are thinking, trying to retrieve the appropriate words. Allow sufficient time for students to speak for themselves!
Only give instructions for an activity or lesson when students are paying attention.
Learn students' names as quickly as possible and use their names when speaking to them .
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After reading the chapter, read the following article and post your response [comment] to the questions on the blog. The text talks about language development in children and how there is a three year variance between late and early bloomers. Screenings are usually done around age three. This test was given to 18 mos. old children. The results were mixed. While it proved to be better than other screening tests, it did produce false positives. How early should children be screened for language impairments? How might different factors (SES, family structure, location/geography etc.) play a role in the assessment of language delays or with language development in children?