Sensory Hearing Impaired- Differential Skills Based Curriculum

Sensory Hearing Impaired- Differential Skills Based Curriculum

          The educational content for hearing impaired children vs. hearing children is similar.  Hearing children have intact linguistic skills of listening and speaking, which the teacher builds on.  Whereas, hearing impaired children are required to learn an entire language system. (Winzer, page 353).

                    Younger children learn language in an informal more natural approach, compared to older children who use a more formal grammatical approach.  There are steps that every child must follow to learn language; the hearing impaired child has additional steps they require for each new word they learn.

o   Learn the concept

o   Learn to say the word

o   Learn to recognize the printed word

o   Learn to recognize the written word

o   Learn to spell the word

o   Learn to print or write the word

o   Learn to use the word in context

o   Learn to use the word in different context

o   Learn to speech read the word

o   Learn the sound of the word through the hearing aid

o   Learn to sign the word

o   Learn to read the sign

o   Learn to finger-spell the word

o   Learn to read the finger-spelled word

(Winzer, page 353).

          Hearing impaired people often depend on speech reading, the process of understanding speech by observing the talker’s facial expression, body language, and paying particular attention to the lips.  Speech reading is improved when the hearing impaired person is aware of the topic being discussed.  (Bennett, Dworet, and Weber.  Page 196)   Working with hearing impaired children, teachers and educational assistants must keep in mind that speech reading is a challenging ability to obtain, as only approximate 30 percent of English sounds are visible on the lips.  Example using colors red, white and green are very similar on the lips. (Winzer, page 350).

            “Language development is central to students’ intellectual, social, and emotional growth, and must be seen as a key element of the curriculum.” (Language. page 4).    There are different expectations for each grade level.

GRADES 1 TO 3

        Students focus on the introductory knowledge and aptitudes that are required to form a solid basis for language development, which includes oral language, understanding concept of print, phonemic awareness, letter-sound relationships.  Students learn from interacting with others, being read to by adults, and interacting with media text.    (Language. page 33)

GRADES 4 to 6

          The expectation focuses on students’ ability to use their knowledge and skills to comprehend, critically analyze, and communicate a wide range of information and ideas.  Language instruction is intended to engage students in significant interactions with an expansive variety of texts. (Language. page 77)

GRADES 7 to 8

          The expectations focus on students using their current language skills independently and effectively to understand, reflect on, apply, and communicate information and ideas, in all subjects areas with content becoming more challenging.  Students are encouraged to find meaning in their tasks, creating text of interest.  (Language. page 77)

Grades 9 to 12

The English program includes compulsory courses and optional courses. Students have the freedom to choose between courses types based on their personal interests, achievement and postsecondary goals. (English, page 10)

Deaf and hearing impaired students were asked to offer advice to teachers and educational assistants in a regular classroom setting, regarding how they can help these students reach their academic goal.  Below is a list of strategies that assist hearing impaired children with learning in an inclusive environment, some of these strategies would also benefit other students as while.  (Bennett, Dworet, and Weber.  Page 201)

o   Have the hearing impaired student at the front of the class

o   Hearing impaired child need to be able to see the speaker face, avoid turning your back on them, or moving around too much.  This will assist the hearing impaired child to try and speech read

o   Make sure you have the student visual attention before making announcements

o   Keep in mind that how difficult speech reading is for the hearing impaired

o   Ask question to make sure the hearing impaired student is understanding, reinstate in a different way if understanding is not clear

o   Encourage participation

o   Make sure child is aware of topic

o   Some hearing impaired children benefit from looking at a dictionary pronunciation key.

o   Talk to student daily, talking often for shorter period of time

o   Keep in mind hearing aids make speech louder not clearer

o   Use visual aids

o   Always right down key information and homework assignments

o   Provide an outline of a lecture

o   It is very difficult for a hearing impaired child to speech read and take notes, consider having a buddy who notes they can copy if a printout is not available to them.

Student who are deaf or hearing impaired will often tire more easily than their peers, as there mind is working harder to process what it being said.  Plan the classroom day to allow periods of rest between times when the student has to pay careful attention.

Winzer, M (2008).  Children with Exceptionalities in Canadian Classrooms (8^th           edition).   Toronto, Canada   Pearson Prentice Hall

Bennett, S., Dworet, D & Weber,K (2008) Special Education in Ontario Schools          (6^th edition).  St David, Canada.  Highland Press

Ministry of Education’s (2006).   The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8: Language                   from: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca.

Ministry of Education’s (2007).   The Ontario Curriculum Grades 9 and 10: English. From: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca.

Visual Sensory Impairments - Differential Skills Based Curriculum

One of the biggest challenges that visually impaired students face every day is the overwhelming mass of printed material that they are unable to see.  This holds them back from being able to read standard size text in notebooks, classroom handouts, and schedules. They also cannot access material written on the chalkboard or an overhead projector, and cannot participate when media, such as slides, are used. To overcome some of these obstacles, students with low vision usually require magnification in some form to read the print. Magnification is provided through decreased working distance, enlarged print, optical magnification devices, and electronic magnification devices. Some of these visual aids include: closed-circuit television reading aids, magnifying glass, telescopes, headband aids, and of course, Braille.

For literacy, there are 2 Braille alphabets:

·         Grade 1 (alphabetic Braille) is referred to as the simplified Braille. This Braille matches print exactly.

·         Grade 2 (abbreviated Braille) is more common and much faster, although it has many rules underlying its structure and its many abbreviations.

There is also a Grade 3 Braille (Nemeth code), which is code for math and scientific symbols.

Students who are visually impaired can participate in practically all aspects of school activities; however, reading is one potential area of difficulty, often because of slower reading speed. For the students who use braille, extra attention must be paid to English spelling forms. Math may be the most problematic because students need to explore the dimensions of shape, and build up a vocabulary of mathematic terms.

Education for children with visual impairments can be grouped into 7 major areas to form a curriculum that combines general curriculum goals, with specialized instruction.  The areas of focus include the general curriculum; use of special aids and equipment; communication skills; visual stimulation; orientation and mobility; personal competence; and vocational guidance and career education.

When children with visual impairments are in a classroom, special accommodations must be made to ensure the children’s safety while at school. It is important to walk the child through the classroom, pointing out landmarks. Assign the student a buddy if needed, but do not move furniture in the room without informing the student.  It is best to cut down lighting glare on items such as glass and desks, by covering them with papers if needed. Know how, when, and under what circumstances that the child can use their vision most effectively. Give many verbal instructions, and stress legibility, not size, in students printing, because most low-vision students write in a size compatible with their own visual capacity.

Some behavioral approaches are also referred to as skill models or task-based prospectives.

These focus on the mismatch between school tasks and the unique abilities, patterns and learning styles of students with learning disabilities.

Direct Instruction: Refers to activity – focused highly scripted teacher instruction that incorporates numerous opportunities for students to respond.

Steps in direct Instruction:

1.       Review and check previous: do a review and homework check, and reteach if necessary.

2.       Rapidly present new concepts or skills in small steps.

3.       Provide guided practice under close teacher monitoring.

4.       Check work for understanding; provide corrective feedback and reinforcement.

5.       Provide plenty of independent practice in seat work and homework.

6.       Review Frequently

The components of Direct Instruction include explicit, step-by-step teacher procedures that account for student mastery, immediate feedback, practice, and gradual fading from teacher direction. Learning is achieved by identifying the specific objective to be attained, arranging appropriate stimuli to elicit the responses, Programming learning sequences in small steps, and reinforcing desired behaviors.

Metacognition:  Knowledge of one’s own cognitive processes. The steering, regulating, and orchestration of cognitive processes - which in turn rely on cognitive processes, which then rely on cognitive objects, such as language, attention, and memory.

What are Metacognitive Processes?  

Within the general concept of metacognition, there are two types of behavior: knowledge (or cognitive strategies or control executive strategies) and skill (learning strategies).

Knowledge is the overachieving, organizational process - the general strategies used in accomplishing a learning goal.

Learning strategies (skills) refer to an individuals approach to tasks, and are either generic or domain-specific (problem-solving skills).

Winser, M. (2008). Children with Exceptionalities in Canadian Classrooms (8th ed.).
Toronto, Canada: Pearson Prentice Hall, pp. 159 - 161 & pp. 380 - 388.

Behaviour Exceptionalities - Differential Skills

Classroom Stratagies--Behavioural Exceptionalities

            There is no one single method that has been proven as adequate in the management of all children who are behaviourally disordered.  The approaches must be customized to the exceptionality and the individual.  Behaviourally exceptional children are labelled as the most negative and undesirable out of all exceptionalities.  This is likely because they are the most disruptive and challenging (Winzer, 2008).  Approximently four times of children with behavioural issues are in segragated classrooms instead of general classrooms.  To change this, and make inclusion more successful for these children, specific approaches are required.  Here are some stratagies to improve learning  for all:

1) school-wide discipline (clear rules and fairness for all)

    -rules regarding behaviour should be part of everyday systems in the school, and displayed in teaching, in routines and visually throughout the school (ie. posters, phases, mottos etc.)

    - there must be the same expectations and standards for everyone as far as the rules go.

2)school-based team (teachers, EAs, principal, other support workers, voluteers, etc.)

   -the main team (employed staff) should identify problem areas like the lunchroom, playground, changerooms, bathrooms etc.  These areas need to be monitored frequently and regular proceedures need to be followed when allowing students into these zones.

-everyone needs to follow the same proceedures and expectations

3)staff stratagies

   -equal expectations, routines and plans

   -clear rules for all

   -consistency in reinforcement of rules

   -consistent reporting method (of problems and issues)

   -teach self-control and social skills

   -customize each classroom to work within the rules

Different approaches to behaviour are necessary depending upon what education level is being taught.  Much of this is due to the different developmental stages of these children and how long they have been suffering from their behavioural disorder.  Primary level approaches are more general to the entire school, with some focus on extreme behaviourally challenged individuals, whereas junior and secondary levels are more advanced and more specific to the individuals themselves.

Primary Focus         

-all students

-reinforcement (rewards) for good behaviour in the form of food or objects and smiles, high-fives, pats on the back

-positive words over negative (rule of 5 positive words to 1 negative)

Junior Focus 

-continue rules for all

-focus on chronic behaviour

-social skills training

-tutoring

-individual reading program

-behavioural interventions

-counselling

Secondary Focus

-individual strategies for markedly deviant behaviour

-conflict resolution programs

-specific focus on the individual and their challenges (anxiety, conduct disorder, bullying)

            "Writers observe that educating these troublesome people will contiue to be one of the most stressful, complex and difficult challenges facing public education today...and perhaps one of our biggest failures (Winzer, 2008).  So far, there has been no instruction devised that permanently alters the conditons or successfully diverts children and youth from a trajectory leading to a host of long-term negative developmental outcomes.  Many behaviourally challenged children grow into youth who become expelled, suspended or shunted.  Often they are misunderstood or underserved or not helped until their conditions become extreme.  As bleak as this sounds, there are many ways to improve things for the future:

-build positive models

-build confidence in our teachers and support staff

-offer additional training and supports

-customize approaches to individuals

-earlier identification and action

-work on parental communication and support

-use consistency and positive reinforcement

-teach self management skills; teach students to assess, instuct and reinforce themselves and their behaviour

-build social skills and self-esteem

-give children a place to call their own (learn self exceptance and strength to follow their dreams)

"It takes strength to be courageous and courage to be strong."

Resources: Wizner (2008). Children with Exceptionalities in Canadian Classrooms. Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Other Links: http://www.honorlevel.com/x116.xml

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2010/feb/09/pupil-behaviour-management-tips 

Hearing Impairments and Inclusion

Hearing Impairments and Inclusion

When teachers understand the educational and social impacts of hearing impairments, teaching strategies can be put in place to promote acceptance and enhance learning. In the case of hearing impaired children, communication is one of the main problems to be addressed in inclusive settings and the learning environment should be adapted to overcome this barrier of learning. When students are included in the regular classroom, they should be supported by Interpreters, Resource Teachers, and Educational Assistants.

Issues Related to Inclusion:

According to Winser (2008), and Bennett (2008) there are many concerns related to the inclusion of students with hearing impairments. This Includes the following:

1.    Achievement test scores are normally lower for students with hearing impairments

2.    The general environment of most classrooms is very noisy. Children with hearing impairments are challenged to hear spoken language at a distance with the presence of background noise

3.    Students with hearing loss can be affected by the development of auditory discrimination, processing skills, phonological awareness,  and short term auditory memory skills

4.    Speech can be inaudible to the student, even with the most sophisticated hearing aids. This means they can face difficulties in learning language, articulation, voice quality, and tone discrimination problems

5.    Students who are seriously hearing impaired require extensive curriculum modifications to compensate for the educational lags

6.    Many general classroom teachers are not very knowledgeable about hearing impairments and don’t possess the effective teaching techniques. They require a lot of communication and social supports

7.     The majority of classroom teachers are not proficient in sign language

According to Hearing Impairments (2000) there are many classroom strategies that teachers, and support staff can use when working with students who have hearing Impairments.

If the student lip-reads:

Ø  Have students sit closer to the lecturer.

Ø  Look directly at the student.

Ø  Speak slowly, naturally, and clearly.

Ø  Slowing down slightly may help.

Ø  Do not exaggerate your lip movements or shout.

When writing materials for hearing impaired students:

Ø  Break up long sentences.

Ø  Reduce difficult vocabulary load.

Ø  Reduce concept density.

Ø  When using a pronoun be sure that the antecedent is very clear.

Ø  Stay with simple coordinating conjunctions (e.g., but, so, for, and) and avoid less common transitional words (e.g., however, nevertheless, although).

Ø  Use of visual cues in the classroom in terms of flashcards, charts, teaching aids, etc., is vital to supplement the understanding level of these children

The inclusion of students with hearing impairments into a regular education classroom provides an opportunity for these children to communicate more effectively with people who can hear. It allows them to adapt strategies they can use to successfully interact with others.

Winser, M. (2008). Children with Exceptionalities in Canadian Classrooms (8th ed.). Toronto, Canada: Pearson Prentice Hall, pp. 167.

Bennett, S., Dworet, D., Weber, K. (2008). Special Education in Ontario Schools (6th ed.).St. Davids, Canada: Highland Press, pp.194-195.

(2000). Hearing impairments: Strategies. Science education for students with disabilities, Retrieved from http://www.sesd.info/histrategies.htm

Behavioural Disorders - Inclusion Issues

Inclusion of children with behavioural disorders has been a prominent issue for decades. Many experts stress that for children with mild behavioural disorders, the general classroom is the best delivery model. With support, appropriate programming, and individualization, teachers can instruct and manage these students. However, for students with serious and violent behaviour, inclusion may not be the best idea. These students are rated the least accepted and most stereotyped of all exceptionalities. This is often the last group considered when inclusive options are available.

The decision to place a child in a general classroom involves multiple factors:

i) the extent to which a student's behaviour deviates from what is normal for that age and grade

ii) response to interventions- is there a failure of conventional strategies?

iii) is the general classroom the safest, most productive place? Is the child receiving the positive aspects of life in school? Are they having fun and learning?

Although it is hoped that general education will become more accomodating to students with disabilities, it is doubtful that regular schools will ever be able to provide an appropriate education for all students with emotional or behavioural disorders.(Kauffman, 1995) 6-10% of children have emotional and behavioural problems that seriously impede their development and require treatment if they are to function adequately in school and in society. Observational studies suggest that most regular classrooms are not characterized by the strategies known to be effective with these students. Very significant changes in what teachers know and do will be required before these teachers are prepared to create the minimum conditions necessary for the success of students with behavioural disorders wile also providing an appropriate program for nondisabled students.

An Alternative Definition of Inclusion

A narrow, highly restrictive definition of inclusion requires that all individuals occupy a common space, regardless of whether that space has the features appropriate for their needs; it assumes that every place can be structured to serve every individual's needs. A more adaptive and humane definition of an inclusive school system is one that allows for a variety of placements that offer the conditions under which every individual feels safe, accepted, and valued and is helped to develop their affective and intellectual capacities. Such a definition recognizes that in some cases there will have to be different placements for different individuals.

http://gazettextra.com/news/2012/apr/29/children-behaving-badly-has-it-gotten-worse/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2091571/Schools-forced-to-take-violent-pupils.html

http://drjennybrockis.com/adhd-can-using-a-coach-help/

Resources

Kauffman,J.M.,Lloyd,J.W.,Baker,J.,&Riedel,T.M.,"Inclusion of all students with emotional or

by Jennifer Seifreid