Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Math Runner!

One of the most important steps to independent living, is being able to understand and use money. I have had the pleasure of working this past semester with a young 16 year old boy who is learning to do subtraction. This is because one of his IEP goals is to be able to independently manage his accounts and understand financial exchanges. There are any number of ways to accomplish this feat. It is important that our students, whether they will ever be living independently or not, grasp some of these essential life skills and that we make every effort to help them progress.

One of my last posts was about differentiated instruction and alternative assessments. Well, here is a new FREE app for android of iPad/iPhone users! I have used this several times with nonverbal students with autism who are working on their math skills.


They can turn the tablet to navigate the runner throughout the game and if they hit an obstacle they must answer a math question at the level you have chosen for them.

It allows for a change of level so that they can work on counting, adding, subtracting, multiplication, and division.


Go to the Play Store or App Store and search 'Math Run' to find it!

Monday, March 24, 2014

Back to the Future

Even though our children are young now, we have to think of what life will be like for them as an adult. Sometimes it is hard to see so far into the future, but it is something that we should be helping them to plan for. One of the most important things that you can teach your child is to be aware of their disability so that their teachers, peers, and community can help them. While it can be difficult, sheltering our children is never the way to go. There are so many services in our community that help both with children and adults with disabilities. Below are some links and brief descriptions of organizations that provide services to people with disabilities in our city.

Visit the City of Jacksonville website to find a list of public services for people with disabilities, from parking decals, to scholarships, to service centers around the city.

http://www.coj.net/departments/military-affairs,-veterans-and-disabled-services/disabled-services.aspx


The Arc Jacksonville provides day programs, employment services, and help to achieve qaulity college experiences.

Their website states: Our Mission
To serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to achieve their full potential to participate in community life.
Our Vision
A community where disability is a distinction without a difference, where individuals will have choices on how they live, learn, work, worship, and play.
http://www.arcjacksonville.org

Books Belong to their Readers

We need to be able to read, or at least to recognize certain site words for almost any activity we complete on a daily basis. From grocery shopping, to driving, to finding a show to watch via the T.V. guide, our students will need to learn to read. We need to have a smooth transition from learning to read, to read to learn. Teachers need to consider this when making IEP goals. However, learning to read, or even learning to become a great reader, is often among the most difficult of lessons for student with disabilities. Though, it doesn't have to be, books are here for everyone to enjoy. As teacher's we cannot let the books outsmart our students, instead we need to teach then to conquer reading.


Create picture cards with the corresponding words from the text.


Textures and smells are some of the greatest impressions left on our memories. Incorporate these strategies into you reading lessons.


When you have a book that has a plot, or goes in a series of steps, or chronological order, create an activity with manipulates to engage the reader.

http://littlemisskimberlyann.blogspot.com/2013/09/tips-for-adapting-books-for-kids-with.html

This link is full of great tool in order to adapt reading lesson for students with disabilities.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Universal Design



Universal Design is an attempt produce environments that are equally accessible and beneficial to people with and without disabilities. This applies to all scenarios and situation, but is specially applicable to the classroom. We should create classrooms that are Universally accessible. This means creating wide enough spaces in walkways for all people, including wheelchairs to maneuver, creating a layout to increase learning, making signs and posters easily readable for people with low vision or blindness, differentiated instruction, and a positive environment. The above picture shows a classroom that is laid out using universal design. Universal design then transition into life in the real world, and all people, not only those with disabilities benefit from it. From curb cuts and ramps, to elevators, to signs with large print, these accommodations help us all to live more independently and establish more confidence in the ability to handle daily situations that would otherwise be more difficult. Below are some examples of universal design out in the public.



Thursday, March 13, 2014

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

What did Einstein mean when he said this? Were fish made to climb trees? And were monkeys made to swim?

We all think, see, feel, understand, and learn differently. Dr. Howard Gardner believe that we can define the many different intelligences that a person may exhibit. People may identify with one of these, of often times may. Sometimes people are a little bit of each.

One of the most important thing that we can teach our children is to be self determined and self aware. Knowing how you learn best is one of the first steps in the learning process.

Read more to understand these:

1. Linguistic Intelligence: the capacity to use language to express what's on your mind and to understand other people. Any kind of writer, orator, speaker, lawyer, or other person for whom language is an important stock in trade has great linguistic intelligence.
2. Logical/Mathematical Intelligence: the capacity to understand the underlying principles of some kind of causal system, the way a scientist or a logician does; or to manipulate numbers, quantities, and operations, the way a mathematician does.
3. Musical Rhythmic Intelligence: the capacity to think in music; to be able to hear patterns, recognize them, and perhaps manipulate them. People who have strong musical intelligence don't just remember music easily, they can't get it out of their minds, it's so omnipresent.
4. Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence: the capacity to use your whole body or parts of your body (your hands, your fingers, your arms) to solve a problem, make something, or put on some kind of production. The most evident examples are people in athletics or the performing arts, particularly dancing or acting.
5. Spatial Intelligence: the ability to represent the spatial world internally in your mind -- the way a sailor or airplane pilot navigates the large spatial world, or the way a chess player or sculptor represents a more circumscribed spatial world. Spatial intelligence can be used in the arts or in the sciences.
6. Naturalist Intelligence: the ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) and sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations). This ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers; it continues to be central in such roles as botanist or chef.
7. Intrapersonal Intelligence: having an understanding of yourself; knowing who you are, what you can do, what you want to do, how you react to things, which things to avoid, and which things to gravitate toward. We are drawn to people who have a good understanding of themselves. They tend to know what they can and can't do, and to know where to go if they need help.
8. Interpersonal Intelligence: the ability to understand other people. It's an ability we all need, but is especially important for teachers, clinicians, salespersons, or politicians -- anybody who deals with other people.
9. Existential Intelligence: the ability and proclivity to pose (and ponder) questions about life, death, and ultimate realities


Source: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/ed_mi_overview.html


Each of our children/students will learn differently, and we must take this into account.


Follow this link to take the quiz and see which Intelligence applies most to your learning style:
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/questions/choose_lang.cfm

Differentiated Instruction 101



As a parent or teacher of children with exceptionalities, we will often hear other teachers complain about differentiated instruction, response to intervention, and accommodations. I hear way too often a teacher complaining about the hassle of inclusion classrooms. One things we must also remind these teachers of is that Universal Design not only benefits the child that they have designed the lesson accommodations for, but often the whole class. All students benefit from intensive instruction, and changing of medium. It's always nice to switch it up a bit in class and not stay in the same boring routines. A child with exceptionalities, can often be the best things that will happen in your career. Their entrance into the classroom will make you be a better teacher.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

If a child cannot learn the way we teach, then perhaps we should teach the way they learn.

Sometimes, we have students with disabilities, whose biggest obstacle to overcome is their poor behavior. Most students will learn from reinforcement of good behavior, negation of poor, and ignoring those bad, attention seeking, behaviors. Though, for some of our students, this will not be enough. Problem behavior is the often the roadblock to the learning process. As teachers and parents we must come up with creative ways to discourage unwanted behavior and rewarding encouraged ones. This can be as simple as a behavior chart or visual supports (stickers, reward icons, etc.).
I once had a student whose poor choices were creating a disturbance to the entire class. After having a Functional Behavioral Analysis, and many interventions, it was discovered that all she needed was a behavior chart to create open lines of communication between the parent and teacher. She would receive a "plus" for good behavior and a "minus" for poor behavior. Once this young lady realized that her daily performance would be reported to her father, she became more conscientious of her behaviors. Every time she would display unwanted behavior, instead of having to stop the entire classroom process, a simple look in her direction and statement of the word "minus" and her behavior would cease. If, at the end of the day she had more pluses than minuses she would receive a prize. If the situation was reversed, she had a note sent home.
This may not even be necessary for many students. Many students do well with the visual understanding that if they continue to behave their will be a reward for their behavior. Check out this strategy:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Visual-Necklace-Behavior-Management-in-an-Autism-Classroom-798934

Remember! It is our job to make sure their's is a smooth transition for our Pre-K and Kindergarten students into Elementary grades. Behavior is the first place we should start!!