Transcript Educating Children with Diverse Backgrounds and Special Needs

Chapter 11
Educating Children with Diverse Backgrounds
and Special Needs:
Ensuring Each Child Learns
Educating Children with Diverse
Backgrounds and Special Needs
Teachers play an important rule in increased efforts to address the needs
of children with special needs and their families. Teachers also play an
instrumental role as schools move to address the rising diversity that is
taking place in many of the nation’s schools. It is anticipated that young
children today will live in an adult world that will be substantially more
diverse, and which will call for skills, and relational capabilities needed to
work and interact with individuals from a variety of backgrounds. This
chapter addresses diversity from these perspectives. By the conclusion of
this chapter, you will be able to identify practices for early care and
education that reflect sensitivity to differences in socioeconomic status,
culture, ethnicity, and differing abilities;
Individuals with Disabilities Education
ACT (IDEA)
IDEA legislation was passed to ensure that children with disabilities have free
and appropriate public education.
IDEA also requires that:
children with disabilities have services to meet their unique needs;
the rights of children with disabilities and their families be protected;
states and localities provide education for children with disabilities
efforts to educate children with disabilities be effective.
Individuals with Disabilities Education
ACT (IDEA)
Children with disabilities include children with
Mental retardation
Hearing impairments
Speech or language
impairments
Visual impairments
Orthopedic impairments
Emotional disturbances
Autism
Developmental delays
Traumatic brain injury
Other health impairments
Approximately 10 to 12 percent of children in the U.S. have disabilities.
Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT
(IDEA)
IDEA is written in two parts—each of which addresses specific ages of
individuals with disabilities.
IDEA Part B
Identifies benefits for
children with disabilities ages
3 -21.
IDEA Part C
Indentifies benefits for
children birth to age 3.
States can decide whether or
not to provide
intervention services for
young children at risk for
developmental delays.
Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT (IDEA)
Six Principles
Zero Reject
Nondiscriminatory
Evaluation
• Prohibits schools from rejecting
• Nondiscriminatory evaluations are used to
identify children with disabilities and to
determine appropriate education and services
Free and Appropriate
Education (FAPE)
• Education and services must address the unique
needs of the child with a disability
Least Restrictive
Environment
• The right of children with disabilities to learn in
the least restrictive environment which serves
their academic, social, and physical needs.
Procedural Due
Process
• Means by which schools and parents can resolve
their differences
Parent and Student
Participation
• Students’ education plan involves shared decision
making that includes students, parents,
educators
Individualized Education Program (IEP)
By law, each special needs student must have a individualized program
that specifies how his/her learning needs will be met. The IEP is a
contract between the school and child, and the parents.
Preparation of the IEP involves
careful assessment of the student’s needs;
collaboration between parents and professionals to design an
education plan that meets the student’s needs;
clearly state goals and objectives that allow progress to be
monitored.
See page 303 for a list of individuals who must by law be involved in
preparation of the IEP and the purposes of the IEP.
Individualized Family Service Plan
Services for infants, toddlers, and their families are indentified in
the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP).
The IFSP is a multidisciplinary assessment
developed by a multidisciplinary team and
parents.
The IFSP states the
child’s present level of
development.
Statements of family
strengths and needs for
enhancing the child’s
development are
included.
The IFSP lists expected
outcomes along with
criteria, procedures, and
timelines to determine
progress.
The IFSP states the
early intervention
services needed to meet
the needs of the family
and the child.
Individualized Family Service Plan
Planned services for IFSPs may include a number of services:
For example:
special education
occupational therapy
speech and language pathology and audiology
parent and family counseling
medical diagnostic and health services
Continuum of Inclusive Services
A continuum of services refers to the full range of services from most
restrictive placement to the least restrictive placement.
Institutional
Placement
Most Restrictive
General education classroom
Least restrictive
Services are graduated, with one level of services leading directly to
the next level.
Advocates for inclusions suggest this policy works against truly
inclusive classrooms.
Children with Autism
Autism is a developmental disability that appears during the first
three years of life.
Children with autism exhibit the following characteristics:
Deficits in receptive and expressive communication skills
Repetitive behaviors
Difficulties with initiating and sustaining symbolic play
Difficulties initiating and sustaining social interactions
Limited interests
Difficulty keeping up with conversation
Interventions for Autism
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)-ABA therapists stimulate certain
behaviors, hoping for certain responses which can then be rewarded.
Rewarded behaviors tend to be repeated.
Play Therapy - Social experiences and enjoyable interactions are
incorporated into therapy, as a means for enhancing joint attention,
communication skills, and appropriate behavior.
Music and Art Therapies – Music and art used to provide children with
a different means for experiencing relationships, self-expression and
expanding other skills.
Physical and Occupational Therapies – Body-centered approaches are
used to reach children in order o bring about more language, social
reciprocity, and joint attention.
Supportive teaching environments, predictability and routine, family
involvement, and small teacher-student ratios are among the other effective
interventions.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)
Children with ADHD have difficulties in
Attention
Impulse control
Hyperactivity
There are three types of ADHD
Predominantly inattentive
Predominantly impulsive
Combined
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)
Girls
 Given their socialization, girls
are more likely to compensate
for their ADHD in behaviorappropriate ways.
 Symptoms tend to be non-
stop, uncontrollable talking;
friendship difficulties;
inordinate messiness; and
difficulty paying attention.
 Symptoms are often mistaken
as lack of academic abilities
 50-75 percent go undiagnosed
Boys
 Diagnosed 3 times more often
in boys than girls
 Boys tend to exhibit
hyperactive symptoms which
draws attention—teachers are
quicker to recommend testing.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD)
Children with untreated ADHD
experience lower educational achievement;
are less likely to graduate from high school;
have low self-esteem;
have antisocial thoughts;
are pessimistic about the future;
eventually have difficulty with romantic relationships and holding
onto jobs.
Medications (e.g., Adderall, Concerta, Focalin, and Ritalin) and behavior
therapy are ADHD interventions.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)
Classroom approaches to working with children with ADHD include:
Differentiated instruction (DI) – planning and teaching in response to
students’ different needs, so that all children can learn effectively
Embedded instruction – lessons are embedded into activities that occur
naturally in the classroom
Assistive technology – the use of various equipment to increase, maintain, or
improve functional capabilities of students with disabilities.
Universal design- adaptation of teaching strategies and technology to make
the learning environment, curriculum, and instructional methods accessible to
all children in the classroom.
Response to Intervention (RTI) – multi-tiered approach to instruction that
involves early identification and support for students’ learning and behavior
needs
English Language Learners
It is estimated that by 2015, 30 percent of the school-age population
will be immigrant children (see pg. 314 for challenges facing immigrant
families). Teachers can support English Language Learners by:
Playing to their
strengths
Making sure ELLs
understand you when
you are speaking to
them
Initiating a buddy
system so that ELLs
have mentors
Making sure your
body language is
accepting
Accommodating
cultural differences
and incorporating
other languages into
the classroom
Encouraging ELLs to
speak English
Multicultural Awareness and Education
Multicultural awareness refers to one’s appreciation and understanding of
different cultures and one’s own culture, socioeconomic statuses, and
genders. Multiculturally aware teachers are sensitive to the backgrounds of
their students and their students’ families.
Multicultural education refers to the curriculum, content, and classroom
climate that supports multicultural awareness (see Figure 11.9 for terminology
related to multicultural education).
Including multiculturalism in early childhood education influences and affects
working habits, interpersonal relations, and the child’s outlook on life.
Multicultural Education
Teachers promote multiculturalism:
 through use of appropriate instructional
materials such as multicultural literature;
 the use of themes that help children
understand their culture and the cultures
of others;
 through incorporation of activities that highlight the
personal accomplishments of people from different cultural
groups;
 through promoting family and community involvement.
Multiculturalism and Learning
Styles
Learning styles refer to children's’ approach to learning. They
are influenced by children’s
immediate environments;
emotionality;
sociological needs;
physical characteristics;
psychological inclinations as they approach learning.
Teachers should arrange learning activities so that various
learning styles are addressed.
What’s next
After reviewing this presentation and reading Chapter 11, Educating Children
with Diverse Backgrounds and Special Needs, check your understanding of
the terms and concepts listed below. You will then be ready to complete the
Chapter 11 quiz.
•
IDEA
•
ADHD
Types
Symptoms
Differences in girls and boys
Untreated ADHD
Medical and classroom interventions
•
Support for English Language
Learners
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Meaning of multicultural awareness
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Meaning of multicultural education
•
Promoting multiculturalism
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Learning styles
Requirements
Six principles
Parts B & C
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Different categories of disabilities
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IEPs
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IFSPs
•
Continuum of services
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Autism
Characteristics
Interventions