Applications for Youth with Sensory Impairments

1. Applications for Youth with Sensory Impairments Presenters: Bessie Harris Suzanne Sunny Linette Banks Stacy Edwards Shaunise Pelts

2. Teaching Strategies for Youth with Sensory Impairments • Integrated Instruction • Typically deaf students prefer to be in a segregated setting with other deaf individuals. • Why? It prevents social and communication isolation. • Other youth prefer to be in an integrated educational setting. • Teachers would need proper training and preparation to meet student’s needs socially as well as physically. • Focus on Adaptation and Coping Skills • It is important for individuals with sensory impairment to be taught coping, adapting, and problem-solving skills to achieve work and independent living success. • Needs to be generalized across several areas of adulthood.

3. Teaching Strategies continued… • Community-based Instruction (CBI) • Integration of school learning across to home, employment, and community environments. • CBI should begin several years prior to graduation • 1 to 2 half days per week increasing as student ages • More effective when sites are rotated (generalization) • Generalization across community settings is crucial for student because of possible career changes throughout lifetime. • Instructional Procedures • Instruction preferably in natural settings in order to utilize natural cues and reinforcers. • Fosters independence and social interaction. • Despite whether the student learns from systemic instruction, tactual teaching or counseling, the student should learn to: • expect natural consequences from their behaviors, • develop problem-solving and self-monitoring behaviors, and • Receive and respond to feedback from peers and supervisors.

4. Assistive Technology and Accommodations • Youth with sensory impairments can benefit from a vast array of technological devices and accommodation strategies to help them perform in life. Examples of modifications include: • Braille labels, audiotaped text, & handrails on stairways for those with a visual impairment. • Vibrating pagers can be rented for the hearing impaired. • See handout for Guidelines for determining accommodations for youth who are deaf or hard of hearing. • See handout for types of assistive devices and accommodations. • Internet Resources have been an affective tool to positively impact the lives of individual with disabilities in their abilities to communicate. • Handout provided on the list of websites related to the needs of youth with sensory impairments.