Curricular Adaptations for Students with Severe Disabilities

1. Curricular Adaptations for Students with Severe Disabilities Irene Kawamura irene.kawamura@gmail.com February 11th, 2009

2. Severe Disabilities • What are Severe Disabilities? • What is Special Education? • What are the educational characteristics and implications of severe disabilities? • What kinds of adaptation facilitate learning?

3. Severe Disabilities • What are Severe Disabilities? • What is Special Education? • What are the educational characteristics and implications of severe disabilities? • What kinds of adaptation facilitate learning?

4. Student with Disability • Mental Retardation • Learning Disability • Emotional/Behavioral Disorder • Autism • Speech – Language Impairment • Hearing Impairment • Deafness • Visual Impairment/ Blindness • Deaf-Blindness • Physical/Orthopedic Impairment • Other Health Impairment • Multiple Disability • Traumatic Brain Injury • A “student with disability”… • Is < 21 years of age. • Entitled to FAPE public education. • Is identified as being disabled • Requires special services and programs to benefit from instruction

5. Severe Disability – Traditionally speaking… • Identified with severe or profound mental retardation • < IQ of ~40 • Requires ongoing, extensive /pervasive support in more than one major life activity to participate in integrated community settings and enjoy the quality of life available to people with fewer or no disabilities. • education, domestic, community, vocation, recreation • feeding, self care, communication, socialization, orientation/mobility • (Adapted from NICHCY Disability Fact Sheet, No. 10, Jan. 10, 2004)

6. Demonstrate concomitant disabilities, including physical impairment, sensory impairment and behavior problems. The nature of the disability causes such severe educational difficulty that the student cannot be accommodated in an education program without adaptations, supports and aids. But, also…

7. Severe Disabilities • What are Severe Disabilities? • What is Special Education? • What are the educational characteristics and implications of severe disabilities? • What kinds of adaptation facilitate learning?

8. Special Education • PL 94-142 (Education For All Handicapped Children Act) (1975) • IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) (1997 Amendments) • Children and Youth Aged 3 Through 21 • IDEA lists 13 different disability categories under which 3- through 21-year-olds may be eligible for services • For a child to be eligible for services, the disability must affect the child’s educational performance. • (Adapted from NICHCY General Resources 3, 2002)

9. Models of Service Delivery This chart represents the types of special education services included in the new continuum. NYCDOE, 2006

10. Special Education • Before determining that a student requires special class services, the IEP Team must consider: • The benefits of serving the student in the general education classroom. • Whether the student can achieve his/her IEP goals in the general education classroom. • The effect that the student will have on the general education environment, including the education of other students. NYCDOE, 2006

11. Special Education (Less Restrictive) General Education with Supplementary Aids & Services • General education with related services • General education with SETSS (Special Education with Teacher Support Services) • Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT)

12. Inclusion • What is inclusion? • Inclusion is a commitment to educating students with special education needs in the schools they would attend if they did not have disabilities. • It involves bringing the support services that they require to them rather then separating them from their peers and community settings. • It is a METHOD of providing SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES in the LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT. NYCDOE, 2007

13. continued… • “Inclusive” setting and natural environment benefits. • Access to typically developing peers • Local neighborhood and community supports • Access to the general education curriculum • Age-appropriate content and curricula • Functional and meaningful objectives/skills • Promoting independence and participation • Promoting communication and socialization • Occurring in natural contexts and routines • Encouraging generalization • (Adapted from NICHCY Disability Fact Sheet, No. 10, Jan. 10, 2004)

14. What does the law say about inclusion? • The term inclusion is not identified in the law. • The legal basis for inclusion is found in PL 94-142 (The Education of All Handicapped Children Act, 1975) and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, Reauthorized 1997). • The term Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) is the legal force that drives inclusive education. NYCDOE, 2007

15. It’s a legal issue! • Schools have a duty to educate children with disabling condition(s) in general education classrooms. • Free and Appropriate Public Education • Appropriate Evaluation • Individualized Education Program (I.E.P.) • Least Restrictive Environment • Parent, Teacher, and Student Participation in Decision Making • Procedural Safeguards NYCDOE, 2007

16. Least Restrictive Environment • New York State’s definition of Least Restrictive Environment(Adopted by the Board of Regents and the New York State Education Department) • Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) means that placement of students with disabilities in special classes, separate schools and other removal from regular educational environment occurs only when the nature and severity of the disability is such that, even with the use of supplementary aids and services, education cannot be satisfactorily achieved. NYCDOE, 2007

18. Severe Disabilities • What are Severe Disabilities? • What is Special Education? • What are the educational characteristics and implications of severe disabilities? • What kinds of adaptation facilitate learning?

19. Characteristics of Severe Disabilities • Varies upon the combination and degree of disabilities, and the individual’s age. • Limited speech/communication skills • Difficulty with basic physical mobility • Difficulty retaining skills • Difficulty generalizing skills • Needs extensive supports in major life activities • (Adapted from NICHCY Disability Fact Sheet, No. 10, Jan. 10, 2004)

20. Medical Implications of Severe Disabilities • Health issues related to their disabilities are more complex and severe. • Illnesses and injuries tend to occur more frequently and have different or extreme effect. • Impacts upon learning • Increases the demands on the family and the people working with them. • Requires ongoing collaborative/team management.

21. Educational Implications of Severe Disabilities • Early identification and treatment are vital. • Collaborative/Multidisciplinary Model is crucial. • Classroom Teachers (regular and special education) • Paraprofessionals • Parents/Families • Medical Professionals • Related Services(SLP, PT, OT, TVI, COMS, counselor, nurse, etc.) • Adaptive equipment and aids may be necessary. • Wheelchairs, canes, braces, orthotics, adapted chairs/tables • Magnifiers, hearing aids • AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication) • (Adapted from NICHCY Disability Fact Sheet, No. 10, Jan. 10, 2004)

22. Severe Disabilities • What are Severe Disabilities? • What is Special Education? • What are the educational characteristics and implications of severe disability? • What kinds of adaptation facilitate learning?

23. Student: ____________________________________ IEP Objective Data Collection Date: ___________________ Activity / Skills Matrix • Helps identify opportunities to practice targeted skills throughout the day. • Ensures that students have multiple opportunities to practice targeted skills. • Utilizes natural contexts and cues to promote learning and generalization.

24. The Matrix • The grid: Identifies IEP Objectives/Skills across the top row Identifies the period during the day or activity down the left hand column.

25. Other Variables • Levels of Support • FP = Full Physical Prompt • PP = Partial Phys. Prompt • G = Gestural • Vi = Visual • Vb = Verbal • I = Independent • Types of Generalization • People = Communicative Partners • Location = Communicative Environments

26. 9 Types of Adaptations • Adaptations necessary to meet the needs of students with disabilities in the general education class. • #/SIZE - Adapt the number of items the learner is expected to learn or complete. • TIME - Adapt the time allotted or allowed for learning, task completion, or testing. • LEVEL OF SUPPORT - Increase the amount of personal assistance with a specific learner. • INPUT - Adapt the way instruction is delivered to the learner. • OUTPUT – Adapt how the student can respond to instruction. From: Adapting Curriculum and Instruction in Inclusive Classrooms: A Teacher’s Desk Reference, by Deschenes, C., Ebeling, D., and Sprague, J., 1994.

27. continued… • DIFFICULTY– adapt the skill level, problem type, or the rules on how the learner may approach the work. • PARTICIPATION – Adapt the extent to which a learner is actively involved in the task. • ALTERNATE – Adapt the goals or outcome expectations while using the same materials. • SUBSTITUTE CURRICULUM – provide different instruction and materials to meet a student’s individual’s goals. From: Adapting Curriculum and Instruction in Inclusive Classrooms: A Teacher’s Desk Reference, by Deschenes, C., Ebeling, D., and Sprague, J., 1994.