Understanding and helping students with special needs within the ESL classroom

1. Understanding and helping students with special needs within the ESL classroom Denise Pontbriand Gwenn Gauthier Translation: Gwenn Gauthier, Julie Proteau and Cindy Stern

2. Factors that may affect student learning Individual Factors School-related Factors A Family and Social Factors

3. School-related Factors • Pedagogical practices • Perceptions and expectations of interveners • Classroom management, school structure or classroom environment • Interpersonal relationships or positive interactions • Emulation

4. Cognitive Communication receptive expressive verbal visual attention memory planning senses fine Affective gross Motor skills

5. Differentiated interventions… Winning conditions.

6. Cognitive Communication Student with behavioural difficulties Social Affective Motor skills

7. Under-reactive behaviour withdrawn fearful depressed Over-reactive behaviour hostile Oppositional defiant thoughtless

8. Communication • I can express myself easily but I may use an inappropriate tone of voice.

9. Cognitive • I have problems getting organised. • I may refuse to do a task: refuse to start it, to pursue it or to end it (ext.). • I lack commitment and perseverance when doing assignments (ext. and int.). • My comprehension is concrete and literal.

10. Motor skills • I have good motor skills. • I may act in an unpredictable manner.

11. Affective • My reactions are linked to my emotions: complaining, crying, getting angry, being sensitive or touchy. • I have problems learning from my previous experiences.

12. Social • I have difficulties relating to others. • I may be withdrawn; isolate myself; I need adults to protect me. (int. behaviours). • I may defy, argue, be demanding; create a disturbance (ext. behaviours).

13. Make sure I am aware of the daily schedule and transitions. • As a precaution, let me know about any changes to the schedule.

14. Have a place in the classroom where I can calm down, decompress or be alone. • Place my desk strategically in the classroom taking into account the group dynamics.

15. Encourage me to check my agenda or work planner. • Let me know all the material required to do the task at hand. • Limit the use of certain objects on my desk.

16. Establish clear expectations in regards to the work to be done: time, quantity, resources and help. • Plan activities for me to do when I’ve completed my work.

17. Clearly present your expectations: constance, coherence. • Intervene discretely. • Establish nonverbal cues to remind me to stop engaging in a negative behaviour. • Regularly remind me of the clearly defined rules of conduct in the classroom or the school, and enforce the pre-established consequences.

18. Teach me the rules to different games. • Provide me with the means to relax (ex. reading corner, sress ball, listening to music whith headphones, walking).

19. Cognitive Communication Student with attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity Social Affective Motor skills

20. Communication • I have an idea, I must share it right away (impulsive) • I will delay responding because I am distracted.

21. Cognitive • I have good ideas, I’m funny and imaginitive. • I make careless mistakes and I forget even when I apply myself. • I have a poor sense of time and space: I’m all over the place, I have trouble finishing what I start. • I am distracted by noise, and even by my own thoughts.

22. Motor skills • I squirm, I talk, I need to burn energy.

23. Affective • My emotions can get the better of me so I may become unusually upset or spontaneously say whatever is in my head.

24. Social • I have problems integrating different social activities.

26. Use visual cues to setup a classroom routine. • Tell me how much time I have to do my work. • Separate a task into manageable chunks. • Encourage me to show what I have done. • Warn me when there are 5 minutes left till the end of the class. • Encourage the habit of using an agenda to plan the week (cycles 2 and 3)

27. Place my desk far from busy or noisy places such as doors, windows, classroom sharpener. • Allow for movement in between important tasks (time for moving, stretching) • Assign tasks, such as erasing the board, distributing papers, opening windows, messenger • Offer digital music player or CD player to do individual tasks. • Limit the number of objects hanging from the ceiling which constantly move.

28. Place all necessary material on my desk. • Remove objects that are not relevant to the task.

29. Make sure you have my attention before giving short and clear instructions. • Ask me to rephrase the instructions in my own words in order to verify my comprehension. • Display pictograms on the wall or on my desk to help me visualise instructions (stop, look, listen) • Assign me teammates that can serve as models.

30. Use non-verbal cues that we have agreed upon: standing near me, hand on my shoulder, point to photo of object on my desk • Emphasise important elements • Alternate periods of intense work and tasks that allow for movement and reenergising • Allow me to: • drink from a bottle of water in between two tasks • chew gum • fiddle with an anti-stress ball

31. Guide me towards a peer that could help me with an activity or task • Recognise that I may need time in order to participate in the process of conflict resolution • Play soft music during certain activities

32. Communication Cognitive Student withdysphasia Social Affective Motor skills

33. What is a language deficiency? It’s a language disorder for which the following aspects: Receptiveunderstanding the “oral” message Expressiveproduction and organisation of the oral message … are affected

34. Communication • I often demonstrate a strong need to communicate. • Understanding the meaning of words or sentences is difficult. • I express myself with difficulty: sounds, words, sentences, ideas.

35. Cognitive • Planning, organising, and orienting myself in space and time can be challenging. • I have an acute sense of observation. • Generally I am aware of my difficulties.

36. Motor skills • I have a certain lack in fine and gross motor skills. • I tire quickly during a task or during explanations.

37. Affective • When I do not understand, I have a hard time controling my emotions.

38. Social • I want to socialise. • I have a hard time perceiving, understanding and resolving certain social situations.

39. Present the “Menu of the day”. • Inform ahead of time when there will be changes in the schedule. • Specify the time allotted for an activity (ex: Fun Tac on the clock). • Plan for pauses during longer tasks. • Allow for necessary time to express my message.

40. Place yourself in front of me at my level when communicating with me. • Diminish sources of noise (a corner with screens, individual pencil sharpeners)

41. Provide me with visual aids to help my understanding. • Place all necessary material on my desk. • Remove objects that are not relevant to the task.

42. Use gestures when giving explanations. • Give short instructions at a slow pace. • Repeat activities so that I may understand, memorise, use and integrate them.

43. Repeat words that I have incorrectly pronounced without asking me to repeat them. • Ask me to say the steps and strategies “out loud” when carrying out a task.

44. Help me settle conflicts in an appropriate way. • Explain the social language of my age group, such as expressions and jokes.

45. Distinction between a student with… dyslexia Dys : difficulty Lexia : use of words Trouble with reading and writing No code Normal intelligence dysphasia Dys : difficulty Phasia : speech, language Language disorder Code 34 Normal intelligence but reveal weakness: language is impediment

46. Break

47. Cognitive Communication Student with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) Social Affective Motor skills

48. Communication • I don’t understand the need to communicate. • My understanding is concrete and literal. • I use stereotypic language. • I want to communicate to satisfy my needs.

49. Cognitive • I have problems processins and filtering information. • I have problems planning and getting organized. • I have enhanced perceptual discrimination. • I have a photographic memory.

50. Motor/Sensory • I am hypersensitive or hyposensitive to certain evironmental stimuli. • I lack certain fine and gross motor skills.