A student of mine has cerebral palsy. I modified his tests, during the school year, to do two of each type of math problem; he passed the SOL without any accommodations for it. Some students without learning issues, scored at the A level during the normal school year, failed the same SOL as my noted student. In certain cases, there are people who can memorize an inordinate amount of information for a few days, while having a substandard understanding of a given set of material.
Pupils with intellectual characteristics that are indicative of intellectual disabilities are as follow:
1. They generally learn at a slower pace as relative to their mainstream peers.
2. Relevant aspects of lessons often go unnoticed by them.
3. Spontaneous illustration of learned skills is usually lacking.
4. Abstract concepts and complex curriculum is often too difficult for them to understand.
5. Generalizations from specific lesson material are frequently absent from their conclusions concerning respective course material (Vaughn, & Bos 2007).
IDEA, IDEIA and other Federal laws protect students with intellectual disabilities in the following ways:
1. IDEA requires that all children receive education; it mandates that special education services start at the age of a toddler are in place. students are to be given psychometric testing in or order to identify their specific gaps in learning.
2. IDEIA requires that general education curriculum is afforded to these pupils (Vaughn, & Bos 2007).
General Education teacher’s four roles when working with those who have who deficits in intellectual processing:
1. Such students need to their teachers to make them feel as if they are part of the class.
2. IEP goals of learners should be familiar to the instructors.
3. Modifications to general education lessons should be made when feasible in order to meet the needs of those with deficits. Creativity and analysis should be applied to lesson plans when collaborating with special education teachers during planning periods.
4. Mainstream students should be encouraged to provide peer support in general and when completing coursework; general education teachers should collaborate with special education instructors in order to facilitate such dynamics (Vaughn, & Bos 2007).
Five strategies or activities for instructors to facilitate success of students with deficits in their intellect:
1. Prepare students, ahead of time, for what they need to be doing during a given class periods; this includes taking turns when communicating about a subject matter, handing out materials for class and other events. Such students are then much more likely to follow directions by the teacher and thus fit in more among their peers.
2. Safety is essential and needs more reinforcement of steps to keep people safe than the general population; review fire drill procedures, verbally rehearse getting on the correct bus that takes them to their homes, safely crossing streets, and knowing how to call their parents or guardians.
3. Acceptance that learning goals should be varied in order to accommodate different learning needs; for example, a student may need fewer of any given type of question on exams or not as many types of them.
4. Cooperative learning: subgroups are formed for students to work as a team in order to complete assigned goals. Interdependence facilitates positive interactions with those who have special needs, and whom may otherwise be ignored by mainstream peers.
5. Providing hands on, known as experiential instructions includes familiarizing oneself as to what students already know from life experience and helping them apply such life lessons to class work. Manipulatives and other learning tools in the classroom are used to create first hand learning experiences; this often streamlines learning as a process (Vaughn, & Bos 2007).
References
Vaughn, S., & Bos, C. (2007). Response to Intervention: Developing Success for All Learners. In Teaching students who are exceptional, diverse, and at risk in the general education classroom (4th ed., p. 262 to 263). Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.
Vaughn, S., & Bos, C. (2007). Response to Intervention: Developing Success for All Learners. In Teaching students who are exceptional, diverse, and at risk in the general education classroom (4th ed., p. 264 to 265). Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.
Vaughn, S., & Bos, C. (2007). Response to Intervention: Developing Success for All Learners. In Teaching students who are exceptional, diverse, and at risk in the general education classroom (4th ed., p. 266 to 268). Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.
Vaughn, S., & Bos, C. (2007). Response to Intervention: Developing Success for All Learners. In Teaching students who are exceptional, diverse, and at risk in the general education classroom (4th ed., p. 269 to 271). Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.