Special
Educational Needs
Tutors and staff at College Nannies and Tutors will be involved with
students with special educational needs. Different
states define these students in different ways but there are some general
classifications with common characteristics.
As a tutor, it is important to be aware of the needs of these students in
order to better provide service. Individualized
and self paced learning is at the core for making modifications for all
students. Because individualized and
self paced learning is the focus of our tutors it is a matter of understanding
each classification so the most appropriate modifications can be made for each
student. The Centers are not
designed to handle all students with special needs.
You are able to meet the needs of many students with special needs,
especially those students referred to as high incidence.
High incidence students are the most common special needs students.
Classifications used by many states include:
1.
Students with an attention deficit disorder, with or without
hyperactivity, are classified as other health impaired:
Other health impairment means
having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness
to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the
educational environment, that –
(i)
Is due to chronic or
acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition,
hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle
cell anemia; and
(ii)
Adversely affects a
child’s educational performance
Modifications:
Students
with ADD or ADHD are often taking medication for this disorder.
The medication will help the student’s concentration, impulsivity and
attention. It will not affect
learning habits acquired before the introduction of medication.
Some students with ADHD work better in less stimulating work environments
while others do not. Tutors must try
each environment to find out what works best for each particular student.
Behavior
is greatly influenced by the consequences that follow the behavior and the
environmental events that precede the behavior.
ADHD students are influenced more by the environmental events that
trigger a behavior than other students and they are less skilled in connecting
consequences to behavior. This means
that having a great deal of structure and routine during the session is highly
important. Short immediate positive
consequences may work well while delaying gratification and working for a long
term goal may be difficult for these students.
Students
who appear to have uneven learning are often identified as having a specific
learning disability. There is a
significant gap between their higher learning potential and their actual
achievement. Some areas of learning
will be acquired with ease, while the student may struggle in other areas.
2.
Specific learning disability is defined as follows:
(i)
General.
The term means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes
involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may
manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write,
spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as
perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and
developmental aphasia.
(ii)
Disorders not
included. The term does not
include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or
motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of
environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage
Modifications:
Specific Learning Disabilities includes a large number of disorders and
therefore it is difficult making specific recommendations.
The use of minute daily tests to track a student’s growth is ideal for
students with learning disabilities. Through
these daily measures the tutor can track the student’s progress and make
adjustments when needed. The use of
Direct Instruction for skill acquisition followed with fluency building
activities to achieve mastery will be effective with most students with learning
disabilities. Daily tracking and
using multiple learning channels will allow the student to guide the tutor.
That is, the student’s growth tells the tutor what works and what does
not.
Some students may be receiving educational assistance through Title or
Chapter I services. These students
do not have a defined disability. They
generally are achieving below their peers and these services are designed to
help the student build skills in language arts or math.
It is assumed these students learn more slowly.
This assumption is not beneficial for the student.
When in materials at their instructional level and skill breadth their
learning rates will be like others. This
means that when working with students receiving Title I or Chapter I services
the tutor may want to use a narrower breadth of materials, that is, finer sliced
skills.
4.
Aspergers
is a syndrome describing children who:
(i)
show
marked impairments in nonverbal behavior such as eye contact, facial expressions
and body posture leading to a failure to develop age appropriate peer
relationships.
(ii)
Show
a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests or achievements with
others, a general lack of social reciprocity.
(iii)
Show
restricted repetitive patterns of behavior or interest that is abnormal in
intensity or focus. Adherence to
specific routines and repetitive motor mannerisms may be observed.
Preoccupation with parts of objects may occur.
Modifications:
Because students with Asperger’s syndrome are often quite intelligent
the understanding of academics is often not the main concern.
Socially interacting in an educational setting is often a problem.
Social interaction is a very complex topic subject and best learned with
models. Identifying and connecting
with the tutor is of utmost importance. While
this level of bonding is rewarding for the student it is an opportunity to help
the student understand the motives of others.
The tutor can be a trusted model for these students.
Exploring why others act as they do and specifically learning how the
child might reciprocate is a role for the tutor.
Role playing activities in an informal fashion may help these children.
Homework help might involve setting routines, setting aside a specific
time and place to study and learning to appropriately interact on group
projects. Link to Asperger’s
program.
E/BD, Children with emotional or behavioral disorders, is another
classification of students who may be seeking educational help at CN&T.
5.
Emotional disturbance
is defined as follows:
(i)
The term means
a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long
period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s
educational performance:
(A)
An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory,
or health factors.
(B)
An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal
relationships with peers and teachers.
(C)
Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal conditions.
(D)
A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
(E)
A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal
or school problems.
(ii)
The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to
children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an
emotional disturbance.
Modifications:
Like learning disabilities E/BD students are a diverse group and
therefore there is no ‘prescription’ for working with them.
Like students with Aspergers syndrome, a positive relationship between
the student and tutor is important. Trusting
the tutor may be hard for these students and they may often test the tutor’s
commitment. Often the strategies
used to help students with ADHD can be useful.
Confrontation may be familiar to students identified as E/BD
and they may use it as a strategy to avoid a task.
This means an intervention is needed to immediately make the student
successful. Being very careful to
treat these students with respect is crucial.
Involving the student in decision making and still maintaining control
can be a useful and difficult assignment.
Students labeled as E/BD exhibit ‘bounce’.
This means they are likely to be inconsistent from day to day.
Just like minute tests, it is the trend that matters.
These students will experience more difficult days than others.
6.
Mental
retardation means
significantly below average general intellectual functioning, existing
concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the
developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s educational
performance.
Modifications:
Often these students are classified as having developmental delays.
The label is unimportant. These
students, like everyone, need to experience success.
Increased repetition is not the
strategy of choice. Lessons need to
be sliced into segments fine enough that student success is assured.
Because these students often have experienced little academic success,
they respond very well to being successful.
Fine motor development may be delayed therefore output channels other
that writing may be useful.
7.
Speech or language
impairment means a
communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulations, a language
impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a child’s
educational performance.
Modifications:
Students with language impairments may be difficult to understand.
This will impact the standards when using SAY output channels.
Fluency building activities should be modified, while acquisition
activities may or may not need modification.
A tutor with experience around language impaired students may be better
able to understand the student.
8.
Sensory Impaired is
used here to describe students who are deaf, blind or both.
Other students may have limited hearing and are classified as hearing
impaired. Often their hearing is
helped with the use of aids. Students
who are visually impaired included students who are partially sighted with or
without correction.
Modifications:
Teaching through a student’s strengths is obviously the strategy with
sensory impaired students. For
hearing impaired students arranging where the tutor and student are seated can
be crucial. If the student’s
hearing loss is greater in one ear than the other be certain to sit on the
student’s strong side. Many
hearing impaired students may use lip reading.
It is important that the student can clearly see the tutor’s face.
Students who have hearing aids may be adversely affected by background
noise. These students need quiet
environments. Partially
sighted students may have special materials they bring to learning centers.
Some may have large print books while some may use Braille.
The Society for the Blind is a resource.
They have many free books on tape available.
9.
Traumatic brain
injury means an acquired
injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or
partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that
adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term applies to open
or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as
cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment;
problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial
behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does
not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative or to brain
injuries induced by birth trauma.
10.
Orthopedic
impairments means a severe
orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational
performance. The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g.,
clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.), impairments caused by disease (e.g.,
poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes
(e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause
contractures).
11.
Multiple disabilities
means concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness, mental
retardation-orthopedic impairment, etc.), the combination of which causes severe
educational needs that cannot be accommodated in special education programs
solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness.
Modifications:
Students
who are classified in categories 9 through 11 may wish to receive tutoring
services. Resources that specialize
in the appropriate disability should be contacted for recommendations.
The Department of Special Education found in each state is a good
resource to find specialist for each disorder.
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