Strategies • KPBSD Pupil Services

When working with students experiencing developmental disabilities we have two jobs; to educate the child and to educate others around us. We educate others around us by treating our students according to their chronological age. We send the wrong message when we hold the hands of our students (unless we are still doing that with their same age peers) when they are going down the hall. We send the wrong message when we talk using a baby voice to our students, even if they appear to have a much lower developmental age. We must respect their chronological age in order to respect our students and to send that same message to others around us.

Never talk about a student when that student is present.

Don’t allow adults to come into your room and have a casual dialogue in a learning environment. Your class is always for learning and teaching and that must be clear to everyone.

Respect the personal space of your students. Always approach them from the front and avoid touching them (to guide their work) unless absolutely necessary.

If a Student Has Difficulty, Try This!

February 4th, 2015

If student has difficulty …	Then try this…
Becoming interested	+ Tell stories + Establish relevancy + Provide concrete experiences + Read story or article aloud to stimulate interest + Seat student close to teacher
Getting started	+ Give cue to begin work + Give smaller amounts of work + Provide immediate feedback + Sequence work + Provide time suggestions + Check on progress + Peer tutor
Keeping track of materials and assignments	+ Use a notebook + Use large envelope for each subject + Give extra assignment sheets to resource teacher and parent + Write assignment on board + Give incentives for bringing supplies
Completing tasks on time	+ Reduce amount to be accomplished + Allow more time + Provide checklists + Provide closure at points along the way + Break tasks into smaller parts
Staying on task	+ Reduce distraction + Increase reinforcements + Provide checklist + Reduce amount of work + Give break
Understanding cause/effect; anticipating consequences	+ Use concrete examples + Use real life situations + Teach cause and effect directly, such as role playing, brainstorming, and/or simulation
Seeing relationships	+ Directly point out relationships + Draw arrows on worksheets or test to show that ideas are related + Provide direct practice + Provide headings or a partially filled in charts, for example

~Thanks to KPBSD school psychologist, Dr. Terese Kashi for providing the information for this series of newsletter articles

Instructional Adaptations

January 12th, 2015

“Rules for Keeping Track of Assignments.” Display these in the classroom:

Write your assignment exactly as your teacher gives it.
Write the word “book,” “workbook,” or “worksheet.”
Write the page number.
Write all important information, such as “Part A, numbers 1 – 10.”
Write the day and date (and class period if applicable) the assignment is due.
Have parent initial the assignment planner / sheet.

Note Taking

Provide a skeleton outline that includes the main ideas so students fill in supporting details
Copy a reliable student’s notes to supplement the student’s notes.
Allow time at the end of class for students to compare notes with peers or the teacher.
Use a handout or class instruction to show a model set of notes before note taking is completed.
Have students skilled in note taking sit near a student with special needs. Encourage note sharing.
Provide drill in finding subheadings to determine if students noted all main ideas. Show completed notes during class.
Allow students time to correct notes, review concepts, or read another student’s notes to check for note completeness.
Highlight important sections of class notes.
Encourage students to balance their notes with images and words, and to take notes in colored pencils.
Explicitly teacher note taking and shortcuts in note taking.
Consider accepting a set of rewritten and illustrated notes as an alternative to an assignment.

~Thanks to KPBSD school psychologist, Dr. Terese Kashi for
providing the information for this series of newsletter articles

The Social Well-Being of Children

October 15th, 2014

Every Friday afternoon, Chase’s teacher asks her students to take out a piece of paper and write down the name of four children with whom they’d like to sit the following week. The children know that these requests may or may not be honored. She also asks the students to nominate one student whom they believe has been an exceptional classroom citizen that week. All ballots are privately submitted to her and every single Friday afternoon, after the students go home, Chase’s teacher takes out those slips of paper, and places them in front of her and studies them. She looks for patterns:

– Who is not getting requested by anyone else?
– Who doesn’t even know who to request?
– Who never gets notices enough to be nominated
– Who had a million friends last week and none this week?

Chase’s teacher is not looking for a new seating chart or exceptional citizens. Chase’s teacher is looking for lonely children. She’s looking for children struggling to connect with other children. She’s identifying students who are falling through the cracks of the class’s social life. She is discovering whose gifts are goig unnoticed by their peers. And she’s pinning down – right away – who’s being bullied and who is doing the bullying.

~Glennon Doyle Melton’s blog, Momastery

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