Adaptations for Students with Disabilities

February 13th, 2014  

Students with disabilities often struggle with general education classroom work. Whether the environment is too distracting or they can’t understand what they are being asked, students need our help to adapt their environment and instruction for success. The final newsletters of the year will include some concrete ways to adapt for students. One way is to lower the readability of questions while maintaining the same content. Here are some examples of how easy that is:

Original Question Revised Question
Compare and contrast the deciduous forest and the tundra. How are the deciduous forest and tundra alike?  How are they different?
Plants respond to things in their environment.  List three stimuli to which most plants respond. Name three things to which plants respond.
Name those structures that are found in both plant cells and animals cells. What parts do animal cells and plant cells have in common?
Distinguish between a nuclear reaction and a chemical reaction. What is a nuclear reaction?  What is a chemical reaction?
Identify some of the plants and animals that live in freshwater habitats and some that live in marine habitats. Name a plant and animal that lives in the freshwater habitat.  Name a plant and animal that lives in the saltwater (marine) habitat.
Discuss reasons why animals hibernate. Why do certain animals hibernate during the winter?
Volcanoes are produced by what conditions? What causes volcanoes?
Laura Thomas needs insurance for her personal belongings but not for her residence since she lives in an apartment.  If her semiannual insurance premium is $47.00, what amount will she have to pay for 2 years? Laura Thomas lives in an apartment and needs to insure her belongings.  The insurance premium costs $47.00 every 6 months (semiannually).  How much will she pay in two years?

 

Breaking down questions into more manageable parts and choosing a word choice that students can independently understand can help students to be successful in general education!

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

January 2014 FAQs

January 7th, 2014  

FAQs

 

 

 

Q: Is it all right to have the same accommodations listed for the top two boxes on the accommodations section of the IEP?

A: The top two boxes of the accommodations section of the IEP are titled: ‘advance appropriately toward annual goals’ and ‘be involved/progress in gen. curriculum.’ The same accommodations may be required to support the student in both the attainment of their goals and objectives and to access to the general ed curriculum, but care should be taken to ensure that this is the case and that it wasn’t just easier to copy and paste to the next field. You can find more information regarding completing this section of the IEP from the Resource Page at pupilservices.blogs.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/wpmu/kpbsd-special-education-guidelines/individualized-education-program-iep/program-modifications-accommodations-supports-for-school-personnel/

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Q: How should I complete the pre-evaluation planner?

A: The pre-evaluation planner is a tool that KPBSD uses to organize the evaluation process. The planner includes information regarding what types of assessments should be completed and who will be responsible. Two tips for this planning worksheet: 1.  Do not include the names of the assessments that evaluators will use. The choice of assessment is up to the evaluator based on his / her professional judgment based on the referral question. Evaluators may find that they require more than the one assessment listed on the worksheet to determine eligibility or to make recommendations for a student and they need to have that flexibility within the scope of the area chosen to assess. As a rule of thumb, just as we do not include the names of programs in the IEP, we should not include the names of assessments in the pre-evaluation planner.   2.  In some instances, it is important to include the position of the person responsible as opposed to the name of the person.  There are times when the “who” changes due to a student moving or other unknown and having the position responsible makes more sense.

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Q: What is Child Find and does it pertain to me?

A: Districts must coordinate activities that actively identify, evaluate, and offer sped and related services to eligible children ages 3-21 in their districts. Child Find falls to the school site (as all staff have an inherent responsibility) and any evaluations will be initiated by the school intervention team when a student is already enrolled. When students are not school age, the Child Find Coordinator assumes responsibility for child find activities.

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Q: I am a high school teacher and I need more information about the consent on the cover page about transition agencies.

A: At age 16 (or prior, if appropriate), transition activities must begin. This includes planning for agencies to support students’ achievement of their post-secondary goals. These agencies require specific consent from parents to participate in the meetings where transition will be discussed. Transition agencies should be contacted for students and a representative should be at the meeting to discuss transition (always annual reviews). Once invited on the invitation, the parent must sign their consent for the representative to attend the meeting.

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ESER Reminders for the New Year

January 7th, 2014  
  • Specialized transportation is not a need for the ESER. Transportation is a related service that is addressed in the IEP. The ESER report and needs should provide justification for the need for transportation in the IEP.
  • Accommodations and modifications can be recommendations to meet a specified need on the ESER, but they are not a need themselves.
  • Needs and recommendations should include all the relevant, team determined information from the meeting and the evaluations that were done. Refer to the  evaluators’ individual reports for recommendations to include in the Needs / Recommendations section of the ESER.

New Accoms/Mods Page in Sped Database

December 10th, 2013  

The new accommodations/modifications page in the sped database was introduced at IEP Saturday last weekend. This is a form that already existed in the sped database, it has just been updated to add some additional information and (hopefully) streamline the process of sharing information with gen ed teachers. It may also be useful to keep as an “at a glance” overview for each of the students on your caseload or at your school. (A sample pdf of the new form can be viewed here).

Many schools have created their own forms for sharing information about student accommodations and needs. In many cases, schools were filling out an additional checklist that included information that was already listed in the student’s IEP.  I took a look at a sampling of those forms and tried to include many of the common elements.   You are still welcome to use any forms that your school sped team has developed, but the idea with this updated form is to avoid duplicating information that already exists in the database—no one likes extra (paper)work!

Here’s a quick overview of where to find the form, how to print it, and what has been added:

1. The accommodations form can be printed from the Main screen of the database.  After selecting your school, click on the “Show Students” button in the Utilities section.   You can select individual student using the checkboxes next to each student’s name, or click on the “All” button to select all students at your school.  Once you’ve selected the desired students, click on the “Print Program Mods/Accoms” button to print out the form.

Snapshot of Utilities section of IEP database

2.  The previous version of this form included only the Program Modifications and Accommodations fields from a student’s IEP.  It has now been updated to include the Summary of Services at a glance, the student’s IEP Goals, and standardized test scores. Many of the school-based forms had a checklist to list the common day-to-day classroom accommodations and modifications, for example: use of a calculator, repeat/clarify directions, extended time for tests or assignments, daily behavior card, etc, etc.  Please keep in mind that all of that information should already be included in the Program Modifications/Accommodations section of the student’s IEP (below), and there should be no need to duplicate that information on an additional form. Save yourself the extra work!

Program Mods Accoms

 

 

 

3. You might notice that I intentionally left off the assessment accommodations section.  There are a few reasons for this: 1) there is already a separate form available to print from the sped database that includes only testing accommodations, and 2) gen ed teachers and building admins already have the ability to see testing accommodations for sped students in PowerSchool (if you need a reminder as to where these can be found, let me know).

I’m always open to suggestions, and if you have ideas for additional information that you’d like to see included on this form please let me know!

Invisible Skills Needed in Physical Education

November 5th, 2013  

Ever wonder why PE is so hard for some students? Think that including a student in PE for general ed is the best time to include them? Think about these “invisible skills” that are needed for success in the PE environment.

bullet-point-image-7Knowing WHEN to move

  • Your turn versus someone else’s turn
  • Moving in relation to opponent (don’t get caught; score)
  • Move with a teammate or on your own
  • Defensive movements / offensive movements
  • Anticipation – when and where to move (around bases; across field)
  • Adjusting position in unpredictable moments during game

bullet-point-image-7Knowing WHEN to wait

  • For a turn
  • For an opportunity to pass an opponent
  • To protect your goal

bullet-point-image-7Knowing HOW to move

  • Amount of speed
  • How much force to use
  • Movement required in the game
  • Moving cooperatively with a teammate
  • Knowing where to move (boundaries, direction – especially for flee / chase games, sequence of movements across play area)

bullet-point-image-7Knowing WHAT task to accomplish

  • Defensive task vs. offensive task
  • Changing player roles and task to complete for the game
  • Get an object (retrieval, exchange with teammate)
  • Propel an object (direction of trajectory)

 bullet-point-image-7Knowing what direct SOCIAL SKILLS are needed to participate

  • Communicating to help your team (warning of opponent coming, gesturing “I’m open”, asking for a turn, asking for help, responding to a request for help, sharing equipment)
  • Contributing to team function
  • Encouraging (cheering, words of encouragement, making an effort)
  • Congratulating (thumbs up, high five, “good game”, hand shake)
  • Accepting a loss or winning with dignity and fairness to others
  • Commenting respectfully to opponents and / or teammates

Thank you to our APES Carolyn Hitzler for submitting this information!