Beyond Eligibility Labels
What are 3 ways disabilities can impact students' experiences in school?
Social, emotional, and academic well-being.
What are three academic areas that can be impacted by developmental delays or motor skills?
Writing, PE, and visual arts…any others are welcome!
True or False- students with disabilities are just unmotivated
False
What does intersectionality mean in disability?
Disabilities not only affect academics but also social life, mental health, emotional health, etc., leading to multiple ways students can fall behind developmentally. There are also more background characteristics that play into a diagnosis like age, gender, race.
What should you do if a student has met a goal on their IEP?
- Communicating this to their parents or caretakers and their IEP team
- Asking the student what they would like to work on next and help the achieve those goals
- Especially since it might take some time to coordinate an IEP meeting
Why are eligibility labels not a proper characterization of a student and their disability?
Eligibility labels are influenced by deficit frameworks. They highlight a students challenges and weaknesses and do not necessarily highlight a student's strengths like student's personality, background, intersectional identities and their actual needs.
Why is it important for teachers to be aware of developmental domains and milestones?
They shape students as a learner (interactions, communications, behaviors. . .)
What are three learning disabilities that teachers might mistake for a low IQ?
Dysgraphia, dyslexia, dyscalculia
What is the downside of interpreting autism as a spectrum instead of a wheel?
The autism spectrum acknowledges the wide range of skills and abilities of people with ASD. However, it is still a linear concept and does not fully represent the fully-dimensional nature of autism.
This student struggles with disruptive behavior like not being able to sit down for a long period of time or calling out answers or comments. With your understanding of ethical education, what is the most ethical way to support the student and why?
A. The student is pulled out of the classroom everyday and works with a behavioral therapist one-on-one for 30 minutes a day.
B. Incorporating breaks and physical activities during class. Providing the student with fidgets and different ways to participate during class.
C. Both approaches are ethical.
B. Incorporating breaks and physical activities during class. Providing the student with fidgets and different ways to participate during class.
In an IEP, what is the difference between an accommodation and modification? Why is adaptability important in special education?
An accommodation is a service aimed to increase a student's access to the curriculum. A modification is alteration to the curriculum to meet a student's educational needs. Adaptability promotes UDL, allowing educators to meet the needs of all students.
A student struggles with peer-interactions, what is an accommodation the teacher can provide in the classroom?
- Have a group or one-on-one discussions about managing emotions
- Read books about how to navigate peer-interactions
- Incorporate supervised collaborative playtime, etc.
True or False- General education teachers are not responsible for the needs and academic growth of special education students
False
How can culture affect communication in schools (e.g., parent and teacher interactions, student and teacher interactions)?
Language, religion, norm differences, misinterpretation of behavior by teachers leading to marginalization, higher discipline/leaving school, also perceived bad behavior based on background (i.e. race) rather than possible need for support
What is one way that as a teacher you can advocate for your student's needs, especially when needs aren't being met or ignored (e.g., by administration or other teachers).
Keeping track of student's growth by collecting data and providing this to administration.