Week 15 Special Educator Interview Blog

Dear Class:

Please copy/paste [YOU MAY HAVE TO POST SEVERAL TIMES TO GET THIS DONE, BUT IT'S OK TO DO THAT] your Special Educator Interview for this posting. Feel free to offer comments to your peers if you so wish. I look forward to reading about your experiences with interviewing an educator who is out in the trenches 'doing this stuff ' everyday, regardless of what we have to say about it.

We can talk/read/post/write about how to teach all day long, but there is nothing to suffice for being the one in the trenches: always remember and respect that: respect that of any teacher and that respect will come back to you when you're the one in the classroom.

I have enjoyed reading your postings on fleshing through the ins and outs of special education. Hopefully, you will walk away with the knowledge that we are all human beings with feelings, emotions and mental faculties; that students are human beings that will be entrusted to your classrooms, and when the Almighty Door is shut to your classroom, what will you really do? Will you afford all students that chance at humanity regardless of what you think, what you believe and what you've been told? I hope and pray so. Good luck to you.

Sincerely,
Dr. Herring

Week 13 Response to Intervention

Dear Class:
NOTE: This is your final chapter blog and final chapter posting. Next week is THANKSGIVING WEEK --- there will be no blog postings – the week of November 29, the Teacher Interview Blog will be posted for you to post/share your teacher interview with the class.
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In this chapter, you will be exposed to the concept and practice of RTI, Response to Intervention. You are exposed to solutions or an intervention model as a way to meet some of the challenges of having different learning levels in one classroom. While the model is not an end-all, be-all, it does provide components of teaching and learning that equip teachers with how to support and give attention to students who need ongoing reading and math instruction assistance.

After reading the chapter, follow the videos below:
1. Three Tiers of RTI
2. Response to Intervention: Helping all students succeed
3. RTI [Lehigh University]
4. Another RTI video
5. Teacher Breaks Down [this is not RTI, folks!]
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Week 13 Blog Posting:
Some teachers are confused about different aspects of RTI and uncertain how to deal with some of the challenges they are facing. For example, according to progress monitoring data, more than half of the students in some classes are not reaching benchmarks. What should they do? [students and teachers] (Vaughn, et al, 2011)
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Week 12 DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT FOR MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS [CONTINUED]

Week 12 Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for Middle and High School Students
Welcome to continuation on Differentiating instruction and assessment for middle and high school students. Last week’s post continues to Week 12. If you have read the chapter and viewed the previous videos on what differentiated instruction in the classroom looks like, then spend the rest of this week blogging your reactions [blog posting due date extended to Saturday, November 13, 2010.

Blog Posting:
Respond to the following questions in your blog postings, answering according to the videos and chapter readings:
= How often should differentiation occur in the middle/high school classroom?
= What is the difference between this and extra credit and remedial assignments?
= If some students do lower level tasks, are they going to be able to meet standards?
= Are there ways to have all students do high level tasks and differentiate?
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Week 11 Differentiating instruction and assessment for middle and high school students

Week 11 Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for Middle and High School Students
Welcome to Week 11’s posting on Differentiating instruction and assessment for middle and high school students. This week’s post continues to Week 12. Read chapter 15.

View the following videos on what differentiated instruction in the classroom looks like as we continue this discussion next week.

1. View the Elementary Language Arts video [I know it is grade school---its ok]; Middle School Math and High School Science videos at this link: http://stamfordpublicschools.org/content/64/88/4800/default.aspx

2. View the video on Differentiating Instruction in a High School Inclusion Setting at the following link [be prepared to dedicate several minutes to watching each of these --- they are very informative workshop videos --- a great find for FREE!] : http://www.paec.org/teacher2teacher/differentiating_inst_high_school.html

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See you next week's class --- posting for this week and next week will continue with next week's class.
Dr. Herring

Week 9 now 10 Promoting Social Acceptance and Managing Student Behavior/ Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

Welcome to Week 9 now 10's posting on Promoting Social Acceptance and Managing Student Behavior [audio] and Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students [powerpoint]

Chapter 5 addresses the following questions on managing student behavior and promoting social acceptance. What exactly is classroom management? How many rules should be established and how does a teacher go about doing that? How does a teacher miminize classroom disruptions? How does a teacher manage the behavior of students from various backgrounds?

Classroom Management - Classroom management is providing an acceptably social environment for learning in the classroom that is beneficial to all students. It involves the teacher setting the structure in which learning can occur with minimal interruptions and behaviors that conteract that.

There is one book I recommend that all future teachers purchase before they launch their teaching career. You should get this book especially by the time you begin your clinical semester [student teaching semester]. The book Setting Limits in the Classroom by Robert J. MacKenzie provides practical information that can be put to use immediately. It gets beyond the traditional education jargon, providing scenarios [that have been experienced] that are played out in the classroom daily. One of the principles of classroom management that MacKenzie supports is that of continual teaching of the rules of management. He suggests that teachers not only begin the school year with an outlining of the classroom rules, but continue to re-visit those as we do with course content, treating the rules as if they were a part of the curriculum.
How many classroom rules should a teacher have? As the textbook (p 240) lists, three to five general rules along with consequences are the most effective. A teacher can minimize negative disruptions by making sure she (or he) follows through every single time with the consequences beginning with the first time an offense occurs. MacKenzie makes an interesting distinction between rules in theory and rules in practice, how that what a teacher says should also be what a teacher practices. It would be naive to think that students will do everything just as is required. Be prepared to enact any rule that is established, because it will be the job of some students to test those limits. Especially what you do in the first few days/weeks of school will set the tone for how well managed (or not) your classroom will be for the rest of the school year. Students expect and need structure from the teacher, regardless of what they may say.
Reference: Note the teacher interview with Ms. Nina Zaragoza on pages 235-236.
How do you deal behavior-wise with students with disabilities or from a variety of backgrounds, cultures? Very curtly, the answer here is much the same for how you deal with any student's behavior. Of course, if you have limited exposure to working with these types of students then first as the text recommends, the teacher should begin by asking him or herself reflective questions such as:
1. What behaviors bother me as a teacher?
2. Am I sure that all students who behave in these ways are treated in the same way?
3. To what extent have I reached out and demonstrated genuine caring and concern to all students in my class?
4. What steps am I taking to better engage all students in instruction and learning? p. 244
Reference: Positive feedback equals a positive classroom environment, see p. 237 - 240.
See: The Dark Side... ; Classroom Interactions and Achievement ; Increase Expectations ; Classroom Management ; Developing Social Competence for all Students
References:
Setting Limits in the Classroom by Robert J. MacKenzie
The First Days of School by Harry K and Rosemary T. Wong

Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:

Establish a positive classroom environment - get to know all of your students by name; initiate an introductory assignment at the beginning of school that allows each student to introduce, share something about themselves [the teacher as well]; allow students to participate in the establishing of the rules.
Create a learning community - Focus on abilities, celebrate diversity; demonstrate respect for all students; provide opportunities for mixed-ability learning groups (see p. 246).
Have class meetings - make sure all students are respected; teach students to have concern for each other; concentrate on students' abilities; spend time teaching the behavioral skills you want students to exhibit in your classroom [see pp. 255-257].
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NO BLOG POSTING THIS WEEK; you may offer comments voluntarily.

Week 8 now 9 Teaching Students with Lower Incidence Disabilities - visual impairments, hearing loss, physical disabilities, health impairments...

Welcome to Week 8 now 9's posting on students with lower incidence disabilities. Sorry for the interruption in postings ---we will pick up with week 8 adjusting the syllabus as one week later, with Chapters 5 and 4 combined for next week's posting.

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Thank you for your condolences in the passing of my oldest brother, Earl --- a favorite of mine === known to us and his close friends as THE DUKE of Earl. He was 6'1" tall, handsome and we used to tease him that he looked like the 'black' version of the Marlboro man if you are old enough to remember that billboard ad. He was 72 years old, but never looked nor acted so --- he was a skater, a golfer, a lover of movement and action until six ago when he was diagnosed with the emphysema. He had emphysema for some time but was handling it very well -- had stopped smoking several years ago. Week before last, he got a seasonal flu shot and suffered from the symptoms of that --- he thought he could overcome those without going to the see a doctor, but was not able to. I am so angry about that, as he did not really need to get that shot --- but his doctor told him so and he follows doctor's orders to a fault. He will be sorely missed, as I loved him dearly --- calling him every time I had to make a conference trip or field experience trip and wanted someone to talk to until I arrived-- he was a true big brother--- he was extremely intelligent and well versed/could dialogue on current world and government trivia, stuff I never take the time to listen/tune in or watch much --- Life is so short --- do take the time to love the ones you love --- Earl will be cremated as he left instructions to do --- my family and friends of Earl have decided to have a private memoriam the day after Thanksgiving in Ocala, Florida -- sincerely, Jennifer

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An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week numbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP224Ch8.mp3 .

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How are visual and hearing impairments defined, both legally and functionally? How are physical disabilities and health impairments defined? How can you modify instruction and the classroom environment to accommodate the needs of students with visual, hearing, physical, or health impairments or students with traumatic brain injury? What are the roles of the orientation and mobility specialist, the interpreter, the physical or occupational therapist, and the adaptive physical education teacher?

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Definition of "visual and hearing impairments" As listed on in the textbook, the definition of visual and hearing impairments is as follows:

Visual: "legal blindness - visual acuity (sharpness of sight) of 20/200 with best correction in the best eye or a visual field loss resulting in a visual of 20 degrees or less...total blindness - unable to see anything...partial sight - visual acuity in the range of 20/70 to 20/200 - no longer used...low vision - visual impairment corrected with glasses along with compensatory and environmental modifications...functional vision - the way an individual functions with the amount of vision he or she has."
Hearing: "Hearing loss can occur in one ear (unilateral) or both ears (bilateral). It can be conductive (affecting outer and middle ears) or sensorineural (damage to the cochlea [or inner ear] or to the auditory nerve)." Hearing loss is measured as falling outside the range of 0-15 dB (decibels): 16 - 25 dB = minimum loss...25 - 40 dB = mild hearing loss...40 - 65 dB = moderate hearing loss...65 - 90 dB = severe hearing loss...greater than 90 dB = profound hearing loss.
Definition of "physical disabilities and health impairments"

As in the textbook, the definition of physical disabilities and other health impairments is as follows:

"Students with significant physical disabilities, health impairments, and traumatic brain injury generally qualify for special education services under three IDEA categories: orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, and traumatic brain injury."

orthopedic impairment: 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)...[as copied from Vaugh, Bos, et al, 2007, p 198.] These impairments also include beyond mobile and coordination inabilities, physical disabilities that affect communication, learning and social activities. A person who functions with medication in home, school and work activities is not considered physically disabled under this definition [p. 198].

neurological impairment: "an abnormal performance caused by a dysfunction of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves, thereby creating transmission of improper instructions, uncontrolled bursts of instructions from the brain, or incorrect interpretation of feedback to the brain...such as seizures (epilepsy), cerebral palsy, and spina bifida neuromuscular impairment: "invoves both the muscles and nerves such as muscular distrophy, polio, and multiple sclerosis."
other health impairment: "having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, due to chronic or acute health problems such as heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes, that adversely affects a chield's educational performance...new addiitions to this definition are the medically fragile (students with progressive cancer or AIDS)"

traumatic brain injury: "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 education 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 brain injuries induced by birth trauma."

How can you modify instruction and the classroom environment to accommodate the needs of students with visual, hearing, physical, or health impairments or students with traumatic brain injury?:
Hearing Loss:
see http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs3txt.htm .
see http://www.lessontutor.com/ASLgenhome.html.
Vision Impairment:
see http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs13txt.htm .
see http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/vision.html .
Physical Impairments:
see http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Technology/wtcomp.html .
Other Health Impairments:
see http://www.rushservices.com/Inclusion/homepage.htm .
see http://www.school-for-champions.com/education/student_cancer.htm .
Traumatic Brain Injury:
see http://www.worksupport.com/topics/downloads/tbi_classroom.pdf

What are the roles of the orientation and mobility specialist, the interpreter, the physical or occupational therapist, and the adaptive physical education teacher?:
Orientation and mobility specialist:
see http://www.wayfinding.net/services.htm#eight
Interpreter:
see http://www.accd.edu/pac/pass/Interprethome/edterprole.htm


Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:
- When working with student with physical disabilities, health impairments and traumatic brain injury, you will want to collaborate with specialists such as physical and occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, assistive technology specialists, and school nurses and other medical professionals [Vaughn et al]
- The orientation and mobility specialist, a teacher who specializes in visual impairment, provides valuable support to you in working with students with visual impairments. [Vaughn et al]
- Arranging the classroom to reduce background noise and to have the speaker's face visible is important for students with hearing loss. [Vaughn et al]
- The use of braille, optical aids, modified print, books on tape, and assistive technology can play a key role in integrating students with visual impairments[Vaughn et al]
- ASL or American Sign Language is a visual and gestural language used by many individuals in North America who are deaf. [Vaughn et al]
- Although most children with significant hearing loss are identified before beginning school, it is important to watch for signs of mild hearing loss. [Vaughn et al]
- If you are not part of the student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) team, ask for a copy of his or her IEP. The student's educational goals will be listed there, as well as the services and classroom accommodations he or she is to receive.
- Talk to specialists in your school (e.g., special educators), as necessary. They can help you identify effective methods of teaching this student, ways to adapt the curriculum, and how to address the student's IEP goals in your classroom.
- (Take Ishihara's test for colorblindness)
- (view Heather Whitestone's website)

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Read the following article "The No Child Left Behind Act, Adequately Yearly Progress and Students with Disabilities." Post your comments to the following: Does it seem like IDEA 2004 and NCLB send conflicting messages? Why or why not? If extended time is one of the accommodations, at what point is the test no longer actually testing whether a blind/deaf child is on par with a non-disabled child?

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Week 7 Teaching Students with Developmental Disorders

Teaching Students with Developmental Disabilities

Welcome to Week 7's posting on students with autism spectrum disorders/pervasive developmental disorders. An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week numbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP224Ch7.mp3 .

Chapter 10 addresses the following questions concerning teaching students with developmental disabilities . What is the definition of a developmental disability? What are the characteristics of students who exhibit developmental disabilities? What are some strategies for teaching students with developmental disabilities?

Definition of "developmental disability" - the definition of developmental disabilities is as follows:

"...physical or mental disabilities that impair the person's functioning in language, learning, mobility, self-care, or other important areas of living, ranging from mild to severe."

Mental Retardation Mental retardation falls under the category of a developmental disability, with Down syndrome being the most recognized of this group mostly characterized by their slow rate of learning.

The following excerpt is from Professor Jerome Lejeune, Nobel Prize Winner, Discoverer of the gene for Down syndrome

"Many years ago, my father was a Jewish physician in Braunau, Austria. On a particular day, two babies had been delivered by one of his colleagues. One was a fine, healthy boy with a strong cry. His parents were extremely proud and happy. The other was a little girl, but her parents were extremely sad, for she was a mongoloid [Down syndrome] baby. I followed them both for almost fifty years. The girl grew up, living at home, and was finally destined to be the one who nursed her mother through a very long and lingering illness after a stroke. I do not remember her name. I do, however, remember the boy's name. He died in a bunker in Berlin. His name was Adolf Hitler."

Click here for a personal Saga of a child with Downs syndrome: A couples' story: http://www.downsyn.com/personal.html .

It used to be that the definition of mental retardation was restricted to below average IQ scores, however, according to the text, students who are diagnosed as mentally retarded have limited function in four areas:

intellectual - below average IQ in the range of 70-75 or below.

adaptive behavior - inability or delay in being able to function independently in society.

devleopmental period - limitations in intellectual and adaptive behavior relative to age appropriated behaviors before the age of 18 years.

systems of support - unless mentally retarded students are provided mega-support from teachers, parents, specialists, they are not as capable of operating as a sustainable functioning person in society. (Vaughn, et al, p. 163, 2007)

Mental retardation now is classified as mild (IQ 50-55 to 70-75); moderate (IQ 35-40 to 50-55); severe (IQ 20-25 to 35-40); and profound (IQ below 20-25) (Vaughn, et al, p. 163, 2007)

Read Matthew's story: http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs8txt.htm )

originate as a result of poverty stricken environments, neglect and abuse! 1 in 30 newborns will experience head injuries as a result of neglect! Students born in poverty stricken environments have an increased chance of being lead poisoned, underfed, polluted by harmful environs, abused, underinsured therefore not receiving appropriate medical attention. The majority of these cases are students who are mildly retarded, but require intervention strategies in order to be successful in the regular education classroom.

Characteristics of students with developmental disabilities: Students with developmental disabilities generally learn slower and learn less than other students. A report cited that "the characteristics of developmental disabilities are 'physical or mental impairments that begin before age 22, and alter or substantially inhibit a person's capacity to do at least three of the following: take care of themselves (dress, bathe, eat, and other daily tasks), speak and be understood clearly, learn, walk/move around, make decisions, live on their own, and/or earn and manage an income.'" See http://www.bostoncares.org/news/issuebriefs/disabilities.pdf to read more.)

What Are the Signs of Mental Retardation?

See: http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs8txt.htm ).

What are some strategies for dealing with developmentally disabled students?: Below are tips for both parents and educators as offered by the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY stands for the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities ????) website at http://www.nichcy.org/index.html .

Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:

Learn about mental retardation. The more you know, the more you can help yourself and students.

Share skills students are learning at school with parents, so that they can extend those learning opportunities at home. For example, if such students are learning how to count money, have parents allow them to help count out the money at the grocery store.

Keep in touch with the parent(s).

Find out what student's strengths are and capitalize on those. Create success opportunities.

If you are not part of the student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) team, ask for a copy of his or her IEP. The student's educational goals will be listed there, as well as the services and classroom accommodations he or she is to receive.

Talk to specialists in your school (e.g., special educators), as necessary. They can help you identify effective methods of teaching this student, ways to adapt the curriculum, and how to address the student's IEP goals in your classroom.

Be as concrete as possible. Demonstrate what you mean rather than just giving verbal directions. Rather than just relating new information verbally, show a picture. And rather than just showing a picture, provide the student with hands-on materials and experiences and the opportunity to try things out.

Break longer, new tasks into small steps. Demonstrate the steps. Have the student do the steps, one at a time. Provide assistance, as necessary.

Give the student immediate feedback.

Involve the student in group activities or clubs.

Post A Comment on the following quote [at least 200 words] - I look forward to the day when a mongolian idiot, treated biochemically, becomes a successful geneticist....quote from Professor Jerome Lejeune...

Week 6 Teaching Students with autism spectrum disorders/pervasive developmental disorders

Welcome to Week 6's posting on students with autism spectrum disorders/pervasive developmental disorders. An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week numbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP224Ch6.mp3


According tothe DSM there are five categories of Pervasive Development Disorders (1) Autistic Spectrum Disorder, (2) Rett's Syndrome, (3) Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, (4) Asperger's Disorder, and (5) Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, or PDDNOS (see website on Pervasive Development Disorders).

Autistic Spectrum Disorder has become more prevalent just in the past few years, although there is no documented rhyme or reason why this disorder is on the increase. At least, for parents and educators of such children there is now available concrete information that can be useful in providing the best possible care for them. ASD students usually have already been identified and hopefully intervention methods are already in place by the time they enter public school. Such students have an IEP in place, with assistance provided from special education teachers and paraprofessionals who work with general education classroom teachers. The following website The Camp MakeBelieve Report on Autism provides further insight on the disorder, along with facts vs. myths on frequently asked questions.
Asperger's Syndrome is also referred to as 'highly functioning autism' as most children with Asperger's are highly intelligent but lacking in social skills. The following website The Asperger's Child: The Different Drummer follows that such students may respond to repetitive intervention, needing an IEP in the general education classroom as well.
Characteristics of students with Pervasive Development Disorders: Check the book.

See Autism Speaks ( a series of video clips on uptodate information on Autism)...you will need Windows Media Player or a comparable media player to view these).
So if such students are going to remain in my classroom, what are some strategies for dealing with them?:
Visit the following website: http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs20txt.htm#education .

Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:
Become familiar with Professional and Parental Support groups in the state of Illinois. Share this information with other educators/parents.
Access as much information as is possible on the IEP of students with PDD; work very closely with the special education teacher and paraprofessionals. If a FBA (functional behavior assessment) has been done on the student, be sure and use it. See website: http://cecp.air.org/fba/default.asp ) .
Visit (pass on) Other Websites -
International Society for AAC
Positive Behavior Interventions and the Law
TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic an d related Communication and handicapped CHildren)
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What are some of your thoughts on the similarities and differences in social skills and behavior problem in children with autism and Asperger's disorders? What do you think would be ways to improve social skills and decrease problematic behaviors? Find and post two website links (not any of the websites already given in this lesson) that support your answers.

Week 5 Teaching Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Welcome to Week 5's posting on students with emotional and behavioral. An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week numbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP224Ch5.mp3 .

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Chapter 8 addresses the following questions concerning teaching students with emotional and behavior disorders:

What is the federal government's definition of the "emotionally disturbed"?

What are the characteristics of students who exhibit emotional or behavioral problems?

When is it appropriate to refer students suspected of having emotional problems to special education?

What are some strategies for teaching students with emotional or behavioral problems?

The federal definition of "emotionally disturbed" as suggested the text is as follows:

A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree, which adversely affects educational performance including:

- an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors;
- an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers /teachers;
- inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;
- a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or
- a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal/school problems
this includes children who are schizophrenic; but not children who are socially maladjusted,

unless it is determined that they are emotionally disturbed."

Wow! It is interesting the statistic of emotional disturbance is cited as affecting from 10 to 20% of students, yet only 1% of such students are actually served by special education services. So what does that mean? It means perhaps that most of these students who should be receiving help are not. It means perhaps that most of these students who should be receiving help are in regular education classrooms and are being underserved, especially if the teacher is a) not aware and b) not equipped to help. It is interesting to note also that most of these students are boys, outnumbering girls as high as 8 to 1, with students from minority populations being disproportionately represented as well.

I was one of those middle school teachers who started my first year of teaching armed with pedagogy and content but not experimentally prepared for students like one named Albert Balderas. In hindsight and armed with what I know now, I would place Albert Balderas somewhere between exhibiting severe emotional behaviors and being affected by puberty issues. It was difficult sometimes to know which was which. I do know that even though all of the other boys around his age were going through puberty as well, none of them behaved like he did in my classroom! He would 'swing' into the class each day from the door frame...every day! He loved toys and gadgets, so he brought one with him to my class...every day! By the end of the school year, I had quite a collection of his toys: from a plastic roach to a skeleton's head that shocked you when you picked it up. I'm sure part of his misbehavior could have had a lot to do with my inexperience with classroom management.

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Want my suggestion? First year teachers should not be armed with the most challenging students in the school. I had been exposed to the Discipline with Dignity concept of involving the student in the process of negotiating what behaviors are expected in the classroom without shaming them, yelling at them, etc., etc, but none of that seemed to work for Albert, at least not with me. He laughed out loud, he shot 'butterfly' spitballs all up in the ceiling that I didn't know were there until towards the end of the schoolyear. Even though the class was hands-on with the computers, he managed to 'break' his...he talked incessantly...fidgeted...crawled on the floor...managed to have students 'scream out' for something he'd done to them...his classmates HATED him and SO DID I. (I realize HATE is a strong word but I chose this adjective to describe what Albert was bringing OUT of all of us in my classroom...I didn't 'really' hate him...) I would ask for assistance, seek council from other teachers, the principal, ANYBODY! However, Albert was doing wonderful in most of his classes. He wasn't an "A" or "B" student, but he knew how far he could take these behaviors in other classrooms. I didn't want to use those methods however.

One thing that I have learned is that there is no one specific catch-all way of determining emotional or behavioral disturbance because it is a social construct; what might be emotional disturbance in one classroom might not be so in the next classroom. It calls for teacher judgment as to whether students are acting under one or more of the federally defined definitions above. Even after teacher judgment, others will have to further determine if the behavior falls in the category of requiring special services. Most teachers seek to have such students removed from their classroom if it is possible. However, new IDEA laws now support inclusion to the greatest extent possible. If the student is found to not have severe emotional problems, he or she will remain in the regular education classroom. Therefore, other techniques, avenues will have to be explored in dealing with such students and attending to all others as well.
Characteristics of students with emotional/behavioral problems: Students with emotional/behavioral disorders can exhibit internalizing or externalizing behaviors and both types of behaviors should be equally attended to. Externalizing behaviors fall in the category of hitting, aggression, and impulsive behaviors; internalizing behaviors are those that are 'quiet' such as being shy, fearful, anxious, depressed and withdrawn.

Either type of behavior indicates that the student may need help. External behaviors are conduct disorder, aggression, hyperactivity, socialized aggression, and sometimes pervasive developmental disorder (example: student yelling out of character, saying strange things, rocking, knocking the head, nail biting). The following website gives a wonderful recap of each of these: http://www.slc.sevier.org/emoclass.htm .
Appropriate teacher referral of students suspected to have emotional/behavioral problems: How does a classroom teacher know when it is appropriate to persistently refer a student for special services? As noted from the textbook on pages 129-130 below:
- behavior-age discrepancy: note whether or not the student is inappropriately and consistently behaving unlike his or her peers in that age bracket in your classroom.
- frequency of occurrence of the behavior: note whether or not the student is inappropriately and consistently over time exhibiting unseemly emotions.
- number of symptoms: note whether or not the student is inappropriately and consistently over time exhibiting several symptoms of emotional disturbance.
- inner suffering: note whether or not the student is inappropriately and consistently over time exhibiting sadness, low self-esteem, helplessness symptoms.
- harm to others: note whether or not the student consistently over time harms others/animals with no remorse.
- persistence of the behavior: note whether or not the student consistently over time exhibits the same behaviors, regardless of intervention/assistance from others.
- self-satisfaction: note whether or not the student consistently over time exhibits a general negative behavior toward others and/or him or herself
- severity and duration of the behavior: note how often and how long the behavior occurs; note under what conditions and to what extent the behavior occurs; note what triggers the behavior and the outcome after the behavior has occurred; note whether or not the behavior occurs as a result of your relationship with the student or 'is the problem with the student?'; note whether or not others (family/you/other school personnel) have done anything to address this problem. (pp 129-130, Vaughn, et al, 2007))
Appropriate documentation/observance of any of the above consistently and over time should 'provide indications of the of emotional disturbance and the likelihood for referral.' (Vaughn, et. al, 2007)
So if such students are going to remain in my classroom, what are some strategies for dealing with them?: Visit the following website: http://www.slc.sevier.org/emoclass.htm .

Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:
Emotionally disturbed students fair much better in structured, clean, orderly classroom environments; when they are aware of what the teacher expects of them; and when rules are present and enforced with care and dignity toward students. Emotionally disturbed students do not respond well to threats, yelling, cursing and 'emotionally-charged-teacher-responses.'
Someone has to be the adult, in control, calm and respectful: that someone should always be the teacher, no matter what the student does. The teacher should be pro-active in that he or she should know ahead of time what building/classroom procedures should be followed in the event of a classroom disturbance: example, should another student be sent to get the assistant principal or another teacher? etc.
Always get to know the special education teacher(s) or expert in the school: ask for help, strategies that they use, ask how they would handle such a student. Continue to speak out, ask for help until you get what you need to work with such students in the classroom.
Get to know the parent(s).
Find out what management technique is used in the home to encourage positive student behavior. (You don't want to use abusive techniques from home, however...instead report any abuse that you are aware of or suspicious of to the appropriate authorities offering child protective services.)

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The authors believe aggression and school violence are both results of school social dynamics and the developmental histories of youth who are at high risk for involvement in antisocial behavior. in the following article The Developmental Dynamics of Agression and the Prevention of School Vioence . How do school social interactions impact a student's behavior? What role should the teacher play in the social dynamic? Do you agree or disagree with the steps the authors propose to prevent school violence? (p.208 in the pdf file) Why or Why not? After reading the chapter, listening to the audio, and post your comments to the Week 5 blog posting to comment on the questions provided.

Week 4 Teaching Students with Communication Disorders

Welcome to Week 4's posting on students with communication disorders. An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week numbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP224Ch4.mp3 .

Chapter 7 addresses the following questions on teaching students with communication disorders. What are communication disorders? What signs should you look for in students with communication disorders? What are some classroom strategies for accommodating students with communication disorders? Why is it important to consider a student's cultural, dialectic and/or whether or not they learned English as a second language (being careful not to label such students as having a communications disorder due to these factors)?


Communication Disorders refers to difficulties with the transfer of knowledge, ideas, opinions, and feelings (Vaughn, et al.). Since schooling is based on speaking and listening behaviors, students who suffer with communication disorders are very easily identified if they are not operating at the expectations of age-appropriate behaviors. Students with this disorder usually manifest it in at least one of three areas: speech, hearing and language. Speech and language disorders are discussed in chapter 7. Speech disorders refer to challenges with voice articulation, fluency and/or quality. Language disorders refer to developmental delays in receptive and/or expressive language.
Recognizable Signs of Communication Disorders Students with communication disorders are easily recognizable in the classroom. Early education teachers are especially in a position to spot these disorders as students are learning speech sounds. According to the text, 10% of boys and girls exhibit signs of communications disorders in elementary school.. If a student is having problems articulating, making articulation errors, then it is possible that the student needs further speech services (see page for specific articulation errors).

My husband and I adopted our oldest daughter at the age of two months. She did not begin talking in complete sentences until she was two years old. She attended a Catholic school beginning in kindergarten where it was noted that she was having communications problems, however the school did not provide the services she needed and I allowed her to attend the school again in 1st grade (of course part of this was due to my being in total denial). By second grade, I enrolled her in the neighborhood school: the problems persisted (not paying attention, blank stare when you ask her a question, not answering when you ask her a question). At that time, we had a complete psychological work up done on her and she was diagnosed as having "inconclusive ADD", along with needing the services of a speech pathologist. She received those services through twelfth grade and they benefited her immensely. Early recognition by knowledgeable teachers is a great benefit to such children, especially when caretakers/parents do not want to hear such. The earlier the problem is identified the better for the child in terms of length of intervention and success in the general education classroom.




Considering a student's cultural, dialectic and English as a second language background Students who are just learning the English language may not be candidates for speech disorders, they are simply learning a new language! Some students' cultures may explain the uniqueness in their approach to the English language also. How students communicate verbally can be a result of their cultural upbringing and as classroom teachers we must acknowledge and respect that, not 'passing off' such students as having articulation disorders. For example, in the following article discussing low context vs. high context cultures, much of the differences between these two cultural upbringings is reflected in they way they each communicate:


A low context culture is one in which things are fully (though concisely) spelled out. Things are made explicit, and there is considerable dependence on what is actually said or written. A high context culture is one in which the communicators assume a great deal of commonality of knowledge and views, so that less is spelled out explicitly and much more is implicit or communicated in indirect ways. In a low context culture, more responsibility is placed on the listener to keep up their knowledge base and remain plugged into informal networks.
In a broad, general sense...Low context cultures may include Anglos, Germanics and Scandinavians. High context cultures may include Africans, Japanese, Arabs and French. (continue reading at: http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/cultural.htm .)
African American students who have been reared in a cultural setting that speak the AAVE dialect may face challenges in the classroom when it comes to speaking in formal English register. Such students may not be candidates for speech therapy, however. They should learn formal English, along with being respected for knowing the dialect of their culture. I always say that I can speak at least two languages fairly well, AAVE and English. I know some Spanish from high school Spanish courses that I have taken, but I can speak both AAVE and English rather fluently! I recommend you visit the Language Varieties website for further reading: http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/.

Classroom Strategies for accommodating students with communications disorders
See Strategies for Teaching Students with Communications Disorder .
For General Strategies
See http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/text/comm.html
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Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:

Pay attention to students' conversation as they are involved in various settings. How do they conversate in your classroom? the hallways? the playground? the lunchroom? Use this informal knowledge of what students are talking about to build into a new lesson or classroom concepts. Make similarity connections to what students already know to help them learn the new content.
Practice 'wait time.' Give students several seconds to respond after asking them a question. Refrain from 'jumping in' to fill up the silence while students are thinking, trying to retrieve the appropriate words. Allow sufficient time for students to speak for themselves!
Only give instructions for an activity or lesson when students are paying attention.
Learn students' names as quickly as possible and use their names when speaking to them .
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After reading the chapter, read the following article and post your response [comment] to the questions on the blog. The text talks about language development in children and how there is a three year variance between late and early bloomers. Screenings are usually done around age three. This test was given to 18 mos. old children. The results were mixed. While it proved to be better than other screening tests, it did produce false positives. How early should children be screened for language impairments? How might different factors (SES, family structure, location/geography etc.) play a role in the assessment of language delays or with language development in children?

Week 3 Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders

Welcome to Week 3's posting on students with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders. An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week numbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP224Ch6.mp3 .



Chapter 6 covers specific learning disabilities and ADHD/ADD, providing definitions and strategies for working in the classroom with students with these disorders. How does IDEA define a specific learning disability? What are the characteristics of students who have learning disabilities? What are some strategies for teaching students with learning disabilities? What is ADHD/ADD? What are some characteristics of students with ADHD/ADD? What are some strategies for teaching students with ADHD/ADD?
Learning Disabilities has been defined by IDEA as the 'catch-all' term for problems manifested in learning situations associated with "listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling or mathematical abilities." These manifested difficulties can not otherwise be associated with cultural influences, gaps or holes in knowledge due to insufficient instruction, or social problems. Students may have other handicapping conditions in addition to a learning disability. The definition further clarifies that learning disabilities may be due to nerve damage and may occur over the life of the student.Students with learning disabilities exhibit challenges with academic endeavors early on, but are not usually identified until 2nd or 3rd grade when aptitude-achievement discrepancies are noted. By the way, as of the IDEA Improvement Act of 2004 the student no longer has to have a discrepancy noted between their aptitude and achievement abilities. Students may otherwise seem to be no different than other students in the classroom, but very quickly began to fall behind due to learning difficulties with classroom content that is easily learned by other students. If students are not reading by 3rd grade, this could point to a clear indication of a specific learning disability. It is now popular to administer an RTI or response to intervention such as a reading intervention; if students do not respond favorably to such interventions then they may be recommended for special education services.



Characteristics of students with learning disabilities: As offered by one school district, the following characteristics are most notable. "Although the disability is not a discrete, measurable entity, evidence over the last 25 years indicates it does exist, but is strikingly resistant to educational intervention:" Although the following characteristics are possible for any student from time-to-time, the learning disabled student demonstrates these with regularity over a period of time
often an invisible handicap
performance is uneven or inconsistent and they are often unable to profit from regular instruction
have inefficient strategies for reception, storage and production of information
major difficulty in focusing attention
functional difficulties in visual, auditory, motor, organizational and/or conceptual skills
often behave in immature, narcissistic, and egocentric ways
often find school a frightening experience
may be able to master content but unable to produce answers
not natural problem solvers, can become overwhelmed by the tasks they face
most serious difficulty is often in processing language (as copied from: http://www.slc.sevier.org/ldaccom.htm )
Strategies for Working with Students with Learning Disabilities. The best practices recommended for students with learning disabilities are also useful for any student in the classroom. For example, the strategies of using think alouds, self-monitoring, advance organizers, extended practice, presenting information in a variety of ways (see page 79), and teaching students to use memory strategies all are useful for any classroom learner, although these certainly should be present if students are struggling with learning disabilities.
ADHD/ADD - ADHD/ADD or Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder/attention deficit disorder are both referenced/classified under ADHD although it is traditional that students classified as ADHD exhibit visible hyperactivity syndromes: nervous body movements, excessive talking, inability to focus on one task for a sustained length of time, for example, whereas students with ADD may be seem to be extremely reserved, quiet and in a day dreamy state in the classroom. Students with ADD many times do not visually seem to have issues with attention as they appear to be model students: appear to be listening to the teacher, appear to be paying attention, appear to be reading, appear to be behaving, engaged in the lesson. The discrepancies between what they appear to be doing however manifests when such students have to produce a paper, read a book, follow directions, study for a test, etc. According to the text, as many as 25 to 68% of students with ADHD also are LD (learning disabled). Most students with ADHD have other behavioral issues as well. Do pay close attention to the Twelve Things teens with ADHD want their Teachers to know. The following websites offer more insight into ADD/ADHD.

Twelve Things teens with ADHD want their teachers to know
Attention Deficit Disorder
Famous People documented with ADHD

Strategies for Teaching Students with ADD/ADHD - Teachers work best with students with ADHD when they combine strategies for both behavioral and academic needs. One without the other will not provide the best intervention for such students. Hopefully, such students in your classroom have been properly diagnosed and provided evaluative and IEP services that will give you the general education classroom teacher some specific guidelines for working with students with ADHD. It is important to realize that an IEP is extremely useful in that it should provide specific strategies for eachn identified child. While one student with ADHD may need organizational assistance with reading content text such as highlighting key words or phrases, another student with ADHD may simply need to be 'cued' to transition to the next classroom activity such as a hand on the shoulder or a tap on the student's desk (something worked out between you and the student that is oblivious to others in the classroom). Below are several websites that offer up-to-date tips, strategies.

Strategies for the Older Child with ADHD
Teaching Tips for those working with ADHD Kids

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Pragmatically Speaking - How to use this information in the classroom:
Become very familiar with students with learning disabilities and ADHD issues. Especially become familiar with their individidual IEP's seeking the help of the special education teacher or specialist in how to best help students control their behaviors as well as accomplish academic classroom goals.

It is important to know whether or not students with ADHD are being medically treated and when, what times of the day they are taking the medicine.
Document students' behavior in your classroom as much as possible. Set up a folder on your computer for each student and store/save all electronic information pertaining to the student in it; and/or start a paper folder for each student. This type of teacher-observation documentation is very crucial to the IEP process and consultative special education meetings about the exceptional student.

Ongoing documentation of behaviors, needs, academic progress is of utmost to the success of exceptional students in the general education classroom.

This week you're not required to post comments to this blog, but feel free to do so if you so choose. Some of you may have experience or information to offer that may be beneficial to the rest of us. I welcome all of your comments.

Week 2 Communicating and Collaborating with other professionals and families

Welcome to Week 2's posting on communicating and collaborating with other professionals and families. An audio of the chapter has been provided. For the chapter audio, ignore references in the audio to week nunmbers, dates, chapter numbers, page numbers, assignments, the discussion board,names...thank you. The core of the audio speaks to the current chapter topic in your edition of the text book. https://edocs.uis.edu/jherr3/www/TEP224F2010/TEP224Ch2.mp3

Chapter 3 of the text introduces the concepts of consultation, collaboration, and co-teaching as a general education teacher working with all sorts of people for students with exceptionalities. It would be a very difficult task to have to teach students with exceptionalities if the general education teacher did not have the input and assistance of those specifically trained to provide the best education for such students. Consultation skills require pre-planned time and space meets for the general education teacher and special education consultant to be able to work through the consultation process. When accessing the skills of a consultant, it is important to note that the job of the consultant is to provide expert intervention information pertaining to the student's special education need, but it is the job of the consultee (usually a general education teacher) to implement that intervention. Collaboration on the other hand allows the general education teacher and special education teacher to meet at a specific place and time, over the course of a school year to plan, discuss and implement together how to best teach students with exceptionalities in the general education classroom. This co-planning usually co-incides with co-teaching. The general education teacher and special education teacher decide how they will both teach the same lesson in the same classroom to both regular education and students with exceptionalities: will one teacher teach the entire lesson or both share? will one teach the lesson while the other teacher circulates the room helping specific students? will they put the students in groups by ability and each work with the separate groups? These are all planning and teaching decisions introduces the concepts of consultation, collaboration, and co-teaching as a general education teacher working with all sorts of people for students with exceptionalities. It would be a very difficult task to have to teach students with exceptionalities if the general education teacher did not have the input and assistance of those specifically trained to provide the best education for such students. Consultation skills require pre-planned time and space meets for the general education teacher and special education consultant to be able to work through the consultation process. When accessing the skills of a consultant, it is important to note that the job of the consultant is to provide expert intervention information pertaining to the student's special education need, but it is the job of the consultee (usually a general education teacher) to implement that intervention. Collaboration on the other hand allows the general education teacher and special education teacher to meet at a specific place and time, over the course of a school year to plan, discuss and implement together how to best teach students with exceptionalities in the general education classroom. This co-planning usually co-incides with co-teaching. The general education teacher and special education teacher decide how they will both teach the same lesson in the same classroom to both regular education and students with exceptionalities: will one teacher teach the entire lesson or both share? will one teach the lesson while the other teacher circulates the room helping specific students? will they put the students in groups by ability and each work with the separate groups? These are all planning and teaching decisions that must be made ahead of class time in order to achieve success for all students.

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How to use this information in the classroom:
Become familiar with the Illinois Interactive Report Card Website, offering data and statistics concerning schools and districts in the state of Illinois, including data concerning students and subgroups. Go to the website, select by school or by district to search for AYP reports as well as other pertinent data.
Find out who your special education building and district experts are. Most school districts have a district special education specialist or director. Most schools have a special education teacher in the building. If you know that students with exceptionalities are going to be placed in your classroom, then began to immediately establish a working, professional relationship with those who will also be directing the education of such students: the school counselor, nurse, administrator, special education teacher, aides, community advocates for students with special needs.
Establish a relationship with exceptional students' parents as soon as possible. Initiate the contact if the parent does not. As a matter of fact, it helps immensely if you will put to use the one desktop computer in the classroom (hopefully it is Internet-ready, connected to the district and outside world!) by seeking out email addresses of each student's parent or contact as soon as possible. Most parents have at least one email address nowadays, either a work email or personal one. Using email whenever possible provides a wonderful way to give parents explicit information, receive feedback from them in kind and also provide a paper trail of documentation that you can save or store in that student folder on your computer's hard drive. I recommend you also save/store/back up the information to a portable flash drive or diskette.
Another excellent communication tool for parents is a classroom website. As daunting as that may sound, even teachers with next to no computer skills can get assistance in setting up a classroom website. There are easy programs available to facilitate setting up a website. I recommend starting with your district technology department to see what the district first offers in the line of technology assistance for teachers.
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Week Two Posting - The following article talks about the eight components of the co-teaching relationship - Coteaching.pdf. Each component is obviously very important. Which do you think is the most important component and why is that? After reading the chapter, listening to the audio, post your comments to the Week 2 blog posting for the question provided.

Week 1 Special Education and Inclusive Schooling

Note: yellowish-colored words in the text are usually clickable website resources/references.


Hello! Welcome to your first week of Exceptional Child for Teachers.

I relate to you a story of my brother, Gary Joe and how he was eventually excluded from the general education classroom because of his learning disability. This was possible because his time was before laws were enacted that now have evolved to be known as the IDEA or Individuals with Disability Education Act (2004) that states 'all children with disabilities receive an appropriate education through special services. No child with disabilities can be excluded from education but are allowed by law to receive a 'free and appropriate public education.' (Vaughn, et. al, 2011). Public schools now are legally bound to pay attention to this provision whereas before if they decided with no consultation that a student was not fit for a particular public school setting, the schools could reject that student.

These websites  provide specific 'legalese' concerning the IDEA but out of this are very specific key elements that you as a K-12 classroom public school educator should pay special attention to and that is what the phrases "free and appropriate public education", "least restrictive environment" , "individualized education plan" , "non-discriminatory evaluation", "due process", "advocacy", and "parent participation" all mean . It is no longer left up to the special education teacher to know the laws governing special education, as now exceptional students are more and more mainstreamed or included in general education or regular education classrooms: your classroom.

While this course is not a special education course, it does provide familiarization with the laws that govern the education of students who receive services from special education. As the number of students placed in general education increases, collaboration between general education teachers and special education teachers is essential, in spite of the ongoing debate at opposite ends of the spectrum between those who believe all students should be taught in a regular education classroom versus those who believe exceptional students should be contained or taught separately.

Begin this lesson by reading one of my favorite online biographies of Chris Burke  Also, read the interview with Elizabeth Diller on page three in the textbook.. Personally reflect for several minutes on what are some of your feelings and attitudes about the possibility of having students with disabilities in your classroom when you are teaching?

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Become very familiar with the history of the federal laws for the education of exceptional learners as shared below:

IDEA and the Vocational Rehabilitation Act The expansion of these laws now referred to as IDEA has provided for the assurance that all children with disabilities receive an appropriate education through special services. No child with disabilities can be excluded from education but are allowed by law to receive a 'free and appropriate public education.' (Vaughn, et. al, 2011).

Free and appropriate public education -Of course, the interpretation of a 'free and appropriate public education' has been and continues to be an issue in education. How does the school (district) decide what is free and appropriate for such students? If the school decides in err of the student, in some cases, the school (district) is sued. For example, several students and families sued the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in a case that a proposed settlement was offered due to the district not offering a free and appropriate public education to such students according to the plaintiffs ( Lydia Gaskins, et al. vs. the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ).

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) - One of the main components of the IDEA law is the concept of Least Restrict Environment(LRE) along with a Continuum of Services. LRE "is the setting most like that of nondisabled students that also meets each child's educational needs. Inherent within the LRE is the notion of continuum of services. Continuum of Services means that a full range of service options for students with disabilities will be provided by the school system." (Vaughn, et. al, 2011).

Individualized Education Plan (IEP) (see a sample IEP on pages 13-16). Another main component of the IDEA law is the Individualized Education Plan (IEP). An IEP must be developed for each student identified as a special needs students or student with a disability, according to IDEA (Vaughn, et. al, 2004). The purpose of the IEP is to provide an outline of specific educational services needed by the student as agreed upon by a Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) of educators, parents and specialists. This outline provides documentation of the student's abilities, disabilities, when the special services will begin/end, how the student will be measured in terms of progress, what services will be provided, measurable annual goals that will be set for the student to accomplish and how parents will be informed of this progress. If you have not experienced the mountain of paperwork that seems to follow the exceptional student, the IEP is at the top of that heap. While the IEP is not a legal contract, it is a plan that has been thoughtfully put together by all involved in the education of the exceptional child and should be used as such in the classroom. Actually, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have an IEP for every student in your classroom as the IEP provides individualized personal data that is specific to that particular student's educational needs. Once a plan is in place for each student, it could be used as documentation for what each student is expected to do and for the teacher to provide adapted, differentiated instruction to fit each student's true educational needs in that classroom.

Just what are the responsibilities of classroom teachers to the education of exceptional students?

Responsibilities of Classroom Teachers (as adapted from Vaughn et al) Who is responsible for the IEP? The special services or special education teacher and the Multidisciplinary Team are responsible for the IEP. The classroom teacher is responsible for insuring that objectives on the IEP pertaining to his or her classroom are carried out as feasibly as possible. Can I be held responsible if a student in my class does not accomplish all of the objectives in the IEP? Teachers can not be held responsible for lack of accomplish of all of the objectives on the IEP unless "it can be proven that teachers have not made efforts to fulfill their responsibilities." What if I was unable to attend the meeting at which the child's IEP was developed? Then you should get a copy of the IEP from the special services teacher and find out what objectives on the IEP are expected to be accomplished in your classroom. What should I do if I feel a student is not making adequate progress on his or her IEP? You should maintain communication with the special services teacher or MDT concerning the progress of the student in your classroom. Make use of any available resources to you in the building, especially the special services or special education teacher. Keep documentation of the student's progress (ex. emails to/from key people concerning the student; student work). What does it mean to adapt instruction for students with disabilities? Adaptations can be beneficial for all students regardless of whether they have a disability or not.

So, pragmatically speaking, how does this information in chapter one of the text pan out into the classroom?

Pragmatically Speaking - Here's How to use this information in the classroom:

1. Become very familiar with the basic terminology of special education and services provided to exceptional children. This will be the language of exchange between you, the classroom teacher, other teachers, special education specialists, counselors, psychologists, parents, and others involved in the education of exceptional children.

2. Become very familiar with the process of special education in your school building, district. There is still great latitude between how special education and related services for exceptional children are executed from one school building to the next. Some schools may provide full inclusion for exceptional students with related services interventions in the regular education classroom, whereas others may lean more towards providing partial inclusion with exceptional students spending time in physical education, music and electives type courses with regular education students while attending separate special education or resource rooms for the rest of the school day. Examples: ISBE Special Education guidelines (for Special Education services).

3. Learn more about other schooling configurations for exceptional students in your area such as The Hope School (Springfield, Illinois); The UIS Office of Disability Services (they have a lab as well) ; The Illinois School for the Deaf (more info at this website as well).

4. Ongoing documentation of behaviors, needs, academic progress is of utmost to the success of exceptional students in the general education classroom. Set up a folder on your computer for each student and store/save all electronic information pertaining to the student in it; and/or start a paper folder for each student. This type of teacher-observation documentation is very crucial to the IEP process and consultative special education meetings about the exceptional student.

5. For more information: click on each of the following websites: Education Integration and Including Students with Disabilities in the Regular Education Classroom.

FOR THIS WEEK'S POSTINGS
For this week’s posting comments, read the link files in the paragraphs below and choose a set of questions to respond to in your comment. According to this report, one common complaint of schools not making the AYP (annual yearly progress -- visit http://www.isbe.net/ayp/default.htm for background information on NCLB) is that it is due to the low scores reported on students with disabilities, LEP (limited English Proficiency), various ethnic groups, and low income students. What is the measurement for the students with disabilities subgroup in Illinois? How are they evaluated for progress under NCLB? Should this subgroup not be included in reporting of NCLB scores? Why or why not?

Edward Rust, Jr, chairman and CEO of State Farm has been named as the new chair of a commission organized to make recommendations to NCLB, which is up for reauthorization ...he was chosen by people such as Bill and Melinda Gates. Will these new faces with new money be instrumental in finally getting some money shifted to those schools that are suffering from inadequacies (sorry, this really is a lead-in question, but I don't know how else to word it...feel free to challenge, however...your grade will not suffer for doing so...)

http://wm.nmmstream.net/aspencnclb/webcast040806/archive.asx - This link points to the one of the latest commission hearing on NCLB. Much of the hearing points to NCLB and its poor implementation of achieving successful graduation rates for students. What are we doing? If NCLB is reauthorized, how can high school and graduation rates be raised? Is NCLB useful to improving marginal students' success in schools? Why or why not?

Note: Read all of the articles, links and form your responses from any of the preceding leading questions.