foundation concepts and some practices in inclusion in special education

1. Strategies for Teaching Learners with Special Needs

2. Lets Start with Inclusion
 Inclusion- The desire to create a system where students
with special needs receive their education in the general
education classroom with non-disabled students.
 Supported Education for inclusion emphasizes that
successful inclusion hinges on provision of appropriate
supports in the general education classroom as a basis for
establishing a successful learning environment for
students.
 Inclusion does not refer to a physical space; it refers to a
condition or state of being.
 The concept of inclusion implies a sense of belonging
and acceptance.

3. Critical Legislatures in Special
Education
 Education for All Handicapped Children Act
 (EHA, Public Law 94-142)
 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
 Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA)
 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)

4. Education for All Handicapped
Children Act (EHA) and Section 504
 EHA (PL 94-142) initially authorized funding to the states
to assist in the development, expansion, and improvement
of special education programs.
 Law ensured rights of all children with disabilities.
 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act states:
 Any student who has a physical or mental impairment that
substantially limits one or more major life activities can
qualify for services under Section 504.
 This law provides services to students who may be
categorized under IDEA but need certain accommodations
and are entitled to protection under law.

5. IDEA
 Renamed after EHA and reauthorized in 2004
 6 Key Provisions of IDEA
1. Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)
 School districts must provide special education and realted
services necessary to meet the needs of students with special
learning requirements
 School must furnish transportation and related services when
deemed necessary to ensure appropriate education
 If school districts cannot meet a child’s needs, other agencies
must provide services at public expense.
2. Appropriate Evaluation
 Prior to a student receiving special education and related
services for the first time, a full and individual initial
nondiscriminatory evaluation must be conducted.

6. IDEA continued
3.Individualized Education Program (IEP)
 Written document summarizing a student’s learning program an is required
for every student who qualifies for services.
 Establishes learning goals for student
4. Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
 Schools must educate children with disabilities to as great an extent possible
in general education settings with other peers in the most inclusive setting.
5. Parent and Student Participation in Decision Making
 Parental consent must accompany every decision that affects a child with a
disability.
 Parents are considered participants in the development of their child’s IEP.
 Parents have the right to challenge or appeal any decision related to any
aspect of the special education process.
6. Procedural Safeguards
 Safeguards protect the rights of both parents and children.
 Parents have the right to educational records, to obtain an independent
educational evaluation, to request a due process hearing, to appeal decisions,
and to initiate civil action when appealing a final hearing decision.

7. Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA)
 ADA represents broad civil rights coverage for
individuals who are disabled.
 This law establishes guidelines for employment, public
accommodations, transportation, state and local
government operations, and telecommunication
systems.
 A key element of ADA is to protect individuals with
disabilities who are “otherwise qualified” from
discrimination.

8. No Child Left Behind
 Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA)
 Key provisions of NCLB include:
 Increased accountability: state standards in reading, math,
annual testing for grades 3-8, and adequate yearly progress
evaluation.
 Parent and student choice: funds available for parents to
help their child obtain needs
 Greater flexibility to states, school districts, and schools
 Putting reading first: scientifically based reading
instruction and funding provided, so every child can read by
the end of third grade
 Highly qualified teachers: teachers must be fully qualified
by 2006

9. Standard-Based Education
 What is taught must be tied to the state-derived content
and performance standards that now exist in almost all
states in the core subject areas of language arts/English,
math, social studies, and science.
 Standards are developed so students demonstrate
knowledge and skills necessary to read, write, compute,
problem solve, think critically, apply technology, and
communicate across subject areas.
 Classifying Standards:
 Content Standard: knowledge, skills, and understanding that
students should attain in academic subjects.
 Performance Standard: levels of achievement that students
must meet to demonstrate their profieciency in the subjects.

10. Student Accountability
 The NCLB Act and standards-based reform underscore
the need for accountability through student
evaluation.
 Typically by means of high stakes standards-based
testing.
 Most students with disabilities can take regular district-
wide or statewide tests that nondisabled students take.
 Accommodations, exemptions, and changes to the way a
student takes their test must all be written up in that student’s
IEP.

11. Multi-tiered System of Addressing
the Needs of Special Learners
 Tier 1
 High-Quality Core Instruction: High quality research-based,
and systematic instruction in a challenging curriculum in
general education.
 Tier 2:
 High-Quality Targeted Supplemental Instruction: Targeted
and focused interventions to supplement core instruction
 Response to Interventions (RTI) in within Tier 2 serves as
important pre-referral data should more formal special
education assessment be needed.
 Tier 3:
 High-Quality Intensive Intervention: Specialized
interventions to meet significant needs.

12. Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
 Universal design can be described as the development of
educational curricula and materials that include potent supports
for access and learning from the start, rendering them effective
for a far wider range of students that traditional materials.
 Main attractions of UDL:
 It attends to individual needs in general fashion that does not draw
attention for any one individual.
 Proactive approach
 Developing curricula and materials that attend to the needs of
students with special needs “increases usability for everyone.”
 UDL capitalizes on new technologies and electronic resources.
 UDL provides new way of looking at students with disabilities-
along with a continuum of students with learning-related
differences.

13. Differentiated Instruction
 Differentiated instruction is a process to approach
teaching and learning for students of differing abilities
in the same class.
 The intent of this is to maximize each student’s growth
and individual success by meeting each student where
he or she is and assisting in the learning process.
 The integration of principles of UDL and differentiated
instruction provide a potentially powerful way to address
the individual needs of a range of students within the
general education classroom.

14. Evidence-Based Practice
 General education and special education require
teachers to use interventions that have evidence that
they work with the population with who they are being
used.
 Instructional practices should have a research base if
they are to be used with students with special needs.

15. Diversity Considerations
 The dimensions of diversity include:
 Cultural, Racial-Ethnic, Behavioral, Physical/Sensory,
Intellectual/Cognitive, Sexual Orientation, Economic,
English Language Learners, and Setting (urban,
migrant)
 Teachers must develop a sensitivity to the needs of a
diverse group of students and acquire specific
knowledge about diverse students and develop skills to
address the needs that these students present in the
classroom

18. IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act)
 According to IDEA, all special
education students are to be placed in
the Least Restrictive Environment
(LRE) to meet their needs.
 Individual Education Program (IEP)
team must first consider regular
education as the starting point for
placement.

19. 1. Difficulty of Instruction
 Adapt the expected skill level, type of
problem/task, or rules for completing
the task
 Examples:
 Use of calculator for math problems
 Simplify directions
 Reduce number of choices for
answers

20. 2. Time
 Adapt time given or
allowed for learning or
completing a task
 Example:
 Increase time for
assignments and tests

21. 3. Size
 Adapt the expected number of
items to learn or complete
 Examples:
 Reduce the number of terms the
student must learn
 Reduce number of math problems
to compute

22. 4. Level of Support
 Adapt or increase amount
of individual assistance
with a specific learner.
 Examples:
 Teaching assistant
 Peer buddy
 Peer tutor
 One on one instruction

23. 5. Alternate
 While using the same materials,
adapt the expectations, goals, or
outcomes.
 Example:
 In language Arts, expect a
student to identify the meaning
of new terms while others must
also use them in a sentence.

24. 6. Input
 Adapt the manner in which
the instruction is delivered
 Examples:
 Auditory and visual aids
 Hands on lessons
 Small group instruction
 Concrete examples
 Supply notes

25. 7. Output
 Adapt the ways students can respond to
instruction
 Examples:
 Verbal responses
 Use of hands on materials to show
understanding
 Assistive technology (switches,
communication board, etc.)

26. 8. Participation
 Adapt the extent to which the
student is actively involved or
participating in a lesson or task
 Examples:
 A student can…
 Operate the DVD player
 Hold up a map during history
class
 Collect assignments

27. 9. Substitute Curriculum
 Adapt instruction and materials to meet
the individual goals of the student’s IEP
(Individual Education Program)
 Example:
 Practicing computer skills while others
students are taking a written test