Special Olympics

By Joanna Spelitis, Jess Para, Aaron Yang & Tom Luxford

Accommodating & Acknowledging Special

Needs and Cultural Dimensions for Effective

Learning

What is Inclusive Education? • Inclusive education means creating an environment

where ALL children are supported, valued and respected.

• Education Queensland is committed to achieving excellence by enhancing educational opportunities for all students. Schools should create environments where:

– all students feel a strong sense of belonging – all students learn to interact respectfully with others – all students learn to understand and appreciate

diversity, and – all parents and carers in the community can take an

active role in the life of the school (Queensland Government, 2006). What is Inclusion?

Strategies for Creating an Inclusive Classroom

• Direct or explicit instruction • Work stations or learning centres • Work contracts • Problem-based learning • Cooperative learning • Independent study • Peer tutoring • Team teaching with a specialist teacher • Adaption to the following areas:

- Size - Time - Level of support - Input (Keeffe & Carrington, 2006).

Students with Special Needs • Students with special needs are those who have

abilities that require modified or accelerated learning and teaching strategies, special education or other services to reach their fullest potential (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2010).

• When referring to students with special needs

the emphasis needs to be on the student first, not the special challenges they face, for example: – A student with a learning disability NOT A learning-

disabled student – Students receiving special education NOT Special

education students (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2010).

Creating an Effective Learning Environment for Students with Special Needs

• Adopt a philosophy state it and plan for it strategically – ‘Every student is here to learn’.

• Remove labels such as ‘special education’ from doors, students, teachers and resource rooms.

• Make resource rooms open for all students and teachers.

• Plan according to the needs of individual students. • Collaborate with all stakeholders and professionals. • Use a integrated, multidisciplinary approach. • Create a caring environment were diversity is

celebrated and not merely accepted. • Utilise special resources available within your region

(McInerney & McInerney, 2006).

Types of Students with Special Needs

• Learning Difficulties

• Vision Impaired

• Hearing Impaired

• Intellectually Impaired

• Physically Impaired

• Multiple Disabilities

• Indigenous, ESL (English as Second Language)

• Gifted & Talented (O’Brien, 2010)

Six Categories of Disability

• Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

• Hearing Impairment (HI)

• Intellectual Impairment (II)

• Vision Impairment (VI)

• Physical Impairment (PI)

• Speech – Language Impairment (SLI) (O’Brien, 2010)

Activity One – Mind Map of Special Needs

Central Idea =

Types of Special Needs

–Physical

– Intellectual

– Learning difficulties

– Social

Howard Gardner – Theory of Multiple Intelligences

• Intelligence comprises a set of separate abilities, each of which is specialised for acquiring knowledge and solving problems in different areas of cognitive activity (Krause, Bochner, Duchsne & McMaugh, 2010).

• Gardner identified 9 domains of intellectual functioning, each of which is quite distinct and very different.

Domain/area of Intelligence

Description

Linguistic/verbal Ability to perceive or generate spoken and written language

Musical/rhythmic Sensitivity to pitch, rhythm and timbre; the ability to create, communicate and understand meaning in sound; the ability to discern sound patterns

Logical-mathematical Use and appreciation of numerical, causal, abstract or logical relations

Visual/spatial Ability to perceive visual and spatial information and to transform or modify this information to re-create visual images

Bodily-kinaesthetic Control of all or parts of one’s body to solve problems or create products

Intrapersonal Capacity to form a mental model of oneself and use the model to make informed decisions about possible actions

Interpersonal Capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people

Naturalist Ability to understand and work effectively in the natural world

Existential A concern with ultimate issues

Applying Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence in the Classroom • Provide students with choices. • Allow students to move regularly around the

classroom (desks, sitting on floor, writing on board).

• Provide opportunities for partner-talk. • Personally prompt students. • Provide some choices in relation to assessment. • Incorporate group projects that require students

to read, do artwork, do math, think creatively, speak in public – enables all group members to shine in their individual learning style (Santrock, 2009).

Case 7 – Multiple Intelligences Theory Goes to the Rainforest

• Mrs Corby uses learning centres as she believes that it is the best way to expose children to diverse learning opportunities that speak to their unique talents and learning styles.

• Mrs Corby decided on several learning centres that she believes will motivate her students to learn the new theme ‘The Rainforest’.

• She spreads these centres around the classroom and encourages students to move around the room engaging in each learning centre.

Case 7 – Multiple Intelligence Theory Goes to the Rainforest

• The learning centres that Mrs Corby set up were:

– Visual arts centre (Visual/Spatial)

– Cooperative problem solving (Interpersonal)

– Goal setting activity (Intrapersonal)

– Leaf collage (Naturalist)

Teaching Students with Special needs • Neal Laine • Individual Education Plan or an IEP • Patience • Adapted teaching modalities. • Access to teacher aides, ESL teachers, teacher assistants

and LOTE teachers. • Access to specialist services. • Work collaboratively with parents/guardians and

caregivers and colleagues. • Access to adjusted learning materials/resources. • Access to special needs resources. • Present material in small steps. • Build a rapport with students with special needs, let them

know that you care.

Individualised Education Plans (IEP)

• Education laws require that each student with special needs have an IEP.

• IEPs define goals and objectives set to improve the student’s level of achievement.

• IEPs state how goals and objectives are to be achieved.

• Composing an IEP is a collaborative effort between teacher, parents, school guidance officer, special education supervisor and student.

• IEPs must be updated annually.

IEPs Must State in Writing all of the following:

• The student’s current level of achievement.

• Annual goals and short term measureable instructional objectives that will result in the attainment of these goals.

• Specific services to be provided to the student, including when the services will be initiated.

• Specification of how fully the student will participate in the regular instructional program of the school.

• A description of how long the special services will be needed.

• A statement of how progress toward objectives will be evaluated (Sternberg & Williams, 2010).

Who Can Teachers Seek to Provide Specialist Services?

• Specialist Teachers

• Guidance Officers

• Registered Nurses

• Occupational therapists

• Physiotherapists

• Speech-language pathologists

Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence

This theory focuses on the nature of intelligence

itself and suggests that intelligent behaviour

involves an interplay of three factors:

1. The environmental context in which the behaviour occurs

2. The way in which one’s prior experience is utilised in relation to the task

3. The cognitive processes required from the task (Ormrod, 2006).

Analytic – Componential

Intelligence

Creative – Experiential Intelligence

Practical – Contextual Intelligence

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

• Practical – Contextual Intelligence

– Is the ability to adapt to a changing environment and shape the environment to make the most of opportunities.

• Creative – Experiential Intelligence

– Is the ability to formulate new ideas and combine unrelated facts.

• Analytic – Componential Intelligence

– Is the ability to think abstractly, process information

Applying Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence in the Classroom

• Assessment should be balanced and make use of analytical, creative and practical thinking.

• Teach students to think to learn and also learn to think.

• Encourage students to use a six part process in relation to critical thinking:

–Analyse - Compare

–Critique - Evaluate

– Judge - Assess

Students from Different Cultures

All students are unique individuals who bring different strengths, weaknesses and cultural

traditions to the classroom, and as pre-service teachers, we must take this diversity

into account when identifying different strategies for working with each and every

student (Ormrod, 2006).

What is Culture Shock?

• Culture shock is the difficulty people have adjusting to a new culture that differs markedly from their own.

• The shock of moving to a foreign country often consists of five distinct phases.

• There are no fixed symptoms ascribed to culture shock as each person is affected differently.

• If you're Punjabi and you know it!!!!!

Strategies for Creating a Multicultural Classroom

• Educate yourself about the different cultures in which your students have been raised.

• Build on students’ knowledge of their cultural backgrounds.

• Use curriculum materials that represent all ethnic groups in a positive and competent light.

• Expose students to successful models from various ethnic backgrounds.

• Provide opportunities for students of different backgrounds to get to know one another better.

• Get students involved in community action projects that provide services to a particular ethnic group (Ormrod, 2009).

Students with Special Needs who have English as a Second Language (ESL)

• It can be difficult to identify a student with special needs if they are also an ESL student.

• ESL students who do need services can be quite disadvantaged as there is a shortage of specialist teachers who are bilingual.

• Allowing ESL students to be successful means creating a productive learning environment where academic success is likely and using proven and effective instructional strategies.

• Teachers can employ many strategies such as:

–Drawing on prior knowledge

–Providing opportunities to review previously learned concepts

–Teaching students to apply these concepts

–Organising themes or strands of education that connect the curriculum across all subject areas

–Providing individual guidance, assistance and support.

Activity Two

How confusing and scary it can be to be a student with special needs!!!!!

Thank you for listening , good luck with your exams and happy holidays WOOO HOOO!!!!!!

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER