Don Peek: Let’s Teach These First

This post is authored by Don Peek, a former educator and past president of the training division of Renaissance Learning. He now runs The School Funding Center, a company that provides grant information and grant-writing services to schools. To learn more, or to subscribe to the School Funding Center Grant Database, go to schoolfundingcenter.

Let’s Teach These First

Most classroom teachers have a curriculum that needs to be taught during the year.  I do think, however, that teachers need to focus on teaching three things first, especially if they are teaching children with disabilities.

Students at all age levels need to know how to stay out of danger.  This means fundamentally that they need to be able to read warning signs.  Of course, at first you think of the poison warning signs that appear on chemicals in the home, and those are certainly important.  But shouldn’t a student in a wheelchair also know the unwritten warning signs that could keep them safe.  If they are crossing a street in a wheelchair, they cannot be seen in the same way that a walking adult can.  They need to learn what extra precautions they need to take when crossing streets to be as safe as possible.

Be sure that the students with disabilities for whom you are responsible are aware of the normal danger signs, but also teach them the special dangers that are particularly related to their disabilities.  It may save their lives.

The second thing I believe we need to teach students with disabilities (as well as all other students) is how to get along well with other students and adults.  Most of these students don’t want sympathy.  They want to be treated like every other student.  What most do want from others is as much empathy as possible.  If they can get other non-disabled people to put themselves in their place, to recognize the disability but not to build the relationship based on it, they will go much further in social circles.

I do realize that socialization is a major problem for students with certain disabilities.  In fact, it can be one of the main issues with which some special education students have to deal.  Nevertheless, if these students can learn to carry on reasonable conversations and get the information from others that they need to be safe and function in mainstream ways, their lives will be much safer, fuller, and richer.  Can you imagine how lonely and frustrating it is for students who recognize they have problems socializing with others and have no idea how to remedy the situation.  Help them to learn these skill as well as you can.

The third major thing we need to teach all disabled students is how to read just as well as possible.  It doesn’t matter if you have a disability or not, reading still opens whole new worlds to us, and many times the worlds of the disabled are smaller than they are for the rest of us.  The more severely disabled the student, the more his or world revolves around that disability.  If those students know how to read as well as they can potentially read, at least it opens various topics up to them that they can enjoy.  It doesn’t matter in this case what they read.  Reading becomes an avenue for pleasure and for broadening their experiences.

Sure they can watch television and YouTube, but you have to read to some degree to even use them properly if you’re trying to find the topics you want.  Of course, as I’ve discussed in detail on this blog, reading is absolutely fundamental to any kind of success in other classes at school.  We may be a video nation, but there is still a ton of learning done and a lot of pleasure taken in being able to read well.

Teach your students, disabled and otherwise, to be safe in a dangerous world, to learn how to get along and converse with their peers and adults, and how to read just as well as possible.  If you do teach these 3 things, you are well on your way to shaping your students’ lives in a positive fashion.
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Grant Info:

 

Grant Name:  DonorsChoose.org Grants

Funded By:  DonorsChoose.org

Description:  DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers register, and then submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals choose projects to fund.

Program Areas:  Disabilities, Special Education, All Other

Recipients:  Public School

Proposal Deadline:  No Deadline

Average Amount:  No set amount.

Website:  http://www.donorschoose.org

Availability:  All States

Activity Guide: The Button Bear Weighted Lap Pad

The team at Achievement Products asked our consultant, Occupational Therapist Scott Russo, to provide some activity suggestions for incorporating some of our favorite items into daily classroom activities or curriculum.

Scott has provided some really great and creative ways to use items (that may have been originally designed for typically developing children), in special needs environments.

Today we will look at the Button Bear Weighted Lap Pad

Introduction:

Providing both a weighted lap pad and a bear with several different options for developing dressing skills, the Button Bear Dressing Skills Lap Pad is perfect for developing the fine motor skills needed for buttoning, zipping, tying, and additional dressing skills while providing the option of a weighted lap pad for improved sensory regulation. The detachable bear allows the pad and the bear to be used separately or in conjunction with each other. The colorful and charming nature of the bear provides a naturally engaging dressing toy that will entertain children for extended periods. The fabric was also designed to assist with tactile processing skills, providing several different textures that should be pleasing, even to the tactile defensive child.

Activity Ideas:

• Add the weights into the pad and place the pad on the child’s lap during classroom or community activities that require a child to maintain a seated position or long periods of focus such as circle time, church, car rides or dining out. The weighted nature of the pad will provide proprioceptive input and the bear will provide fidget toys, both of which should assist the child with self-regulation and attentional focus.

• The bear is attached to the pad with hook and loop. Have the child pull the bear off the pad and reattach. This exercise will help develop strength in the hands and arms and also improves motor planning.

• Place the pad (with or without weights) on the child’s lap with the bear’s feet facing the child’s belly. Experiment with the different dressing items.

• Switch the orientation of the bear so that the head is against the child’s belly and experiment with dressing from this direction. The change in orientation will provide a different challenge for the child but is also closer to the perspective of dressing themselves.

• Have the child remove the bear from the pad. Using just the bear, the child can engage in pretend play with the bear as if it were a typical doll.

• With the bear removed, the pad can be used as a regular weighted lap pad for proprioceptive input.

• The bear itself can also be used as a portable and socially appropriate fidget toy for holding attention and self-regulation.

For more information about the Button Bear Weighted Lap Pad and other great items please visit http://www.achievement-products.com.

Don Peek: Disability: Traumatic Brain Injury

This post is authored by Don Peek, a former educator and past president of the training division of Renaissance Learning. He now runs The School Funding Center, a company that provides grant information and grant-writing services to schools. To learn more, or to subscribe to the School Funding Center Grant Database, go to schoolfundingcenter.

Disability:  Traumatic Brain Injury

By IDEA definition, traumatic brain injury is “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 educational 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; psycho-social behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.”

These brain injuries may happen more often than you think.  About 1,400,000 people have traumatic brain injuries each year.  For children 0-14 years traumatic brain injuries annually result in 435,000 trips to the emergency room, 37,000 hospitalizations, and almost 2,700 deaths.  In 2007, nearly 25,000 school-aged children received special education services for traumatic brain injury.

Some of the greatest problems from traumatic brain injury arise in school.  Educators may not realize that the difficulties a child is having are the result of injury and may misdiagnose the child as having a learning disability, emotional disturbance, or an intellectual disability.  In many cases as a result of misdiagnosis, the child does not receive the educational help and support he/she needs.

Children who are already in school when they have an incident that results in traumatic brain injury may have a host of problems.  Not only have many of them lost some of the skills they once possessed in both the academic and social areas, they can remember how they were before the injury and have trouble adjusting to a new, lower set of skills that they now are forced to live with.

If that were not bad enough, both classmates and teachers also remember them pre-injury and often have trouble adjusting their expectations for those who have received traumatic brain injury.  This is especially true if the injured person shows no physical signs of injury.

It is tremendously important for parents to contact school officials before their child returns to school. Special education services should do a thorough evaluation of the child.  Using that evaluation, special education professionals, teachers, parents, and administrators should agree on an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) that will best serve the child’s educational needs.  It is imperative that this plan remain flexible in the early stages to see exactly what works best with the individual child.

Of course, it is not only the child who suffers from this type of injury.  Parents see their child change dramatically literally overnight.  Both parent and child may benefit from counseling because of the dramatic changes brought about by a traumatic brain injury.  It doesn’t matter if the injury is caused by a car wreck, a fall, a bicycle accident, or some other way, the results generally mean a change in lifestyle for the child especially, but also for the rest of the family.

When a child receives a traumatic brain injury, he/she may exhibit physical disabilities, difficulties in thinking, or social, behavioral, or emotional problems.  Early diagnosis and intervention are essential, and it is vital that parents, special educators, and other teachers and administrators work together to help the child cope with such an injury.

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Grant Info:

Grant Name:  Let’s ALL Play

Funded By:  National Inclusion Project

Description:  Let’s ALL Play brings an inclusive recreational experience to children with disabilities. Through training, staffing, and scholarships, Let’s ALL Play gives children with disabilities the same experience as those without. Children with disabilities and their peers who are typically developing come together to participate in recreational activities such as swimming, arts and crafts, community service, physical fitness and more.

Program Areas:  Disabilities, Special Education

Recipients:  Public School, Private school, High Ed, Other

Proposal Deadline:  9/15/12

Amount:  $10,000.00

Contact Person:  Aron Hall

Email:  [email protected]

Website:  http://www.inclusionproject.org/level_2.php?id=3

Availability:  All States

Activity Guide: Octaband®

The team at Achievement Products asked our consultant, Occupational Therapist Scott Russo, to provide some activity suggestions for incorporating some of our favorite items into daily classroom activities or curriculum.

Scott has provided some really great and creative ways to use items (that may have been originally designed for typically developing children), in special needs environments.

Today we will look at the Octaband®.

Introduction:

The Octaband® is a great tool for group activity. It helps to develop strength and motor coordination while developing the ability to function as part of a group. Listening skills, teamwork, attention, and cooperation can also be taught. The Octaband can be used while sitting or standing and can be used with the hands or the feet.

Activity Ideas:

·        Ring Around the Rosey. Have each child grab one arm of the Octaband and stretch it to its full length. The arm must be kept at its full length while the children walk in a circle to the Ring Around the Rosey tune. When they "all fall down" they must let go of the arms of the Octaband and grab a different color for the next round.

 

·        Play Duck-Duck-Goose. Each child sits and holds a fully extended arm. When the "goose" gets picked, they caller needs to get to the open arm and stretch it out before they are safe.

·        Play Hokey Pokey. When the children "turn themselves around" they have to hold the arms fully extended while they spin in a circle.

·        Have each child grab hold of one arm of the Octaband. Call out a color and the children holding that color must stretch out and come back to the circle. Give them unique moves to do when they come back into the circle such as spinning into the circle so that the Octaband arm wraps around their body, hopping in on one foot, taking one big jump to return, etc.

·        Work on teamwork and sequencing by doing "the wave". All the children holding the pink arms pull out and come back. When they get to the center, the children holding blue pull out and come back followed by the yellow. See how many correct rotation the group can achieve.

·        Holding an arm in one hand (specify left or right) have the children rotate the Octaband to the opposite hand to spin it in a circle. Perform with both hands.

For more information about the Octaband®  and other great items please visit http://www.achievement-products.com.  

Don Peek: Getting Ready for School

This post is authored by Don Peek, a former educator and past president of the training division of Renaissance Learning. He now runs The School Funding Center, a company that provides grant information and grant-writing services to schools. To learn more, or to subscribe to the School Funding Center Grant Database, go to schoolfundingcenter.

Getting Ready for School

As everyone knows, summer is fading fast.  Students have a full spectrum of feelings and attitudes about the beginning of school each year.  Both parents and teachers have to recognize that fact and prepare students for the very best start possible.  This is true for special needs children just as it is for other students.

For students who have felt bored during the summer, the start of school may be an exciting time.  Going to buy school supplies and getting to shop for new school clothes can be an adventure.  Typically students who do well in school look forward to school opening more than other students, but that is not always the case.  When students are very social and have been cut off from their peers during summer vacation, they will likely look forward to going back to school regardless of how well they actually do in their coursework.

Special needs children who do not do well in school and do not do well socially may dread the beginning of school.  Parents and teachers need to work and plan to make the transition from summer vacation to the beginning of classes as painless as possible.  That’s not always an easy task, but it is possible.  Buying clothes and school supplies may not be fun, but if you go to a game room and an ice cream parlor while you’re out shopping, it might at least make the trip tolerable.

I also want parents and teachers to know that just because a child hasn’t done well in school before and has never looked forward to starting school in the fall, it’s not out of the question for that pattern to change.  I’ve mentioned before that I have an autistic grandson.  He went to intermediate school and part of middle school in one state, then my son took another job and had to move him to another state.

The transition for my grandson was amazing.  When he went to the first school, he never had anything good to say about his teachers or his school.  Since he has attended his new school (now in his senior year), he has always looked forward to going to school and for the school year to begin.

He’s still autistic.  He still has the same problems at school and outside of school most associated with autism, but his attitude toward school and how well he does in school has changed dramatically.  I can’t help  but think that the attitude and actions of his teachers, the way the special education program is run, and the way other students are taught to respect special needs students all have had an impact on my grandson and his education in his new school.

Yes, his teachers have had to call home because of his behavior at times (especially when he changed his medication).  And, yes, some students have made fun of him at times (we are talking about a real middle school and high school here), but overall his experience with school has been dramatically different.

If you are a parent, regardless of the disability of your child, give some special thought about the problems your child might have returning to school this year.  If you are a teacher, think long and hard how you can make each special needs student feel welcome at school and as successful as possible.  Both the attitudes and actions of parents and teachers can have a dramatic impact on students as they return to school.  Never doubt that.  Be just as positive as you possible can with every special needs child.

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Grant info:

Grant Name:  Tommy Wilson Memorial Grant

Funded By:  American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation

Description:  The Tommy Wilson Memorial Grant supports recreational programs for individuals with disabilities

Program Areas:  Disabilities, Special Education

Recipients:  Public School, Private school, High Ed, Other

Proposal Deadline:  December 1^st each year

Average Amount:  $500.00 - $1,500.00

Email:  [email protected]/aapar/

Website:  http://www.aahperd.org/aapar/

Availability:  All States

Activity Guide: Tobbles™

The team at Achievement Products asked our consultant, Occupational Therapist Scott Russo, to provide some activity suggestions for incorporating some of our favorite items into daily classroom activities or curriculum.

Scott has provided some really great and creative ways to use items (that may have been originally designed for typically developing children), in special needs environments.

Today we will look at Tobbles™.

Introduction:

Tobbles™ is an almost full-proof balancing/nesting game. Each piece is designed to be able to balance in numerous positions to create multiple different tower configurations. Most importantly, Tobbles allows kids to be successful in stacking while working on fine motor skills. Used in a group, kids can work on turn-taking, social skills, teamwork, and cooperation.

Activity Ideas:

·        Simple stacking activities. Let the child be creative with his/her designs.

·        Group activities. Take turns stacking the pieces.

·        Sequencing activities. Give the child a sequence of colors or sizes for stacking and see if they can follow the sequence from memory.

·        Color matching. Stack the blocks according to matching colors.

For more information about Tobbles™ and other great items please visit http://www.achievement-products.com.