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Teaching Students with Disabilities discussion forum for Elementary Music teachers

Assessment of Learning Messages in this topic - RSS

Laura Allgood
Laura Allgood
Posts: 6


7/1/2016
Laura Allgood
Laura Allgood
Posts: 6
An example of an adapted assessment that I have used was with an autistic student that I had. The students were being given an assessment and asked to circle the appropriate instrument family. For this autistic student I made the assessment into a sorting activity. He was better able to show his understanding.
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william barnes
william barnes
Posts: 3


7/14/2016
william barnes
william barnes
Posts: 3
This past year I had a second grade ADD student. He needed to be close to the front and near the teacher. I made accommodations for this with classroom placement. However, I always moved other students as well not to draw attention to him. I did a matching assessment on families and instruments of the orchestra. During the assessment I sat with him and observed his answers as he completed the test. From time to time he would look up and check to see if he was correct, and I would nod. He scored 100. Had I not done this he would have just scribbled and been disruptive. He needed my encouragement and guidance.
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Jennifer Webb
Jennifer Webb
Posts: 5


7/18/2016
Jennifer Webb
Jennifer Webb
Posts: 5
I had a student a few years ago who was blind. During an assessment where the other students were writing their answers, I had worked out a series of signals with her where she would sit in the back (out of view from the other students) and would signal using her fingers. She loved music and had the best attitude despite her disability!
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Lisa Hewitt
Lisa Hewitt
Posts: 3


7/21/2016
Lisa Hewitt
Lisa Hewitt
Posts: 3
I have a student with an orthopedic impairment. His fingers are not able to hold a pencil very well and they get tired. I have used response cards with him with great success.
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Jennifer Tippett
Jennifer Tippett
Posts: 3


7/21/2016
I recently had a student with ADHD who rushed to answer questions on assessments and often missed them simply because he rushed through it. I closely monitored his responses as we progressed through a lesson and I knew that he grasped the material but he wasn't able to demonstrate it on a written test. His parents shared with me that although he had been recently diagnosed with ADHD, they chose not to medicate him, so together, we came up with different accommodations to help him. I gave him preferential seating near me and when I gave the class a written assessment, I held his pencil until after each question was fully displayed on the IWB as I read the questions aloud. When I finished reading the question, I paused for about 3 seconds before giving him the pencil to fill in his answer. The other students weren't even aware that I was taking his pencil so he wouldn't rush. Ever since we tried this technique, he was able to significantly increase the scores on his written tests.
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Kathy Stermer
Kathy Stermer
Posts: 3


8/1/2016
Kathy Stermer
Kathy Stermer
Posts: 3
I once had a 3rd grade student who was a select mute. She was very sweet, well behaved and an active participant in my class, however, she never spoke or sang a word in school. For her assessment, instead of having her speak, for example, the names of instruments, she was able to identify them by pointing at pictures. By the end of the year I observed her "moving her lips" to a song during class singing!
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Margaret Robinson
Margaret Robinson
Posts: 3


8/16/2016
Provide/Describe one or more examples of adapted or alternative assessments you have successfully used in the music classroom for students with disabilities. Be sure to identify the student's disability. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
I had a student with Autism who knew the order of the notes on the music staff, but he visually struggled with the music staff. The assessment was to identify the notes on the music staff to ultimately play on the recorder. He knew the notes of the music staff and knew the fingerings on the recorder, but struggled to blow into the recorder while pressing down on the finger holes. So I color coded the music staff lines to help him visualize the music staff. I had him finger the notes on the recorder without blowing into it.
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Christina Torrez
Christina Torrez
Posts: 3


8/31/2016
I had an autistic student who was unable to write or speak. They loved to participate in movement activities and play instruments. We were learning about the different instrument families of the orchestra. Students were given a sheet of paper and asked to write which instrument family the pictured instrument was in. For my autistic student, I had print outs of the instruments and four small buckets. Each bucket was either brass, woodwind, string, or percussion family. They had to put the pictured instrument in the correct bucket. It worked out great.
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Elizabeth Olson
Elizabeth Olson
Posts: 3


9/7/2016
Elizabeth Olson
Elizabeth Olson
Posts: 3
I deliver a formal assessment every 9 weeks. During this whole-class assessment, most students will show their answer by holding up a colored popsicle stick after the selected amount of time. For students who have needed more time, I gave them the option of taking a written version of the test so that they could work at their own pace. This allowed for the student to read and understand the questions in their own time, as well as complete the answer in their own time. As we finish the whole-class portion, students still working on the written option can continue to work as the rest of the class receives another quiet activity.
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Richard Mousseau
Richard Mousseau
Posts: 5


9/13/2016
I had a student with a speech impairment, she was not able to verbally answer questions on tempo and dynamics of listening examples in class, response cards proved to be a successful tool to assess her understanding of the concepts we were studying.
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Deidre Singleton
Deidre Singleton
Posts: 3


9/26/2016
I had a 3rd grader with a visual disability. When we did a note reading assessment, I put the designated notes on larger cards for the student. This helped her immensely and solved the problem.

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Deidre Singleton
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Kate Nadolny
Kate Nadolny
Posts: 6


9/28/2016
Kate Nadolny
Kate Nadolny
Posts: 6
An adapted assessment that I did for my students with disabilities dealt directly with the Staff. Students were learning about what lines and spaces correlated to the notes for Treble Clef. I had taped a staff on the ground. For my general population students, they were asked individually to come forward and stand on the line or space that represented whatever note I told them. For the students with disabilities, I had them come up with two other general population students. They all were given three different notes, but were allowed to work together to find the correct line or space for that note. It gave the student with disability a chance at independence because they had their own test, but still received help from general population peers and reinforced the strategy of Peer Partners, or in this case peer groups. All students liked the challenge and the formative assessment was helpful in knowing who understood it and who did not.
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Meaghan W
Meaghan W
Posts: 3


10/1/2016
Meaghan W
Meaghan W
Posts: 3
When I have assessed student learning, there are times where my students with disabilities find it easier to verbalize answers, rather than write answers. I have given an assessment to a student in a small setting and allowed the student to tell me the answer. After all, the goal is not testing the child on reading. The goal is measuring their understanding of what has been taught.
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Emily Goode
Emily Goode
Posts: 3


10/13/2016
Emily Goode
Emily Goode
Posts: 3
I have a student with autism who does not work with others. He prefers to be by himself and will not work if put in a group. He is also very nonverbal in my classroom.
For a recent group project, I gave him a specialized setting. The student did the project by himself and received a participation grade based on how well he worked by himself instead of one based on how he worked with his group.
Another adapted assessment that would help him is pointing to the answer. He could show his understanding by pointing without having to verbalize in front of everyone.
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Ed Anderson
Ed Anderson
Posts: 3


10/17/2016
Ed Anderson
Ed Anderson
Posts: 3
I use response cards almost daily to help asses the work of my students. Specifically, the response packs created by Dr. Artie Almeida as well as several of my own design. This helps those students who are physically impaired to be able to communicate their mastery of the skill in questions and allows for me to make an individual assessment of the students.
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MsMusic3
MsMusic3
Posts: 3


10/24/2016
MsMusic3
MsMusic3
Posts: 3
I have a student who is speech impaired and language impaired in one of my classes. Students were being assessed on identifying same and different musical phrases. They had to listen to two phrases and then circle on their papers either the word "same" or the word "different" depending on the examples. Instead of this student circling the words "same" or "different," the student had to point to the icons on the test paper that had two circles (same) or the one that had a square and triangle (different). The student's answers were recorded and checked for accuracy as were the other students' answers.
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Jaclyn Ziegenfus
Jaclyn Ziegenfus
Posts: 3


10/27/2016
Adapted Assessments:
We have a few students at our school with visual impairments.
Students with some visibility are allowed to bring tools with them to class, such as a magnifying glass to use on their papers. We have also made large print quizzes.
For our student with no visibility, when other students were writing dictation, she had cut-out notes made out of textured paper. She would feel the notes and lay out on the floor the rhythm she heard. We also have a staff made out of hot glue, where she can feel the five lines and four spaces, and place poker chips on the correct line or space.
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Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones
Posts: 3


11/22/2016
Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones
Posts: 3
Students of various disabilities can almost always benefit from extended time on an assessment. To accommodate one of my autistic students, I provide extra time for him to complete his assessment. To do this, I provide a quiet "filler " activity for my other students when they finish early. For example, I tell them to turn over their test paper when they're finished and draw or write about something we learned in class today. This keeps the other students quiet and engaged while this student completes his assessment.
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Ruth Pippin
Ruth Pippin
Posts: 3


12/8/2016
Ruth Pippin
Ruth Pippin
Posts: 3
I had had numerous hearing impaired students in my class. I found use of accomodations which are nonverbal work well such as response cards. The cards allow the student to post their responses as the interpreter signs the questions. When verbal responses were required the interpreter was the actual accomdation as they would sign my question question and then vocalize the student's response.
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Patrick Gulick
Patrick Gulick
Posts: 3


12/13/2016
Patrick Gulick
Patrick Gulick
Posts: 3
I was once giving an assessment on rhythms. I would play and say a rhythm and the students would have to write it out on their whiteboards. In one particular class I have a student that can't hold the marker well due to his disability. To accommodate this I gave him craft sticks to use to notate the rhythms. One stick was a quarter note and used three sticks to notate a pair of 8th notes. He enjoyed it so much and the rest of the class wanted to use craft sticks too. So every once in a while we play where I divide the class into groups and we use the craft sticks to write rhythms on the floor.
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