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Rachael Joachim Posts: 3
6/25/2016
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I had a 2nd-grade student this year with many disabilities, including and not limited to: Autism Spectrum Disorder, EBD, etc. This meant that each week I wasn't sure what his behavior was going to be like, or if he could function in the music classroom. I would see him once a week for 45 minutes, and for the first several months of the school year, he would make it either between 20-30 minutes into the class before his behavior for whatever triggers he may have had, would set him off and he would start acting out with violence and impulsive behavior, which resulted in activating the intervention plan of calling the front office for a team member who was certified to help and remove him from class to keep himself and the other students and myself safe. When this particular student was able to stay in the class for the whole time, I made sure to not give either too much or too little praise, as I was told by his teacher during one of his IEP meetings with the parent that if he felt singled out for either a positive or negative could set him off. Basically the only consistent thing about this particular student was his inconsistency. Behavior plans, multiple meetings that the parent had were held throughout the school year to continue to re-evaluate what works and what didn't for this particular students. One thing I was able to do for him was give him his own set of mallets that I allowed him to put into his mouth when we played on the Orff instruments. He knew he had his own pair to do whatever he wanted to do with, which was helpful for the rest of the class to not have to worry about non-sanitary mallets when we switched instruments. Needless to say, it was a challenging year with this student in my class, and I have learned a lot about the importance of being flexible, and being proactive with my strategies.
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william barnes Posts: 3
6/29/2016
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I had a student who was born with only an upper left arm. We were reading and playing rhythm on rhythm sticks. He was having difficulty holding rhythm stick under his left arm. I bought a 2" dowel rod cut it a 2' length and he was able to play holding under his left arm. He wanted to play the snare drum. I found some Velcro straps and was able to attach the drum stick to his left arm. He was in heaven.
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Laurie Rangel Posts: 4
6/29/2016
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Ann McFall wrote:
I currently teach a student with cerebral palsy. The student is in a wheelchair that has a table top attached to it so it acts like a desk. In my music classroom she has a paraprofessional that helps her one on one. The biggest accommodation I make each week is with instrument usage. The student's hand muscles are rigid, so she uses tiny glockenspiel mallets so that they will fit in her hand. The xylophone or glockenspiel sits on her wheelchair desk so she is able to see the instrument close up. She is unable to hold anything in her right hand, therefore I modify her instrumental part so she is successful with one mallet.
The student sits close to the front of the room due to poor vision. Anytime she works with the SMARTboard in my room I read and point to the questions and answers so that she is able to successfully choose the correct answer. Cerebral Palsy has affected her hearing a little as well and I make sure that she is close to the sound system or that I sing/give instructions near her so that she is able to hear and understand what is being asked of her. I normally say directions twice so that all students understand, but sometimes this students requests to hear the instructions 3 or more times.
When working in groups, I will modify the assignment for all students in her group. I will break the assignment down into smaller pieces, give extended time if needed, and I will assign the group an instrument to play that they are ALL successful at performing.
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Laurie Rangel Posts: 4
6/29/2016
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I have a student at my school with Cerebral palsy as well who attends music with a small group and an assistant. He can be a challenge and often refuses to participate. I will try some of these ideas with him this year. Thanks for sharing!
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Laurie Rangel Posts: 4
6/29/2016
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I have several students throughout the week that have learning disabilities and are pulled out into a small group setting for their academics. These same students attend Specials with a large group. In my experience, most do not want to ask for help. I will circulate throughout the room to identify those students that may be struggling to keep up and I will pair them up with another student. They often appear apprehensive working with me one-on-one, but enjoy working with another student. Many times another student explains something better than I could. Working one-on-one with a partner or in a small group proves to be beneficial to the majority of my learning disabled students. I find that the student acting as the teacher is able to benefit greatly as well.
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Francesca Veglia Posts: 2
6/29/2016
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I have two examples of past experiences with teaching students in self contained classes with disabilities. One was a class of autistic students in a bilingual school in Milwaukee. They had had music before but they had not purchased adaptive instruments for their students prior to my teaching at that school. Once I had a chance to talk with the classroom teacher and the aids that helped those who were in restrained positions in a chair, we were able to plan for a more successful music experience. We decided to get an order of several adapted instruments that come on stands that had suction cups on the bottom to help those students who could not pick up an instrument or could not use both hands successfully to play an instrument. The use of these instruments allowed the students more independence as they played their instruments along to the music. In this way it reduced the necessity of the Teacher's Aids to have to help manipulate the students hands to play, thus allowing me to see if the child could maintain a steady beat or short rhythm pattern on their own. For those who still had trouble we still had the Aid there to help out with a hand over hand method.
Another example was at a different school where I taught a class of Kindergarten students with Speech and Language deficits. Obviously the many echo songs that are in the Kindergarten Music Teachers' arsenal would not work for these students. So, other than movement songs, and boosting listening skills, I adapted early childhood math patterning books for the students to play patterns on instruments according to the manipulative that was made to go along with the book. We were able to cover metals, woods, drums, and shakers and scraper categories as they classified them. They echoed and later created, composing their own patterns, as they identified the sounds that went with the stories. Being a singer myself, I would sing the song stories and they would play the instruments that they chose to go along with the characters, or parts of the song.
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Francesca Veglia Posts: 2
6/29/2016
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I'm not sure I know how this reply works, however, To Ann McFall regarding the student with Cerebral Palsy I wonder if you have tried the music instrument apps on iPad. There are several including the xylophone, guitar, banjo, drums, vibraslap etc. that students who have trouble gripping can play with more ease, either using a finger or a modified marker if necessary. An Aid can help them to hold it in position or there are special stands that they can be stuck to with velcro. Our Art teacher found a foam frame for one she uses so that if it drops it will still be safe.
edited by Francesca Veglia on 6/29/2016
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Jennifer Tippett Posts: 3
7/1/2016
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I taught a student with cerebral palsy a few years ago. She was in my general music class as well as my elementary choir. In the music class setting, she had a desk for her wheelchair and was able to put her book on it. She also sat next to a peer who helped her if she needed it, but she was able to turn pages herself. When we played the recorder, she was able to hold it with her left hand and she was able to blow into it, but she was not able to cover the finger holes. I had her blow the rhythm of the music. When the class had progressed and I determined that she was reading the rhythm accurately, I gave her a triangle on a stand so she would be able to play an ostinato with the class. She was also able to do this with a hand drum and/or a shaker. I often let her choose what instrument to play and she was able to make great choices for each song. She did any written work/assessments verbally and often had a peer scribe her responses.
The same student sang in my elementary choir. She came to me with significant problems controlling the pitch and volume of her voice but I encouraged her to keep singing and she made huge strides. The other students were so encouraging. In rehearsal, I would sometimes need to have help adjusting her in the chair so she had optimal singing posture. When we performed our musical at the end of the school year, she did participate with choreography and one of her peers moved her chair around the stage. We also had fun decorating her wheel chair for these performances! Since I teach at a private preK-8th grade school, I have the opportunity to teach my students and watch them grow over a longer period of time. When she was in the 8th grade, she even sang a solo and even had a speaking part in our musical!
Although some days were a challenge, she was an absolute joy to have in class and she loved music so much. Just making small changes to include her in everything we did meant so much to her and her family and when she left our school to go to high school, she felt confident in her new school to sign up for music electives!
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Michele de Lucca-Lowrey Posts: 1
7/2/2016
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Think of a student with a disability you have now or in the past. Describe ways in which their disability affected their learning in your class.
In other health impairment, AD/HD is seen more often or identified more often then in the past. Attention deficit disorder you find it is hard for them to sit pay attention. Letting the student stand in the area they are located in music and sitting the student next to those who are kind and will tolerate movement and distractions they can create and still pay attention helped. Providing a white board with a pen to keep focus by writing answers seem enjoyable for all, but beneficial for the student with AD/HD along with close proximity and verbal prompts by the teacher and teamwork with a buddy in the class can help also. I find many of the suggestions for the various impairments suggested in the fine arts verbs a good resource to have.
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Emily Goode Posts: 3
7/4/2016
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I have a large population of students with autism at my school, and one in particular stands out. She is mostly nonverbal but loves to make and respond to music. She just finished her second grade year in a self contained classroom. That classroom came to me by themselves, so I modified the curriculum to fit their needs. I sang hello to each student by name, and she smiled so wide every time she heard her name sung. By the end of the year she even started giving me great eye contact as I sang to her! We started with the same warm up song every day, and moved onto the lesson. Lessons in this class went slower than in mainstream classes, but they still learned the same content. If students were successful with the lesson, they were able to choose an instrument to free-play for the last few minutes. My friend with autism also has echolalia and would repeat many of my words, but by the end of the year she was able to finish the phrases of familiar songs as I sang and played guitar.
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Lisa Hewitt Posts: 3
7/19/2016
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I had a kindergartener with Autism Disorder. He was high functioning with difficulty mainly in socialization and spatial awareness. His movements would interfere and upset other students then he would be upset as he felt their unhappiness with him. One class, I could tell he needed space to move so I took Velcro that I had on my floor for staff work and created a large rectangle. He immediately came over and asked to sit there. Of course, that was my intention so I "allowed" him this space. He was next to friends but understood the purpose of the lines. I had put the fuzzy part of the Velcro on top of the hooks so it was tactile for him as well. He would trace all the lines, move in he space during the lesson and enjoyed having that freedom. He participated with the singing and beat work. When it was time to line up, he asked if he could have his "music box" the next time. I debated the sensitivity of this but he was not isolated from his friends and actually engaged with them more and more appropriately. He wasn't restricted from going in and out when we all got up to do movement. I went with his wishes and we kept the music box for about 3 weeks. Once it was gone, he had a sense of space. When he was in 5th grade, he mentioned the music box to me and that he remembered it being fun. It's always hard knowing if you are doing the right thing for these students. I guess this one was a success.
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Kathy Stermer Posts: 3
7/19/2016
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The students with autism that I have taught respond beautifully to movement and action songs with or without props. You never know which song is going to make an impact so find as many as you can. I had a student with autism this past year that was also non-verbal. He liked playing with the scarves and the egg shakers but didn't always follow along with the songs as the other students. During one class, I played "If You're Happy and You Know It," and this student did the appropriate actions, at the right time. he even shouted 'Hooray'!! His teacher was so happy to see him participate and respond correctly. I had another student, also non-verbal, that when I played "A Ram Sam Sam" with a video, he also started to participate with the actions while smiling and having a great time. I've also had students in the past that were general ed, however they were missing a limb. One little girl was born without her right hand. She still picked up two rhythm sticks and played them and the whole class followed her lead. Sometimes I forget how adaptive and resilient children are.
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Deidre Singleton Posts: 3
7/22/2016
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I had a fifth grade student who had a physical disability, this being one hand which had less fingers than the other. The class was studying recorders at the time and learning to play them. In order for this student to be successful, an adaptive recorder was purchased, using fine arts funds, for the student to use. Because the fingering layout of this particular recorder was so different, I had to learn to play a similar one, which I purchased with my own money. You do what you have to do for every child to succeed.
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Deidre Singleton
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Erin Rosel Posts: 3
8/1/2016
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I have many exceptional students with a wide range of disablilties, but today I will comment on a 2nd grade student with cerebral palsy. She is a cheerful student, and very much enjoys music class. She has a paraprofessional with her, but we have also set up student buddies, which she prefers. One way that her disability has affected her music learning is when we learn movement/dances. She has a motorized wheel chair that she is capable of operating herself, and she has limited movement in her arms and legs, although she can move them. Modifications that I make for her is to move her chair in the direction(s) the dance is moving, but have her do the arm movements and any foot or leg movements that she can, that simulate the movements that the rest of the class is doing. For example, if we are marching, she "marches" her feet in her chair; if we have partners, she holds the hand of her parnter with her hand that is not operating her chair. For movement/dances, this works very well and the student feels successful and enjoys herself.
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Erin Rosel Posts: 3
8/1/2016
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Emily Goode wrote:
I have a large population of students with autism at my school, and one in particular stands out. She is mostly nonverbal but loves to make and respond to music. She just finished her second grade year in a self contained classroom. That classroom came to me by themselves, so I modified the curriculum to fit their needs. I sang hello to each student by name, and she smiled so wide every time she heard her name sung. By the end of the year she even started giving me great eye contact as I sang to her! We started with the same warm up song every day, and moved onto the lesson. Lessons in this class went slower than in mainstream classes, but they still learned the same content. If students were successful with the lesson, they were able to choose an instrument to free-play for the last few minutes. My friend with autism also has echolalia and would repeat many of my words, but by the end of the year she was able to finish the phrases of familiar songs as I sang and played guitar.
It is so encouraging when we are patient and persistant, and we finally see the small break throughs! One of my kindergarteners with autism started the school year completely non-verbal, and showed no interest in making any kind of vocalizations, and by the end of the year was able to echo sing back to me his name, and a few basic vocalizations. It was a small success, but a very exciting one at that!
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Kimberly Molineaux Posts: 6
8/3/2016
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I have a student in my class with spina bifida. She is mostly confined to a wheelchair but will occasionally attend class in a walker with a seat. She struggles with fine motor tasks such as playing instruments. I us a music stand to elevate a glockenspiel for her to play. Her assistant and I remove all the bars except the ones that she will need to play. I allow her extra practice time and slow the tempo down when she is performing alone. She is also a talented singer and I emphasize her strong ability at that skill and encourage her to model for the class.
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Elizabeth Olson Posts: 3
8/4/2016
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I currently have a student who has an emotional and behavioral disorder. He struggles to stay focused in music. I have found that pairing him with a student who needs help with instruments is encouraging for him. We found out that he loves drums, so we speak to his interests and allow him to take ownership in his strengths.
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Margaret Robinson Posts: 3
8/15/2016
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One student I taught my first year is Autistic. He responded negatively to loud noises. His mother, the ESE teacher, classroom teacher, and I decided that instead of having quieter music and thus affecting the other students ability to hear the music, he would come to class with noise canceling headphones. He still heard the music well when we did listening examples. He is incredible! I could put any piece of music written by John Williams on, and without telling him the composer, he could identify the music as John Williams and the movie from which it came! He enjoyed playing the recorder if he had his headphones on. He plays the clarinet in middle school now, with his headphones on!
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Jaclyn Ziegenfus Posts: 3
8/23/2016
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We have a student who happens to have glass eyes. She is an excellent musician. We decided to cut out textured quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests so she could do dictation and create measures with her peers. The textures cut out notes also allowed her to 'see' what the note should 'look' like (such as a quarter note being a note head with a stem). She learned the difference between the shapes and could show me what the quarter rest was if I asked. She could also create a measure on the carpet and clap it to me.
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Richard Mousseau Posts: 5
8/27/2016
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I had a student that was visually impared. During our study of the Recorder, we did read music notation. Because of his vison impairment he was not able to read the notation on basic staff paper. I made CD recordings of the pieces we were performing as well as extra large copies of the music we performed. He was very excited to be able to participate with the rest of the class.
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