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Robert Barnes Posts: 3
6/27/2016
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I have had a few students in recent years that had physical orthopedic disabilities. Being an orchestra director, it has been a challenge to find an appropriate accommodation. In most cases, the student has been able to play the violin at least in guitar position so that they can get the same musical experience as the rest of the class. Difficulty has come in transitioning to playing position and when the bow is introduced. I allow students with orthopedic disabilities to play in rest position in these situations so that they can continue participating in the lesson.
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Malissa Baker Posts: 3
7/3/2016
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My most vivid instruction of a student in music with a disability was a student who had asperger’s syndrome who chose to play the violin. Among other symptoms exhibited, his most challenging were: difficulty interacting with others, sound sensitivity, changes in routine/schedule, problems with non-verbal communication, impaired body posturing, and clumsy movements. I modified my methodical class routine to include more structured, literal examples when teaching concepts; I needed to be very concrete. I modified parts for his instrument and placed them in a range that would not bother is auditory sensitivity and found that giving him specific praise, at a whisper, was most effective. He was extremely diligent and liked to totally grasp a concept prior to moving on, so I allowed him to pizzicato newly learned concepts while fixing hand positions and checking exit slips which allowed him to still remain part of the class without drawing attention. Working and performing parts together in a section or as an ensemble enabled him to interact with others (musically) without going out of his comfort zone. When he would become frustrated and start to “rock” we had a coded phrase “to run an errand” which would indicate he was permitted to pace the hallway until he could resume and students thought he was running and errand for me (since he was literal, I did ask him to slide an envelope to under the door of another teacher; therefore, also avoiding his social anxiety).
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Joseph Baker Posts: 3
7/5/2016
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I taught a student who was hearing impaired. This student had a sign language interpreter and would often not pay attention to his interpreter during directions, think-pair-share, or small group activities. In order to address this, I made sure I was close in proximity to the student during the aforementioned situations. I also developed a signal of putting my hand on the child's desk to cue him to look at the interpreter.
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Brenda Hernandez Esquilin Posts: 3
7/11/2016
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I had couple student with a learning disabilities for those student I reduced the number of item for assigned task, allow student to take assignment home, peer tutor, visual aids and hands-on activities. Check for recognition and feedback.
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Monty Musgrave Posts: 3
7/15/2016
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I have taught students with a variety of disabilities throughout my teaching career. The severity of their disability correlated with their ability to be immediately successful. I learned through experience and through consultations with experts that their chance for success increased with the appropriate modifications. It taught me that all children are deserving of a music education on a level that permits them to experience success and enjoyment. Soemtimes it was as simple as giving them more time to complete a task; sometimes it required modifying music to their level of understanding.
edited by Musgrave82 on 7/15/2016
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Manning Hicks Posts: 3
7/16/2016
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I have had several students with autism in my music classes. Just as the definition of spectrum disorders is broad, the students have had varying conditions and manifestations of the disorder. One student whom I've taught for four years now has shown exceptional skills in rhythm when moving and playing instruments. He is sensitive to certain sounds though. When he was in Pre-K headphones were used when loud noises were involved in an activity. We moved away from that as he became more sensitive to the stigma and somewhat less sensitive to sounds. I now just prepare the entire for potentially loud noises, by saying things like "okay, Sally's going to play the rhythm on the hand drum. She's not supposed to hit it hard, but you might want to cover your ears anyway" it seems to work well.
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Natalie Netterville Posts: 3
7/16/2016
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I had a student who orthopedic impairment. His hands were curved, he couldn't straighten out his fingers, and had very little strength in his wrists/hands. Most of the band instruments would have been difficult for him to hold, so he played mallets and snare. His was very successful playing mallets/snare and was able to strengthen his hands/wrist in doing so.
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George Netterville Posts: 3
7/16/2016
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I had a student that had Autism. He would scream if an unexpected noise happened and needed a lot of individual attention. I made sure to let him know exactly when we were starting and just talking to him about how and when loud noises would happen. I assigned a very good student to help him when I was unavailable. Especially at MPA where im not allowed to go back and help him tune the timpani's (Which he would call out to me everyday as he loved playing timpani). He was very talented and able just wanted to make sure he did things right.
edited by George Netterville on 7/16/2016
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jennifer corzine Posts: 3
7/18/2016
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I had a percussion student who was autistic. He was very bright, but he couldn't relate to other students. In fact, he liked to be left alone. Loud noises upset him (not a good thing for a student who often played the cymbals). My main problem with him was that he became very frustrated if he couldn't get his part right quickly. He would freak out and then just give up. I tried my best to calm him down and have him break down the music into smaller sections, but this was very difficult for him. He often responded best to being left alone. He could play quite well when he wasn't upset.
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Jordan Wood Posts: 3
7/22/2016
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I had a student with behavioral/emotional disabilities who could lose his temper quickly when things weren't going well. I set up an action plan with students who sat or marched near him to help diffuse the situation before it got out of control, and often checked up with him and encouraged him to look for the positives before getting caught up in negativity. He ended up being a great leader in the group.
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Rebecca Stevens Posts: 2
7/23/2016
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One of my 6th grade students last year was high functioning autistic. Since I entered the school several months into the school year, all the other students in the class were aware of his exceptionality before I arrived, and had become accustomed to his need for a bit more attention and problem solving from me, as well as his socialization limitations. When we began to answer questions relating to current well-known musicians (based on magazine articles) I assigned another student to sit near him and to help him navigate the readings and write down the answers in the format requested. Both students worked well together, with the first showing improvement in relational skills, and adding positive self-esteem to the second as he was chosen to help the first. I also made a point of always quietly checking with the first boy personally after giving the class the overall assignment, which further aided in his socialization as well as building trust that I would always think of him individually. He began to demand less attention in the class, and always turned in the complete assignment. I plan to have him be in one of the instrumental classes next year.
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Lauren Benzel Posts: 3
7/28/2016
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I had a deaf student in my orchestra class. She had a sign language interpreter who translated my words and instructions. I put her on the cello so that she could feel the vibrations of the music. I also put tapes on the fingerboard so that she could accurately place her fingers (since using her ear for intonation wasn't viable at least at the beginning). She sight-read well and played with intonation comparable to her hearing peers, but struggled with timing. She was always seated up front so that it was easier to keep her eye on me and stay with the beat (since she couldn't hear the other students playing).
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Tash Torres Posts: 1
7/28/2016
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I have had extremely visually impaired students in band before and I had their book enlarged to a font they could see. I also had a projection device that we could put their music under and it magnified it so they could read it. They also relied a lot more on their auditory skills to learn. I think the main way their disability affected their learning was trying to read the music book like everyone else when it was a real struggle for them.
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Seth Gardner Posts: 3
8/2/2016
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I have a student with Autism. He is incredibly talented in music, but lacks social skills. He is not on the same page as me or the rest of the students when we are rehearse. To help him understand the rehearsal process, I allowed to compose a piece and rehearse it with the students. When I would rehearse his piece, he was constantly stopping me and interrupting. When he led, he quickly realized how challenging it is lead a group of 60 students.
I have also been working with him to see other people's points of view instead of debating his point of the view all the time.
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Benjamin Adams Posts: 3
8/4/2016
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Last year, I had a student in my piano class who struggled with transferring music notation to the piano keys. During the ongoing assessment process, we made a plan to extend time for her to complete the assignment by setting up additional practice time after school so that she could improve on this skill. With extra repetition, the student completed the assessment successfully while not missing further information that was taught in class.
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Asa Jernigan Posts: 1
8/5/2016
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I have recently had a student with a rare physical disability that has caused the connective tissues in his joints to not develop.
He was not able to hold the normal drum sticks without issues, so we developed a grip on the sticks to help with control. The grip helped tremendously and allowed him to stay on par with the other percussionists in the class. A laptop was used to allow him to speak responses to text on written assignments. He is a very bright student and with modifications to equipment and limited physical demands he is able to master most standards involved.
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Suzi Lambert Posts: 3
8/8/2016
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I recently had a student who struggled in music theory class with processing and retaining information. I found creating and implementing manipulatives while learning to spell scales, intervals and triads allowed opportunity for practice individually and in collaborative pairs. As a teacher I was able to clearly indentify where a learning glitch occurred and provide instant feedback and correction in processing the information.
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Cassandra McGlenn Posts: 3
10/7/2016
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I have a student with orthopedic impairment (fingers are partially amputated on the right hand and burns/scar tissue which prevent a wide range of motion). I have taught him in band and guitar. For guitar, he was only able to play using a pick. This meant that we modified certain songs in which finger picking was necessary so he might need to strum a certain rhythm instead of following a PIMA pattern. In band, he plays trumpet. We have modified slightly how he holds the instrument and simplifying the music since there are times where he can't move the valves quickly.
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Christina Johnson Posts: 3
10/12/2016
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I have a student now who is high up on the autistic spectrum. He barely speaks at times and has a hard time comprehending basic notes/rhythms. He is studying with me privately and is currently a sophomore in high school. The student came to me when he was a freshman in high school and was barely able to get out of beginning band (he was in the class four times for the same instrument). We have him review note names on flash cards on a phone app to help with retention. I have also been recording the exercises that I have assigned him for the week on his iPhone so he can reference them in his practicing. He has currently gone from writing in every note and mimicking my every move with the trombone slide to independently playing through exercises in his book. He is such a hard worker and is very determined to be in that marching band at the high school.
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Diana Rollo Posts: 3
10/25/2016
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I once had a student who was visually impaired. He was a member of my keyboarding class and played piano beautifully. Music had to be blown up in order for him to read the notes, but he didn't rely on it for long. His memorization skills were impeccable and he had a great ear for music. Written assignments also had to be blown up for him and he was also given extra time to complete written work and tests. He was a great kid and I enjoyed having him in my classroom.
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