6/29/2016
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Laurie Rangel
|
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. |
6/29/2016
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Laurie Rangel
|
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! |
6/29/2016
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Laurie Rangel
|
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. |
7/1/2016
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Laurie Rangel
|
Two strategies I have used successfully in my classroom with students with disabilities are Cooperative Learning and Peer Partners. Our school participated in Kagan training. This helped me to have specific approaches to given situations in my classroom for cooperative learning. Students are grouped randomly and work as a team. For example, I will teach them a short passage to learn on classroom instruments and they will practice and work with others in their group to learn the given example. When a student needs additional help, peer partnering works well so that another student can work with them one-on-one and teach them the given lesson. |