5/12/2016
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Julie Hebert
|
I taught a young man with physical hand impairments. Playing recorder was a big part of our curriculum. But this young man could not properly finger the notes. I purchased an adaptive recorder that provided individual moveable joints for each hole on the recorder. We were able to move he joints to accommodate the size of his fingers. It wasn't a perfect solution, he still had difficulty playing. But it did allow him to participate and enjoy the experience with the other students. |
5/13/2016
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Julie Hebert
|
I have had several students with various disabilities who needed additional instruction on how to get started playing the recorder. I found a wonderful introductory video available for free online. The video was really well done and walked students through each step. From how to properly hold the recorder, to producing a quality sound, to beginning to read the music in a recorder book. I was able to put the link to the video on my classroom website for students to work individually from home. This strategy also worked well for students who transferred in after we had already begun playing recorders. |
5/13/2016
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Julie Hebert
|
I taught a hearing impaired kindergarten student who attended music with an interpreter. The student was not completely deaf, but had severe hearing loss. I planned an assessment on percussion instrument timbre that included playing un-pitched percussion instruments while standing behind the piano (so students could not see the instrument). The purpose was for students to correctly identify the instrument being played by identifying the instruments' timbre. To accommodate the student who was hearing impaired, I had him sit with his aide next to the piano so that he could see the instruments. This made the assessment a level 1 task for him because he was only identifying the instruments by site. |
4/23/2021
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Julie Hebert
|
Option 2:
I once had a student with several disabilities including a speech disability affecting his verbal skills. He was nonverbal because he had a condition that caused him to drool all the time. Additionally, this student also had an orthopedic disability affecting his hands. Fingers on both hands was misshapen and had no strength. Playing soprano recorder for the first time, along with his classmates, was going to be difficult. I had a conversation with his ESE Specialist regarding the anticipated difficulty. I asked her if she had suggestions for how he could fully participate with his classmates. His teacher shared that he already had a district-supplied iPad as part of his IEP intervention strategies. She suggested that we look for a recorder app. I was able to find a high-quality app called -
Learn to Play Recorder (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learn-and-playrecorder/id543660617?mt=8) - This app is based on the Recorder Resource Kit by Denise Gagné. Learn and Play Recorder teaches beginners about the recorder, how to read music and how to play the soprano recorder. The app includes 38 songs from Just B to Camptown Races, all with a full performance track to play along with! Price: $3.99 |
4/23/2021
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Julie Hebert
|
Several years ago I taught a student with autism. He was easily overstimulated by the lively parts of music learning such as drumming, moving to upbeat music, moving to different tempos to learn tempo vocabulary words, etc. When he became overstimulated, he would make loud noises and hide under the furniture when he could not handle the stimuli. He began to bring his noise cancelling headphones to class. Those headphones were a giant help. On the other hand, he very much enjoyed the calm, soothing types of music activities. He would fully participate without his headphones and would be in a relaxed state at the conclusion of activities. He enjoyed it so much, that his classroom teacher asked for copies of music I had used for those activities. She would play them in her classroom if he became overstimulated there. |
4/23/2021
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Julie Hebert
|
Option 1: 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 once taught a student who was deaf. He came to music class with an aide. He participated with help from the aide and me. As a first grade student, he and his classmates were learning to identify various unpitched percussion instruments by sight and sound. When we completed the first half of the assessment of identifying instruments by sight, he had answered each question correctly. But when we moved into the second portion of the assessment to identify instruments by sound, he was unable to hear the sounds. I modified the assessment for him to continue identifying by sight. I changed his seat so that he could see the instruments I was playing from the hiding spot behind the piano. He finished the assessment with a 100%. |