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Edith Williams Posts: 4
4/12/2019
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I have an elementary student with LI. Until recently, it was almost impossible to understand what he was saying. He tries so hard to have his speech to be understood. Through his speech and classroom teachers and paraprofessionals, he has made great strides. He is such an inspiration and has worked so diligently to improve his ability to speak. Recently in a small group assignment, this young man's work stood out impressively. There were only 5 students in their group. The assignment was to select a poem, practice saying the poem so as to create a rhythm for the wording of the poem, and then to choose an instrument to represent a line or all of the words used in the poem. The group was then to decide whether or not to have the whole group or an individual speak one line or all of the lines of the poem together. As his group presented their poem, this young man had practiced speaking his part so well that he was one of only 2 students to successively be "heard" and understood in his group's presentation. I was so proud of him for his speaking "out." This would not have happened just a couple of years ago. I emailed his classroom teacher to let her know what an excellent job he had done on his project. Other times I have had to modify his assignment so that he could play an instrument instead of speaking a part. It requires adequate time for him to prepare any speaking effort. But he is now in the sixth grade and continues to amaze all of his teachers with his dedication and hard work.
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Claire F. Posts: 1
4/21/2019
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I teach a child with a visual impairment. Sometimes, it is difficult for him to participate in fast-paced movement activities. I always make sure that he is paired with an understanding student who is sensitive to his needs, and I plan movement activities that utilize brightly-colored tools, such as scarves.
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William B Sparrow Posts: 3
4/22/2019
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Though I currently teach elementary music, I once had a high school band student who was Other Health Impaired. He had suffered from seizures at times, though never in class. He had some processing issues with reading notation, but his musical ear was very keen. He and I worked together on note durations (ex. half notes) in a one-on-one setting where he could receive targeted and explicit instruction. His family also hired an excellent private teacher who put together a practice regimen and simplified some of his musical parts, while retaining the musical function of the part.
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Madison Couch Posts: 1
4/25/2019
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I currently teach a child that has a form of muscular dystrophy that progresses slowly. Although this child is still able to walk and move much like a child without MD, his IEP states that he cannot participate in PE, or any activities where he has to sit on the floor. In my music classroom, the primary seating is on a large classroom rug so that we have room for movement activities. This student has to sit in a chair, however, I still am constantly finding ways to make him feel included even though he is seated in a different way from the class. For example- whenever we are utilizing technology, he is the designated technology helper and operates the computer from his chair. I also put a group of chairs out whenever we do group activities so that his group can all be on the same level, and everyone can feel included. When playing instruments, I always accommodate how they are set up so that he can play them successfully in his chair. He is intellectually on grade level with his classmates, therefore, I have not needed to make any accommodations to our assignments in class.
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Madison Couch
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Kathryn Wright Posts: 3
5/2/2019
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I currently have 2 students who are in second grade and have cerebral palsy. Both students are confined to a wheelchair and have no muscle ability from the waist down. In my second grade classes from time to time I teach folk dancing/square dancing. Because of their disability they are not able to participate in the dancing portion of the lesson. To help them feel included in the lesson I have them both play a steady beat on a hand drum using a mallet so that they still engaged in the lesson.
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Samantha Havens Posts: 1
5/12/2019
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A few years ago I had a kindergarten student that was visually impaired, borderline blind. He had the best personality and jokes. He never let anything get in his way. When we started working writing our own rhythms it became tricky. He couldn’t write a rhythm and then read it to me by using a paper and pencil. We pulled out popsicle sticks and he was able to write his own rhythms on the floor and then read them back to me. I was amazing at how much he could do. He always sat close to me and would ask to touch everything. I even had Braille on some of the signs in my room. He loved to sing and dance and he didn’t let his disability get in the way at all.
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Sarah Albritton Posts: 3
5/22/2019
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I currently have a 3rd grade student with Down Syndrome who is mainstreamed for music class. Her disability have affected the speed at which she learns lyrics to songs. She does not learn them as quickly as other students, and sometimes gets them mixed up. I often use repetition, which helps her learn them. I also use some songs that are repetitive and have few words. Her disability also affects her fine motor skills. She has a paraprofessional that attends music class with her that provides one-on-one help when she has to do things such as play instruments. With extra help, she is able to play instruments such as the recorder. I also allow her extra time to write things like vocabulary definitions. Her neighbor keeps their folder open so that she can complete what she needs to write even if I have gone to the next slide in a power point presentation.
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Patricia Lutrick Posts: 2
5/28/2019
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I had a 4th grade class a few years ago with an Autistic child and another, who was Hearing Impaired. The classroom teacher and I decided to allow the Autistic child to wear noise reducing headphones during music. He was also paired with a buddy to help him stay focused, as well. He was a wonderful musician. My child who was Hearing Impaired was allowed to sit in the front ,closer the speakers. (It helps that I am also Hearing Impaired) and knew what would help her first hand. She is now in the band in the High School she attends.
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Caitlin Poe Posts: 3
6/4/2019
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My school last year had self-contained ASD classes. At first they were a challenge for me, especially the kindergarten class. I had 2 non-verbal students and 2 who did not like sound. I started doing more music-therapy type things, such as playing soft music and having them do movements with scarfs. I printed off and used tons of visuals with scarfs, stuffed animals, rhythm sticks etc. They also loved learning xylophones and keyboards. I printed off letter cards for those as well as color coded things.
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EDUARDO M LIS Posts: 8
6/10/2019
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I like the idea of 'color coding' for students with autism. In general ASD students tend to have a strong visual connection to learning.
Judith Kelley wrote:
In a fourth grade music class, I have four mainstreamed ESE boys, two with autism. They like coming to music and the other students in the class are encouraging and helpful to them. Students are learning to play the recorder and are now playing five-note songs. One thing I do to help all students is to color code the notes and display the songs on large chart paper. This week's new note was orange D. Students were asked to only play the new note D as I sang and pointed to each note in the song. Next, I divided the class into groups, assigning each group a specific note in the song to play. After playing the song, I reassigned each group a different note. Lastly, students played all the notes as I pointed to each note on the chart. One autistic student used to get very frustrated. I believe this strategy is helping him and I see him gaining confidence in his ability to play a song successfully.
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EDUARDO M LIS Posts: 8
6/10/2019
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I have a bright student with ASD in fourth grade who likes to participate in music class. However, she is very impulsive, tends to get distracted easily for small things going around her (pencils, eraser, etc.) or worry about little details (my chair is crocked, somebody said something about me, etc.).
Some of the accommodations for for are as follows. Setting: preferential seating (she sits at the end of a table with a partner from general ed. on each side to help her stay on task) and the teacher walks by her closely to monitor and encourage her; Time allocation: she get extended time to finish her work; Following directions: instructions are repeated and clarified, she gets chances to go to the board to answer a question or lead a lesson that requires pointing on the board, scrolling, movement for other to copy/follow, etc.
These accommodations help the student succeed in music class. She feels noticed, valued and and becomes engaged in the lesson.
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EDUARDO M LIS Posts: 8
6/10/2019
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Yes, my students with ASD do enjoy singing into a microphone as well. My most precious experience has been that in shows some of the students (these are Pre-k ASD) who never talk or speak in class have come forward and started singing on the mic! (to everyone's pleasant surprise).
Zadda Bazzy wrote:
Several years ago I taught a student with autism. He was easily overstimulated by the sounds in the elementary music classroom and our many movement activities. It was not unusual for him to make loud noises and hide under the furniture when he could not handle the stimuli. His teacher gave him noise cancelling headphones for music class. In addition, I gave him a special place at the far corner of the music class where he could go if he needed to get away from the noise or movement. In addition, I featured this student during singing activities. He loved to sing -- especially into a microphone -- and he matched pitch very well. The class and I celebrated his strengths in music class, as well as allowed him to modify his participation in certain activities that overstimulated him.
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Steven Ross Posts: 3
6/11/2019
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I had a student with cerebral palsy. He had a classroom assistant to support him when moving around the school or with tasks like writing. He was very positive in his outlook on life taking part in all tasks with great enthusiasm. He loved singing but he also suffered from speech impairment. He improved his fluency dramatically through participating in chorus. I would make accommodations to tempo on the songs that the chorus would sing at to allow him to feel success.
On instruments like xylophones I would often remove bars and reposition them so that he could have success without the instrument limiting him. I would have his assistant support him reaching the goal on his own rather than having her play his part for him. He was very vocal with comments and I felt it necessary for him to have his voice heard so that he would feel comfortable and secure that the music room offered a safe environment where he could succeed.
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Leslie Bridges Posts: 3
6/11/2019
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- Describe an example of adapted assessment you have successfully used in the fine arts classroom for students with disabilities.
In a couple of my self contained art classes where the majority of the students had ID and SI impairments where they could not communicate their understanding of the content being taught, but could point out their understanding. I would use visual cue cards that they would choose from for me to assess their understanding. For example, if they were learning geometric shapes, I would hold up a picture of a triangle and a square and ask them which one is the square. If they did not get it correct I could take away the triangle and ask again... show me the square. This helped me assess which students were understanding the content being taught and which students needed more help with understanding.
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Christopher White Posts: 3
6/14/2019
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I have a new 4th grade student transfer, with partially developed arms, join class right in the middle of recorder season. I was at least three weeks in so the majority of my fourth grade is getting quite proficient in their pedagogy and scales, so I can't double back and change the expectations, and with him acclimating to a new school and friends, I can't partner him with just any other proficient student and let him catch up. He very quickly assessed the situation as well, so with no confrontations, he volunteered to play everything the students on recorder were working on, on the xylophone. Because of his physical impairment, he actually doesn't have the mallet pedagogy issues that most students display, elbows up in the air or pushing stick in to xylophone with whole arm. He is an excellent percussionist and can play just about all of them very well, and also quickly recognizes rhythm errors in himself and classmates when playing ensemble pieces.
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Brianna Moyer Posts: 3
7/3/2019
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This past school year I taught three students who were deaf or hard-of-hearing. Two of the students (6th grade and 3rd grade) were completely deaf, and one student (5th grade) had some residual hearing. All three students chose to participate in music, and each had their own ASL interpreter who came with them to music class. This posed a unique challenge, but I was excited to have them in class and was inspired to find creative ways to make the content accessible to these students without causing them to feel singled-out or miss out on key core concepts. All three students had preferential seating towards the front of the class where they could have a clear sight-line to their interpreter as well as the board and any visual aids that I used. When possible, I also made sure to sit these students near others who they liked/felt comfortable around (and in one case there was another hearing student with some sign language proficiency). Before the lesson began, I quickly briefed the interpreter about what we would be learning that day/anything that they needed to know about certain activities we might be engaging in. This helped the interpreter to be able to assist the student more smoothly throughout the lesson and know if there was anything extra that they needed to communicate to help the student to be successful. I created visual aids for everything that we did, and made sure to use large, clear motions when demonstrating rhythms. All three students were very successful with drumming, and could even accurately echo rhythms by visually watching my motions. I incorporated lots of percussion, especially larger drums that the students could feel more vibration from. I also had a small bluetooth speaker that I placed near the student during listening so that they could feel the vibrations when possible in addition to visually demonstrating the steady beat of any song that was playing. The website Chrome Music Lab was extremely helpful for demonstrating concepts of pitch, and was a hit with the whole class as well! This site has many visual labs such as a spectrogram, visual sound waves, frequency visuals, and even composition using visual aids. Whenever we were singing or studying lyrics of a song, I provided a visual of the lyrics for the whole class, and the students signed along with the words instead of singing. Thankfully all three students were very well-adjusted to the general education classroom setting and were comfortable engaging in lessons and even volunteering to answer questions and demonstrate examples.
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Sherri Broadway Posts: 3
7/5/2019
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Over the past two years I have had the pleasure of teaching a young man that has a special breathing tube in his neck. When he first came to my classroom he was in K4, was shy, and had little confidence. I began by getting down on his level, always welcomed him with a smile, and established that our music classroom was a "safe" place in which he could express himself and explore. Over the past 2 years I have noticed a remarkable difference in him! The nurse that accompanies him throughout the day tells me that he looks forward to music all week and tells her how much he enjoys the class. Before each class I check in with his nurse to see how he is doing and to get updates on his condition. This past year I worked more on incorporating vocal warm ups and breathing exercises into my classroom. These warm ups really helped Christopher. Christopher actually began to sing so loud that he could be heard equally with the other students (where two years ago he didn't even sing). Breaking songs down into small chunks really helped Christopher and the other students as well. We would begin by saying the words slowly, then rhythmically, and then singing them on pitch. Standing or sitting by students that are vocally and rhythmically strong helped Christopher as well. Focusing on pronunciation and ending words properly was not only important for Christopher's vocal production, but for all the children as many suffer with speech issues that are often so mild they are not diagnosed. When we played instruments I made sure to clearly demonstrate the techniques and repeat reminders before we began to make music, as Christopher often tired easily. During movement activities I selected students that empathized with Christopher's situation to stand near him. Once again, I would demonstrate the movement exercises slowly in time, usually with a partner, before I expected Christopher to participate. Having Christopher's nurse with him in the classroom has been such a blessing. She has been able to educate me on his condition and give valuable feedback and advice.
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Angie Monahan Posts: 3
7/10/2019
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I will be teaching elementary music beginning in August, but I taught high school chorus and theater in the past. I had a student who was legally blind. She had a beautiful voice and tried out for the show choir. Because of her commitment and work ethic, she was able to do all of the dances. I paired her with strong dancers in the group who were confident enough in the moves that they could focus more on working with her. She also came in before and after school to practice. She was definitely an inspiration to the whole group!
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cynthia gaitanis Posts: 3
7/12/2019
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Think of a music student with a disability you have now, or have had in the past. Identify their disability. Describe the way in which their disability affected their music learning. Describe at least one or more ways you successfully accommodated or modified instruction for this student. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
I had a student in my middle school chorus last year with a speech impairment. I was lucky enough to attend her IEP meeting to discuss her education plan and accommodations. It was very interesting to be reminded of the IPA alphabet from my diction classes years ago, and all of the different types of sounds one can make. It was determined that she had trouble with voiced fricatives and pitch matching and also with the "R" sound. We used a tubaloo to help her better hear herself in an ensemble to assist her with her pitch matching and I worked intensely with her in regards to her consonant formation. Her speech therapist laughed a little when I said that we don't sing the "r" anyway, so she would fit right in.
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Aimee Stine Posts: 3
7/23/2019
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I had a student from KG - 5th grade that was in a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy. She loved coming to music and wanted to be included in anything that we did. If we were composing music I would have manipulatives for her to use. If we had a written quiz/assessment I would have her point to her answer. If we were doing a movement activity with partners she would pair up with her friend and they would modify the movement together. If we were playing instruments I would modify the instrument for her and her para would assist if necessary.
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