|
Marissa Curtis Posts: 6
6/29/2023
|
I have a student who is hard of hearing and wears a hearing aid. There have been times when she would forget to wear her hearing aid which made instruction difficult at times. However, sitting her close to my speakers and giving her one on one time has helped her meet her learning goals in music.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Marissa Curtis Posts: 6
6/29/2023
|
I love the idea of assigning your students jobs that will help keep them moving and focused. I will definitely use this idea with my students. Thank you! Karen Gentry wrote:
I work in a private school and teach elementary music classes. There are a number of children in our school with ADD and ADHD. To accomodate these students, I interact with them more frequently and have them sit close to the front of the class. If I need help passing out materials or collecting instruments, I usually select these students. Activities that require movement also help to keep them focused on the lesson.
|
|
|
+1
link
|
|
Jeannine Krieger Posts: 5
7/13/2023
|
Last year I had a student who had blindness. One day I had the class read and play 16-beat printed rhythms. For my student with visual impairment, I had her play a steady beat on the drum, emphasizing to the class that she was keeping the steady beat for us. She very much enjoyed keeping our beat! When we played recorders on other days, her para helped her with fingerings, and then I worked with her one-on-one to teach her some songs by ear.
|
|
|
+1
link
|
|
Jeannine Krieger Posts: 5
7/13/2023
|
I love the rubber O-rings on the recorder idea! Tammy Voodre wrote:
A couple of years ago. I had a student who not only was diabetic but had limited vision in his eyes. First of all, I have to say he was a inspiration to us all. He worked harder and never had an excuse for not learning or achieving in my music class. During the unit on recorders, we had his music enlarged so that he would be able to see it without squinting. Through the school system, we had someone place rubber O-rings on his recorder for each of the seven holes so he could feel the placement on the recorder better. This gave a him a landing mark for finding the holes and this seem to worked well for him. I also had him sit close to the front of the classroom and assigned a peer helper to help guide him during our class time just in case he had a question. I would also give him one on one instruction when possible.
edited by Tammy Voodre on 4/17/2016
edited by Tammy Voodre on 4/17/2016
|
|
|
+1
link
|
|
Abby Sexton Posts: 3
7/18/2023
|
I have quite a few students with emotional/behavioral disabilities. One friend in particular had an extremely difficult time with the transition from his homeroom class to my music room. He would often come in visibly shaking with anger, fear, and anxiety and would display a range of disruptive behaviors from calling out inappropriately, to attempting to break classroom materials or harm others.
Together, the homeroom teacher, the resource teacher, and I came up with a plan for him to have a calm corner that was available to him immediately upon entering my room. He didn't need to ask permission or discuss moving to it with me. He could go and sit, disengage, breathe, and move to his assigned area when HE was ready to join us. It wasn't long before he became so much more comfortable coming to my room. By the time he was in 5th grade, he was one of my star Ukulele players.
Most of all, you could see that he was pleased with his progress and felt good about himself each time he came to music. It was an incredible teaching experience for us all.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Elizabeth Snyder Posts: 3
7/27/2023
|
I have a student with autism. She is overstimulated by the abundance of instrument and material options in my classroom as well as loud noises. I noticed that the colorful atmosphere in our music room affected her ability to focus on whole group instruction during our lessons. Throughout the year she came with a paraprofessional to help her with one on one (hand on hand for instrumental if needed). In addition, she was provided headphones to have available if feeling overstimulated by sound. I noticed that by keeping my routines consistent throughout the year, building a relationship and familiarity with this student, as well as using a variety of adaptations with instruments, she was able to be successful in participating in our lessons. She began to thrive in my classroom and participate in all activities. Her absolute favorite was dancing and following along using percussion instruments during our echo me activities.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Kathlyn Brown Posts: 3
9/20/2023
|
I work with several students who have behavioral disabilities. I have one student this year who struggles with controlling his anger. Small things would set him off and he would shut down, or he starts yelling at other students and essentially bossing them around. For a while, I tried just talking to him or giving him a few minute break to calm down, which didn't really help.
I have a calm down corner in my room where students can sit for a few minutes and take a break. I have little fidgets and stress balls for them to use, along with headphones to block out noise. One of the stress balls I have is a figure of Baymax from "Big Hero 6." This kid loves that movie and the character, so he gravitated towards that object. I let him hold onto it for the remainder of the class, and he was much calmer. Even when there were other disruptions, he was calm and squeezed the stress ball. I have tried using other characters too, but none were as effective as Baymax.
Moving forward, I allow him to hold onto the stress ball during music as long as it helps him.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Lani Winslow Posts: 2
10/23/2023
|
Two strategies that I currently use are mnemonic instruction and cooperative learning. For mnemonic instruction, we use visual arm and hand movements to cue the definition of a word. (Ex. We do an ostinato while saying what an ostinato is. So, when I ask "What is an ostinato?" all of the students will respond with the definition and the body percussion ostinato.) With cooperative learning, they have turn and talk partners that they work in. They are also assigned to color groups for larger group projects. When we are using instrument flashcards or composing their own ostinato, they usually work with their partners or with their color group. These are the people that they sit by in class, so they learn to work together as a class unit.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Jessica Beauleaux Posts: 1
11/13/2023
|
I currently teach a first grader who is developmentally delayed. She started at my school as a kindergartner, so this is my second year with her. This student not only has a speech impairment, but also struggles with staying on task, following directions, and even competing assignments with her HR teacher. When she would come to music, she had difficulties with calling out when something/someone upset her, and would often lead to her crying about the situation. Several strategies I use to help her focus to the best of her ability were to sit her closer to the front of the room, so I can use proximity and re-direct her more easily, which also helped her with looking at the SmartBoard for visuals and directions. I also utilized my "calm corner" if she became upset during the lesson and a short conversation with her wasn't enough to get her back on track. I told her that whenever she felt ready again she could join us, and most times she did before the class was over.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Kathryn Eaton Posts: 3
12/30/2023
|
I currently teach a student with cerebral palsy. He comes to class in a wheelchair. Sometimes we will leave him in his wheelchair and add a desk attachment and sometimes we will move him to the floor. He struggles to hold onto larger instruments, but can hold onto mallets fine. I bought a set of xylophones this year where each note comes apart. They can also be easily cleaned and do not break if thrown. I am able to place a specific chord on his desk that go with the song the class is currently playing. He is able to use the mallet to high a note and it sounds good because it's in the chord structure of the song.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Ellie Kim Posts: 3
1/4/2024
|
I currently teach students with autism, some since Kindergarten; they are now in 4-5th grade. Early on, I noted heightened auditory sensitivity. To address this, I carefully controlled sound levels and arranged sensory-friendly seating, especially during activities like drumming. Assigning seats near the teacher and utilizing the Cleartouch board for visual aids have proven effective in maintaining focus. These ongoing accommodations continue to support their musical learning in a more inclusive environment.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Andrew Toth Posts: 4
1/5/2024
|
I had a student who was in a wheelchair. To accommodate for her, I would put her xylophone on a stand and had her use adaptive mallets. Whenever we did movement in class -such as using the parachute-, if she was unable to keep up with us, I would push along when the class was marching, which gave her the opportunity to experience the form of whichever piece we where listening to by allowing her to participate in the other kinesthetic processes of the routine they we where doing. I would assign her a partner for any independent movement activities that we would do in class.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Debera Thompson Posts: 3
3/12/2024
|
I had a student who had autism and was D/HH. It was severe enough where even with a cochlear device, he wasn't able to identify many sounds. To accommodate for this, I would make almost everything iconic. He had his own white board where either I or the para would place the pictures to help him follow along in music. If it was a listening assignment, he was able to feel the speakers or instruments vibrations. When we played songs, we would simplify his part and point to the notes on the instrument or have him echo the playing on the instrument.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Courtney Holcombe Posts: 3
3/21/2024
|
I know this says one student, but we have so many SWD, I'm going to use a whole experience I had one year. Several years ago, our school added an ASD unit with our EB/D units. They were the k-2 and we were going to get older students the following year. After the first year, with lots of struggles and NO training, I started to ask questions. The following year, our special-subject teachers all had a large gap in our schedules one day out of the week. My admin told us that we had to push in with a teacher of our choice. I immediately asked the ASD teacher and she was so open and willing. Plus, she had another adult in the classroom that could help. I learned so much that year. I learned to keep it simple, don't dwell on anything. I learned to offer items for stemming in my room (before that became the norm). I learned an alternative item in case an instrument or object was too loud or overwhelming. Such as, for my drumming. I had a class set of lollipop drums. Super cute, but busy in color/design and can be quite loud, so I passed out extra soft mallets to hit the drums and offered sound-restricted drums to my students who thought they were too loud. I also purchased 10 sound-cancelling headsets in case they needed it. It helped so much. The ASD teacher said I was the 1st Music teacher in her experience to ever do this.
|
|
|
0
link
|