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Jeff Posts: 3
9/13/2018
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Over the past 16 years I have had many students with disabilities. My favorite story was a student I had my first year teaching. He had autism and did not like loud noises. Mom come up to me and asked if he could join my elementary concert band because he wanted to play clarinet. The concern was the attention and focus he would need during the 90 minute class and the loudness the band class was. I told mom to try the class out and we would see how he did. He continued band for the next 11 years. He is now in college and still comes to all the shows to this day. When he started band the only accommodation we made was he started class with ear plugs that reduced sound. Over time we were able to remove the ear plugs and he continued class normally.
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Mara Rose Posts: 3
9/19/2018
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The main student I can think of has VI. In class it is difficult for him to read music, so we have had to blow up music for him to be able to see. He also has trouble seeing the conductor. He uses the students sitting around him to be able to stay with us.
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Manuel Camacho Posts: 3
10/2/2018
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I taught a beginning band class with a middle student with Intellectual Disabilities. She was a sweet child that just wanted to participate with all the rest of the children. At first I tried presenting her with a recorder instead of a clarinet or flute, which can be very difficult instruments to learn to play just in general. After seeing her flustered with having to try and read notation and figure out fingerings that would match the bands sounds, I had to find a way to get her to participate without the extreme complications wind instruments present.
I was able to find a pair of bongos that she fell in love with. They were small enough for her to hold on her lap and only required gross motor skills. She was able to find the beat with the band and finally participated with the class in the music making process. Seeing her joy and participation really brought joy to her and the class.
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Keenan Ellis Posts: 3
10/12/2018
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I currently have a student with a visual impairment in my music technology class. When it came time to making seating charts, I placed his computer station closer to mine, so I may easily assist him while he is still in the midst of the normal classroom setting. During each class, we magnify the the font on the computers, and invert the color in order to help the student see. If there are any written exams, I print out a magnified version of the exam, and allow him to have more time to complete the assessment.
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Kathleen Kinion Posts: 3
11/4/2018
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There have been many wonderful students who I have taught in band that have had disabilities. One in particular student really impressed me my first year of teaching. This particular student expressed interest in music while he was in his self-contained class room and ESE teacher. This child has severe autism which did not allow him to vocalize his thoughts very clearly. His first day of band, he came in with his para and observed. Hai eyes lit up as he saw the xylophone. I paired him up with another student who was very kind and tried to show him how to read music. It became apparent that this method was not the most effective method. Instead, I began to have the band sing and play each musical line. The child then quickly figured out how to play the line by ear. As the year continued, as well as his visits, he was delighted to learn aurally along with the class and could quickly demonstrate many of the musical skills involved with playing a musical instrument. I believe having an instrument available that allowed this child to see particular patterns in front of him allowed him to process musical information adequately versus other types of instruments.
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Todd Mastric Posts: 2
11/4/2018
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I had a blind student that wished to play a musical instrument. Obviously reading traditionally notated music was not going to be possible so I had to find a braille system of notation in order to assist this student. It was also a challenge to find a fingering chart for the student. Once these issues were addressed she was able to learn the music. She would have to memorize everything but she adapted to that quite brilliantly. She also possessed an excellent ear so she was able to assist other students with learning intonation. It was a challenge for me to make sure that every change of tempo or dynamic was handled exactly the same every time as she obviously could not react to my visual conducting cues.
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Scott Whipple Posts: 5
11/5/2018
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I have taught visual arts in elementary for three years and am now in my first year of middle school. I have had multiple students with autism and ADHD. I have found the most effective teaching technique to be highly structured lessons, slightly above their level where I draw on the smart board and the students draw along with me line by line, step by step. This method provides the scaffolds and structure for the students to work with some confidence and the results have been very productive. The art is accurate, beautiful and the students are very proud of their achievements. The other method that is effective is pairing students with learning disabilities with high achieving students. Both students benefit and the energy, mood and behavior in the art room is significantly improved for everyone.
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Scott Whipple
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Jessica Russell Posts: 3
12/23/2018
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I have been teaching band classes for thirteen years. For several years, I had a student who had high-end autism. He was very prone to outbursts in class, which included tears, bad language, and disruptions to the learning environment. I spoke with his mother, did some reading, and conferred with a few colleagues. With time, we were able to diffuse potentially inflammatory situations, but he continued to derail his own progress by shutting down when frustrations occurred. With the help of a private instructor, the student continued to make progress, and develop strategies for dealing with frustration. The student also began to interact more socially, as opposed to playing games on his cell phone constantly.
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glenn hoffman Posts: 1
1/2/2019
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I recently had an 8th grade student with aspergers.
He was made fun of constantly and was not able to handle the ridicule.
After a few months I noticed that he was very talented playing the violin but his social interactions got in the way of his progress.
My solution was to meet with him 1 on 1 in the mornings before class. He then began to make terrific progress and some of the other students began to respect him more.
I also found a student who was accepting of his behaviour and had him sit next to that student as a stand partner.
Today he is in 9th grade and although he no longer is my student, he is making terrific progress in school. He is a wiz at computers and setting up and diagnosing sound systems. He is our school D.J.
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Kris Campbell Posts: 8
1/2/2019
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I currently have a student with coded as OHI and her 504 says "mental impairment". She is in my 2D art class of 38 students. One of the best things I did is seat her with a very kind and bright student who is willing to help her when she needs it. I also have to do a comprehension check on her for how well she understands the instructions. Often I have to give her one on one help with assignments to get her on track. She does try hard and is not afraid to work so that is helpful. My main problem is having too many students - she is not the only one who needs more individual help, so I do the best I can.
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Kris Campbell
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David Allen Posts: 3
1/2/2019
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I have a student that is Hearing Impaired, in Grade 2. Recently we discussed the use of locomotor movements in the outside setting - specifically jumping, hopping, and leaping. I decided upon a "leap of faith" lol to show this second grader a stellar visual example of the 3 locomotor movements in an appropriate YouTube video from an African Reserve- gazelles and cheetahs. He used earphones on my PE office computer to enhance the visual effects, and understand the fundamental movements with real world animals.
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Hannah Haugen Posts: 3
1/5/2019
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I have three students in my classroom with a type of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (Autism). I met with a student's mother to discuss strategies to prevent outbursts in class. We decided to allow the student to leave the class when he was feeling upset or outraged at either a mistake he made or someone next to him. This is my second year with this student and I can already tell his social skills are improving due to being in band and making friends and the need to leave the classroom is becoming much less frequent. I think setting routine and having class procedures also really help these students (and ALL the rest of your kids) understand and feel comfortable in your classroom.
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Riley Batts Posts: 3
1/7/2019
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I had a student in the high school marching band that I taught two years ago. He had severe skeletal and muscular orthopedic impairments to his face and hands. His lips did not form correctly as well as his oral cavity, and his hands were missing most fingers. Working with the parents we improved his ability to perform in a high school ensemble by selecting a trombone mouthpiece that best formed to his unique lips, and to create a shaft hooked to his trombone slide in order for him to consistently use the slide without fingers. He was a successful student in my band program and not only performed in the concert band but also in the marching band. Unfortunately he became very depressed due to his condition and bullying from other students at the school. There were often practice days where he needed to sit out and take a break because of his recurring thoughts that he was a "monster" and shouldn't be in a group with other students. My band students were very helpful and sweet towards him, helping him feel accepted and helping him through the bad thoughts.
There were a few difficult points in my classroom setting when it came down to music performance assessments. I had to help guide him one-on-one with tone production to help him best create the warm tone that adjudicators listen for in the trombone section during concert season. This was difficult and frustrating for him and he would often give up. Giving positive compliments mixed with constructive criticism helped him tremendously, and forming a support group from my positive students did as well.
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Francis Bermudez Posts: 3
1/12/2019
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I had students with orthopedic impairments, in order for them to participate with the instrument they wanted we used tuba stand holders to accommodate.
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Stacey Havill Posts: 2
1/15/2019
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A few years ago, I began a student in band who was born without her right hand. She was very interested in playing an instrument; she contacted me as a 5th grader to find out how she could participate. I met with her and her parents and showed her several instruments she could play: The trumpet (modified), percussion (with a grip aid), trombone (with a grip aid), and French Horn (unmodified). She eventually decided to play the French Horn. As she progressed, she began to think about high school marching band and how she could participate there. I worked with her high school band teacher and we found a harness that another band teacher build for a student just like her to be able to play a marching melophone. I passed those plans along to her HS teacher and they build the harnes so she could participate in marching band.
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CMcCarthy Posts: 4
2/5/2019
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The most prevalent learning disability I encounter in my band classroom is dyslexia. Several strategies that I utilize to assist students with this disorder are:
1- I enlarge the music
2- I allow the students to mark the music with different colors
3- I provide an audio recording of the music to assist them in learning while reading
4- I provide the students with extra time to learn their music
5- I tutor them individually after school
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Renee Cartee Posts: 5
2/6/2019
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I have had a various students on the spectrum. High Functioning Autism and Aspergers. Each child has really been with different challenges. The most common, however, is social awareness. I know that the music I have introduced these children to has helped them to reflect on their own feelings and find common ground with others. Some (mostly) are very mathematical, and I've made it very obvious that they can make those connections -and it's successful. Some, are extremely creative but I must be sure to give them time to process, transition, and procedures to follow in creativity!
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Mara Rose Posts: 3
2/8/2019
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I had a student in the past who was deaf in one ear and had trouble identifying whether he was in tune, flat or sharp. He was able to use a tuning app on his phone to determine what he needed to do to be intune.
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Mara Rose Posts: 3
2/8/2019
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One student I had with hearing disability I was able to check periodically to see that he was learning the music by giving ongoing quizzes. Another student needed mnemonics to be able to recognize notes.
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Annabelle Robinson Posts: 3
2/17/2019
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I had a student in my orchestra with Down syndrome. He could only play open strings. I rewrote his music to fit the rhythms of his section but only had him play on open strings that went with chords. I assigned two students to work with him on both sides and they helped him to stay with the ensemble. He really enjoyed the class and the students enjoyed having him as part of the group.
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