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Maeanna Callahan Posts: 4
6/27/2023
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One of my students had severe anxiety, with an extreme aversion to bugs of any kind. Unfortunately, my classroom was located in a small building outside of the school's main building with four doors and two full walls of windows. Bugs are often found dead in the windows or in the corners of the room where there is less foot traffic. This particular student would have to leave often to see the guidance counselor when he was triggered by the sightings. To help him, I vacuumed once per week and regularly checked the bass section (I'm an orchestra teacher) for bugs. I put this student in the bass section for two reasons: 1) the bass part is less demanding so when he leaves my class it doesn't take long for him to get back on track when he is able to come back to class (learning accommodation), and 2) the bass section is the furthest from the main doors where most of the bugs enter the room (preferential seating). I noticed his anxiety most often when he was trying to learn his part during rehearsals, especially if he had missed a couple classes that week. He would frequently stop playing and hug his bass. I created practice tracks to play during rehearsals so that the whole class could rehearse sections together and I was able to walk away from the podium and coach him on his part one-on-one. I also created a "bass only" practice track for him to listen to and practice with at home for the days he wasn't in class.
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Jillian Savia Posts: 9
6/29/2023
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Think of a student with a disability you have now or in the past. Describe ways in which their disability affected their learning in your class.
This year I had a student with ADHD and a behavioral disability. This affected their ability to listen and pay attention during orchestra class. This student would get very distracted and would sometimes need information explained to them multiple times before they were able to process what was said and what they needed to do in class. In order to assist this student, I chose to sit them in the front row of the beginning orchestra class so that they could be closer to the sound source; whether it be my voice or the speakers of my SMART BOARD. I also paired them with a supportive peer as their stand partner so that they could get clarification from them on any information that they may have missed. Additionally, I used a microphone when teaching in my classroom all year so that my voice was loud enough for that student to hear in order to increase their ability to focus. I also took time to help create an orchestra folder for them so their music would be organized, I provided them with a specific place to keep their music folder in the room all year so it would not get lost in the classroom, and I printed their orchestra music on different colorful paper so that the bright colors on the paper would help grab their attention and keep their eyes on the music when needed.
edited by Jillian Savia on 6/29/2023
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Jillian Savia Posts: 9
6/29/2023
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James Cochran wrote:
Administrator wrote:
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 that was visually impaired. Even with glasses she was unable to read the music well. She was determined to learn to play the baritone. I would adapt the music by blowing it up to a larger size so she could read. She now has a BM in music and working on her MM.
That is wonderful that the accommodations you provided to your student in the past resulted in them finding success in the performing arts and perusing music as their career!
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+1
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Derek Weston Posts: 3
7/11/2023
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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.
Our magnet program just graduated a student who was very strongly on the Autism spectrum. This stretched our entire music department as well as myself as an adminstrator. This student was almost completely non-verbal, but an exceptionally talented pianist. The teachers had to adapt to working with a one-on-one aid and created differentiated structures in the classroom to meet the needs of all students. The student with autism had a very short attention span and one of the tasks for the aid was to keep him on task by breaking things up into tiny elements. Once the teachers saw the value in the work which was being performed by the aid, they began to structure their instruction for the whole class in that manner, and it served to be of greater assistance to them as well.
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Mark Watson Posts: 3
7/13/2023
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I offered a beginning band class in a traditional high school for students who had previously played and quit or were interested in joining having not played in middle school. One of the students who joined the class wanted to play trumpet and had a visual impairment. At first I worked with the ESE team and paraprofessional to provide instruction on an auditory basis only or through large print materials. We found both methods to be less effective than we hoped so we secured funds to purchase and modify the student music book and sheet music to braille.
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Jason Diana Posts: 4
7/14/2023
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I have had numerous students with disabilities over the years ranging from autism to hearing disabilities. Kagan/ cooperative learning strategies go a long way in helping students. The students usually enjoy helping each other grasp concepts and aid in conveying concepts. I have also used a number of technology tools and various apps. Electric keyboards with headphones help students work through passages in piano class. Metronome and drone apps aid in timing and intonation. Also, Make Music (formerly Smart Music) is a great tool for practicing a variety of different instruments.
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Jason Diana Posts: 4
7/14/2023
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I always use Mneumonic phrases and firmly believe it helps tremendously. Kenneth Phillips wrote:
Mneumonics: music teachers sometimes use mnemonics to introduce rhythm patterns to students. For example, a quarter note might be represented by the word "truck". Four quarter notes would sound like "truck, truck truck, truck " An adaptation for a student with a speech impediment would be to use a word that the teacher knows this student pronounces well, perhaps "bear". That would allow the student to participate in the music making activity without drawing attention to that student.
Task Analysis: This would be great for teaching improvisation. Teach the student the first pitch of the key. Have the student perform with the rhythm section. When the student demonstrates they can play the one pitch with a steady groove, teach the student another pitch. Now the student has two pitch with which to improvise. Continue this process until the student is using the desired number of pitches in a variety of patterns.
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Ester Jackson Posts: 3
7/16/2023
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Throughout my teaching career, I have encountered students with a variety of disabilities. I have never seen it as a burden because as I learn new strategies, supports, etc., it has actually made me a better teacher for all of my students. One of my chorus students has a severe vision impairment. Her IEP already provided that she has a large screen computer to use in her academic classes. However, for sheet music, I would make large print copies for her. Because the large print copies were not always "perfect", I discovered that some publishers actually offered Large Print copies of the octavos. This was huge because those large print copies benefited me as well. In addition, together, we would create rehearsal recordings to assist with learning the music. I also communicated with this student to determine other accommodations that would be helpful. She informed me that using a black dry erase marker on the board was much better for her because she could discriminate much easier. We also worked together with her aural training. Over the years, her confidence grew and she actually became the Chorus President.
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Roberto Vidal Posts: 3
7/29/2023
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Throughout my career, I have had many students with a range of disabilities. In this past school year, one of my students had an undiagnosed partial hearing impairment of the left ear. This affected her intonation and blend primarily. We discovered this as she was placed in the dead center of my middle school chorus and could not discern the vocal line to the left of her, only her right. This discovery started her current IEP plan for hearing impairment. In the process, we accommodated the location of this student within the ensemble in order to facilitate her listening, tone-matching, and overall singing skills. We ended up placing this student on the right edge of our risers with a chorus peer mentor who provided an exemplary vocal model of her vocal line in her hearing-able right ear. This student had great success in my MS chorus and is now continuing to sing at the high school level.
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Kevin Spilling Posts: 3
8/5/2023
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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 clarinet student who was doing fantastic in beginning band. all of a sudden, this student is missing for a week and returns with a note from the doctor saying that the student is going to need oral/sinus surgery. Without going into detail, she would not be allowed to play clarinet for at least a year due to the severity of the surgeries. Instead of having her wait a year to maybe be able to play, she switched to percussion. She was my best percussionist that year.
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Kenneth Carter Posts: 3
8/8/2023
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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 wonderful student when I taught at the middle school level who had a disability. She was as sweet as could be but she also called things as she saw it. She was so incredibly passionate about percussion and would get frustrated when she played exercises or even musical passages incorrectly. In her beginning years it was also my first year of teaching so this was all new to me and I had experienced very few students with disabilities in my experiences through music. The first thing I did to accommodate this student was to pair her with someone who was also playing percussion. This tremendously helped her get acclimated to the instrument, technique, and even music literacy. There were times where I would intervene because she was either becoming frustrated or needed a break from the stimulation of multiple instruments playing. Other accommodations I made for her was to have one-on-one lessons. There were just things during class that sometimes didn't make sense right away for her. So having time to work with her one-on-one allowed me to get into greater depth on topics and assess what I could do better to help her. I would also make accommodations for the music she was reading until I could get more time with her. Adding or subtracting parts like snare rolls to better understand when and where they started and stopped. This student I think about a lot because she made me a better teacher and she made me better understand students with disabilities and how I could help them have a better musical experience.
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Jordan Mattheus Posts: 3
10/4/2023
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Administrator wrote:
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 very energetic student that was visually impaired in one of my music classes. She played piano and was able to feel her way around the instrument while playing due to the patterns on the keys. However, when it came to reading music she often struggled if she was given the same print size as other students. In order to help her with this, I made sure she was moved to the front of the class, and always printed out sheet music or any handouts in a larger font for her. Alongside some encouragement from as well as those accommodations she was able to play and perform as well as if not better than the rest of the students in class.
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M Tarquine Posts: 3
11/8/2023
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I've had many students with specific disabilities in class over the years. In each case accommodations have been made to ensure their success. In recent years, I've had a student who was visually impaired. This student was given large print music, as well as large print copies of all lecture materials. That in combination with follow ups and check ins, helped make this student successful.
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Alec Pearl Posts: 3
5/2/2024
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- Think of a student with a disability you have now or in the past. Describe ways in which their disability affected their learning in your class.
I have a student right now with ASD. He is incredibly intelligent, but has trouble with feeling behind and with focusing on task completion. He also has trouble with impulse control and appropriate communication. While he achieves at a high level, he has trouble with the class moving quickly and not feeling like he has enough time to work on certain activities. Occasionally this makes him shut down entirely and then he ACTUALLY gets behind. I am lucky to have a class full of great kids who support him and are patient with his outbursts, but it certainly creates a barrier for his learning and overall success.
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