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Teaching Students with Disabilities discussion forum for Secondary (Middle and High School) Visual Art Teachers

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Cherie Cseley
Cherie Cseley
Posts: 2


11/6/2021
Cherie Cseley
Cherie Cseley
Posts: 2
One of the students in my choral class was having a hard time matching pitch. I surrounded her with strong singers. I worked with her in the morning before school at the piano and with a visual tuner. During class, we practice Kodaly hand signals. Hand signals seem to be the most helpful to her. The student is now able to match pitch 80% of the time. When she is struggling, she feels that she can be successful using her tools.
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Zuleyma Davila-Perez
Zuleyma Davila-Perez
Posts: 3


11/11/2021
I currently have a student with autism in my Studio Art class. He always wears his hair covering his face, he has never used any verbal communication with me or his classmates, which makes it difficult to know if he is listening. It took me over a month to find an effective way to communicate with him and get him to understand the instructions for each assignment. Even though I always have the "step-by-step" instructions posted on the board, I couldn't make any eye contact with him. I finally realized that he responds perfectly to simple and specific instructions written on a piece of paper. Since I started preparing individual worksheets for him, I have seen how he has performed better and even shown creativity and originality in some of his art pieces.
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Tony Wood
Tony Wood
Posts: 3


11/17/2021
Tony Wood
Tony Wood
Posts: 3
I have a student that has a chronic illness that causes them to miss a lot of school and their visual art class. Visual art is a very hands-on class, and a good attendance is needed to gain mastery of the different art skill taught. Her class is a foundation class, so it’s important that a student master each skill set in order so they can master each consecutive skill needed. Even when she was in class, her illness affected her stamina, and she could only practice the skill being taught for a shorter period of time. When in class, I broke the lesson into smaller chunks for her and extended the time she needed to master the skills. When at home, we communicated through Microsoft Teams online. I would send her video demonstrations, Teacher and student examples and MS PowerPoint presentations explaining the assignments and she would sent back her practice pieces and finished assignments for critique.
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samantha mullens
samantha mullens
Posts: 2


12/3/2021
Fine Arts educators:
  • 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.
  • At times the class can be more disrupted but you just go with the flow. If the class gets stalled, keep telling the students to work or change the plan a bit. Art can truly be helpful to studens with disabilities and be very therapuetic.
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samantha mullens
samantha mullens
Posts: 2


12/3/2021
  • Describe an example of adapted assessment you have successfully used in the fine arts classroom for students with disabilities.
  • I have adapted the assessment by having some complete through verbal responses or draw them instead. I have had variety of students that do not speak as well as cannot test take in any way.
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Tim Dycus
Tim Dycus
Posts: 3


12/6/2021
Tim Dycus
Tim Dycus
Posts: 3
I had a student with Tourette Syndrome and sometimes their ticks or out burst made it difficult because of the hands on nature of the course. The best part was that the student was very comfortable with talking and telling the class about his Tourette's. By the student talking with the class, the students got to know and learn about Tourette's. It also made him feel proud and confident to be able to talk in front of other students and let them know its okay ask questions about his Tourette's. Was amazing year and class period to see how students learned about each other.
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Brianna Hart
Brianna Hart
Posts: 3


12/13/2021
Brianna Hart
Brianna Hart
Posts: 3
“Think of a student with a disability you have now, or have had in the past. Identify their disability.”
A student I have is listed as having extremely slow processing and ADHD.

“Describe the way in which their disability affected their learning.”
When talking to this student, they don’t always catch all or any of what was said. They are easily distracted and have been known to spend 15-20 minutes in the bathroom due to distraction. This student cannot watch a video and be expected to retain anything in it after watching it once.

“Describe at least one or more ways you successfully accommodated or modified instruction for this student.” Share your response in the threaded discussion.

I post everything to Google Classroom. I post any videos or slides there and emphasize to the the student that it is there for review. I also have provided transcripts of the video attached in Google classroom. I repeat instructions and make sure to pause after every sentence. I am prepared to repeat and re-demonstrate to this student individually often. I also have to make sure to make eye contact and ask for understanding frequently. It is more of developing my own habits to slow down and accommodate his needs.
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Michael Scott
Michael Scott
Posts: 1


12/28/2021
Michael Scott
Michael Scott
Posts: 1
I teach TV Production in middle school. I have three students currently one class with a wide range of disabilities. I will focus on one student who is bipolar, ADHD, and has a primary disability of SLD.

Some of the main manifestations I see in class are an inability to process language both verbally and visually. The students reading ability is very low and their vocabulary bank is limited. I notice the student while very outgoing and expressive, is very insecure and tentative when encountering tasks such as reading a tele-prompter or formulating questions for an interview. Her "casual" banter is very self focused and they have a hard time getting out of their needs and desires in conversations.

Some accommodations I have put in place are I have them anchor the show either with me or a very strong reader. I sit with the student and discuss questions for interviews. I prompt them to think what does the audience what to know? What would a 6th grader find interesting about this? How does the person your interviewing feel about the topic, what are they trying to say?
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Lena Warner
Lena Warner
Posts: 3


12/28/2021
Lena Warner
Lena Warner
Posts: 3
I had a student that had an Emotional/Behavioral Disability. This student was very motivated to make artwork and loved the process. She had a lot of trouble with fine motor skills and their artwork was not at the same level as most high school students. She would often go from periods of being very happy to extremely upset in a very short time. I made certain when this student started my class to learn as much as I could about things that she loved and interested her so that I could redirect her if she was having a bad day. I often showed her other artwork in the same genre that encouraged her to be more engaged. I also made certain to have very stable and caring students seated next to her. One of the students I seated her next to had a brother on the spectrum and understood her behavior and always had a positive/encouraging attitude.
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Abigail Blumenfeld
Abigail Blumenfeld
Posts: 3


1/1/2022
One of my students who had an Emotional/Behavior disability was very bothered by the feel of charcoal and chalk pastels and was vocal about it. He;d refuse to use them because the feeling of it on paper was like nails on a chalkboard to him. Because of him, I now offer charcoal pencils as an alternative to vine charcoal and the option to use either oil or chalk pastels when working on our charcoal and pastel sections. The modifications were a huge improvement on his attitude towards the class!
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Melissa Ngo
Melissa Ngo
Posts: 1


1/6/2022
Melissa Ngo
Melissa Ngo
Posts: 1
This year, I have a student that has visual impairment in my Art 1 class. She has trouble seeing objects that are not large or high contrast. Outlines are a struggle for her. I figured out it's also an issue of depth perception and she also has Autism. We have worked on adapting as we go. I take her lead and listen for what she is struggling with and we have talked about how to talk to other teachers for accommodations as her Autism can make asking for accommodations seem a little off-putting from her. Listening to her and truly trying to understand her needs are what made it easier to anticipate what accommodations she might need and how to make the project work as she wanted to do what everyone else is doing and most of the time could keep up with the rest of the class for would even be ahead.
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Kevin Ball
Kevin Ball
Posts: 1


1/7/2022
Kevin Ball
Kevin Ball
Posts: 1
One of my students has muscular dystrophy and is confined to a motorized wheel chair. He has limited range of mobility in his ams and in a 2D painting and drawing class where students are asked to draw and paint on large scale surfaces, he is unable. This young man is a passionate artist, though. To accommodate these larger scale assignments, he would create smaller vignettes that, when assembled, would equal the larger scale pieces.
There are no learning, emotional or behavioral disabilities so the creation process is always discussed and adjusted based on the many physical factors. For example, he gets sore as the day goes on and when studio classes are late in the day, he is more immobile. His arms are often aching and dexterity is even more limited in his hands. The supplies we have are thin so we often wrap pencils and brushes in towels to make them thicker and easier to grip. He has also created large scale, abstract works using a shop stick attached to his chair. His class was learning about Matisse's La Danse series where Matisse would use long poles to reach high onto canvases. There was an oil stick affixed to the end of the pole allowing him to reach and make some interesting marks that were completely unique to him.
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Pamela Haas
Pamela Haas
Posts: 3


1/10/2022
Pamela Haas
Pamela Haas
Posts: 3
I had a student in one of my classes that was hearing impaired. The student was an excellent artist. To provide accommodations for the student he did have an adaptive device to help him hear better. As a teacher I reinforced his learning by making sure he was seated where he could more easily hear me and make sure that when I was talking I could see me. I used lots of visuals and visual cues for him and would check in with him to make sure he understood directions. I also seated him with a "buddy" (a strong artist - that I knew he would be able to follow along with). The student was very successful in my class.
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Theresa West-Taylo
Theresa West-Taylo
Posts: 3


1/16/2022
I taught Art in a K-12 building in a rural area. I had a student from 6th grade through graduation with Autism or ASD. This was one of the first times I had encountered a student win the regular classroom diagnosed with ASD. Over the years we adapted the classroom as he grew and his needs changed. In the early years, he was unable to stay in the classroom if we opened smelly markers so we used markers on days he was absent. Eventually we purchased the "low odor" markers. Later, he learned to control his response to the smells and then we addressed his inability to copy notes due to his touch issues. He did NOT need to copy notes. He was able to restate everything in the notes "word for word" so we simply asked him to repeat to confirm he heard instructions and notes. His extreme aversion to touching clay prevented him from working with it, but he used foil instead. Over the years, he eventually was able to adjust, work with clay, and felt more comfortable showing his emotions through his sculptures than words. This student had great family and community support. I advocated for him with teachers occasionally who were new and did not know how to adjust their expectations to allow him creative ways of showing his command of their subject matter. He was allowed to give verbal answers to a teaching assistant during all tests.
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suzy smith
suzy smith
Posts: 1


1/19/2022
suzy smith
suzy smith
Posts: 1
I have had ID and ASD students in my classes each year. They have reminded me of patience and kindness and that anybody is able and creative.
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josalyn loango
josalyn loango
Posts: 3


1/19/2022
josalyn loango
josalyn loango
Posts: 3
Working with students with disabilities is my passion, I love to help them learn and grow.
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J.L. Kirby
J.L. Kirby
Posts: 3


1/26/2022
J.L. Kirby
J.L. Kirby
Posts: 3
I teach AP Art History. I had one student who had a condition that made it difficult for him to differentiate colors. We found throughout the year, though, that learning the ways that he experienced the same works of art that so differently than the rest of us helped us all grow in our understanding of the art. I had to learn new ways to describe some of the pieces to him.
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Lindsay Wheeler
Lindsay Wheeler
Posts: 4


2/5/2022
Lindsay Wheeler
Lindsay Wheeler
Posts: 4
"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 been teaching Visual Art for 13 years, but the biggest challenges in my class have always been the emotional disabilities. It seems we can always come up with a way to creatively use tools for the physically impaired; the emotional disabilities were always harder to engage. I find that in the Visual Art world, mostly at the elementary level, but still also somewhat at the secondary level, we have this amazing opportunity to get to know our students in a non threatening, loving way. We are not by state assessments, are therefore have more time to spend breaking down some of the barriers students have put into place. The engagement piece is the first hurdle, and once you have achieved that, half the battle is won. Unfortunately though, there is no one answer for what that takes for each student. After the student has become engaged, the next hurdle is self acceptance. Acceptance of failure, more attempts, and hopefully a satisfactory success. Again, this is a process sensitive to each student's individual needs, yet as Visual Arts Educators, we have the ability to take the time these processes sometimes take, over multiple projects, and thus represent a VITAL portion of the IEP team, and should absolutely be included more within these meetings.
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Lindsay Wheeler
Lindsay Wheeler
Posts: 4


2/5/2022
Lindsay Wheeler
Lindsay Wheeler
Posts: 4
Jessica Gautier wrote:
I have a KG student who has a learning disability- he is Autistic. He is smart, but gets overwhelmed in my classroom. Many times he wants to run around the room and touch my instruments or personal items on my desk. I have created a special spot for him to sit (a magic carpet). He knows now to come straight to the carpet. I also have made a point to model the correct way to handle an instrument and many times I have to have the student practice a few times how to put an instrument away or he picks a friend to help show him.


Have you tried allowing the student to wear headphones in your room? I don't know if you school allows it but I have had success with over the ear headphones, like people wear on a shooting range or at a racetrack - for students with any type of sensory issues.
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Lindsay Wheeler
Lindsay Wheeler
Posts: 4


2/5/2022
Lindsay Wheeler
Lindsay Wheeler
Posts: 4
"Describe how two of the strategies discussed could potentially be implemented in your classroom. Be sure to identify the two strategies by name and describe how they could be used to address the needs of a student with a disability."
Differentiated instruction and tasks cards are frequently used in my classroom. More often than not I have a mixed bag when it comes to what students are able to sit down and do, so I frequently have a list of activities to complete for credit on a particular assignment, allowing the student to best meet their needs or abilities. I also use task cards for students who finish work well, but quickly and are bored or need more to understand a particular concept.
"Describe at least one way you have used technology to meet the needs of a student with a disability in your classroom. Be sure to describe the specific technology and how it assisted the student with a disability."
In several classrooms I have had access to class ipads and have used several clay manipulation, coloring, drawing, puzzle and art history apps to meet the needs of my students.
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