11/11/2020
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Kristen Lichtenthal
|
I once taught a student who had an Orthopedic Impairment as well as an Intellectual Disability. He had an ESE aid who came to music class, but he was always encouraged to do things as independently as he could. When it came time to play the recorder, his Orthopedic Impairment prevented him from holding the recorder firmly and placing his fingers where they needed to go. I worked with him one-on-one and while he responded well to verbal instructions, his retention of the information did not last for more than a minute or so. He would repeatedly ask "Can you help me?" This indicated that he knew what was supposed to happen but could not make his mind and body work the way it needed to in order to complete the task. Nevertheless, he pressed on and never stopped trying! We added adaptive covers for the recorder and worked on songs that did not require him to move his fingers too much. He felt successful if he could hold the recorder and play any sound, so he always felt motivated throughout class. |
11/11/2020
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Kristen Lichtenthal
|
I once had a student who had significant issues with notating and writing. They would become overly frustrated at the idea of having to write answers to a test using the paper-and-pencil format. This became an issue when we needed to assess identifying notes on the staff, which included writing in notes to demonstrate their proper placement. As an accommodation, I used a computer program that used a music game to assess the same skill, as opposed to a paper-and-pencil test. The student loved video games, so they were able to complete the assessment easily, and I got to assess exactly what I needed. |
11/11/2020
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Kristen Lichtenthal
|
In the elementary music classroom, students are required to identify simple melodies aurally and visually. I had one student who was Selective Mute and would not speak or sing. Instead of pressing the issue and trying to force her to sing or verbally identify melodies, I would play or sing melodies and ask her to point to the ones that matched. She had no issue with this and it worked very well. If I had not provided this accommodation, I may have- incorrectly- assumed she did not understand the concept. I learned that it was the opposite; she understood very well and just didn't feel comfortable speaking out loud! |