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I had an ASD student who was high-functioning but was noticeably challenged when interacting with peers. There was a core group of students who were effective and patient when helping him understand appropriate ways to engage and interact with others while completing cooperative tasks. When creating groups and structuring in class assignments, I always included one student from the core group that partnered well with him. He changed groups with the same frequency as others; group assignments were not restrictive. By year’s end, he appropriately engaged with everyone in the class.

I had an ASD student who was high-functioning but was noticeably challenged when interacting with peers. There was a core group of students who were effective and patient when helping him understand appropriate ways to engage and interact with others while completing cooperative tasks. When creating groups and structuring in class assignments, I always included one student from the core group that partnered well with him. He changed groups with the same frequency as others; group assignments were not restrictive. By year’s end, he appropriately engaged with everyone in the class.

I had an ASD student who was high-functioning but was noticeably challenged when interacting with peers. There was a core group of students who were effective and patient when helping him understand appropriate ways to engage and interact with others while completing cooperative tasks. When creating groups and structuring in class assignments, I always included one student from the core group that partnered well with him. He changed groups with the same frequency as others; group assignments were not restrictive. By year’s end, he appropriately engaged with everyone in the class.

I have several students that come in with a para from a self-contained classroom. Some of the students have autism and cannot socially interact with the rest of the students. When using instruments, I reserve one for the paraprofessional to help them out with. When doing movement activities I often use the general ed students to pair up with them so they can interact more. I make modifications for these students the best ways that I can, especially because some of them are above or below the actual grade level, both age-wise and developmentally, that they come to the classroom with.

I had a student who was born with only an upper left arm. We were reading and playing rhythm on rhythm sticks. He was having difficulty holding rhythm stick under his left arm. I bought a 2" dowel rod cut it a 2' length and he was able to play holding under his left arm. He wanted to play the snare drum. I found some Velcro straps and was able to attach the drum stick to his left arm. He was in heaven.

The first strategy I can implement in my music classroom is task analysis. For the upper grades, I give them at least one project a year that takes about 3-4 weeks to complete. Instead of giving them all the tasks to complete at once, I can break it down week by week. For the last week students can compile all the information together and complete the project. This will help students with disabilities because they are able to focus on one thing at a time. This strategy would also work when setting up xylophones in a pentatonic scale. I will usually tell my classes to take of their "hamburgers and fries" (B and F), but when working with students with disabilities, it would work better to have them find all the B's first and then all the F's.


The other strategy I can implement in my class is peer partners. Allowing students to work with a shoulder partner for certain tasks would be beneficial to all students. Students who are able to demonstrate/teach a skill, know it well. Other students might need to see one of their peers perform the task before it "clicks." This would be helpful to students with disabilities because their one-on-one paraprofessionals are not familiar with the concept I'm teaching, whereas the students in my class have had music instruction for a number of years. This is also helpful in building community and friendship in the classroom. Some students are self-contained in the classroom, but come to music with other classes. This would help build relationships in my room so that my self contained students don't feel secluded or different.

One way I have used technology to meet the needs of a student with a disability in my classroom is through the use of a recorder app for a student that had dysgraphia. She would try to write and it would take her all class period to write just a few sentences. The recorder app was easy for her to use, and it was much less stressful for her than writing.

• When teaching recorder to students with disabilities, I find several students can't remember the fingerings for the various notes, or to use their left hand on top. So, I label the holes with the letter names (using a Sharpie marker) so that they can only see the letters if their left hand is on top. Also, for playing tests, instead of playing an entire song, as I would ask a typical student to do, I ask for only a small section of the song under study. If the student can show they know the notes with a steady tempo (no matter how slow), they pass that level. I also post the recorder fingering charts on the wall in my classroom so students can refer to them when they warm up.

In my recorder class, I have found that it works better for my ADD students to have a peer test them on their mastery of a song. While I am working through the class, assessing the students' proficiency on a given selection, I have my advanced students listen to those students who have trouble with their focus while waiting their turn.