Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Thu, Aug 12, 2010
For students who cannot hear, sometimes learning to read can pose a challenge. Luckily, a Murray County summer camp is showing students that they don’t have to be sitting in a classroom to learn the skills necessary.
In Sulphur, Oklahoma, campers who are deaf may have challenges for even some of the simplest tasks like painting or acting. Not being able to hear a sound is the most obvious reason for this. Even a task like reading, which can be hard enough for all students, can be ten times harder for students who are unable to hear the sounds or spoken words.
The Oklahoma School for the Deaf is holding its fifth year as the host of a summer reading camp. The goal of this summer camp is to help those students who may be deaf or hard of hearing improve their reading skills and learn new ones, all while having a fun and memorable summer.
In addition to practicing their reading and literacy skills, students who attend the camp also get the chance to socialize and interact with students who are just like them and have similar challenges or differences. It is a great way for students with these challenges to know that there are others who are just like them and that they are not alone in their differences.
In addition to their improved reading skills, the staff at the camp hopes that students leave with more confidence and self esteem. With a summer full of learning and new friends, there is no reason why they shouldn’t!
Free Teacher Resources | Special Education by MangoMon by MangoMon
Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Wed, Jul 28, 2010
For any major sporting event, kids can sometimes get nervous. For the ones competing in The National Junior Disability Championships in Chicago, this is their time to shine.
Throughout this week, the top athletes with disabilities from all over the country will be competing in Olympic-style events like track and field, swimming, basketball and weightlifting, just to name a few.
This is the 26th year that this competition will be held. This competition is considered one of the most prestigious national events for those with physical or visual disabilities. Once athletes earn a spot in the winning positions of these events, they are able to qualify for the U.S. Paralympic Team.
For students who work hard all year in and outside of the classroom, this is a competition to really show off what they have been doing. With over 300 athletes from around the country, this event is a big deal for those who are participating.
It is a great way for those who are disabled to come together and meet others who may be just like them. It is also a way for them to show to the world that they can do just about anything that another person without their disability could do.
Being able to compete in this competition gives many of the participants better self esteem and feelings about themselves. They serve as an inspiration to those around them. The National Junior Disability Championships gives these athletes a chance to show off their athletic skills while inspiring both disabled and nondisabled people at the same time.
Free Teacher Resources | Special Education by MangoMon
Posted by Amanda Kenuam on Mon, May 03, 2010
www.teachervision.com
I had an enlightening discussion today with a colleague about special needs students, their accommodations in the classroom, and classroom strategies. The teacher is a core-curriculum middle school teacher and has several inclusion ESE students in her daily classes. Every teacher at our school is provided with the appropriate paperwork (called an Individual Education Plan, IEP or 504 Plan) and documentation about the students' type of disability and accommodations. The colleague I was talking with was curious to know more in depth about her students' actual disabilities to have a better understanding of how to better serve the educational, developmental, and social aspects for the special needs students.
Below you will find a list of links that can assist teachers to learn about specific disabilities, development and academic abilities, classroom management techniques, appropriate ways to build social skills, and other facts to increase student learning outcomes and independence for special needs students.
Teacher Vision
Teacher Vision has a section of their website devoted to students with special needs. They have tips and advice, modifications for reading, math, and ESOL students, curriculum suggestions, and IEP accommodation information, among many other resources. The pages that had the best information to help my colleague were under the Tips & Advice section.
There is a link about Students with Exceptionalities. This link provides teachers with terms and definitions that are associated with special needs education. It also provides specific teaching strategies to increase learning outcomes for students with different disabilities and ability levels.
Another link in this section is called Teaching Students with Special Needs. This link provides information for teachers on indicators for students with learning disabilities. They provide and extensive list of behaviors and struggles that a students with learning disabilities may have and how to make learning more accessible for them. They also cover the opposite end of the spectrum by discussing indicators of gifted students, their learning struggles (ie. not being challenged), and how to adapt your teaching and lessons to challenge gifted students. Overall, this is a great site for teachers to learn more about better educating students with special needs.
New Horizons
The New Horizons
website offers information for teachers and parents about inclusion, ADD/ADHD, Autism, Gifted Learners, and English Language Learners. They provide definitions and examples for the disabilities and learners along with providing links for best practices and research-based strategies. This is also a good resource for finding information about federal laws about the education of students with special needs like IDEA and 504 plans.
Children with Special Needs
The Children with Special Needs site has a section of information devoted to informing teachers and parents about special needs. This site has a link list of 13 disabilities along with information on general disabilities. It provides information about the disability and common symptoms or behaviors of the disability. They then provide a great links section with more information on classroom strategies, laws, advocacy groups, or social skill strategies when teaching students with those specific disabilities. This is a great starting point for learning more about special needs students.
Article by Laura Ketcham
Free Teacher Resources | Special Education by MangoMon
Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Thu, Feb 11, 2010
The process of finding a job can be difficult if you don't have any work experience. For students with special needs, it may be even harder.
We've all heard the saying "practice makes perfect," and that is just what a new program is offering to students with special needs.
At St. Mary's Warrick Hospital in Boonville, Indiana, the Gibson-Warrick-Pike Special Education Cooperative and Southern Indiana Resource Solutions have come together to offer students with disabilities a chance to get real world job experience.
The hospital's program, SEARCH, is based on a nationally recognized program that was started at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
The program offers internship experience to adults ages 18-21. The goal of these internships is to prepare these students for a full-time, real world job in the future.
The program offers students the chance to work in various areas of the hospital, learning about each department and gaining skills they can use in future jobs. The program runs for thirty weeks and is broken into ten week rotations.
Students have a daily agenda. This includes an hour of classroom instruction on employment and independent living skills, two hours of job rotations, lunch, another two hours of job rotations and one hour of classroom instruction. Topics can cover anything from personal hygiene to current events. Job coaches are provided throughout the day to offer guidance and assistance to the students.
Students get to be involved in many areas. They spend time working with medical records, environmental and custodial services, food and nutrition services, health information management, mail room and delivery, data entry and much more.
If the students spend the entire academic year in Project SEARCH, they receive a portfolio of their work experiences including pictures, recognitions and letters of recommendation that would be very useful for future employment.
The main goal of this program is to have the students build independent living skills. Organizers want to be a part of a team that builds those skills that will land these students better jobs when they graduate. By learning these necessary skills, students can work towards future jobs and goals with confidence.
Photo from tahitianlime