Building Blocks for Teaching Preschoolers with Special Needs by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: EDUCATION / Inclusive Education, EDUCATION / Teaching Methods & Materials/Arts & Humanities, EDUCATION / Preschool & Kindergarten, EDUCATION / Special Education/General
Publisher: Brookes Publishing
Published: 2019-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

One of Nhan’s objectives is to increase vocabulary. Nhan has learned to smile, select a toy or activity, and look busy as a way to avoid talking. However, his teachers also know that Nhan has some definite preferences in terms of toys. He likes to paint, build with blocks, and play ball on the playground. The teachers use the ELO strategy to teach Nhan to say the words for these toys. The teachers place the toys on shelves just out of his reach to encourage Nhan to ask for them by name. When he names the toy, a teacher gives it to him. Nhan’s teacher also places pictures of all of the children’s favorite toys and people, as well as small toys, in her pockets. During transition times, she pulls these out to play naming games with Nhan and his classmates.

Creating Multiple Embedded Learning OpportunitiesMultiple opportunities to practice targeted skills should be developed within and across activities. Children with special needs often need many opportunities to learn a new skill or concept. An important aspect of making ELOs work is to create many new opportunities to make certain that teaching and learning occur. Although existing activities are used during ELOs, the planning and instruction associated with this strategy is individualized and intentional. Use an activity matrix (see Chapter 4) to organize the learning opportunities.

Designing and Implementing Instruction

Selecting the appropriate teaching strategy can be difficult, but it is so important. The effective use of ELOs depends on designing and using instructional strategies that have a good chance of being effective. Fortunately, research and experience provide information to help make it easier to select good strategies (e.g., DEC, 2014; Sandall et al., 2005). Some of the things to think about in making selections include the following:

•Is the teaching strategy likely to be effective?

•Is it normalized? (Is it similar to the approaches used with all children, or will it stigmatize the child?)

•Is it useful across environments?

•Is it respectful of the child?

When planning and delivering ELOs, it is important to remember that there are three parts to a teaching episode—what the teacher says or does, what the child does, and how the teacher responds. The teacher or other adult must remember to complete the teaching episode by responding to the child. This is also called a consequence. It is planned ahead of time and might come in the form of praise, a comment, or a natural consequence, such as giving the child the toy he or she asked for. See Chapter 7 for more about instructional strategies.

Monitoring the Child’s ProgressCollecting data about the use of ELOs has two components. First, it is important to keep track of the opportunities that are actually provided. It can be difficult to do this in a busy and action-packed classroom. On the ELO-at-a-Glance, the teacher can make a hash mark each time an opportunity is provided. Some teachers attach a blank piece of paper to the wall and make tally marks there. In one classroom, the teacher decided to provide at least 10 opportunities for a particular child each day.

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