Modifying Schoolwork by Janney Rachel;Snell Martha E.; & Martha E. Snell

Author:Janney, Rachel;Snell, Martha E.; & Martha E. Snell [Janney, Rachel & Snell, Martha E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: EDU026000 Education / Special Education / General, EDUCATION / Teaching Methods & Materials / EDU029000 - General, EDUCATION / EDU048000 - Inclusive Education
Publisher: Brookes Publishing
Published: 2014-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

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The focus of this chapter is on the steps for creating individualized adaptations and specialized interventions that offer more support when universal and targeted group approaches are inadequate to address a student’s learning needs and characteristics. Designing a state-of-the-art educational program for a student with any significant disability may require a team to plan several different types of instructional activities as well as the other services and supports required to meet the student’s physical, social, behavioral, intellectual, and other needs. As discussed in Chapter 3, the student’s learning goals may include academics from the general curriculum, functional skills, and related developmental skills (i.e., social, self-management, communication, and motor skills). Learning activities will involve different professionals and a variety of student groupings, learning environments, instructional methods, and materials. Team-developed plans may include 1) plans for how the student will participate in class lessons through differentiation, accommodation, and/or modification for the student; 2) task analytic teaching guides for teaching functional skills; 3) plans for direct, systematic instruction of high-priority academic or developmental skills; and 4) less structured guidelines for supporting the student’s incidental learning and participation throughout the school day. In addition, planning must address other supports—physical, social, and access supports—that are needed in order for the student to participate in nonacademic activities (e.g., lunch, recess, field days), classroom routines (e.g., arrival, lunchtime preparation), and organizational procedures (e.g., storing belongings, turning in completed work).

Recall that the individualized adaptations and supports under consideration here are Tier 3 interventions and supports—the most individualized and specialized of all. This level of intervention challenges educators to be even more systematic in making decisions about which interventions and supports to employ and even more methodical about monitoring and evaluating the effects of those interventions and supports. This is important and challenging work; teams want to be not only effective but also efficient in the way they undertake it. In keeping with the principle of parsimony (Etzel & LeBlanc, 1979), teams should use the simplest yet effective approach to accomplishing these aims.

There is limited research on the process of designing and implementing comprehensive support and/or adaptation plans for students with severe disabilities in inclusive classrooms. For the most part, research has examined the effects of a particular support strategy (e.g., peer support, visual support strategies) or teaching method (e.g., embedded instruction, response prompting procedures) on students’ academic and/or social behavior. However, Hunt and her colleagues (Hunt et al., 2003; Hunt et al., 2002) studied collaborative teams of general and special educators who implemented a collaborative teaming process to support students who had severe disabilities or were considered at-risk for disabilities. The collaborative teaming process involved 1) regularly scheduled meetings of the student’s team, 2) planning and development of supports to increase the student’s academic and social participation in the classroom, 3) a system of accountability, and 4) flexibility to change and improve supports that the team found ineffective. Consistent implementation of comprehensive plans of support by team members was associated with increases in academic skills, engagement

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