Resources for teaching children with Severe Intellectual Impairment Matthew Aquilina and Johann Camilleri
Contents • Introduction • Getting to know the Student • The IEP Team • The Individualised Education Program • Improving Communication Skills • Technological Communication Aids • Teaching Literacy • The Four Blocks • Working with Words • Guided Reading • Writing • Self-Selected Reading • Teaching Mathematics • Examples of using Manipulatives • Conclusion • Reference List
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Introduction • Persons with severe intellectual disabilities, including children, have certain limitations as they have delays in mental development and also have difficulties in communication and basic skills such as self care and social skills. (Phinias, Jeriphanos & Kudakwashe, 2013)
• These conditions hinder the child’s development and so children with severe intellectual disabilities develop at a slower pace when compared with their peers.
• All children have the right for quality education. This goal cannot be achieved if the whole class approach is implemented.
• Children
with severe intellectual disabilities can be given the opportunity to learn, both academic and non-academic skills, if learning is tailored to their needs.
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Getting to know the Student • Children with severe intellectual impairment need to have a plan developed for their needs, i.e. an Individualised Education Program (IEP).
• According to the Inclusive Education Policy regarding students with a disability: The IEP is a concise and practical written plan, developed for a student with a disability, that describes the modifications and adaptations for a student’s educational programme and the services necessary to ensure full access to educational entitlements according to the National Minimum Curriculum. (Ministerial Committee on Inclusive Education, 2000)
• Before
formulating an IEP, it is ideal that a Making Action Plans session (MAPs) is held, where the child, the parent, educators and professionals meet to discuss the child’s dreams and nightmares, strengths and weaknesses and development and learning goals. (Briffa, 2006) 5
The IEP Team School administration The school administration make sure that the objectives planned during the IEP can be implemented. Professionals These could be a member of the team who is familiar with the child’s needs and progress or the school psychologist. The Class Teacher The class teacher can suggest how the plan can fit within the educational curriculum that should be covered throughout that scholastic year. LSAs The learning support assistant knows what adaptations and special designed instructions can be easily applied in the school environment to tailor for the child’s needs. Child’s Parents Since the parents know their child outside the school, they work together with the IEP team to assess the child’s needs, set educational goals and ensure that the plan developed addresses their child’s needs. The Students (in certain cases) The students may contribute to formulate the educational goals targeted to be reached. 6
The Individualised Education Program • For
the Individualised Education Program to be effective, it needs to be SMART. Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic and Relevant Time Limited
• IEPs
should have Specific goals which are easily measurable in order to observe the progress attained.
• It should contain goals which are realistic and relevant to the child’s unique needs.
• The goals should have a Time Limit, so the IEP should have a deadline when it can be evaluated and adjusted accordingly.
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Improving Communication Skills • Children with communication problems, find it difficult to interact and communicate effectively with those who surround them. This does not only create a barrier, but also the child may feel frustrated and this may lead to behavioural and social problems.
• Augmentative
Alternative Communication (AAC) devices or systems can be used to facilitate and encourage communication.
• In class the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) can be implemented, where the child can be given a series of flash cards or small posters, through which the child can express his feelings and his needs. These pictures can be a useful tool for a two way communication between the child and the teacher/learning support assistant.
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Feeling PECS
Everyday language PECS
Requesting PECS 9
• Similar visual cards, also known as visual prompts can be used so that the child knows what behaviour is expected from him/her. For example how the child is expected to behave during lesson time.
• Children with severe intellectual impairment need to be given direct instructions for each task they need to perform, even daily basic tasks. To aid these children these task/skills have to be broken down to specific components. Visual behaviour strips can help the child to perform these tasks step by step.
• These PECS/visual cards can be organised in a folder, so that both the teacher and the child can make use of them whenever needed. It might be a good idea if velcro is used to facilitate the detaching and attaching of cards.
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Behaviour Visual Prompts
Step by Step Tasks/Skills
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• Establishing routines can help children with intellectual disabilities adjust more quickly to the classroom’s environment. In the long run it will also help them to improve daily basic routines.
• The timetable/schedule of events can be displayed in the classroom, as an aid for the whole class. An adapted copy will be kept near the child with disability so he/she can follow step by step what is going to happen next. If the adapted timetable has removable items, each task achieved can be easily removed, so only remaining tasks will be shown.
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Technological Communication Aids • Huge
advances in information technology and electronics have contributed to an increase in devices which aid communication, between children with severe intellectual disabilities, their peers and all those they encounter.
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices (AAC), can be an alternative or an additional tool to PECS or visual cards.
• Voice Output Communication Aids (VOCA) can be a useful AAC for children who do not speak at all, or whose speech is difficult to understand.
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• VOCA devices can have recorded messages which the child can use where appropriate. They also include symbols and pictures through which the child can formulate a message.
• These can be operated either by touch, by a series of switches, by using a mouse, joystick or rollerball.
• VOCAs can be either dedicated devices such as Partner Four Plus, Go Talk 9+ and Vantage Lite or software installed on a tablet or a computer.
Partner Four Plus
Go Talk 9+ Vantage Lite
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Teaching Literacy • Literacy is an important aspect in everyday life since we use it at school, when communicating and also when ordering food in a restaurant or reading doctor’s medical advice.
• Research
has shown that children with intellectual impairment can learn to read and write if given adequate instructions and opportunities.
• The
Four Blocks Literacy Programme developed by Dr. Patricia Cunningham and Dorothy Hall in 1989, caters for children having different needs and acknowledges that child learn in different ways.
• The
Four Blocks are: Working With Words, Guided Reading, Writing and Self-Selected Reading.
• These
Four Blocks can be adapted according to the different abilities in the classroom, even to children with severe intellectual impairment. 15
The Four Blocks – Working With Words • In Working With Words, the children are introduced to new words and they are guided how to spell and write the word. This can be done by means of word banks.
• Children with severe intellectual impairment can have portable word banks, or the teacher can add the new vocabulary of the word wall to the communication device of the student.
• AAC devices can help these children to visualise the meaning of the words, form words, spell and listen to the new words.
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The Four Blocks – Guided Reading • Guided Reading can be the same for the whole class i.e. the same book can be used for all the children.
• Some books are found as audiobooks. However, if the book used in class doesn’t have an audio version, an electronic adapted version can be done for the child with severe intellectual impairment.
• For the electornic adapted version, the illustrations can be scanned and inputted in the communication device. The text is added and through text to speech programs, the story is read aloud.
• If AAC are not present an adapted version of the book, with large print can be used with these children. Either an adult or a class mate can assist the child.
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The Four Blocks – Writing • Writing is a means to express one self. In class it can take the form of creative writing, answering comprehension questions or simply working out a grammar exercise.
• Technology
offers various aids to support writing for various types of disability, including severe intellectual impairment.
• Speech
Recognition software converts speech into printed text, and so children can write “without writing”.
• Word Prediction is also commonly used for children with impairments who are able to spell, as this software suggest words when the child types letters. The Speak Q software combines Speech Recognition with Word Prediction.
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• During
writing, especially answering of comprehension questions and grammar exercises, children with severe intellectual impairment can be given the opportunity to drag and drop or point to the correct word.
• Comprehension text can be supported by pictures and the text can be read aloud by the device. This can be done by softwares such as Boardmaker.
• When the class is engaged in creative writing, the child can either organise the story through pictures or fill in the blanks by dragging, so a story is formed or by expressing himself through art.
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The Four Blocks – Self-Selected Reading • Self-Selected
Reading gives the children the opportunity to choose the books they want to read.
• The
choice of books should include also books that have already been read. Erickson and Koppenhaven (2006) stated that children may hear their favourite story about 200 to 400 times. When repeating the same book, the child may become more familiar with vocabulary.
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• Books may include embedded text, that is text as part of the picture, as this captures more the children’s attention, than simply narrative text under a picture (Justice & Lankford, 2002).
• Instead
of hard copy books, children with severe intellectual impairment may benefit from audiobooks and e-readers that convert printed text to digital text which can be both visual and audio. There are also a lot of softwares that provide text to speech tools, such as Blio and Kurzweil 3000.
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Teaching Mathematics • It is important for all the children to learn Mathematics, since Mathematics contains skills that we use in everyday life, such as time and money.
• Children with severe intellectual impairment can also learn Mathematics if provided with the necessary support.
• However these children should not be just taught how to use money and how to read time. Such skills cannot be grasped if the basics of Mathematics aren’t already known.
• Educators cannot teach Mathematics to children with these needs, the abstract way. These children, in order to understand the mathematical concepts, need concrete examples. For example, when comparing values with greater than or smaller than, real objects such as toys or fruit can be used to show the concept. 22
Abstract Representation: 5 is greater than 2 = 5 > 2
Semi-Concrete Representation: Mathematical problems can be presented in a semi-concrete way, where pictures are included so that the children identify the facts easily.
Concrete Representation:
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• Children with severe intellectual impairment benefit from hands on activities, so the use of manipulatives during Mathematics lessons will be a huge aid for the understanding and grasping of mathematical concepts.
• During
explanation time, simple vocabulary and short sentences should be used to ensure better understanding.
• Learning
and skills have to be broken down in simple steps. Each step is repeated until the concept is grasped.
• Once the new concept is grasped, one can move on to the next step, building on to previous acquired knowledge. This way, the child reaches his/her Zone of Proximal Development through Scaffolding (Gargiulo & Kilgo, 2014). Zone of Proximal Development
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• Mathematical concepts should be taught using visual structures, such as flash cards, posters and charts.
• Technology can also play an important role in teaching mathematics, as through interactive and multi sensory programs, the child’s attention is captured and mantained.
• Manipulatives,
which are objects that children can handle, help them learn abstract concepts through hands on and kinaesthetic experiences.
• Manipulatives
can include Unifix Cubes, blocks, geometric patterns or shapes, coloured counters. They can also include things found in the classroom or at home and special designed manipulatives such as number cards with TouchPoints.
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Examples of Using Manipulatives Learning Numbers
• In a lesson, where the children are learning numbers, the children with severe intellectual impairment are given number cards with TouchPoints.
• The child is guided to move his/her fingers along the number, from one TouchPoint to the other so that the child can recognise the shape of the number.
• This is repeated for a number of times until the child can trace the number by him/her self.
• Instead
of TouchPoint number cards, one can make shapes of numbers with rough material.
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• When the child has grasped the concept, of the number’s shape, then the child can ”write“ the number with his/her fingers, using finger paint or sand/semolina.
• This new skill of ”writing“ is repeated until the child is confident in ”writing“ the numbers.
• With each new number taught, the child is taught the name of the number.
• Interactive activities on a tablet or communication device, where the child points to the number and the number is read aloud can serve as a further learning tool.
• Likewise
these devices can serve to assess whether learning has taken place, when the child has to point to the number read aloud.
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Examples of Using Manipulatives Number Values
• Once children have grasped the concept of recognising numbers, one can pass on to the next step, that is attributing a value to the numbers learnt.
• The
number cards with TouchPoints can be used to identify the value of each number. The TouchPoints indicate the value of the number. Example, the number 2 has two TouchPoints, so it has a value of 2.
• Blocks
or other manipulatives such as toy cars, play dough, coloured counters and Unifix Cubes can also be used. Electronic software on communication devices can also be an aid for further learning and as an assessment of learning.
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• The child can be helped to grasp this new skill by showing him/her the number card, ask him/her to write it with paint or in sand, which serves as revision, and then count with him/her the number of blocks or manipulatives to indicate the value of the number.
• Once the child grasps the new idea s/he can practice by being given a toy truck or a picture of a toy truck and asked to load stones (blocks/play dough) on it, according to a number given.
• When the child is ready to grasp more complex concepts such as money and time, it will be beneficial if the child is presented with real life situations, such as presenting him/her with a number of priced objects and some money and asking him to choose an object and find the coins s/he needs in order to buy it.
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Conclusion • Johann
Pestalozzi believed ”that all children had an equal right to education and the capacity to profit from it” (Pound, 2006). Children need only be given the opportunity and the support to learn.
• Michael Carr stated that ”all children are gifted; some just open their packages earlier than others" (Blaydes, 2003). This means that all children are unique and learn at different paces and in different ways.
• It is not easy to teach children with severe intellectual impairment, however with the necessary resources and technological aids, these children can learn. It is only a question of adapting our teaching to these children's needs. ”If students cannot learn the way we teach them, then we must teach them the way they learn” (Winebrenner & Kiss, 2014).
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Reference List Blaydes, J. (2003). The educator's book of quotes. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Briffa, M. J. (2006). Maps making action plans. Inclusive Education and Ignatian Pedagogy, 5(3), 9-11. Erickson, K. A., & Koppenhaver, D. A. (2007). Children with disabilities: Reading and writing the fourblocks way. Greensboro, North Carolina: CarsonDellosa Publishing Company. Gargiulo, R., & Kilgo, J. L. (2014). An introduction to young children with special needs: Birth through age eight. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. Justic, L. M., & Lankford, C. (2002). Preschool Children’s visual attention to print during storybook reading: Pilot findings. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 24(1), 11-21.
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Ministerial Committee on Inclusive Education (MCIE). (2000). Inclusive education policy regarding students with a disability Phinias, T., Jeriphanos, M., & Kudakwashe, M. (2013). Inclusion and the world of disability: A case study of zaka central cluster, masvingo, zimbabwe. Journal of African Studies and Development, 5(8), 241-249. Pound, L. (2006). How children learn: From montessori to vygosky - educational theories and approaches made easy. London, UK: Practical PreSchool Books. Winebrenner, S., & Kiss, L. M. (2014). Teaching kids with learning difficulties in Today’s classroom (3rd ed.). Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
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