ASSIGNMENT No.

02
Education of Mentally Retarded Children–I (3605)M.A/M.ed
Spring, 2022
Q.1 Suppose you have to teach the English alphabets to the children with mild intellectual
disability. Prepare a lesson plan employing curriculum modification strategy. (20)

Students with learning disabilities can benefit from various reading strategies. Learn about the
elements of reading, common errors, and direct instruction methods.

Reading

When students read, several things are going on at once. First, they use their knowledge of sound and
symbol relationships in phonics to decode words they don't know by sounding out sounds and
symbols. Think of a young student reading. They decode many or most words in text as they build
their sight word vocabulary and begin to rely less and less on sounding words out. As their sight word
vocabulary grows, they gain fluency, or the ability to read text in a steady pace with accurate tone.

Finally, students learn comprehension, or understanding what is read. There are many
comprehension strategies, methods we use to remember and understand what we're reading. These
strategies include things like making mental images, inferring, or connecting to the text.

Decoding, Fluency, & Comprehension

Students with special needs who have been formally diagnosed with a learning disability, or a difficulty
understanding language, often struggle with the strategies used when reading. Let's start with the
basics.

Like we discussed earlier, emergent readers rely on their decoding skills to read text until they build a
sight word vocabulary, or words they can remember without decoding. Decoding is reliant on several
sub skills related to sound and symbol relationships embedded in phonics. Think about everything that
goes into decoding a word, like ''cat.'' First, you need the ability to hear, understand, and manipulate
sounds, which is called phonemic awareness. Then you learn that letters represent sounds in
speech, and remember what each letter and sound is. Finally, you call on these skills as you decode
''c,'' ''a,'' and ''t,'' blending the individual sounds into the word ''cat.''

Students with learning disabilities who struggle with decoding may have:

 Low or no phonemic awareness skills

 A lack understanding of letters and sounds
 Issues with directional tracking, or moving from left to right
 An inability to recognize the patterns found in print

Students rely on being able to accurately decode and build their sight word vocabulary in order to
become fluent readers. Emergent readers who are just beginning to learn and apply decoding skills will
not be fluent; instead, fluency is built as they increase awareness of print and build confidence as
readers.

A lack of fluency skills, then, typically means a student is not yet reading with confidence and is
decoding most text. However, if a student knows many sight words and still reads in a choppy, word-
by-word manner, they may have speech or language processing issues that prevent them from
becoming a fluent reader. The text may also be too challenging, or the reader may not be getting
enough practice to build confidence.

Understanding what we read and remembering it is central to the act of reading. Children with learning
disabilities, however, think, process, and understand differently than other students. They may
struggle with comprehending what they read for several reasons, including poor decoding or fluency.
There are often more complicated reasons students with learning difficulties struggle to comprehend,
such as:

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  A lack of vocabulary or understanding of words
 An inability to connect ideas in the text to larger issues
 Low attention or concentration issues while reading
 A challenge in determining important ideas in text

Reading Strategies

Now that we know how students with learning disabilities struggle with decoding, fluency, and
comprehension, let's shift to how we can help them find success as readers. Teachers can begin
addressing these issues by using direct instruction, a method that teaches concepts explicitly and in
a straightforward manner. Many students with learning disabilities lack the ability to connect ideas.
When teachers use direct instruction, they use language that gets straight to the point and lets
students know the purpose of learning and how to find success. Let's discuss ways that teachers can
help students with learning disabilities.

The following are some ways that teachers can help students who struggle with decoding:

 Breaking down tasks into small, step-by-step pieces

 Following a predictable sequence
 Helping students organize information

This blog is the first in a series that highlights the work of the Meeting the Needs of All
Learners Master Teacher Project. Each author is an experienced educator from the Kansas
City area with deep expertise in differentiation and working with students with disabilities
and English Learners.
Time.

Time is considered a special commodity among teachers, which we try to maximize as much
as possible. So when considering modifications for students with disabilities or English
Language Learners, we might question using our precious time for just a few students. In
reality, the modifications that we make for students with different needs could benefit the
learning of every student in your class. Taking the time to make modifications helps you to
prioritize what you truly want students to learn and helps all students successfully reach
learning targets.

When I first started making modifications, I found myself spending more time on prep.
However this quickly became easier, and I soon saw results in my classroom. I was
expecting a unit about the Revolutionary War to take more time to teach, but all my
students were able to grasp the key ideas because they were working at their independent
level for success. We were able to move more quickly through the material, which allowed
for deeper and more meaningful conversations as a whole class.

Here are some areas where modifications will lead to the success of all students.

Readin g Mo dif ic at ions

Build the Foundations

One of my favorite strategies for teaching the foundations of reading is Tap It Out. Tap It
Out is a strategy in which you use your fingers to tap each sound in a word to help
students with phonemic awareness and decoding. This strategy is especially helpful with
dyslexia or other reading difficulties. However, I use this strategy with all of my students,
and I can see that each student grasps the necessary knowledge and routine that increases
their ability to decode and encode.
Build Bac kground Knowledge
Building Background Knowledge through Text Sets is a strategy that requires some pre-
planning. Teachers must first identify which topics might be unfamiliar to students who
don’t have the necessary background knowledge based on their disability or cultural
differences. However, all our students come to us with different lived experiences and

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interests, so curating a text set to introduce a topic before diving deep into the learning
allows all students to build a schema to connect to later on in their learning.
One of my favorite examples of the universal benefit of text sets came from a young man
in one of my reading groups. I had created a text set with the intention of assisting a
couple of students with disabilities in the group, however, this particular student became
really engaged and excited by the topic. When we started digging deeper into the actual
learning he was motivated, incredibly insightful, and encouraged all his group mates
throughout the learning. He felt like a success and this, in turn, helped the other group
members feel successful.

Personal izat ion

Place Assignments into Tiers

Tiering assignments is another way to address the needs of students with disabilities and
English Learners that also helps all students. When assignments are tiered, students are
able to access information in different levels and forms, which increases their motivation
and belief that they can succeed. Three teachers from the “Meeting the Needs of All
Learners” Master Teacher Project have written strategies to help with tiering:

 Tiering Assignments and Assessments in Math

 Tiered Activities for Upper Elementary Students
 Tiered Activities for Early Elementary English Learners
T ec hnology

Audio Recordings
Often strategies that meet the needs of students with disabilities include auditory
recordings of text. Digital Worksheets with Video Directions demonstrates this type of
strategy. The benefit to all students comes from taking the cognitive load off of
comprehending directions. This allows for students who find it easier to listen to directions
to access that information, but keep their minds focused on the analysis of the content or
the learning that needs to take place.
Using Visuals
Another strategy that is often used for English Learners is utilizing visuals. Strategies
like Visual Retellings and Shades of Meaning are very helpful for English Learners.
However, this same idea could benefit many students who find they learn better through
visuals either as photos, graphics, diagrams, illustrations, etc. It can also help all students
make those neural connections to other ideas.
In Sum mary

What we as teachers discover in the end is those modifications that make learning
accessible for students with disabilities or English Language Learners lead to enhanced
learning for all students. Taking the time to make those modifications will lead more
students to success with learning targets and maybe even less time re -teaching.

Q.2 Discuss the procedure and benefits to use sign language and communication board for
children with severe intellectual disability. (20)

Verbally-based interventions are those that use verbal strategies to target the ability to use sounds,
words and sentences to express oneself. They range from naturalistic, child-centred and
developmental-pragmatic approaches, to structured and more didactic methods. Discrete Trial Training
(DTT), for example, is a structured approach, which involves simplifying a skill into a series of steps
and teaching the child those steps one at a time (this is known as 'discrete trials'). Although this
approach has been shown to improve expressive and receptive communication), some argue it fails to
promote spontaneous communication and to generalize newly learned skills beyond the training
setting. Prelinguistic/Milieu Communication Training (P/MCT) is an approach that uses modelling of
communicative behaviour and correction of child responses, time delay (waiting for the child to
initiate/respond) and incidental teaching in natural environments. This approach capitalizes on the
child's natural interests (Yoder 2006). Some novel approaches are also being evaluated to see if these

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may address the specific difficulties experienced by children with ASD who are minimally verbal (e.g.
Rapid Motor Imitation Antecedent (RMIA), a programme that has been adapted from the DTT model.

Concern for student development

A concern for student development has existed in some form since the establishment of institutions of
higher education. As student needs have evolved, developmental strategies similarly have adapted to
meet those needs. Major theoretical models emerged from psychology and sociology in the early
twentieth century and examined the interaction between the college environment and student
development. Notably, the work of Erikson explored identity development in adolescence; more
recently, Arnett (2004) built upon this work to create a theory of emerging adulthood to describe the
period of exploration and identity formation that occurs between adolescence and adulthood.

Based on these theories, several strategies have been deployed to address student developmental
needs, including advising, counseling, coaching, and mentoring. These strategies have either operated
in isolation from one another or have been used interchangeably without a full understanding of the
unique uses and goals appropriate to each. But as Evans et al. noted, “the whole of students’
development is bigger than its parts” and demands more than a one-size-fits-all model (2010, p. 371).
Indeed, the very theories upon which these strategies are based “encourage partnerships … to enhance
student learning and maximize positive student outcomes.

Strategies and their applications within the higher education setting. The article describes the
development of Wake Forest University’s Mentoring Resource Center and efforts to develop a campus-
wide mentoring culture through strategic partnerships with other offices on campus, particularly Career
Education and Counseling, Residence Life and Housing, and Academic Advising. The authors describe
challenges and opportunities the university faced as it developed and implemented this decentralized,
highly collaborative model, as well as discuss lessons learned and aspects of other developmental
models that can enhance the effectiveness of mentoring programs.

An effective teacher or family child care provider chooses a strategy to fit a particular situation. It’s
important to consider what the children already know and can do and the learning goals for the specific
situation. By remaining flexible and observant, we can determine which strategy may be most
effective. Often, if one strategy doesn’t work, another will.

The MRC is housed within the Office of Personal and Career Development, along with Career and
Professional Development; Leadership Development; the Center for Innovation, Creativity, and
Entrepreneurship; and the Family Business Center. This co-location provides opportunities for
interdisciplinary collaboration among these departments and also makes clear the university’s
commitment to mentoring as a strategic component of the personal and career development process.
MRC leaders have formed strategic partnerships with offices across the campus, including Academic
Advising, Residence Life and Housing, Campus Life, the Chaplain’s Office, the President’s Office, the
Center for International Studies, and targeted academic departments.

Greatest challenges program

One of the greatest challenges program administrators have encountered is learning to lead a
decentralized model of mentoring. It requires relinquishing authority and control to the individual
departments and organizations seeking to develop mentoring programs on their own. It requires
extensive outreach and ongoing education of multiple partners about what mentoring is and is not, and
about the expectations of effective mentoring practice for our campus. However, relinquishing control
facilitates the creation of mentoring programs within the structures and norms of individual
departmental or organizational cultures. Ultimately, university leaders believe this will create a
stronger culture of mentoring on the campus.

Three key MRC partnerships include campus career counselors, resident advisers, and academic
advisers. The mentoring training, tools, and resources draw upon those used by university career
counselors, such as helping students develop concrete goals and action plans and using self-
assessments. While the center’s programming does not include an expectation that these counselors,
resident advisers, or academic advisers will enter formal mentoring relationships with their “assigned”
students, MRC staff intentionally train each on the strategies of effective mentoring, including asking
key questions, providing objective feedback, and fostering critical thinking and exploration. These
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partnerships are key to developing a mentoring culture on campus. By equipping everyone who may
interact with a student with the tools and resources of effective mentoring conversations, the MRC
increases the likelihood that all students will be effectively supported and guided in their individual
processes of identity formation, relationship building, and goal setting while they make the transition
from adolescence to adulthood.

Important to learn

At the same time, MRC leaders feel it is important to learn from partnerships and collaborations across
campus and to incorporate tools, resources, and knowledge from these offices into the university’s
mentoring work. The divide between mentoring and advising, mentoring and counseling, and
mentoring and coaching is no longer as great as it once was, and to highlight those distinctions while
supporting a firm definition of mentoring may be detrimental to student development outcomes in the
long run. The work of a mentor in higher education is not confined to one particular set of questions or
goals. Mentors advise students on making appropriate academic choices and building effective
relationships with peers. Mentors counsel students on developing goals and action plans toward
achieving careers, and serve as sounding boards during good times and bad. Mentors coach students
on transitioning effectively into college, learning how to be successful there, and then transitioning into
the “real world.” Mentoring is strengthened by these other developmental models and can, in turn,
contribute tools of effective questioning, listening, guidance, and feedback to these programs. In doing
so, the Mentoring Resource Center aims to equip students with the tools and knowledge to make
effective, appropriate decisions in their lives at Wake Forest and beyond. All of this is the work of
mentoring.

1. Acknowledge what children do or say. Let children know that we have noticed by giving
positive attention, sometimes through comments, sometimes through just sitting nearby and
observing. (“Thanks for your help, Kavi.” “You found another way to show 5.”)
2. Encourage persistence and effort rather than just praising and evaluating what the child has
done. (“You’re thinking of lots of words to describe the dog in the story. Let’s keep going!”)
3. Give specific feedback rather than general comments. (“The beanbag didn’t get all the way to
the hoop, James, so you might try throwing it harder.”)
4. Model attitudes, ways of approaching problems, and behavior toward others, showing children
rather than just telling them (“Hmm, that didn’t work and I need to think about why.” “I’m
sorry, Ben, I missed part of what you said. Please tell me again.”)
5. Demonstrate the correct way to do something. This usually involves a procedure that needs to
be done in a certain way (such as using a wire whisk or writing the letter P).
6. Create or add challenge so that a task goes a bit beyond what the children can already do.
For example, you lay out a collection of chips, count them together and then ask a small group
of children to tell you how many are left after they see you removing some of the chips. The
children count the remaining chips to help come up with the answer. To add a challenge, you
could hide the chips after you remove some, and the children will have to use a strategy other
than counting the remaining chips to come up with the answer. To reduce challenge, you
could simplify the task by guiding the children to touch each chip once as they count the
remaining chips.
7. Ask questions that provoke children’s thinking. (“If you couldn’t talk to your partner, how else
could you let him know what to do?”)
8. Give assistance (such as a cue or hint) to help children work on the edge of their current
competence (“Can you think of a word that rhymes with your name, Matt? How about bat . . .
Matt/bat? What else rhymes with Matt and bat?”)
9. Provide information, directly giving children facts, verbal labels, and other information. (“This
one that looks like a big mouse with a short tail is called a vole.”)
10. Give directions for children’s action or behavior. (“Touch each block only once as you count
them.” “You want to move that icon over here? Okay, click on it and hold down, then drag it to
wherever you want.”)

Intervention:

In an intervention, which occurs under the guidance of a skilled counselor, several significant people in
a substance abuser's life confront the individual with their firsthand experiences of his or her drinking
or drug use. The formalized process begins before the intervention and includes a progressive
interaction between the counselor and the family or friends for at least 2 days before meeting with the
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patient. During this time, the counselor not only helps plan the intervention but also educates the
family about substance abuse and its prevention. Participants are coached about offering information in
an emotionally neutral, factual manner while maintaining a supportive, no accusatory tone, thus
presenting incontrovertible evidence to the loved one that a problem exists.

Panel members:

When using this approach with older adults, Panel members recommend some modifications. No more
than one or two relatives or close associates should be involved along with the counselor; having too
many people present may be emotionally overwhelming or confusing for the older person. The most
influential person to include in interventions or any other pretreatment activity may be a spouse,
cohabitant, caregiving son or daughter, clergy member, or visiting nurse or caseworker, depending on
the particular social network of the client. Inclusion of grandchildren is discouraged: Panel members
report that many older alcoholics describe long-lasting resentment and shame about the airing of their
problems in the presence of much younger relatives.

Psychoactive prescription:

Because denial is as much a part of psychoactive prescription drug dependence as it is of alcoholism

and addiction to illicit drugs, an intervention may help move psychoactive drug abusers toward
detoxification or other formal treatment, although extra caution is advisable. Both the diagnosis of
abuse or dependence and the need for treatment are particularly difficult for older patients to accept
because their initial use of psychoactive prescription drugs was, in almost all cases, originally
sanctioned by a health care provider and prescribed as a remedy for a legitimate medical problem or
complaint. As a group, older adults tend to have even greater disdain for "drug addicts" than the
general population: Any implied linkage with the criminalized population of illicit drug users is
unnecessarily stigmatizing and appropriately resented. Such labels as addict, alcoholic, and drunkard
should be avoided.

Motivational counseling:

As a result of the work pioneered by Prochaska and DiClemente, clinicians now understand that people
may respond quite differently to recommendations to alter or give up longstanding or previously
pleasurable behaviors. Reactions depend, to a great extent, on an individual's readiness to change. For
example, the screening or assessment findings may confirm one individual's suspicions about the
negative effect of alcohol on personal health and may prompt an immediate commitment to abstain or
begin tapering off. For others, the assessment may be a revelation that must be processed over time
before they can effect any changes. Still others may be unconvinced by the findings and the need to
make any changes at all.

Research on stages of change:

Research on stages of change, initially applied to smoking cessation studies, has demonstrated that
smokers enrolled in treatment trials fall into one of five stages: precontemplation, contemplation,
ready for action, action, and maintenance. Categorizing smokers this way helps predict who is most
likely to succeed in quitting smoking and what kinds of interventions work best with smokers in
different stages. More recently, it has been suggested that research on brief interventions for problem
drinkers could examine stages of change as a means of tailoring interventions to an individual's
readiness. Studies have already begun to examine readiness for change as predictor of outcome in the
alcohol field.

Motivational counseling acknowledges:

Motivational counseling acknowledges differences in readiness and offers an approach for "meeting
people where they are" that has proven effective with older adults. In this approach, an understanding
and supportive counselor listens respectfully and accepts the older adult's perspective on the situation
as a starting point, helps the individual identify the negative consequences of drinking and prescription
drug abuse, helps him or her shift perceptions about the impact of drinking or drug-taking habits,
empowers the individual to generate insights about and solutions for his or her problem, and expresses
belief in and support for the older adult's capacity for change. Motivational counseling is an intensive

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process that enlists patients in their own recovery by avoiding labels, avoiding confrontation (which
usually results in greater defensiveness), accepting ambivalence about the need to change as normal,
inviting clients to consider alternative ways of solving problems, and placing the responsibility for
change on the client. This process also can help offset the denial, resentment, and shame invoked
during an intervention and can serve as a prelude to cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Specialized Treatment of Older Problem Drinkers And Substance Abusers:

For some older adults, especially those who are late onset drinkers or prescription drug abusers with
strong social supports and no mental health co morbidities, pretreatment approaches may prove quite
effective, and follow-up brief interventions and empathic support for positive change may be sufficient
for continued recovery. There is, however, a subpopulation of older adults who will need more
intensive treatment. Despite the resistance that some older problem drinkers or drug abusers exert,
treatment is worth pursuing. Studies show that older adults are more compliant with treatment and
have treatment outcomes as good as or better than those of younger patients.

Q.3 Provide a list of activities to be carried out in classroom for ocular motor control and
hand-eye coordination of the children with intellectual disability. (20)

Gross motor (physical) skills are those which require whole body movement and which involve the
large (core stabilising) muscles of the body to perform everyday functions, such as standing, walking,
running, and sitting upright. It also includes eye-hand coordination skills such as ball skills (throwing,
catching, kicking).

gross motor skills important

Gross motor skills are important to enable children to perform every day functions, such as walking,
running, skipping, as well as playground skills (e.g. climbing) and sporting skills (e.g. catching,
throwing and hitting a ball with a bat). These are crucial for everyday self care skills like dressing
(where you need to be able to stand on one leg to put your leg into a pant leg without falling over).

Gross motor abilities also have an influence on other everyday functions. For example, a child’s ability
to maintain table top posture (upper body support) will affect their ability to participate in fine motor
skills (e.g. writing, drawing and cutting) and sitting upright to attend to class instruction, which then
impacts on their academic learning. Gross motor skills impact on your endurance to cope with a full
day of school (siting upright at a desk, moving between classrooms, carrying your heavy school bag).

The building blocks necessary

 Muscular strength: The ability to exert force against resistance.

 Muscular endurance: The ability of a muscle or group of muscles to exert force repeatedly
against resistance.
 Motor (muscle) planning: The ability to move the body with appropriate sequencing and timing
to perform bodily movements with refined control.
 Motor learning: A change in motor (muscle) behaviour resulting from practice or past
experience.
 Postural control: The ability to stabilize the trunk and neck to enable coordination of other
limbs.
 Sensory processing: Accurate registration, interpretation and response to sensory stimulation
in the environment and one’s own body.
 Body awareness: Knowing body parts and understanding the body’s movement in space in
relation to other limbs and objects.
 Balance: The ability to maintain position whether that is static, dynamic (moving) or rotational.
 Coordination: Ability to integrate multiple movements into efficient movement.
 Crossing Mid-line: The ability to cross the imaginary line running from the child’s nose to pelvis
that divides the body into left and right sides.
 Proprioception: This is information that the brain receives from our muscles and joints to make
us aware of body position and body movement.

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  Muscle Tone: The resting muscle tension of a muscle which is the continuous and passive partial
contraction of the muscles.

Develop ideas

If a child has difficulties with gross motor skills they might:

 Be late in reaching developmental milestones (i.e. sit, crawl, walk, run and hop).
 Move stiffly and lacks fluid body movement or alternatively looks awkward and appears clumsy.
 Avoid physical activity.
 Participate in physical activity for only short periods (have low endurance).
 Cannot maintain an upright posture when sitting on a mat or at a table top.
 Be unable to perform the same skills as their peers (e.g. catch, kick, hop and jump).
 Appear less skillful than their peers in sports.
 Be unable to follow multiple step instructions to complete a physical task (e.g. obstacle course).
 Be unable to plan and correctly sequence events or steps in a process (e.g. step forward before
throwing).
 Fail to perform movements safely (e.g. climbing).
 Need to put in more effort than their peers to complete a task.
 Tire frequently with physical activity.
 Lose previously mastered skill if they do not keep practicing them.
 Be unable to ‘generalise’ or transfer a skill (use the same skill in a different setting/way) (e.g.
can easily change between throwing a big/heavy ball to a light/small ball).

Child has gross motor difficulties

If a child has gross motor difficulties, they might also have difficulties with:

 Drawing and pencil skills lacking in a skillful outcome.

 Writing and drawing for long periods of time.
 Activities of Daily Living (dressing independently, holding and using cutlery).
 Maintaining posture while sitting on the floor or at a table.
 Low energy levels.
 Seem tired or lethargic and take longer to respond to stimuli around them.
 Sensory processing (responding appropriately to the environment).
 Chewing and swallowing food.
 Dribbling inappropriately.
 Demonstrate poor articulation of sounds.
 Difficulties with manipulation of small toys and utensils.

Improve gross motor skills

 Improve attention to task and alertness levels in readiness to respond quickly when they lose
their balance and to respond to changes in the environment around them.
 Iccrease Core strength: Strengthen the ‘core’ (namely the large central muscles) of the body
to provide greater body (especially trunk) stability.
 Simplify specific physical skills into one or two step components to teach at a time. Then
gradually add together components until the skill is able to be performed in its entirety (e.g.
skipping – start with a step, then a hop).
 Gradually increase duration and intensity of activity to increase endurance.
 Improve sensory processing to ensure appropriate attention and arousal to attempt the
tasks, as well as ensuring the body is receiving and interpreting the correct messages from the
muscles in terms of their position, their relationship to each other, the speed at which they
move and how much force they are using.
 Multi-sensory approach (using as many of the 7 senses) to learn new skills will ensure a child
has the best chance of learning appropriate strategies to respond to a physical demand or
challenge.

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  Cognitive planning strategies can be used to talk the child through tasks (e.g. ‘Always point
to where you are aiming’).
 Task analysis to assist with chunking of information and backwards chaining (i.e. learning
small parts of a task at a time).
 Develop the underlying skills necessary to support whole body (gross motor) skills, such as
providing activities to support:
o balance and coordination
o strength and endurance
o attention and alertness (sensory processing)
o body awareness
o movement planning (praxis)

Improving strategies

 Hop Scotch for hopping, or other games that encourage direct task/skill practice.
 Simon Says for body awareness and movement planning (praxis).
 Wheelbarrow walking races for upper body strength and postural or trunk control.
 Unstable surfaces: Walking/climbing over unstable surfaces (e.g. large pillows) as it
requires a lot of effort and increases overall body strength.
 Catching and balancing: Standing with one foot on a ball while catching another ball
(encourages balance while practicing catching and throwing).
 Large balls: Begin catching with a large ball/balloon and only after the skill is mastered,
move to a smaller sized ball.
 Obstacle courses: to combine lots of gross motor skills together into one practice.
 Playground climbing and swinging.
 Swimming

notice difficulties with gross motor skills in my child

Therapeutic intervention to help a child with gross motor difficulties is important to:

 Increase your child’s confidence in gross motor activities (e.g. playing on the playground,
running, jumping).
 Enhance their self-esteem (so they aren’t ostracized or picked last for sports teams due to their
physical ability skill challenges).
 Increase sporting ability and confidence to engage in sports. Participating in sport enables a child
to enrich their lives with positive people and develop strong friendships.
 Help your child develop the strength and endurance to manage the physical needs of a full school
day.
 Provide your child with a strong base of support so that they are better able to use their arms
and hands for fine motor skills (such as manipulating small objects, such as pencils, scissors,
keys, buttons and zips).

If left untreated what can difficulties with gross motor skills lead to?
When children have difficulties with gross motor skills, they might also have difficulties with:

 Managing a full school day due to poor strength and endurance.

 Participating in sporting activities.
 Performing age appropriate self care skills independently.
 Poor self esteem when they realise their skills do not match their peers.
 Bullying when others become more aware of a child’s difficulties.
 Poor fine motor skills (e.g. writing, drawing and cutting) due to poor core stability, meaning they
do not have a strong base to support the use of their arms and hands.

Q.4 Discuss the similarities and differences between computer simulation and computer
assisted instruction. How can these teaching strategies be used for children with intellectual
disability? (20)

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When learning to copy words, some students may need assistive technology to circumvent weaknesses
in fine motor skills. You may need to use adapted keyboards (alphabetical, onehanded, large print),
AAC selection displays, and/or scanning technology for students who have physical disabilities that
affect their gross and fine motor functioning.

Teach Spelling Skills

Once students learn to copy other words, they can progress to spelling words after hearing them
spoken. Try these strategies to boost emerging spelling skills:

 Backward chaining strategy. Present the spoken word and then provide a written model for
the student to trace. Fade the written model by incrementally removing the letters in the word from
the last letter to the first.

 Computer-assisted instruction. Show the student a word/picture combination, and then ask
him to select letters from a computer-based array to construct the word shown.

 Cover, copy, compare (CCC) technique. Give the student a piece of paper divided into four
columns. The first column contains the targeted spelling word. The student copies the word and writes
it in the second column. Then the student folds the first column on the left toward the center (covering
the second column) and writes the word from memory in the third column. The student unfolds the
paper and compares, and if she’s made an error, she copies the word three times in the final column.

 Video models. Record a video of yourself writing new words on a chalkboard, and display the
video on a computer while students type or write the words. Insert a pause in the video to allow the
student time to copy the word. Then insert a blank screen, during which the student writes the word
from memory, and show the original model once more. (Share the videos with parents to help them
support their child in practicing writing skills outside the classroom.)

Encourage Sentence Construction

 Begin instruction by teaching students to write, type, or select words when presented with a
picture or object.

 Once students have acquired a small word-to-picture repertoire of about 50 words, start using
sentence starters (“I see a _____,” “The boy is ______”) to expand the length of these responses.

 Fade the sentence starters gradually so that students are independently constructing sentences.

 Once students can write a single sentence about a picture, encourage them to write multiple
sentences about a picture. Present pictures containing a variety of stimuli and highlight features of the
picture to help students identify content in which to describe or label. These prompts can then be faded
to ensure students can choose to write about the stimuli that they deem important.

 Fade the use of pictures so that students can eventually write about things they have learned.
Slowly increase the amount of time between the observation of the picture and the writing response.
This fading is important, since students will rarely be asked to write about things immediately present
in their environment.

If students have not acquired sufficient spelling skills to write sentences, then they may require the
use of selection-based writing software in which words or combinations of words are presented within
arrays on a computer screen.

Teach Narrative Writing

Students who can engage in narrative writing are able to articulate what they know and share their
perspective on the world around them. Carefully plan instructional activities to help students acquire
narrative writing skills:

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  Begin by teaching students to write simple paragraphs. Show them that a paragraph names a
topic and then tells more about that topic.

 Teach students to apply this rule when writing a paragraph about a picture. Help the student to
identify the content of a topic sentence by highlighting a key element within the picture.

 Present a visual organizer and show the student how to use it during planning and while writing
his or her paragraphs.

 To give students a model for simple storytelling, show them a series of pictured events or video
recordings of real-life events (e.g., child plays ball, child falls down, child cries). You might also
give students a series of pictures to sequence themselves before they write a story.

 Once students can write or construct a paragraph about a picture or other visual aid, fade the
use of visual supports.

Provide Editing and Revision Instruction

You can help improve the quality and clarity of student writing by prompting them to check their own
work. For example:

 After teaching a student to write simple sentences, instruct the student to identify whether he
or she has included both a person or a thing and something more about the subject.

 Direct the student to look for ending punctuation.

 Ask students to identify missing elements in their stories. Have them practice by presenting a
variety of examples and having the student record the presence or absence of the elements.

 Teach students to use checklists to increase the inclusion of critical elements during writing
activities.

 Show students how to graph their use of writing elements and monitor their own progress, so
they can become more independent and effective writers.

Writing instruction for students with disabilities is a complex process that must be carefully and
deliberately planned. These were just a few suggestions to get you started. For more guidance—and
practical information on how to teach other academic content areas to students with developmental
disabilities.

Typed-up work is easy to read and copy for portfolio storage. Digital portfolios on the computer can
store photos, audio, and video samples and can be viewed and evaluated with children. Laptop
computers provide ease of use and can go wherever the action is. If you want to try something
sophisticated, hand-held devices such as Palm Pilots are available that can store developmental
checklists. You can record observations, and they can be easily downloaded to your computer later. No
need to retype notes, as the data is there on the computer, ready to be used.

If you have a photocopier, you can ...

 Copy children's work, such as drawings or writing, and store copies in their portfolios.
 Adjust image size and arrange copies of similar work in sequence, creating a visual "time line"
that clearly shows a child's skill development over time. You can also use your photocopy
machine to make a copy of developmental milestone charts for each child. Use different colored
highlighters to mark milestones reached during each quarter of the year. As you mark off what
children have achieved, look ahead to the next set of goals and type up a list for each child.
Consult these lists when you are doing your curriculum planning.

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If you have a scanner, you can ...

 Create electronic portfolios on your computer and store children's drawings or writing.
 Share scanned images of children's work with families via e-mail and/or computer disc.

Scanning transforms images to a digital format. Digital images can be used in many ways. They can be
stored in electronic portfolios or used with word processing or other programs to create newsletters,
Web pages, or child-authored books.

If you have a tape recorder or computer microphone, you can ...

 Document important discussions. Transcribing and reviewing these conversations at a later date
will provide insights regarding children's learning, thinking, and social skills. When using a tape
recorded remember to zero the counter when you start the tape. Note the counter number as
you begin recording, so you can easily find what you need later
 Take a language sample of children's storytelling as they use the flannel board with a familiar
fairy tale or one they create. After several months, take another sample and compare.
 Ask children to dictate the "story" about their work as they create a piece of art.
 Include children's voices in multi-media presentations about their work.

Audio recording provides an opportunity to "listen" more closely to children's theories, problem-solving
abilities, and ideas about their work (including the creation process and intent of their projects). When
using computers, children can use text-to-speech software to hear their stories read back to them.
When they compare early work with later work, they can "hear" how their stories have developed.

If you have a still camera or a digital camera, you can ...

 Record examples of three-dimensional work created in various learning centers, such as art and
woodworking projects, block towers, and culinary creations. Viewing photos later can help
children recall and comment on the thinking and problem solving involved with their work. *
Create a slide show for family nights about children's development in the program. (Use
presentation software for a computerized slide show.)

If you are using a digital camera, photos can be downloaded to the computer and printed out with a
color printer Digital cameras do not use film, so there is no cost for film and developing. Images can be
sent to parents via e-mail. Photos from a still camera can also be scanned into your computer.

If you have a video camera or a digital video camera, you can ...

 Share with children video footage of their play. As they revisit the experience, ask them about
aspects of their play to gain a clearer understanding of what was taking place. * Videotape
important moments in children's play or document special productions such as puppet shows.
Include segments in their portfolios and/or create special videos for family night presentations.
Videos can feature learning taking place in different developmental areas: How are children
interacting with others? With whom are they playing? (social emotional) What skills are they
exhibiting on the playground? (large muscle) How are they tackling a challenging scientific or
math problem? (problem solving)
 Use video for staff training purposes. The same video segment can be viewed in a variety of
ways, including looking at traits of individual children, recording how learning centers are used,
selecting samples for documentation, and analyzing what these samples convey.

With video, you can capture action and emotion, immediately replay scenes in the viewfinder, and look
very closely at events taking place in your program. Digital video gives you the capability of
downloading footage to your computer and using software to easily edit the material.

Lights! Camera! Action!

So much of young children's learning is action packed and "hands-on." Consider the activities offered in
your room and imagine what you could record with the creative use of a tape recorder or a video

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camera. An actual sample of children singing a song or performing a dramatization will allow children
and parents to better experience the emotion and excitement of the moment.

The video camera can also be set up on a tripod to record transition times and document how change
affects different children. This can provide important insights regarding individual children and the
smooth functioning of the program. Children reviewing video clips of their play can more vividly recall
the actions and emotions they experienced. Deeper insights into their thinking and problem solving can
occur with skillful questioning as exact scenes are revisited using video.

Digital video cameras, similar to other technology continue to improve in quality while prices decrease.
Many are lightweight and compact, and most will take still photos as well. User-friendly software
programs exist, making movie editing extraordinarily easy. (See ECT, April 2001.)

Put Parents in the Process

Technology can help strengthen partnerships with parents. Use journals, e-mail, Web sites, or online
electronic portfolio systems to communicate and collaborate, together monitoring children's growth and
development.

Putting It All Together

Periodic review of all the observations you've collected is critical to ongoing assessment of students'
progress. Look at all the samples, including children's written work, anecdotes, audio and video tapes,
photos, developmental records, and curriculum plans to evaluate how their performance matches your
program's goals. This will guide your daily decisions about the children and your curriculum. It's
important that your storage system for documentation allows for easy access to samples throughout
the year.

Laurie, a teacher of 5- and 6-year-olds, set up a simple spreadsheet on her laptop. As each child
reads, she quickly adds his reading level. The spreadsheet allows her to manipulate all information
entered. She can look at an individual's progress or pull out information about class trends. With a few
mouse clicks, she can produce an appealing and informative graph. Children and parents are thrilled to
see growth portrayed so dramatically in this way.

Q.5 Write short notes on the following: (20)

• Modern teaching approaches

the baby want to avoid or gain something? Does the baby want attention or is there too much stimulus
(noise)? Once children can talk, caregivers begin to focus on the physical characteristics of the
behavior. “Stop crying!”, “Don’t hit!”, “Sit down!” Teachers must realize that behavior only continues if
it is reinforced and reinforcement is often covert. If a child stands at an inappropriate time in need of
attention only to be corrected by a stern “sit down,” the child has been reinforced and will likely repeat
the behavior. ABA focuses on the five functions of behavior: to gain attention, to gain a tangible, to
gain or escape sensory stimulation, to escape attention or a task, to avoid attention or a task. The first
step to changing behavior begins with identifying the function.

The next step is reinforcement. For anyone to choose an alternative behavior over what they are prone
to do, there must be significant incentive. I use a worksheet with a variety of incentives including food,
phone use, and iPads. Students prioritize the incentives and we develop systems, like tokens, to
reinforce the correct behavior. It’s important to realize that students often don’t know how they are
supposed to act, so instruction on things like respect or restraint is necessary. The last step is the
application and analysis. I use a chart to document the increase or decrease of the problem behavior.
Always begin with easy goals and increase; students have to feel successful so the process isn’t seen
as a punishment. Normally the behavior gets worse before it gets better, but if the behavior continues,
either the function is incorrectly hypothesized or the incentive isn’t strong enough.

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Positive reinforcement procedures

There are many complex principles in ABA. Yet, by knowing how to apply a relatively simple principle –
positive reinforcement – teachers are able to produce large and desirable changes in the behaviors of
their students.

The principle of positive reinforcement indicates that when a pleasant event follows a behavior, the
behavior is more likely to occur in the future. For example, when teachers compliment students for
behaving properly, it is likely that they will behave more appropriately in the future. If the teacher
awards extra marks to students for handing homework in on time, the chances are that students will
be more diligent in handing in their homework next time.

It is surprising to me that people have so many reservations and concerns about positive
reinforcement procedures. The principle of positive reinforcement is a natural, not a contrived, process.
People say: “Hello” to people who smile back at them. Salespeople make efforts to sell more products,
because such activities increase their commissions. Athletes try hard to meet the incentive clauses of
their contracts.

What is so wonderful about positive reinforcement procedures?

There are few things in life that produce only pleasant outcomes. Positive reinforcement comes as
close to this ideal as any other process does. Positive reinforcement works and is humane. Children
love being in a classroom where positive reinforcement procedures are being used. Teachers enjoy
teaching with positive reinforcement procedures because the results are so gratifying. Positive
reinforcement procedures create a loving bond between students and teachers.

How do I find out what children’s positive reinforcers are?

This is not hard to do. There are a number of things you can do to find out what a student’s possible
positive reinforcers are. I italicized possible because you cannot be sure if an item or activity is a
positive reinforcer until you try it out. Here are some things you can do. First, you can ask the child
what they would like to work for. You can ask the same question to their parents. You can also ask
them to pick from a list of possible reinforcers. Another way of identifying possible positive reinforcers
is to note what a child spends a lot of time doing. If a student frequently runs to the computer,
computer time is likely to be a positive reinforcer. Finally, you can observe what follows an
inappropriate behavior. This may be a positive reinforcer. For example, if you notice that often when a
student storms out of the classroom, he or she gets to spend time with a favorite principal, visiting the
principal may be a positive reinforcer. You may then have the child earn time with the principal for
behaving appropriately.

What are some positive reinforcers I can use?

This is easy. The first one falls under the category of social reinforcement and consists of smiles,
compliments, or a call home to a parent reporting how well their child behaved that day. It is helpful to
compliment children when they walk into class each day. This prompts appropriate student behavior,
which should also be praised. The best predictor I know of for successful classroom management is the
number of compliments a teacher gives. The more, the better. Think of how you feel when someone
gives you a sincere compliment. Some teachers are admonished not to smile until Christmas. I say,
start smiling on Labor Day and keep smiling until Flag Day.

There are also a number of activity and tangible reinforcers for students of all ages. These include
having extra free time, collecting student papers, having lunch with the teacher, earning extra points
toward a grade, and reading favored materials.

What are a few examples of successful ABA programs?

Here are a few examples. One first-grade teacher I know had a student who made animal sounds 45
times per day. The teacher divided the day into 15-minute blocks. For every 15-minute block without
an animal sound, the girl earned a minute on the computer to be enjoyed at the end of the day. The
girl then made animal sounds only four times a day.
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A middle school teacher found that students were frequently out of theShe set a timer to ring three
times a lesson at unpredictable intervals. If all students were seated when the timer went off, the
group earned a point. Ten points meant a day without homework. Out-of-seat behavior became a
rarity.

A high school mathematics teacher found that students were taking a long time to transition between
classes. He solved this by putting bonus problems on the whiteboard at the start of each class. The
problems were removed after fi ve minutes. Most students arrived at class punctually, thereafter, in
order to receive the bonus points on their grades.

• Open class room methods

At OpenClassrooms, our teaching method employs innovative techniques to help our students master
new competencies quickly that are different from traditional teaching models. We are truly pioneering a
new way to learn.

In this article, discover OpenClassrooms’ innovative training methods.

Throwing out the old model

If you’ve been to school or taken any type of training course, you’ve likely experienced the classic style
of education: attend lectures, do homework, and take exams.

Exams determine your grades, and passing grades enable you to move to the next semester. Complete
each semester and you can continue to the next year, and if you complete each year you can get your
diploma or degree.

This style of teaching is found nearly everywhere, but at OpenClassrooms, we take a different
approach. We started by asking ourselves two fundamental questions:

1. What are recruiters really looking for? Good grades?

The short answer is that recruiters are looking for professionals who can demonstrate they have a
specific skillset and the right experience.

2. How can you learn those skills online? By just watching videos?

Videos are a start. However, it takes much more to really master a new career.

Fundamental to our teaching method is the belief that learning something new requires reinforcement
through practice. And we have found that practice is best reinforced by having regular contact with
experts already working in a chosen field.

These two elements are the basis of our teaching model.

Project-based learning

At OpenClassrooms, we reverse-engineer our curriculum to meet the specific skill sets needed for in-
demand jobs. There are no tests or exams to study for. Our programs are project-based, requiring
students to build products and solve issues that they would realistically face in a future role.

Each week, you’ll discuss your progress with a mentor during a one-hour video conference. Mentors
are experienced professionals working in your target industry. They’re able to give you practical advice
based on their real-world experience.

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So where do video classes fit into all of this?

At OpenClassrooms, classes act as a support to the projects. You aren’t obliged to complete all of
them. You can complete your projects using other sources or knowledge from your own experience.

If you’re completely new to the subject, however, we do recommend using the classes as much as
possible in order to give yourself a solid knowledge base.

Why this approach?

Project-based learning has been on the fringe of the educational landscape for a long time. It’s known
to be one of the most effective methods in terms of keeping students motivated during their learning
experience as well as teaching them relevant skills, fast.

Here are some of its key benefits:

 You learn what you need to. You’ll learn only what is required to work in the industry, but
also everything that is required. Project-based learning allows OpenClassrooms to finely tune
courses to achieve this.
 It’s a fairer way to evaluate your work. Once you graduate, you’ll know you’ve acquired all
the necessary skills not only to pass an exam, but also to survive and flourish in a real
professional environment.
 Your coursework experience has real value. By the end of your program, you’ll have
completed relevant projects that you can put in your professional portfolio and present during
an interview. Recruiters will take notice. You’ll be ready to start work immediately.

Project-based learning gives you the opportunity to gain realistic professional experience in the ‘safety’
of an educational context. Any problems can be discussed with your mentor, allowing challenges to be
an opportunity to learn in a low-stakes environment.

Following our project-based, Path means that you’ll thoroughly learn the skills required for the job you
want all while building your professional portfolio. The combination of these two factors puts you on an
accelerated path toward career success.

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