HarperChristina,Intellectual+Disabilities




 * My name is Christina Harper and I want to introduce myself. I am currently a 24 year old graduate student at Southern Oregon University with dreams of one day becoming a middle school Language Arts teacher. I was born and raised in Ashland, a beautiful town located in the Rogue Valley. Instead of leaving this wonderful place, I stuck around and got my bachelors degree in English Education from S.O.U. in 2010. I feel very fortunate to be able to continue my education at the same school. When I’m not busy studying or working I try to be outside as much as possible, whether that is going swimming in the Applegate or hiking Table Rock I love to play in the sunshine. When the sun isn’t shinning I can usually be found curled up with a good book.**
 * I am also completely computer illiterate and I am just now realizing that all of the work that I have been doing on my wiki page has been hidden from everyone!**
 * Something that bring me total happiness is spending time with my wonderful friends. It doesn't matter what we are doing but they are the best support system that I could ever ask for and I love every one of them (I'm sure some of you are reading this and yes I am talking about you :D )**
 * My greatest fear about being a teacher is not knowing if this is what I really want to do. I love working with kids and showing them how much fun language and reading and writing can be but I'm still not sure if this is what I'm meant to do.**
 * A time in my life that was extremely difficult for me was the year that I took a break between college and entering the MAT program. I wasn't working and felt like I got lost in doing all of the fun stuff that wasn't getting me anywhere. During this year off I seemed to have forgotten how to be a student! The first half of this school year has had me in a crunch to remember how to have good study habits. I think I am finally getting the hang of it again. It is nice to be back on track.**
 * I would love to get a better understanding of how to help kids with disabilities in my classroom. I think that intellectual disabilities are often the most difficult to incorporate into the general education classroom and I would like to get a better idea of ways to do that.**

**Christina Harper ** **February 1, 2012 ** **Inclusion Strategies ** **CBL Project ** **For my community based learning project I chose to create a lesson plan designed for one of my students with Asperger’s. The lesson is designed for an 8th grade language arts classroom and is a whole class activity that I feel would greatly benefit this student with some of his social skills. **

What’s your favorite book? Materials: Part One: Rationale **Focus and Purpose: ** **The focus of this lesson is to give students the opportunity to talk about their books of choice in order for other students to widen their possibilities when it comes to choosing a book. The lesson is designed to give students who struggle with social skills the chance to talk about something they are passionate about to another student. The lesson is designed to benefit one of my students with Asperger’s who loves to read but has a hard time interacting with other students in the class. ** Objectives: **Oregon Content Standards: ** **EL.08.LI.02 Demonstrate listening comprehension of more complex literary text through class ** **and/or small group interpretive discussions. ** **EL.08.LI.03 Identify and/or summarize sequence of events, main ideas, and supporting details in ** **literary selections. ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">EL.08.SL.09 Paraphrase a speaker's purpose and point of view, and ask relevant questions ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">concerning the speaker's content, delivery, and purpose. **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SSR book (a book of the student’s choice)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Paper
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pen or Pencil
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Worksheet
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Given the opportunity to talk about something that they enjoy students will be able to synthesize the plot of the novel and share the main literary elements of the story with other students.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Given the chance to work in small groups and one on one with others students will be able to utilize social skills that allow them to share something they enjoy with their classmates.

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Instructional Strategy: ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cooperative Learning ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Teaching to Diverse Learners: ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">i. Multiple Intelligences Applied in the Lesson
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Auditory - Students will be participating in a small groups or one on one discussions where they will be listening and participating in a conversation about a novel.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Verbal - Students will be making short, informal presentations to other students about a novel of their choice.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ii. Bloom’s Taxonomy Addressed in the Lesson
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Synthesis - Students will be summarizing and synthesizing the literary elements of a book of their choice to a small group of students.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Comprehension - Students will participate in actively listening to the informal presentations of other students and will be asked to write down interesting ideas or facts that pertain to the book talks.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">iii. Modified Instruction <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Part Two: Procedure
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Because this lesson is designed for a student with Asperger’s to work on their social skills it is important the the informal presentations focus on something of interest to the students. By taking a book of a student’s choice (I know how much my student with Asperger’s loves to read) the student will be more apt to talk to others about their book and build upon social skills without knowing it.

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anticipatory Set: ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students are required to read two books of their choice per trimester. The activity allows students to focus on what they are currently reading or a book that they have read in the past that they really enjoyed and share some of the literary elements of plot and character development to a small group of their peers. **

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Input: ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students will be given a worksheet that summarizes the points that they need to cover about the books that they will be talking about (Worksheet is attached to the lesson). Students will be asked to jot down the things that they think are important about the book that they would like to share with other students. **

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Modeling: ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On the doc cam I will provide a model of my brainstorming about a book that I have read so that they will have an understanding of what I am looking for them to cover in the presentations. **

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Check for Understanding: ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I will circulate around the room to make sure that they have written something down to talk about and answer any questions that may arise. **

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Guided Practice: ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students will be put into small groups of three (or one on one if the students prefer) and will take turns telling the other students what their books were about. (Face to Face Interactions, and Social Skills) The activity will act as an informal book talk. Students who are not presenting will be writing down interesting points about the description of the book. (Individual Accountability) Students will then switch roles. If time allows students will break into different groups to give everyone a chance to hear about as many books as possible. (Positive Interdependence) **

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Independent Practice and Closure: ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With the remaining ten minutes of class students will go back to their seats and rate the books that they have heard about. They will write down whether or not they would want to read it based upon the presentations that they heard. Students will turn in their ratings and the notes that they took during the presentations to be assessed for participation and understanding. (Group Processing) **

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reflection: ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In looking over the IEP’s of some of my students I was struck by how many (at least three) had something to do with social skills and behaviors. I chose to focus on my Asperger’s student because the lesson designed for him would also help the students with less severe social problems. The act of talking and listening to one another is sometimes hard for students to grasp, but it is a very necessary social skill that in my opinion isn’t given much attention in the classroom (besides in the teacher speaks, students listen model). Instead of having students get up in front of the class and do a formal book report for the whole class, a small group activity is less intimidating and gives students the opportunity to get to know some of their classmates better. The only writing that I ask of them is to show participation in the activity and to help them synthesize what they have just listened to. For my Asperger’s student, reading books can sometimes be a problem in class because he tends to focus his attention on his book rather than on what the rest of the class is doing. By incorporating his love for reading into an activity that has him socializing with other students I think that he will be able to focus his attention on something that he loves while unknowingly learning and developing social skills at the same time. While we don’t do verbal book talks in this placement my CT at my other placement uses them frequently. I would love to use this activity in that setting to see how well it would work with students at a different grade level with different needs. ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black'; font-size: 24px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Book Talk Brainstorming <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black'; font-size: 19px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What are you going to talk about?

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black'; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Describe the plot of your book, but don’t give away the ending! ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black'; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Who was one of your favorite characters of the book? Why did you like them? ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black'; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Tell about one of your favorite parts of the book. Was it the big action sequence or the romance between the characters? ** **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black'; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Why do you think that someone else would want to read this book? Why would you recommend it? **

My Topic is Intellectual Disabilities:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">According to the CDC an intellectual disability is defined as: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Intellectual disability, also known as mental retardation, is a term used when there are limits to a person’s ability to learn at an expected level and function in daily life. Levels of intellectual disability vary greatly in children – from a very slight problem to a very severe problem. Children with intellectual disability might have a hard time letting others know their wants and needs, and taking care of themselves. Intellectual disability could cause a child to learn and develop more slowly than other children of the same age. It could take longer for a child with intellectual disability to learn to speak, walk, dress, or eat without help, and they could have trouble learning in school.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Intellectual disabilities have been something that have interested me ever since I saw a hidden camera show that did a feature on people being rude and ignorant towards people with intellectual disabilities. It was a very shocking look at how people treat others. This was also an eye opening look at how hard it must be for people with intellectual disabilities to handle situations in the workplace and I’m sure in the classroom as well.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">media type="youtube" key="BOHC6vNm-HI" height="360" width="480" <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(The video does have some explicit language)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I think that discussing intellectual disabilities often brings up the need for social justice and how important it is to remember that everyone deserves the right to an education and to live their lives. The process of learning something, however hard it may be for some people, is one everyone experiences at one time or another. This is one of the universal things that we all share; it’s what brings us together.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Top Five Things I Learned While Researching Intellectual Disabilities: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Things that teacher should do in the classroom:
 * Establish a supportive classroom climate.
 * Provide buddy and peer support.
 * Give lots of feedback – predominantly positive.

2. Curriculum overlap involves teachers embedding additional curriculum content in a lesson or unit of work. This allows students in the general ed classroom to complete the necessary course content while allowing room for students with intellectual disabilities to gain extra instruction on things like working in groups and building relationships with peers.

3. When planning a lesson I found out some of the good questions to ask yourself (as a teacher) when adapting instruction for students with intellectual disabilities. When planning a unit of work, some teachers find it helpful to ask: • Do I need to make any adjustments at all? • Would technology help some/all students? • Do some students need material presented differently? • Should some students present their work differently? • Will all students be assessed in the same way? • Will some students need additional or different goals?

4. I also got to experience some really interesting personal narratives of parents and siblings and people with intellectual disabilities. I really think that looking a some of these narratives in the classroom can be very informative for seeing different perspectives on the world. I think that this can really tie into the classroom and how people treat one another. The connection between intellectual disabilities and social justice issues can be a great way to teach students about the people around them or people that they may meet in the future.

5. I also learned a lot about some specific intellectual disorders. I was fairly certain that I had a couple of students that suffered from FAS and after reading more about it I am pretty positive. It is very interesting to see the physical features that characterize FAS and seeing how it can effect the brain as well. **THE FACE OF FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME** Picture of extreme damage in an alcohol exposed brain taken by Sterling Clarren. FAS brain on Right.

Top Rated Website 1. St.George's University of London. (2012). Understanding intellectual disability and health. Retrieved from <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[] This website was nice because it not only explained what health issues can cause intellectual disability but it really got in-depth on what these health issues can mean in the everyday lives of people. The website talks about not only mental health and how people with intellectual disabilities learn but also the physical health and how these disabilities can effect the body and growing older. This was something that I wasn’t really familiar with and I found it interesting. I rated this site a 5 because of how much information it had on the physical implications of intellectual disabilities and how they effect the body plus all of the other awesome features about intellectual disabilities and resources.

2. National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. (2005). Intellectual disability. Retrieved from [] This website is a great starting point when looking into intellectual disabilities. I really liked how straight forward and easy it was to navigate and how much information they had just in the two page PDF. The CDC is a government agency so the information is accurate and hopefully up to date. I rate this site a 5 just because of the information that it gives

3. The Arc. (2011, March 1). Introduction to intellectual disabilities. Retrieved from [] This website is a wonderful resource for information on intellectual disabilities as well as resources and advocates for people with intellectual disabilities. I found their resources page very informative and it is amazing to see all of the things that one organization can provide. I also thought it was interesting to see that many of the biggest advocates for The Arc are people with intellectual disabilities and their families, it is nice to know that the organization isn’t run by some obscure governmental agency. I rate this site a 3 because it was informative but talked more about support than information.

4. AAIDD. (2012). American association on intellectual and developmental disabilities. Retrieved from <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[]

This website is great for seeing different legislative bills and laws revolving around intellectual disabilities. The website has a plethora of information ranging from in-depth definitions to support to laws to recent news regarding intellectual disabilities. They also offer a membership service that links you to professionals, current news and issues, and support. The website seems like a very good resource for people with intellectual disabilities and their families to keep up with new trends or information. I rate this site a 5 because of how much information was given on the site and how intellectual disabilities are represented in legislative procedures.

5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011, October 24). The president's committee for people with intellectual disabilities. Retrieved from <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[]

This website is a great link between the government and people with intellectual disabilities. As their website states:

Since its inception, the President’s Committee has led the charge to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and uphold their right to enjoy a quality of life that promotes independence, self-determination, and full participation as productive members of society. These goals include the assurance of full citizenship rights, the reduction of the occurrence and severity of intellectual disabilities and the promotion of forward thinking programs and services and cutting edge assistive technologies to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities.

The Committee consists of 21 citizen members appointed by the President and thirteen ex officio (Federal Government) members designated by the President. The thirteen ex officio members include the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Interior, Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, the President and CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Chair of the National Council on Disability and the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. The President’s Committee is led by an executive director, also appointed by the President, and supported by a team of federal employees.

I rated this site a 3 because it gave a lot of information on the committee but not really a lot of information on what the committee has actually done.

6. British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2011). //Students with intellectual disabilities a resource guide for teachers//. Retrieved from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/sid/27.htm This website is a nice resource for teachers. It is fairly short but a nice reference point to look for ways to incorporate inclusion strategies for students with intellectual disabilities in a general ed classroom.

Examples of Curriculum Modifications:
Teachers may want to consider modifications such as the following when outcomes are changed to meet a student's needs: When making modifications the teacher should change only that which is necessary to meet the needs of the student, with a view to fostering inclusion. I rated this site a 2 because while it had some good information it wasn't very expansive and I think a lot of the information may have just been common sense.
 * Give more concrete assignments on a related topic.
 * Change learning tasks with similar topic by simplifying or condensing, combining or grouping, or by using special coding.
 * Give easier questions on same concept.
 * Assign the same materials on other concept. For example, addition instead of multiplication.
 * Use high interest/low vocabulary resources.
 * Provide community preparation such as:
 * trips to community locations such as stores.
 * opportunities to apply functional skills in different settings.
 * job related experiences such as running a small business.
 * individualize community tasks for each student based on different needs.

7. Shaddock, A., Giorcelli, L., & Smith, S. (2007). //Students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms a resource for teachers//. Retrieved from www.dest.gov.au/../InclusiveClassroomTeacherResourceFinal1.pdf This was a great booklet for incorporating students with intellectual disabilities into the mainstream classroom. The booklet states that it is intended for teachers who are expecting to have a student with intellectual disabilities in the general ed classroom. I loved this website I rate it a 5. It is very informative and encompasses a lot of different aspects of inclusion strategies.