Supporting Students with Disabilities

Presented by:Micki Webb & Yvonne McFadzeanJanuary, 2017Corona-Norco USD

Eligibilities

Autism

Autism

Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting:– verbal and nonverbal communication and – social interaction, – generally evident before age three,– and adversely affecting a child's educational performance. – Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in

repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences.

(A) Autism does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance

What is ASD? ASD is a spectrum disorder

Each child with autism may exhibit a wide variety of characteristics, along a spectrum of severity and involvement.

The symptoms and characteristics of autism can present themselves in a wide variety of combinations, from mild to severe.

Although autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors, children can exhibit any combination of the behaviors in any degree of severity. Two children, both with the same diagnosis or eligibility, can act very differently from one another and have varying skills.

communication

socialization sensory integration

Let’s talk facts…(People with ASD often LOVE facts!)

•1 percent of the population of children in the U.S. ages 3-17 have an autism spectrum disorder.1

•Prevalence is estimated at 1 in 68 births.2 March 2016

•1 to 1.5 million Americans live with an autism spectrum disorder.3

•Fastest-growing developmental disability; 1,148% growth rate.4

•10 - 17 % annual growth.5

•$60 billion annual cost.6

May 2013

So, what can autism look like? Aggressive and/or self-injurious behavior Insistence on sameness; resistance to change Difficulty in expressing needs, engaging with others,

seems in his/her own little world Repeats words or phrases in place of normal, responsive

language – echolalia, jargoning Laughs, cries, shows distress for reasons not apparent to others No fear of danger No common inhibitions

Prefers to be alone; aloof manner Tantrums Difficulty in mixing with others May not want to touch or be touched Little or no eye contact Unresponsive to conventional teaching methods Sustained odd play Spins objects Inappropriate attachments to objects

Apparent oversensitivity or undersensitivity to pain

Noticeable physical overactivity or extreme underactivity

Uneven gross/fine motor skills

Not responsive to verbal cues; acts as if deaf, although hearing tests in normal range.

Specific Learning Disability (SLD)

Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may have manifested itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The basic psychological processes include attention, visual processing, auditory processing, sensory-motor skills, cognitive abilities including association, conceptualization and expression.

(A) Specific learning disabilities do not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disability, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Emotional Disturbance Emotional disturbance means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following

characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational performance:

(A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. (B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers

and teachers. (C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances. (D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. (E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or

school problems. (F) Emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined

that they have an emotional disturbance under subdivision (b)(4) of this section.

Intellectual Disability

Intellectual disability means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a child's educational performance.

So, what can we do to help children with these disabilities?

USE GOOD SENSES: For most of us, integration of our senses helps us to understand what we are experiencing. For example, our senses of touch, smell, and taste work together to provide information about the experiences of daily life. For children with autism and some other disabilities, their senses may be over or underactive. Some children may be particularly sensitive to sounds, smells, settings, etc. and some may not notice what we find to be obvious visual cues, sounds, etc. It’s helpful then for us to perspective-take…anticipate how this might impact the student and prepare to support him/her.

Introduce new foods, settings, routines, activities, etc. gradually and reinforce for attempts leading up to success.

Make it fun! Use color, movement, music that stops and starts, visuals, role playing, etc.

Social Stories can help with noise toleration, crowds, food sensitivities, appropriate social skills, fears, work completion, turning in homework, etc.

DON’T GIVE UP! REINFORCE, REINFORCE, REINFORCE!