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Lesson 8 Module, finals

FOUNDATION OF SPECIAL AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION HAND-OUTS

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Lorelle Cagande
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19 views2 pages

Lesson 8 Module, finals

FOUNDATION OF SPECIAL AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION HAND-OUTS

Uploaded by

Lorelle Cagande
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lesson 8: Principles and Strategies of Teaching Learners with Difficulty


Walking and Moving
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the chapter, the student is expected to be able to:
1. Identify the different strategies to cater to the needs of learners with difficulty walking
and moving
2. Summarize the ways how to handle learners with physical and health disabilities

Learners with difficulty walking and moving have varied educational needs. Most of these needs
relate to physical access, access to or lack of technological aids, manipulation of equipment, classroom
and school program participation, limited workstations, proper seating accommodations and not
meeting class schedules due to timely travel. These learners may be affected through course
requirements not suitable to their abilities, limited time to move between venues, tiredness from
transporting to places, lack of unsuitable desks for writing, frequent absences due to hospitalization,
and fewer opportunities to interact with classmates.
Parents and even teachers are often confused about these two terms but the general rule is: if it
helps the learner to complete the same work at the same level as his peers, it is an accommodation;
if it changes the work or the work is completed at a different level, it is a modification. For example,
the learner dictates answers to multiple-choice examinations, instead of writing them, which is an
accommodation, but when the multiple-choice items are lessened to become less complex, then it is a
modification.
Below are services, modifications, and educational approaches provided to learners with difficulty
walking and moving.
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Below are two important IEP members for learners with difficulty walking and moving.
• Physical Therapists (PTs). These are licensed professionals who use treatment techniques
to help promote mobility, reduce pain, restore function, and prevent further disabilities of
learners with difficulty walking and moving. PTs motivate learners to be as independent as
possible and suggest sitting positions and classroom activities, exercises, or programs that both
learners with and without disabilities can do.
• Occupational Therapists (OTs). These professionals determine the learner’s goals in life and
help them perform daily activities such as self-help, employment, recreation, communication,
and aspects of daily living (e.g. taking a bath, hygiene, eating) to reach their goals. Ots guides
learners to develop their motor skills through activities such as baking and typing on computer
keyboards.
Other specialists that give related services to these learners include speech-language pathologists
(SLPs), adapted physical educators, recreation therapists, school nurses, prosthetics, orientation and
mobility specialists, and counselors.
ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATIONS
These modifications are essential in making the environment more accessible to learners with
physical and health impairments. Aside from creating barrier-free buildings, which is highly suggested,
the following are ways to make schools accessible to learners with physical disabilities.
• Have classrooms located in more accessible building levels.
• Relocate activities to more spacious areas.
• In grouping activities, let the abled learners move to the location of the learner with physical
disabilities and make sure that they have enough space to collaborate.
• Adjust desks, chairs, and tables appropriate to the height of learners who use wheelchairs.
Desks should also be prepared for left-handed learners with or without disabilities.
• Provide adequate floor space for learners who use wheelchairs in the front, on the side, or in
the rear of the room so they can park without blocking the flow of traffic. This is also applicable
to classes in laboratory settings where setting up special workstations is recommended.
• Modify response requirements by allowing spoken instead of written ones, or vice versa.
• Provide a resource room where learners with physical disabilities can go when needed during
the school day to work with their school requirements or with the members of their IEP.

Assistive Technology
2

These are both assistive devices. ("low tech" and "high tech") and services that are used to
develop, increase, and maintain the mobility and daily performance of learners with physical disabilities.
Below are some examples.
Mobility. Mobility varies with each person. Some can access their devices easily while others cannot.
Examples of assistive technologies that help learners with limited mobility are:

- Mouth Stick. This is a device manipulated with a mouth that allows users to control input.
- Head Wand. This is a device similar to a mouth stick, except that the head manipulates it. Other
mobility aids include scooters, walkers, canes, crutches, and orthotic devices.

Communication. These are aids used to communicate either in person or online. Examples are:
- Speech Recognition Software. This is a software that creates text and navigates online by
voice commands, usually used by learners with limited mobility.
- Speech Generating Device. This is a stand-alone device or software that is installed in
tablets or phones, where users who are not able to speak on their own can communicate to
others.

Inclusive Classroom Approaches


Below are some ways in handling learners with physical disabilities in the regular classroom.
• Observe the learners with physical disabilities in the classroom and ask if any assistance is
needed. Offer help if needed, but don't assume that they always prefer to have others' support.
• Use accurate and sensitive terminologies in the classroom as learners, with or without
disabilities, learn from the teachers' knowledge and attitudes.
• Use simulation and role-playing activities where abled learners are given opportunities to use
wheelchairs and other assistive devices to help raise awareness of some barriers their
classmates are facing.
• When conversing, make eye contact, smile, and make sure that your head is at or below the
eye level of the learner using wheelchair. Sit or crouch near the learner, but do not lean on their
shoulders to avoid invading their personal space.
• Make sure that reasonable in-between breaks are given to these learners for travel time
purposes. Plan class schedules before the school year starts so as to minimize travel time and
distance between classes.
• Allow learners who have difficulties in writing to record class lectures or to have note takers.
Create test accommodations in the form of extra time or the use of word processor.
• Involve learners with arm and dexterity problems in laboratory classes and pair them with abled
learners who can carry out procedures. In this way, learners with disabilities can learn and are
actively involved except in physically manipulating laboratory materials.
• Work with learners with physical and health impairments to arrange for appropriate time for
completion of class assignments.

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