In the world of education today many middle schools and high schools are looking at alternative education programs that truly prepare students with severe disabilities for the “real world” after high school. Unfortunately, many high schools are so concerned with high school credits that they do not even look into better alternative education programs. Numerous high schools rely on computer programs that assist students in obtaining their high school credits without being in the regular school setting. There are many methods a school can begin to use to turn an alternative education program around. Some of these ways include the use of activity schedules, community involvement and summer employment, assistive technology, and the instruction of daily living skills.
Students with autism spectrum disorders and other students with severe disabilities respond better to stimuli and are able to complete tasks more successfully when these behaviors are predictable and presented sequentially in a step-by-step manner. Activity schedules allow students to visualize procedures and have a positive effect on generalization and social validity. Visuals are a very important part of everyday teaching when working with students in an alternative education setting. These schedules increase social interactions and assist students when completing job tasks and daily living skills. (Devender and Grimmett, 2008)
Not only does the integration of activity schedules assist students with severe disabilities in preparing for life after high school; community involvement and summer employment also has a positive effect. High schools and even middle schools start by offering a careers course and spring semester work study. This assists students ...
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B., & Owens, L. (2010). Summer employment and community experiences of transition-age youth with severe disabilities. Council for Exceptional Children, 76(2), 194-212.
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School leaders and faculty are responsible to ensure engaging, rigorous, and coherent curricula in all subjects, accessible for a variety of learners and aligned to Common Core Learning Standards and/or content standards. As a special education program for severely disabled students including all these requirements in curriculum that is differentiated for the array of needs in the school isn’t easy. In response to the suggestions made by Ms. Joseph the principal decided that the best way to address it while still attending to the needs of the school would be to created an inquiry team that will research the findings in order to help with the decision making.
Many of Federal Way's alternative high schools or high school programs are actually schools within the Federal Way Public School System. The city also has private schools, special education schools and religious schools but they are not designated as alternative schools. Students in Federal Way have many options when it comes to education.
“When schools, parents, families, and communities work together to support learning, students tend to earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, stay in school longer, and enroll in higher level programs.” (Van Roeckel, 2008, p. 1) Deer Valley High School in Glendale, AZ is the first high school built in the Deer Valley Unified Scholl District, and with a population around 1800 students, the high school is one of the bigger schools in the state. It has a tradition of family on its’ campus, where there are still teachers teaching that were there when the school opened in 1980. A number of former students have become new teachers on campus and just about all the teachers’ children have attended and graduated from the campus. With a school like ours, there are many connections to the community around it and it is demonstrated by the programs that bring in parent and community to help with the development of our students. There are numerous booster clubs run on our campus to help support student achievement on the sports fields, a school to work programs to teach the students necessary skills in different areas of either nursing, sports medicine classes, and in the culinary arts classrooms, and funding to our school to help ensure all students graduate on time. There are many programs on our campus, but I will discuss four of the programs: baseball booster club, C2G program, “school-to-work”, and the special education program sponsored by Arrowhead Hospital. These programs are designed to improve the relationships between the campus and the people in the community, and give all students on campus every opportunity to succeed in their future.
Stainback, Susan & William. (1985). Integration of Students with Severe Handicaps into Regular Schools. Virginia: The Council for Exceptional Children.
As societal pressures for higher education increase, more emphasis has been placed on the importance of a minimum of a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. This has led to the increased enrollment of students with learning disabilities over the past decade. According to a recent survey from the National Clearinghouse on Postsecondary Education for Individuals with Disabilities, one in eleven full-time first-year students entering college in 1998 self-reported a disability. This translates to approximately 154,520 college students, or about 9% of the total number of first-year freshmen, who reported a wide range of disabilities, ranging from attention deficit disorder to writing disabilities (Horn).
Discrete trial teaching is a teaching method classified by the fast pace delivery and shortened period of instructions (5-20 seconds) and incorporation of prompts, which is also referred to as errorless learning. DTT is under the umbrella of ABA and it is a method used to teach new skills and behaviors to children on the autism spectrum. As well DTT uses a unique style of teaching, errorless learning. Which unlike the normal teaching of trial and error. This style of teaching has been shown to be very effective with children with autism. Furthermore, Applied Behavior analysis seeks to address the antecedent and consequences of behavior ( Hunter class). There is over 60 years of research to support the effectiveness of ABA to address the behavior or children with development disabilities. Furthermore we discussed in lecture that punishment and reinforcement are the driving principle behind changing behavior. DTT uses carefully timed reinforcement to support newly learned behaviors and skills. This research indicates that the use of ABA leads to very effective results in children. (Hunter, 2015)
What do we do with children with disabilities in the public school? Do we include them in the general education class with the “regular” learning population or do we separate them to learn in a special environment more suited to their needs? The problem is many people have argued what is most effective, full inclusion where students with all ranges of disabilities are included in regular education classes for the entire day, or partial inclusion where children spend part of their day in a regular education setting and the rest of the day in a special education or resource class for the opportunity to work in a smaller group setting on specific needs. The need for care for children with identified disabilities both physical and learning continues to grow and the controversy continues.
The school system should educate the students about disability acceptance in the community by involving people with special needs on the school activities. III. Satisfaction A. Do buddy clubs. This will help start friendships and connections. Know disable people better.
Students with learning disabilities can learn; each student has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. Educators must continue to focus on the strengths of each student and building on them, creating a stronger student and person. Identifying the weakness is at the core of getting a student help with their learning disability, but after this initial identification and placement, the focus should shift to the strengths and adjusting the student’s schoolwork to reflect these strengths. For instance, if a student is weak in reading but has wonderful group interaction skills and is good with his or her hands, the students' reading tasks should then be shifted to reflect these st...
Downing, J. E., & Peckham-Hardin, K. D. (2007). Inclusive Education: What Makes It a Good Education for Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities?. Research and Practice for Persons With Severe Disabilities (RPSD), 32(1), 16-30.
Informing teachers of the areas that students with autism spectrum disorder struggle in will better help them understand...
Students with learning disabilities in the regular classroom may have challenges that require special attention. If the teacher is able to identify the disabilities and the features associated with them then the teacher can tailor the lessons to meet the needs of the students. These may include differentiated instruction and facilitating an inclusive classroom which will see inclusive strategies employed that will cater to the needs of students with learning disabilities. These inclusive strategies can range from individualized learning programs to team and co-teaching. In some cases, the teacher can arrange for a special education teacher or arrange for a pull out program to assist students who have learning disabilities. Strategies that will also cater to learning disabilities may also include the use of technology. According to Ford 2013 ‘In some situations it may be best for students with LD to be taught in separate pull out classrooms with a teacher who can provide targeted skill instruction in areas where a student is struggling.’ ‘When provided appropriate support within this setting, many of these students can achieve academically and develop positive self-esteem and social skills. (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 1991). They also recommend that schools should ‘require in-service programs for all school personnel to give them the knowledge and skills necessary to provide education for students with learning disabilities in the regular education classroom.’ Schools should include activities to help participants learn strategies to meet individual needs of students, foster attitudes conductive to educating students with learning disabilities in the regular education classroom, and promote
The majority of students with disabilities should be in an inclusive setting. These students are generally placed based on the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). Furthermore, the majority of these students are able to keep up academically with their peers, even
Disabled workforce has been another untapped resource, particularly since their talents have often been underestimated. The stigma played a key role for them to enroll in separate courses from their peers in secondary schools that merely prepares them for lower paying jobs. Such practices not only limited their access to higher quality education, but opportunities to prove prospective employers that they are competent in handling knowledge-based jobs. Such miscalculations are causing employers and business leaders to disregard many of disabled Americans that are actually capable of working in high growth markets, thus, solving the skill shortage crisis. “Nearly 13 percent or more than 22 million working age adults in the United States have a disability, according to 2006 statistics” (Heldrich 2008). There may be an increasing percentage of disabled workforces who will be seeking job positions; yet, their representation in the workforce is in jeopardy of decreasing as the economy becomes more complex. “Nearly 38 percent of working age adults with a disability were employed compared to nearly 80 percent of individuals without disabilities” (Heldrich 2008). Possible candidates with intellectual disabilities may face more obstacles because their limited mental capacity will label them as not having the potential of handling the challenges of 21st century workforce. “The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines people with intellectual disabilities as meeting the following three criteria: 1) Intellectual functioning level (IQ) below 70-75; 2) Significant limitations in adaptive skills – the basic conceptual, social and practical skills needed for everyday life; and 3) Disability began before age 18” (Kauffman 2007). ...
Marks, S. et. al. (2003). Instructional Management Tips for Teahers of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Teaching Exceptional Children, 35 (4), 50-55.