Supporting students with special needs in educational settings

Special Needs

Helping Students with Special Needs

This research proposal provides an overview of the learning disorder "dysgraphia" which describes a learning disabled person that has difficulty interpreting their own written language or handwriting. The paper begins with a synopsis or review of learning disabilities, a detailed description of the learning disability reviewed and an overview of best practices, curriculum adaptations and other changes a teacher and student may make to enhance the learning experience of a learning disabled child. First, the paper begins with an outline of the learning disorder and the problems associated with it.

Student Learning Disability - Developmental Writing Disorder (Dysgraphia)

Handicapping Condition - Student unable to write, or has difficulty with handwriting that is severe enough that others cannot make sense of, or student writes in a way that prevents the student from correctly making sense of the writing (meaning the student can't interpret their own writing, even though it makes sense in their heads) (Jaffe-Gillis & Benedictis, 2007).

Related Services - Services similar to those offered students with other "academic skills disorders" including dyslexia, where the child has difficulty reading or making sense of reading, and dyscalculia, where the student has trouble calculating mathematical concepts (Jaffe-Gillis & Benedictis, 2007).

Methods of Instruction Goals - Instructional goals will include providing the student with oral lectures and recording of lectures so the student does not have to rely on written notes or notes provided by the teacher because the student has problems with writing and interpreting writing.

Objectives and Testing Modifications - Goals will include streamlining the learning process so the student can read and make sense of his or her own writing, and can present his or her writing to others in an intelligible manner.

Executive Summary

Studies suggest one in seven children will be diagnosed with a learning disability during the school years, with most resulting from "faulty wiring" in the brain, meaning the student may have trouble processing numbers or language, or may not interpret sensory input precisely, which can cause frustration for the child and the teacher (Jaffe-Gillis & Benedictis, 2007). This paper will help develop a curriculum addressing a specific learning disability, dysgraphia, so that teachers and students can learn how to manage this learning disability in the classroom. Dysgraphia is an "academic skills disorder" similar to dyslexia, but instead of having trouble reading, the child has difficulty interpreting their own handwriting, or writing in a way that others can understand. Other forms of learning disabilities include speech and language disorders, visual processing disorders and nonverbal learning disorders to name a few (Jaffe-Gillis & Beneditics, 2007).

Plan of Differentiated Instruction to Meet the Special Needs of this Student

The goal of differentiated instruction is to meet the needs of the student with dysgraphia, so they are able to comprehend their own written word and transcribe their thoughts in a way they can understand, and in a way that their teachers and other peers can understand. In this instance the student has difficulty writing in their own "handwriting" and then making sense out of the writing produced. The goal is to help the student by developing a modified approach to learning so that he can participate in a normal, general education classroom. This will help the student feel less like an "outcast" and will thus help the student bolster his self-esteem, which may then improve his outlook on life and commitment to learning.

Jaffe-Gillis & Benedictis (2007) note that students with learning disabilities can be as smart as or smarter than their peers, but have difficulty "taking in, organizing, and/or acting on information the brain receives through the senses" so they may appear to be less intelligent as their brain fights to comprehend information (p. 1). In this case the student has difficulty acting on the information his brain receives, because while he can take in information and organize the information in his head, he cannot transcribe this information into notes, so the student can understand them. This problem is one of many reasons why many students with special needs like learning disabilities are placed in special education rather than in traditional classrooms.

However, of late, more and more educators are recognizing the potential benefits of including special education students into the traditional classroom. Because of this more and more are working to integrate special needs students within the generalized classroom setting, and working to help them achieve their best by modifying certain curriculum or methods in which the child would normally learn, so the special needs student has just as much potential to succeed as his or her "normal" peers would.

In this case, to modify the classroom in a way that will assist the student, the school would make accommodations that would allow the student to record classroom lectures. The school will also need to appoint a teacher's assistant, whose role would be to take down any notes the teacher would expect an ordinary student to take down in class. An alternative to this would be for the teacher to type out classroom notes, much in the same way a high school or college professor might, to provide the learner with a learning tool he can use after class, one that is not written in the learner's handwriting, so the learner can understand and comprehend the information received. Using the tape-recorded lecture, the student can then utilize special software that will "type" the learner's thoughts and spoken words into a computer. While this student has difficulty with his own handwriting, he does not have trouble speaking or interpreting the written word. For this reason, it is plausible to suggest purchasing a special dictation tool for the student, one that would record the student's voice out loud, and then transcribe his spoken word into text that is readable and easily understood.

An example of software that could do this is "DragonSpeak 9" which is an application one can upload into Windows XP or Vista, and one that works with the Word document function. The application records the voice of the user, and then types the user's spoken words into the computer. While the information collected by the student and orally provided by the student may not by typed 100% accurately by the application, the software application does with time, adjust to the student's voice so it is less likely to make mistakes in the future. In this case, since the learning disabled child has difficulty interpreting their own writing, they will utilize the help of the teacher's aide in deciphering the written word provided by the software, to ensure the student's thoughts, purpose and outline or paper are correctly transcribed and then provided to the teacher for grading. The information generated would be notes, notes the student could easily read and understand as they are not written in the student's handwriting.

Best Practices

Best practices of instruction for such student include helping the special needs student improve their self-esteem, enabling special needs students to manage the "difficulties" they perceive in the classroom daily, and assisting the special needs student so they can correctly identify their learning disability and maximize his or her learning potential by providing accommodating tools or one-on-one assistance (Jaffe-Gills & Benedictis, 2007). Many researchers and educators feel the sooner a disability or need is addressed, the more likely a student is to achieve and the less likely they are to become depressed or engage in mischievous, aggressive or violent behaviors (which often arise from frustration in the child, or frustration from other peers or family members) (Jaffe-Gills & Benedictis, 2007; Danielson & Hallahan, 2002).

Best practices also include diagnosing the learning disability as early on as possible, because the sooner assistance is provided, the better able a student is to adapt and modify the learning structure to meet or exceed his or her needs (Danielson & Hallahan, 2002). Danielson & Hallahan (2002) note young children are most "at risk for reading and writing difficulties" and it is critical best practices include delineation of skills including "phonological awareness, graphophonemic knowledge, decoding or alphabetic reading and language comprehension" as soon as children are capable of reading or writing (p. 151).

Research suggests information-processing approaches to "accommodate alternative theoretical perspectives" including constructivist teaching are most likely to result in successful correction or accommodation for dysgraphia allowing students the best possible chance for integration early in life (p. 151). Early emphasis on writing should be according to Danielson & Hallahan (2002) "common ground for both information-processing and constructivist approaches because skillful reading entails mastery of one's writing system" (p. 151). Other researchers that support this concept include Wong & Donahue (2002).

Wong & Donahue (2002) note that learning disabilities produce profound effects on children's social development, which is one reason it is so critical to identify and classify them early in life, so students are accommodated as needed from the very beginning of their academic careers. Typically students with learning disabilities fall into three categories, including difficulty absorbing or gathering information from traditional lecture format classrooms, difficulty prioritizing and organizing this information so that it makes sense and difficulty taking action in the classroom on information they know but their brain misinterprets because this information comes into the brain through the senses (Jaffe-Gillis & Benedictis, 2007; Bradley & Danielson, 2002).

Best practices that help students with learning disabilities consistently focus on early intervention not only for educational benefit, but also because early intervention promotes greater social skills ability and development among children (Wong & Donahue, 2002). The sooner a child is integrated into the mainstream system and learns to "cope" with any perceived "deficits" the more likely they are to build healthy and long-lasting friendships that will help them as they age to become contributing members of society (Wong & Donahue, p. 93).

Personnel Implementing Plan

The key school personnel to implement this plan include the parents of the student, who must reinforce the actions taken by educational authorities to enhance student learning; the teacher of the student, who must be aware of what a student's needs are, and of special educational resources, so he or she may integrate the two curriculum's without disturbing any student's learning; and administrators, who must approve changes in the curriculum so they reflect the needs of traditional and special needs students in the classroom. Personnel will need to work closely with the teacher's aid to assist the student learner with the assignments given below. They will do this by reviewing the oral material the student dictates into the learning software that transcribes information for the student. The teacher's aide will help with programming of the software so that it learns to recognize the student's "voice" appropriately, so it is less likely to record inaccurate information.

Sample Lesson Plan Overview

The sample lesson plans developed must follow best practices, which would include (a) utilizing an effective teacher in the classroom, one that is knowledgeable of learning disabilities, (b) integrating "key instructional components" into the learning disabled child's curriculum, and encouraging traditional students to partake of special learning tools the special needs student might needs, and - "differentiated instruction" for students that have a learning disability (King-Sears, Boudah, Goodwin et al., 2004). Also important will be the need for teacher's to provide "explicit" instruction to students, so they may assist with "bridging the gap" that currently exists in research, practice and knowledge of learning disabilities (King-Sears, Boudah, Goodwin, et al., p. 77).

Two lessons plans on how instruction was differentiated for this student in the class are the sample writing report lesson and the sample writing poetry lesson plan, both of which will challenge the traditional learner and in this case, the learner that has difficulty writing.

Lesson Plan 1: Research Report

Objectives - the objectives of this assignment are to write a research report about a person the student admires. The student may select any person they want, but must submit the name of the person for teacher approval prior to writing. There is no change in objective for the traditional learner vs. The learning disabled student.

Materials - the student will be asked to collect books and articles on the subject of their report from the library. The teacher will accompany students to the library, and assist the special education student with selection of materials suited to their ability. All materials from other students will also be approved by the teacher. There is little change for the learning disabled child here, except the teacher or teacher's assistant will review carefully the materials selected by the student to make sure the student has the abilities and resources necessary to interpret the information collected. Rather than take notes of the written material, the student will dictate any thoughts he has about the lesson into a small recorder he can then replay later, so he is more likely to remember what he needs to write about.

Outline - the teacher will then ask all students to submit an outline that will touch on the information they plan to report, including a background or history of the person selected, the reason they were selected and how they inspire the student. The teacher will require the learning disabled student use the dictation application software to assist them with "writing" their outline and their report. The teacher will review the outline and approve. If needed, the teacher will appoint a "tutor" to assist the learning disabled child to oversee his work while completing his outline and final report. The learning disabled child will have to orally provide his outline to the teacher and hand in a dictated report to ensure the teacher is happy with the outline and willing to allow the student to continue to the report writing phase of the assignment.

Expansion - Once the student has completed a teacher-approved outline, they should follow their outline exactly, expanding on the subjects included in the outline and explaining how they are important to the paper. The teacher will encourage students to first come up with a main idea, and reason why they selected the individual they admire, and then ask them to expand on this. As this will represent a challenge for the learning disabled student, they will work closely with their tutor to ensure the thoughts "spoken" by the student are correctly "translated by" the software application. This is the only accommodation that needs to be made for the student. The student with the learning disability may ask for extra time to complete the assignment.