Educational Services for
Students with
Exceptionalities
Discussion on Inclusion
Inclusion
Diversity
Students
with disabilities
Service vs. location
Accountability
Reflection #1
Consider
your own school experience.
Describe your experiences with
students with exceptionalities or
diversity.
How might your experiences differ
from students in today’s classrooms?
Need for Change…
Modify
curriculum
Modify instructional techniques
“Good teaching”
Knowledge base and belief system
High expectations
Learning opportunities and barriers
Reflection #2
Identify
“good teaching” practices that
are good for all students.
Describe the characteristics of a teacher
who believes “all children can learn”.
How can a teacher be prepared for the
needs of a diverse classroom and what
supports are necessary to meet these
needs?
General Considerations
Reflective
Flexibility
teachers
Individualization
Caring
Natural
supports
Fairness
Reflective Teachers
Utilize
supports and resources
Expand repertoire of teaching skills
Scientific approach
Responsible for all students and for
curriculum
Use curriculum as context
Flexibility
Manage
instructional time
Increase engaged time
Use of groups
Adapt and modify as needed
Use of peers and cooperative
learning
Individualization
Foundational
skills
Unique learning styles and needs
Experience mastery
Quality of experiences
Reflection #3
How
flexible can you be when
providing “accommodations”
How do you prioritize learning
objectives?
How can you respond to the
accusation of “unfairness”?
Caring
Celebrate
diversity
Promote cooperation
All are included and accepted in learning
community
Stand by position with proper information
Teachers values reflected in students
Natural Supports
Assistance
interferes with “natural”
opportunities
Availability
Increased success rate
Less intrusive
Fairness
Equal
treatment or equal opportunity
Adaptations in place not to decrease
challenge or expectations
Reduce curricular barriers
“Level playing field” - equifinality
Reflection #4
What
is normalization?
What is a “normal” student?
What is a “normal” classroom?
How can normalization meet the
needs of students with disabilities?
Principles
Natural
proportion
Normalization
Problem-solving
Natural Proportion
Classrooms
reflect community at
large
Improper placements
Normalization
Same
opportunities
Partial participation
Problem-solving
Solve
instructional problem rather
than student problem.
Why the discrepancy between actual
and expected performance”
Recursive cycle
Reflection #5
Consider
someone you may know who
is struggling.
 Is the person viewed as “a
problem”
Is the focus on the individual or the
setting?
Universal Design
Cheaper
to include adaptations in
original design
Accessibility in learning
Future goals
Accessibility
Interactive
Enable progress
for all
Guiding Principles
Multiple
methods of presentation
Multiple methods of expression
Multiple methods of engagement
Reflection #6
Select
one of your own textbooks.
How do the three guiding principles
apply?
What could be changed?
Can these principles be used for
educational practices?
Effective Instruction
Collaboration
Parental involvement
Self-directed learning
Peer supports
Flexible grouping
Explicit and implicit instruction
Formative evaluation
Instructional Tactics
Successful
participation
Age-appropriate
Reduce negative impact
Avoid burdening teacher
Reflection #7
What
type of instructional tactic
may have a “negative” impact of
student learning?
How can Universal Design solve the
above problem?
Differentiated Instruction
Variety of methods
Multi-sensory in nature
Apply learning
Characteristics
Focus on concepts
Assessment is built-in
Various groupings
Active exploration with
teacher guide
Elements of Curriculum
Content
Process
Product
Content
Many
methods used to support
content
Aligned to learning goals
Focus on concept, principles, and
skills needed
Process
Flexible
grouping
Classroom management is priority
Grouping varies with activity
Products
Formal
and informal assessment
Students are actively involved and
challenged
Expectations vary
Guidelines for Practice
Clarify
concepts and generalizations
Assessment becomes teaching tool
Critical thinking encouraged
Students must be engaged
Opportunities for choice-making
Reflection #8
Reflect
on your own experiences as a
student.
How has assessment been used as a
teaching tool?
How has it been used to measure
learning?
Managing Behavior
Teacher
Teacher
attitudes
responsiveness
Surface
Management Techniques
Permit
Tolerate
Interfere
Prevent
Managing Behavior

Surface Management Techniques
 Planned ignoring
 Signal interference
 Proximity control
 Interest boosting
 Humor
 Hurdle helping
 Restructuring the program
 Support from routine
 Appeal to values
 Removing seductive objects
 Antiseptic bouncing
Teacher Reflection
How
am I teaching?
Student’s understanding?
Student’s disability?
Classroom arrangement?
Uncontrollable factors?
Class routines?
Holistic View
Past
efforts may have been too
narrow
Child is not always the whole problem
Environmental needs
Consider relationships (or lack of)
Ecological approach
Systems Approach
Part
of a social system
Balance between individual and the
environment
Changes
in child
Changes in environment
Attitudes and expectations
Levels of Reflectivity
Technical rationality
 Application of content knowledge
 Reaching acceptable understanding
 Practical action
 Assessing consequences
 Alternative methods
 Critical reflection
 Moral and ethical criteria mixed with practical action
 Serving ultimate goal of learning

System-Wide Support
Positive
Behavior Support
Clearly defined expectations and
consequences
Model appropriate behavior
Data-based, proactive, decisionmaking and problem-solving process
Levels of Positive Behavior
Support



Universal support
 Clearly defined expectations
 Teach expectations
 Communicate expectations
 Comprehensive reinforcement system
 Evaluate progress
Group support
 Considering needs of “group” of students
 Determine patterns of behavior
Individual support
 Define behaviors that impede learning
 FBA
Functional Behavioral
Assessment
Before
or no later than 10 days after
incident or disciplinary action
Identify possible factors
Biological
Social
Affective
Environmental
Four Assumptions
Behavior
serves a function
Interventions need to teach
expected behavior
Generalizable interventions
Use interventions appropriate for
any child
Setting Events
Events
that influence the impact of
interventions
Situational context
Altering pre-existing conditions
Concurrent events vs. preceding
events
Behavior Support Plan
Decrease
problem behaviors
Teach skills to control behaviors and
use appropriate behaviors
Collaborative approach
Reflection
 What
types of “surface management” techniques
do you recall your teachers using?
 Recall a situation when you were “in trouble”.
What factors influenced your behaviors? What
other systems were involved? What kind of
support was used?
 What does it mean to be a “change agent”?
 Consider a classroom example. Talk through an
FBA and a BIP.