Take Home Final Exam

Section I- Disabilities and Other Special Needs

1. (Chapter 7 Students with High-Incidence Disabilities)  Sam is a student who has a communication disorder in which he displays significant problems with receptive language.  Describe at least three accommodations as suggested by your text to foster Sam’s learning.

Since Sam has difficulty understanding what others mean when they speak to him, it is important to provide him with accommodations in the classroom in order to support his learning.  First, Sam’s teacher must stress the importance of listening skills and patiently teach them to him.  There are four steps used to do this, including (1) listen carefully and praise students for listening themselves, (2) be sure to engage student attention before speaking by remaining in close proximity, giving direct instructions, and focusing on one thing at a time, (3) make oral material easier to understand by simplifying vocabulary and sentence structure, repeating information and having the students do so as well, and using visual aids, and (4) teach listening skills directly.  Second, Sam’s teacher must create an atmosphere of acceptance in the classroom.  Although Sam struggles with receptive and not expressive language, it is still important for him to feel comfortable in the classroom when listening and speaking.  An accepting environment can be created by the teacher modeling and reinforcing tolerance of individual differences.  Finally, Sam’s teacher should provide many meaningful contexts for practicing speech and language skills.  He/she can do this by providing as many opportunities to practice these listening skills as possible, both in and out of school.  According to the text, “practice helps students refine language skills and makes them more natural and automatic” (Friend and Bursuck 2009).

2. (Chapter 8 Other Students with Special Needs)    Greg is a student in your class and has just been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type. What are some of the behaviors you might expect of Greg in the classroom? What are some academic and behavior interventions you could consider to help Greg succeed?

If Greg has been diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Predominantly Hyperactive- Impulsive Type then it is likely that he will display numerous symptoms.  Many of these include fidgeting/squirming in chairs, running, talking, and climbing excessively, blurting out answers, and being impatient when he is waiting for it to be his turn.  The teacher has many options for academic and behavior interventions which may help Greg succeed.  First, the teacher should provide environmental support.  This means that the teacher will limit environmental distractions (such as mobiles), adjust seating placement, and allow students to use desk carrels (or study folders) to limit distractions when doing seat work or taking tests.  Academic interventions also exist where teachers only emphasize on important information, breaking down long reading passages into smaller ones, and giving students extended time to complete their work.  In relation to behavior interventions, Greg’s teacher should emphasize structure in the classroom and provide rewards instead of focusing on giving consequences.  In order to maximize Greg’s full learning potential, his parents must be informed of his condition and how they can assist him at home.  From this point, Greg’s parents must decide whether they would like to medicate him with stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin.   

Section II –Differentiated Instruction (Required Question)

1)      (Chapter 9 – Differentiating Instruction) Follow link to IRIS website - http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/udl/chalcycle.htm and review the entire module.  READ—“How to Use a Module”—Link is on right side of homepage.  BEGIN with the “Challenge” then review the other pages of the module.  Select a core content area (either mathematics, ELA, or your primary middle school concentration) and respond to the items below.

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Section III Select and answer one of the following questions from this section. 

1)       (Chapter 11 - Evaluating Student Learning)  The ways that tests are given to students with disabilities can have an effect on the accuracy of the results. Describe three different adaptations in test administration. For each, state one skill or learning difficulty accommodated by the change in test administration. 

Many accommodations can be made in the classroom in order to help diverse learns take tests more successfully.  First, accommodations can be made prior to taking the test, such as creating study guides which tell students what to study for.  By making this accommodation, students can eliminate time wasted studying for things that will not be tested, and can focus on the most important information.  Second, teachers can use alternative forms of questions during tests.  For example, they can provide fewer responses when using multiple choice tests, or  assist by underlining key words in each question.  By making this accommodation, teachers are assisting students with reading comprehension difficulties.  Once students are ready, the teacher can stop underlining key words and provide the full set of responses.  Finally, teachers can provide accommodations after the test.  For students who work slowly but accurately, teachers may wish to change the grading criteria.  This allows slow workers to be graded on a different scale than the other students.  For example, they may receive a score based on 15 questions rather than 30.