Autism

Federal definition: developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal

communication and social interaction generally evident before age three but not necessarily so,
that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Five Learner Characteristics

Students with Autism depend on a strict and consistent routine. A change from that routine can
cause a lot of stress and anxiety for the student.

Students with Autism can have delayed language skills and can struggle to communicate.

Students with Autism have poor social skills. They can’t read other’s emotions and body
language well. They also don’t realize others have their own thoughts, perspectives, and plans.

Students with Autism have narrow interests and it can be difficult to engage them in areas
outside of that interest.

Students with Autism can be hypersensitive which can cause them to be easily distracted by
things like background noise or even a shirt tag.

Three teaching strategies with summary

Positive Reinforcement: Positive reinforcement involves acknowledging when a student is

displaying the desired behavior by giving them a desired consequence. This increases the
likelihood of students continuing to display this behavior. The consequence could be telling the
student “good job” or providing a tangible reward like candy.

Provide a Sensory Item: Providing a sensory item like a fidget toy, weighted item, chewbale, and
sensory breaks helps students with autism stay calm and focused. Providing students with an
item during class will help them stay on task during the day and providing sensory breaks will
give them time to calm down and get grounded before going back to the classroom.

Modeling: Demonstrating the desired behavior can result in the student imitating that behavior
and then accumulating that behavior. This works best when the behavior is also prompted and a
reinforcement is included. It also helps to have peer that is similar in appearance and respected
by the student to model the behavior.

Deafness

Federal Definition: A hearing impairment so severe that a child is impaired in processing

linguistic informa-tion through hearing, with or without
Five Learner Characteristics:

Deaf students will have difficulty following verbal instructions

Deaf students may have some difficulty with social emotional and interpersonal connections

Deaf students will often have a language delay

Deaf students may have difficulty remaining attentive

Deaf students may have difficulty communicating with peers

Three Teaching Strategies

Include closed captions with any videos or presentations given in class. Students with hearing
loss may have a hard time hearing what is being presented. Providing captions allows them to
engage with the presentation the same way their peers do.

Provide pre written notes or have another student share notes with the deaf student. A student
who relies on lip reading or an interpreter to understand the content the teacher is presenting
won’t be able to take notes and also get all the content. Providing another way for that student
to get the notes lets the deaf student pay attention to the teacher without having to look between
the interpreter/lip read and their notes which would cause them to miss information.

Allow the deaf student to sit up front or close to the teacher so they can hear better. A student
with hearing loss won’t be able to hear from the back of the classroom so allowing them to sit up
front gives them a better chance at picking up what the teacher is saying.

Visual Impairment Including Blindness

Federal Definition: means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects
a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.

Five Learner Characteristics

Visual impairments may impact the normal sequence of learning in social, motor, laguage, and
cognitive developmental areas.

Students with visual impairments may be hesitant to explore their environment which can impact
early motor development.

Visual impairment may impact social skills because students cannot share visual experiences
with their peers.
Limited ability to learn incidentally from their environment because they cannot see visual cues.

Students with visual impairments may have difficulty navigating through their environment
safely.

Three Teaching Strategies

Encourage independence and asking for assistance when needed. Often students with visual
impairments are exposed to so much help they don’t become as independent as they are
capable of becoming. By encouraging students to navigate the classroom independently and
ensuring the classroom is free of any tripping hazards they can become more independent in
the school space. In addition to encouraging independence, helping student with visual
impairments ask for help when they do need it will help get the help they need and avoid it when
they don’t.

Adapting your classroom for students with visual impairments is important in making sure they
feel comfortable and are safe to move around in the classroom. Make sure chairs are always
pushed in when not in use, cabinet doors are shut, and other students keep backs and other
items out of walkways. In addition, if a student has some sight, make sure they are seated close
enough to the board they can see it. Work with the student to determine where the best seating
and what the best lighting for them is so they have the same access to the content as their
peers.

Provide braille options for the student. If the student relies on braille to read, make sure you
provide braille textbooks, notes, and handouts for the student. Braille computer adaptations like
braille printers and braille translation software, or other braille devices like braille notetakers can
be very useful in ensuring content is as accessible to visually impaired students as it is for
everyone else.

Specific Learning Disabilities

Federal Definition: means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes
involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the
imperfect ability to listen,think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do math-ematical calculations. The
term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction,
dyslexia,and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are
primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; of intellectual disability; of emotional
disturbance; or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Five Learner Characteristics:

Students with a specific learning disability may have difficulty reading. Their reading may be
slow and take a lot of effort. (Dyslexia)
Some students may try to avoid activities that involve reading and will gravitate toward activities
that rely on other mediums like pictures or videos. (Dyslexia)

Students may have a hard time remembering spelling and grammar rules when writing.
(Dysgraphia)

Students’ handwriting may be spaced oddly and difficult to read. (dysgraphia)

Students may have an unusual, cramped grip on the writing utensil which leads to a sore hand.
They may tire quickly when writing. (Dysgraphia)

Teach Strategies:

Give extra time on assignments or reduce the number of problems a student is expected to do.
Students that struggle with number related concepts, reading, or writing will take longer to do
work based on these skills. Giving them extra time to complete assignments gives them more
time to process the information and work through the aspects they struggle with. Reducing the
amount of work keeps them from spending an unnecessary amount of time struggling through
problems they’ve already shown they can do.

Grade for content only. A student with dysgraphia is going to have messy handwriting and
struggle with spelling. If you grade for those things, the student will be punished for something
that has nothing to do with the assignment. By grading for content only you aren’t punishing the
student for something that does not reflect the quality of their assignment.

Allowing students to use a text to speech application can help students with dyslexia have equal
access to written content. Allowing students who struggle to read to listen to the text instead can
take a lot of difficulty out of using written text as a resource and make the text more accessible
for them.

Speech or Language Impairment

Federal Definition: means a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a

language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational
performance.

Learner Characteristics:

Students may have a smaller vocabulary than expected for their age group.

Students may have a stutter or interrupted speech flow.

Students may be embarrassed of speech, avoid interacting with peers, and won’t initiate
conversations.
Students may struggle understanding figurative language.

Students may be slow to respond to verbal interaction or verbal cues.

Teaching Strategies

Give a longer wait time before expecting a student to respond. It may take a student with a
speech or language impairment longer to formulate their thoughts into words so they can
communicate with you. If you call on a student to answer a question, give them extra time to put
their thoughts into words and respond to you.

Substitute oral assignments for written ones. Students with a speech or language impairment
may have a hard time speaking in front of people and it could be a really embarrassing and
stressful situation for them if they struggle with speaking. Giving them a written assignment
instead can assess the same content but not put them in an overly stressful situation.

Give visual cues for spoken instructions. A student with a speech or language impairment may
struggle to understand instructions. Providing a visual cue for them can make it easier for them
to follow and understand. In addition, giving short instructions one at a time or paraphrasing
instructions after giving them can also be helpful in making sure everyone understands.