TAST 107

Diverse Learners I

Special Needs Educational Assistant Program

Fall 2021

1
 Introduction

• Instructor
–Dr. Natalia Rohatyn-Martin
–rohatynmartinn@macewan.ca
–Office hours: email to set up
appointment
 A little about this course…
• This course examines the philosophy and educational concepts
associated with educating students with diverse needs in Alberta.
• In addition, the course examines theoretical information related to
specific disabilities noted in the course schedule.
• The role educational assistants have in implementing the objectives
identified in students’ individual program plans is also examined.
• Students explore in-depth program modification strategies,
documentation strategies and the effects of specific medications.
A little bit more about this course…
Blackboard

• Course outline
• Course calendar
 Assessment Components
Assessment Weight
Quizzes (7 quizzes, 5% each) - online 35%
  
Assignment #1 15%

Assignment #2 25%

Final Exam - online 25%

(Cumulative)
A little bit more about this course…
Hybrid

• This course will be a hybrid – a mix of online

work and in-person lectures
• In class: masks are required
• Online: work is to be done on your own time
and is expected to be complete by the
deadline on your course schedule
(blackboard) and/or the following class
What does diversity in the classroom look
like?
 Classroom Diversity

• Today’s classrooms comprise a wide diversity of

students who are coming to school with
– limited proficiency in the language of instruction,
– learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, or other
disabilities,
– “at-risk’ factors due to poverty (low SES), or coming from
culturally or linguistically different backgrounds.
Alberta Education, 2003; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2005
 WHO are these diverse students
in Alberta schools?

The following stats are from Alberta

Education (2019-2020)
 Defining a Disability

• How do you define the term disability?

• What synonyms would you have for the term ‘disability’?
 Person First Language

• What terms are your familiar with? What do we hear in society

and the school yard?
• Are those terms representative of person first language?

• Along with the changes in services for students with

disabilities, the language we use has evolved away from
identifying the person with a label or diagnosis

• We are now using people first language, in which the person

comes before the disability, and the individual is not defined
by it.
 People First Language
• Disability is Natural website (Kathie Snow)
– https://www.disabilityisnatural.com/people-first-language
.html

• “People First Language Chart”

– https://cdn.naaee.org/sites/default/files/people_first_lan
guage_chart.pdf
 Person-Centered/ Identity-First Language
• The notion of identity-first language has been taken back by those who have
disabilities (e.g., Autistic population)

• For people who prefer person-first language, the choice recognizes that a human
is first and foremost a person: They have a disorder, but that disorder doesn’t
define them.

• For people who prefer identity-first language, the choice is about

empowerment. It says that their disability isn’t something to be ashamed of.

• When in doubt – ASK

– As with any group, especially any group of marginalized people, it’s the people who
we’re talking about who should be dictating what they’re called.
– The same word that’s empowering for some people might be retraumatizing for others.
Respect
the Military Special Needs Network,
a group that supports military
families, devised the helpful chart to
outline when -- if ever -- it’s OK to
use the word "retard.“
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry
/r-word-advocacy_n_6064196
 Students with Exceptionalities
(textbook)
• Exceptionalities
– Textbook: students who are gifted and those with disabilities
– All students can learn and reach their full potential through effective teaching and
appropriate resources

Take a look at:

https://youtu.be/hKQXXHfGNoU
 (Dis)abilities

• Umbrella Term
– Impairments – problem in a body function or structure
– Activity limitations – difficulty in executing a task
– Participations restrictions – problem experienced in life situation

• Interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society.

• Requires Interventions to remove social and environmental barriers

World Health Organization (n.d.). Disabilities. Retrieved from the WHO website http://www.who.int/topics/disabilities/en/

• Term is frequently used when referring to specific categories of “need” (e.g., learning
disability)

• Disability rights
https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/en/resources/disability-rights-are-human-rights
 Diverse Learning Needs

– Categories vary province to province

• Alberta Education (n.d.) updated its approach to inclusive
education in 2010 and adopted the “Action on Inclusion”
framework, which is “about ensuring that each student
belongs and receives a quality education no matter their
ability, disability, language, cultural background, gender, or
age” (An Inclusive Education System section, para. 2).
 Diverse Learning Needs

Consider we are all on a spectrum

 Students with Disabilities

• Which disabilit(y/ies) are you familiar with?

 Alberta’s Categories of Disabilities
• Learning disabilities
• Speech and/or language disorders
• Intellectual/Developmental
disabilities
• Emotional and/or behavioural
disorders
• Mental health issues
• Multiple disabilities
• Visual impairments
• Auditory/Hearing
impairments
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
(ASD)
• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum
Disorder (FASD)
• Traumatic brain injury
• Gifted and/or talented
• Students at risk
 Students with Disabilities

• Do you notice any ‘category’ of disability

missing?
 For Next Class

 Meet IN Class

 Read Chapter 1 pp. 18-29 & Chapter 8 pp. 227-230