this is where you and the teacher need to collaborate. you would modify the curriculum for those students even have an aide go to class with them for support. students should NOT be sitting together as a group for that would defeat the one of the purposes of inclusion, but among their peers. there are times that this might be ok for certain activities but make sure gen ed students were also included. the aide would be in the classroom to learn what the students are learning and to ‘help’ any student having difficulty, BUT also concentrating on your students.

at times a behavior may need to be addressed and that could be accomplished just by the presence of the teacher or aide…moving into the vicinity.

all work could certainly be modified. shorter assignments. taking tests back in their classroom. oral testing, give any notes to students ahead of time, directly from the teacher. during their class time in the sp ed class can be a time for them to get direct instruction for that class in that someone can read the material to them, giving only the pertinent information. alternative assignments may be accepted such as a drawing or other project in place of the gen ed assignment.

another advantage of inclusion is for the sp ed students to have peer models for behavior and social skills not to mention work habits. and, to be exposed to grade level curriculum.

make sure the teacher knows the limitations of each student so that they are not put in awkward positions as this can be the direct cause of behavior issues.

these are some of the things we did when i worked at a full inclusion school…well mostly full!

I can only describe how we helped my son. His LD was a translation problem (long story short)..his brain would sometimes not translate the information received by his eyes or ears. Too much noise (more than 2 people talking for example) could change the information he got.

We overcame this by 1) in the classroom, a teacher would either review the information, or at times a student would 2) at home we would go over it again, basically reading it out loud while he followed along. Eventually, we found a ‘key’ to open the door so that his brain would literally recognize and translate more and more. He is now 17 and his reading level is such that he reads on his own without help, though noise will still sometimes interfere.

He spent 2 years in a strictly special ed class until we found that key. From then on, while he still had some classes (to help him keep up on his learning curve) he was for the most part in regular classes.

Now, I know there is a special ed teacher floating around here who may be able to give a way much better answer than I have, but I hope I at least showed you that nothing is impossible!

(LOL she beat me to it!)

LD students can listen. Some of them retain more that is spoken in class than your average non-LD kid. They can listen to the book while others read. Most textbook these days come with a CD that has all the book recorded on it. You can also scan the text and open it in textreader a software program that is on most state adoption lists. If all else fails find someone to read the text aloud and record it on an old fashioned tape.

When the time comes to answer the questions a student can speak their answers into a tape recorder, have a peer write the dictated answer, or use texthelp to compose on the computer. The software will repeat to the student what has been written so the student can edit.

Some things that might be helpful:

*Make sure that some information is presented in a hands on way.

*Train and use cooperative groups of three. Provide a graphic organizer for the material to be learned. Have all the group members be accountable for the information that is learned when presenting the graphic organizer. This helps an LD child reduce the information to a manageable amount and excludes any information that isn’t needed. LD kids tend to get lost in all the verbiage.

*Consider giving alternate ways to display that information is learned, such as a tape recorder or multiple choice questions or a representative model.

Here is a relay game. First, have about 5-10 questions numbered and separated singularly into film canisters or plastic eggs. The questions can be used for a unit or chapter test review.

Divide your class into groups of 4-6. Each team member has a job that starts with the letter “r”. 1. Runner 2. Researcher 3. Recorder 4. Rah-rah

Actually, they can all research, but divided like this, the special needs kids can have a job, such as the Rah Rah, who cheers on the team. He learns answers while they play, and gets his review without feeling pressured. As the recorder, he can record the answers the team decides on, and as the Runner, he “runs” to get the next question, one at a time. It is a relay game, and the first team to answer all the questions correctly wins. Teams need to be made up of students of different levels, so they can learn from each other. It is easy to include an LD kid on a team with a job that is with in their abilities.

Even if these kids aren’t reading at grade level most of them understand at grade level. If you read the information to them then many will remember it and be able to tell it back to you. Give tests orally so they don’t have to read the test. Give visual study guides. Use as many visuals as you can. Use differentiated instuction – so they can all access the information at their levels. Find high interest low readability books — lots of these are now available on line for LD kids – same topics as curriculm, just more readable. Give them lots of wait time when answering questions. Be understanding that they didn’t choose to be disabled. I think you’re trying to be an excellent teacher — those who teach special ed appreciate the effort you are trying to make. There are lots of books out there on strategies for LD students. LDonline.com is an excellent web site. Charles Schwabb developed it because he was LD.

If they can’t read why are they on that level? If they have LD they should be being taught on the level that they are reading. But if for some reason the principal is not following the IEP’s than you should either read the book to them because children can comprehend better than they read. Than you can also do science as a hand on projects with them. Use pictures and other hand on projects.