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[Dragonlady]

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Special Needs Children Site
Pamela Wilson
BellaOnline's Special Needs Children Editor



Inclusive Education Culture of Down Syndrome

Children with Down syndrome may share more similarities with their mainstream classmates than there are differences due to individual challenges. One of the greater differences that students with Down syndrome experience is that they are tested relentlessly on tasks that are the most difficult for them.

To get some understanding of the culture of Down syndrome, try this simple test several times each day for a week. Sit at your desk, lift your right foot, and make clockwise circles with it. While doing this, draw the number six in the air with your right hand. Start over any time your right foot fails to make a clockwise circle while your right hand is drawing the number six.

Children with Down syndrome are often tested, and pass a task only if they are able to perform it successfully three times, often within a set time limit for each attempt.

Imagine successfully completing a task on a test but not getting credit for it because it took you a little longer than was allowed. This task could be written into your IEP, the goal being that you would attempt it repeatedly until you completed it in slightly less time than it actually takes you to do it comfortably or well.

Next, imagine that you are working on this goal while your peers are taking a coffee break, doing something very similar to this task but taking their own sweet time to do it. Especially in primary grades, a student may work one on one with a therapist doing a very similar activity to what their mainstream peers are doing with their teacher, without the benefits of the classroom atmosphere, peer modeling or demonstration of cooperative social skills. These variations contribute just a small part to the culture of Down syndrome.

Another challenge in the culture of Down Syndrome is disturbed continuity. The student with Down syndrome may be removed from the mainstream classroom in the middle of one activity, and returned to class in the middle of another activity. Even those who do not already have difficulties with transitions might become disoriented or disgruntled. Frequently, behavior communicates the frustration and confusion caused by interruptions in continuity.

Teachers caught on the front lines with IEPs sometimes do not feel they have the same flexibility to give a student with Down syndrome opportunities for a wider range of learning, and novel or natural supports for skill building, academic achievement, and social interaction. They may not be in a position to advocate for a child in the same way parents do, but often have excellent ideas about how to make classroom time more constructive and enjoyable.

There are other challenges. When a student with Down syndrome participates in a mainstream classroom with an IEP created for a special education classroom, curriculum adaptations may focus on what is most difficult for that child, rather than offering a wide variety of skills that he or she may find relatively easy, or interesting enough to be worth the extra effort required. Participating in and following mainstream curriculum often gives a student with Down syndrome opportunities to experience success in unexpected areas.

Sometimes this is achieved purely through peer modeling. Students with Down syndrome whose professional evaluations suggest cannot follow three step directions are often highly enough motivated to learn twice that many when the end result is a vending machine treat or bottle of soda pop. Those who balk at walking along a balance beam in physical therapy may spend an entire recess period 'walking curbs' with mainstream classmates.

Children who have Down syndrome may more readily learn physical, social and academic skills sitting alongside their mainstream peers, picking up subtle cues from them and observing classmates' responses to a teacher's instructions or encouragement. No matter how carefully a physical therapist may teach a student the rules of tether ball, it's the mainstream peer on the playground who is most likely to advise a friend to just let the ball go by the first time around.

Especially in elementary school, children express themselves through behavior when they do not have the opportunity to communicate through words. Those who have communication delays or articulation difficulties may find it far less frustrating to be among mainstream peers who have the same questions or misunderstandings that the student with Down syndrome may not yet be able to express clearly.

Peers often show great talent for interpreting language that eludes adults. Occasionally a child with a communication difficulty just prefers what a friend has said to their own actual remark. Other times, a classmate's perspective may take the sting out of the worst of a difficult situation.

Teachers who are sensitive to the talents and abilities of each student in the classroom often add those assets to her own to give children a sense of achievement and purpose. Children with Down syndrome can also be good friends and advisors. Giving every child a turn in simple classroom activities builds a sense of community and belonging.

Children with Down syndrome often blossom when they share in the high expectations as well as the small accommodations good teachers make for all their students. Cooperative learning and positive behavioral support benefit mainstream students who learn how important a helping hand can be to give and to receive throughout their educational and work careers.

Growing up in an inclusive classroom teaches every student that they have a place in the world, no matter what their aptitudes or challenges may be. Down syndrome may not be the greatest challenge present in a mainstream classroom, and the way we accept and support a student with Down syndrome may demonstrate more than we could otherwise teach any student about the value of diversity.

Browse at your local bookstore, public library or online booksellers for titles on building inclusive classrooms, supportive communities and encouraging communication and social skills, like Mental Wellness in Teens and Adults with Down Syndrome - A Guide to Emotional and Behavioral Strengths and Challenges_ by Dennis McGuire and Brian Chicoine; or the Better Speech Intelligibility for Students with Down Syndrome DVD by Will Schermerhorn.



Ashley's Mom website
Tech Aides and Support

PBS and PTA Look at the Pressures on Parents Raising the Next Generation of Kids
Early Childhood Learning, Extracurricular Activities, New Media Technologies

Pre-reading and reading activities - Love and Learning
Love and Learning

Kids with Down Syndrome Learn Language Beyond Adolescence
A study funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Down Syndrome Society published in the October 2006 issue of the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research

Talk Tools - Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson's Muscle-Based Therapy
http://www.talktools.net
Coordinated Oral-Motor Treatment - Talk Tools
Articles on Muscle Based Therapy - Talk Tools
Oral Motor Myths of Down Syndrome
Food Sensitivity and the Down syndrome Population

Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation
Adopt A Mouse Program


Related Links:
IEP Preparation - Teacher Support
Friendship and Inclusion for Children with Special Needs
Thoughts From the Middle of the Night
RSS
Related Articles
Previous Features
Site Map

Special Needs Children Forum Posts
Childhood Diabetes Awareness
Down Syndrome Awareness Campaign - NDSC
Down Syndrome Generation 1st to Outlive Parents

Content copyright � 2008 by Pamela Wilson. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Pamela Wilson. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Pamela Wilson for details.

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[Dragonlady]

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[NinaNina]

I have taught a couple students who were mainstreamed into the general classroom, at least for part of the day. While each student's needs are different, certain strategies helped me:

--Pre-teach a lesson to the child so he can experience success during the lesson.

--Create multimodal projects that highlight the student's strengths. I had a student who could not do representational drawing and experienced great shame and frustration, so I launched a unit that incorporated abstract art.

--If possible, establish a "secret signal" the student can give, such as a thumbs down, indicating he needs some privacy or quiet time.

--Seat the student near the maternal, fussy type of girls who will help him with assignments.

--Meet with other teachers or parents to establish the student's particular needs, strengths and preferences, and create lessons that highlight them and instill pride in the student.

--Establish short and simple goals. Rather than say "behave", ask him to watch you as you speak. Rather than say "start working", say "Please get out your pencil." Provide positive reinforcement for small goals that are met.

--Create rituals with predictable steps and resolutions, so that he knows what to expect and feels successful.

Best of luck!

Serena

[Dragonlady]

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[Jetgirly]

Do you have an education degree? I'm a recent Ed grad, and my program prepared me really well for inclusive teaching. There was a huge focus on differentiation, accommodation and modification. For example, I currently teach a Grade 9 class with nine students who can't read and a student who, in her own words, is a "spastic quadripeligic with cerebral palsy" (she requires toileting at school and is cognitively at the first- or second-grade level). In addition to those students I have eighteen others, including low kids, average kids and kids who are jumping to get into the International Bacclaureate program next year.

Caveat #1: If you are paid per hour, and only get paid for contact hours, and the pay isn't great, I'd say **** it. I know it's a bad thing to say, but I do not believe teacher should give and give and give of themselves in return for the bare minimum from their employer.

Caveat #2: I draw the line at bodily fluids. My Grade 9er needs toileting? I refuse to participate. I will not deal with pus, saliva, mucus, urine, feces or blood. My principal made an offhand remark one day about how our school board doesn't tell teachers if their students have HIV/AIDS, and after that I figured better safe than sorry (who knows what other diseases or infections these kids are carrying?).

Those conditions aside, I think that as an educator you have a responsibility to help this student by doing things like pre-teaching lessons, designing alternate activities/assignments, scaffolding classwork, etc. That being said, you can't expect her to suddenly reach the cognitive level of the other students. Does she like drawing? When the other students are answering questions about a story they read, could she be drawing a picture of her favorite scene or character (even this requires some higher level thinking as she's evaluating the traits of the characters to choose her favorite)? If she's more kinesthetic, could she work with other lower-level learners to put on a series of tableaux (I love tableaux- they're silent!)? Could you find classroom jobs for her to do to occupy class time, like counting all the books in the room to build addition skills? Could she organize all the construction paper by color if you're doing sorting work?

To encourage her to participate, one strategy you could use would be to give her an index card or scrap of paper with a question written on it, and then two answers written out. You can tell her at the beginning of the lesson that you are going to ask her that question sometime that day, and she should decide which answer she thinks is right. This would give her time to prepare for participation, and it's fairly low-risk as there's a 50% chance she'll get it right (if she's really low, you could have both possible answers be correct so there's no way she'll be wrong).

As well, I think you should demand a comprehensive meeting with administration and the girl's parents to clarify what is expected of you, and what you expect from them. Get it in writing. "If Molly does not clean up after she uses the washroom, her parents will be called to the school to clean up after her. If they cannot arrive within one hour, she will not be allowed to return to school the next day, so her family can use that opportunity to review appropriate bathroom behaviour." "If Molly's behaviour disrupts the class to the point where the other students are unable to learn, she will be sent to the office for thirty minutes, where she will be supervised by an administrator until she is calm." You're not in this alone; the other parties need to accept some responsibility.

However, if your school isn't treating you like you're a professional, I see no reason for you to act professionally. I am not being sarcastic.

[Samantha]

jetgirly wrote:

[MELEE]