Sunbelt Staffing » Special Education

Pros and Cons of Co-Teaching

Howard Gerber — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:27:25 +0000

There are several reasons why many schools have begun to adopt a co-teaching model in their classrooms. Class size laws in many states require a lower student to teacher ratio as do many individualized education plans. Co-teaching can even result in a better teaching experience for the teachers and the students, as long as the teachers get along.

Class Size

From an administrative perspective co-teaching is extremely attractive. Many states consider two teachers in one classroom of 40 adequate for a 20 classroom size limit. This is great for schools which don’t have enough the physical space or monetary means to add extra classrooms to reduce class sizes. For teachers it means not having to face the task of supervising, teaching, and grading work for 40 students in five to six classes each day. However, there are still 40 children crammed into that one classroom. The ability to have those larger numbers may make administrative staff more inclined to push the upper boundaries of the class size. Having that many children in one class is going to be more difficult to teach and control, even with two teachers.

Special Education

Many individualized education plans, or IEPs, require that a student have access to a special education teacher during specific classes. By making one of the teachers in a co-teaching team a special education teacher, a school can accommodate more students in each class than if the teacher had to move between classes. For example, five students who have an additional assistance accommodation in math could all be scheduled together in the same math class where the special education teacher could co-teach with the math teacher. That special education teacher could then go to an English class and co-teach to meet the IEP specifications of another set of students the following period. The danger with this is that those special education students would be grouped together, which does not fully honor the spirit of an inclusive classroom experience.

Personalities

Many teachers have strong personalities and almost every teacher has his or her own preferred way of doing classroom management, teaching, testing, grading, and even decorating. Co-teaching offers the opportunity for great success and great failure. If the teaching styles of the two teachers mesh well together they may find the experience more relaxing and more effective for themselves and their students. If the two have completely different teaching styles and preferences it could turn into a nightmare for the staff and the students.

Have you been a member of a co-teaching team? How did it affect your overall happiness with your job and how did the children react to having two teachers in a room? Do you think this is an effective solution to classroom size regulations or IEP accommodations?

Pros and Cons of Co-Teaching is a post from: Sunbelt Staffing

Winter Holidays in the Classroom

Howard Gerber — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:00:06 +0000

As soon as Thanksgiving begins to peek around the corner at the beginning of November, students begin dreaming of their long awaited winter holiday. Two to three weeks away from school to play with toys, watch television and hang out with friends sounds like a dream after the months of slaving away in a classroom. Once December arrives, it can be almost impossible to keep students grounded in school work. One way to do this is to explore the winter holidays from an academic and cultural point of view. This is especially useful in helping to take the mystery out of holidays or holiday traditions of some of the ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) students in the school.

Decorate

Use any large bulletin boards in the office, hallways, or library to depict the history of some of the more well-known December holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanza. If there is space, separate the three holidays on one board, or put each holiday on its own. Show students that even countries that all celebrate Christmas do so differently. Make on bulletin board that shows Christmas traditions around the world. La Befana in Italy, Father Christmas in England, and Joulupukki in Finland are all believed to deliver gifts to children much like Santa in the United States.

Celebrate

Have a winter carnival for the students or for the entire neighborhood. Assign each classroom a different country to research. Have them make food, create a classroom bulletin board, hang decorations, and play music that reflects the traditions of that country. Be sure to give children from another country their country if possible to help bring authenticity to the project. Plan a day where children are able to go from one country to another to explore the traditions. In elementary schools perhaps have the highest grade level complete the project and let the younger classes visit.

While there are many important winter holidays most children in America think only of the holiday they celebrate at home. Even if all of the children in the school celebrate Christmas, this is still an exciting opportunity to open them up to cultural exploration by showing them that the same holiday is embraced and celebrated around the world in a variety of ways. Showing children a friendly and somewhat familiar celebration allows them to learn more about other cultures, and possible other students in their school.

How have you brought multiculturalism into your school? Do you utilize the opportunity that winter break offers, or have you found the children to be too distracted at this time of year?

Winter Holidays in the Classroom is a post from: Sunbelt Staffing

Gratitude in the Classroom

Howard Gerber — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:00:24 +0000

During our fast paced lives, it is easy to forget that we all have something to be grateful for. Not simply the material possessions we enjoy, but the little things we may not even consider on a daily basis such as being able to see the leaves changing colors, listening to the holiday music, smelling pumpkin pies baking, or enjoying a Thanksgiving meal with our friends and family. Students especially need to be reminded how privileged they are simply to be able to attend schools and have the ability to learn.

Special education teachers have a unique perspective on gratitude because they work daily with children who have to struggle simply to learn and often to be accepted by a community of their peers. The Thanksgiving season is a great time to remind these special children, and all of the children in the school, of just how amazing their lives really are and all that they have to be grateful for.

Many schools decorate for the seasonal changes and various holidays. This year recommend that your school decorate with a theme of gratitude.

Doors

Instead of having children create large turkey decorations for classroom doors as students in each homeroom to make a gratitude door. Let them use their imaginations to show what they are grateful for or to make a visual representation of gratitude for everyone to enjoy. One idea is to have the children write what they are grateful for on construction paper feathers to decorate a larger paper turkey.

Bulletin Boards

Ask teachers to create bulletin boards around the theme of thankfulness. Let the adults create this without student participation so the children get a different perspective. History teachers may want to focus on how different life is now from the past and what people now have to be thankful for. Literature teachers could highlight famous literary characters that were always positive in the face of adversity such as the sisters in Little Women or the family in the Little House series. Math teachers may want to make graphs showing world poverty by country or homelessness by state to bring the children’s attention to the plights of others.

Speakers

Ask students to make a list of ten things they are grateful for. To put their lives into perspective, invite speakers who have disabilities, who have lived in impoverished countries, or lived in war zones to come speak to the student population. Let them tell the children about their lives and what they have overcome. Afterwards ask the students to imagine living in the same circumstances and to write a new list of ten things they are grateful for. Compare the lists and discuss what changes they made and why. What things are they newly appreciative of?

How will you help your students realize all they have to be grateful for this year?

Gratitude in the Classroom is a post from: Sunbelt Staffing

New Students: Starting the School Year Right

Howard Gerber — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:00:34 +0000

Every year, new students and teachers must learn to work together in the classroom. A special education teacher must coordinate with numerous people to make sure their new students receive the help and services they need to succeed in school.

Students

At the start of the school year, you will simply focus on the students you have been assigned. You will not begin scanning for new students who may need to be tested for several weeks. During the week or so before students arrive; review the files of all new students. If possible, visit the classroom teachers from the previous year to learn more about what the student likes and dislikes as well as their biggest challenges and past successes.

Classroom Teachers

Once you are familiar with the students you will be assisting, visit the classroom teachers they will be with this school year. Provide a print out of accommodations for individual students to make sure they are receiving assistance from the very beginning. This will be an invaluable service for the classroom teachers, especially new teachers who have limited exposure to special needs children and may not be sure what they should do in regards to helping them feel accepted and successful from the first day.

Special Education Team

Some students will have a larger educational team than others. Students may have an occupational therapist, speech therapist, counselor, or assistant who will be helping them throughout the week in addition to you and the classroom teacher. Coordinate a meeting with all parties as early into the school year as possible so everyone will be aware of how they can assist the child with all areas. Overlapping services are almost as bad as a lack of services. If everyone is able to work together skills can be reinforced without becoming boring and no skill set or knowledge area will be overlooked.

Parents

Parents are possibly the most important member of a student’s educational team. If the framework that is set up for the child is not reinforced at home it can lead to set backs or further academic struggles. Don’t wait for the annual review to get to know the parents of your students. Call them within the first week of getting back to school and find out how the child did over the summer. If there were major changes in the family dynamic or if the child attended a camp and has shown improvements since the last school year, this should be taken into consideration as soon as possible. Exchange contact information with the parents and encourage them to become active participants in their child’s education.

What tips and tricks do you have for special education teachers who want to make sure their students start the school year right? Do you have games, routines, or methods you have found to be especially useful?

New Students: Starting the School Year Right is a post from: Sunbelt Staffing

Problems with Inclusion in the Classroom

Howard Gerber — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:00:48 +0000

Most people like to talk about the benefits of an inclusion classroom. Those are numerous, popular, and easy to list. But what about the problems with inclusive classrooms? It is almost as if it is taboo to even suggest there are problems with creating an inclusive classroom. However, as any mainstream or special education teacher can tell you, there are indeed problems.

Problems for Classroom Teachers

A classroom teacher is expected to select educational methodology to best suit each student. This is a challenging goal for one teacher who potentially has more than 30 students in each of five to seven classes. Most students can be grouped with other students whose educational needs are similar. This may reduce the planning required to two or three groups. If you add special needs students who have severe learning delays, developmental issues, or who speak little or no English, this task can feel almost insurmountable – especially if the inclusive classroom does not include a co-teacher.

Problems for Special Education Teachers

The biggest problem for special education teachers who have students in inclusive classrooms is being available to every student. For example, if an ESE teacher has 50 students who are distributed through 15 classes during any given period there is no way to assist every student every day. Students may have to be pulled out of class a few times a week for additional services, which also impacts the ability of the child and classroom teacher to maintain pace. If the ESE teacher rotates into different classes on different days, they are not able to get the full educational picture of the class and may not be there when the student needs them most.

Problems for Students

Special education and mainstream students both benefit from being in a classroom together. After all, work and life are not segregated by intelligence or ability. However, there are still some problems that need to be recognized. In a classroom of 30, with one or two special education students, it can be difficult for the classroom teacher to give the individual time and attention the students require and deserve. If the teacher is focusing on the special needs students, the students who need a more challenging environment may be overlooked because they are able to succeed with minimal assistance. While the students will likely succeed in the class, they may not feel challenged and may become bored and disinterested in the class. If the teacher tries to make the class more challenging for the mainstream students, the special education students may feel singled out when their IEP exceptions become more noticeable in areas such as presentations, projects, and homework requirements. Being in every class together may actually alienate the students more than if they were separated for specific classes.

As an ESE teacher, what do you find to be the biggest drawback of inclusive classrooms? Do you think the positives outweigh the negatives?

Problems with Inclusion in the Classroom is a post from: Sunbelt Staffing

5 Best Free Online Resources for Special Education Teachers

Howard Gerber — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:00:31 +0000

As a special education teacher, you understand that finding the right resources for each student isn’t necessarily easy or within the budget. That is why it is so important that special education teachers – and teachers in general – utilize any free resources they can find. These five resources offer a variety of free material which can be used to supplement a child’s core curriculum.

ABC Teach – This website has many free resources. They also offer membership programs for a more extensive collection of resources. While the membership fee is modest, it may still be too much for your school. If so explore the great free options which include worksheets for the core subjects, reading comprehension, ABC activities, holidays, seasons, and more. There are materials for all grade levels.
Busy Teacher Cafe – This is another great all-purpose site with resources for virtually every educational niche. In addition to an extensive collection of free printable material there are also sections for themed lessons, strategies, and resources. The theme area allows visitors to select what type of lesson they want to cover and then provides in depth planning suggestions and links to printable materials and other resources. The strategies section has another collection of teaching methodologies and lesson plan suggestions along with links to bring it all together. The resource section is broken down into manageable categories such as classroom management, resource pages, back to school, and new teacher tips.
Star Fall – This is a phenomenal free site that helps children learn their ABCs, learn to read, or learn to read more fluently. There are interactive stories, animated stories, and stories the child can customize to be about themselves. If a student clicks on a word or a sound icon the word, or story, is read to them while being highlighted making it a great tool for those who need a bit of extra help as well as for children who are just learning to read.
RubiStar – It isn’t always going to be your students who need your help. The general classroom teacher may not have much experience with special needs students and may not be prepared to offer accommodations. One of the best tools for any student, especially one with special needs, is an easy to understand rubric. For new teachers, or those unfamiliar with rubrics, this can be a difficult skill to master. RubiStar makes rubrics very easy to create by offering drop down boxes with all of the information you need to customize a rubric for any subject or grade level.
Michelle’s Special Education Blog – This blog was created by a special education teacher in Florida who has been helping students for more than a decade. On her blog she features great tools and resources, most available online, for students, parents, and other educators.

Sometimes as a special education teacher it is necessary to think outside the box to help your students succeed. Usually your job is to help the students but sometimes to do that you will also need to help other teachers and the parents. Use these free resources to help all of the people who are depending on you. Are there other free online resources that you use as a special education teacher? Share them so others can utilize them as well!

5 Best Free Online Resources for Special Education Teachers is a post from: Sunbelt Staffing

Online Education for Special Needs Children

Howard Gerber — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 13:00:22 +0000

Online education is rapidly becoming the norm. Many colleges have entire departments that teach their entire curriculum online, and more departments are assimilating every year. Even public education is beginning to turn to a virtual environment to help better educate their students. Smaller schools have found that partnering with virtual schools allows them to offer a wider range of subjects, allowing students to fully explore their education interests. But what about online education for special needs students?

No matter what learning disability or handicap a special needs student has, one thing is generally true: they need more personal assistance to reach their educational goals, and they typically need different forms of input. While in the past it would have been impossible for a special needs child to thrive in an online classroom due to the limited interaction and material delivery options, new innovations make this a more plausible scenario.

Teaching

Online teachers used to be limited by forum threads and text downloads of lessons. Now, however, teachers can use a webcam or group audio chat to discuss lessons with students, either individually or in a group. Video lectures can be recorded and uploaded for students to watch, or a teacher can perform a hands-on learning task for students to emulate when they have time.

Testing

One of the nice things about online testing is that it is very friendly to special needs children. Programs can be installed that will read test questions to the children as they are ready to take them. Typing is an appropriate option for children who have difficulty with the fine motor skills required for legible penmanship. When taking a reading comprehension test, the student could highlight passages from the text when asked for supporting details instead of having to rewrite the information in a separate answer. Math tests could use interactive graphics programs to show plotting or angles when students enter equations to help them visually check their answers.

Currently, there are several excellent online environments being used to teach special needs children. However, there is a lot of room for growth in this field, and many children will still be more comfortable with one on one help in a physical environment. If a special needs child does have an online classroom, it will be very important for the teacher to be in frequent communication with the child and the person overseeing the child’s education on site until the child is fully comfortable with the online environment.

Have you used an online education platform to subsidize a special needs child’s education or for the entire curriculum? What advice would you give other educators and parents to help make this type of online environment work for a special needs child?

Online Education for Special Needs Children is a post from: Sunbelt Staffing

Who Recommends a Child for Special Education Testing?

Angela Stevens — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:30:01 +0000

Many people assume that special education teachers refer children for special education testing. This is an incorrect assumption. For the most part, special education teachers work only with those students who have been assigned to them. In fact, in some school districts, special education teachers are prohibited from working with any student who has not specifically been assigned to the special education program or to them directly. In a world filled with lawsuits, it is understandable that school districts feel the need to protect themselves from litigation, but if those people who are trained to work with and identify special needs are not recommending testing, who is?

Typically, the first person to notice a possible learning problem is going to be the person that spends the most time with the student in a learning environment, the classroom teacher. While a classroom teacher is not specifically trained with how to best help all special education students, he or she has been trained in education and childhood norms. If a teacher notices a child who is struggling academically, or who is displaying behaviors indicative of a learning disability, he or she would notify the special education department and request and evaluation. Some school districts require all of the child’s teachers to come to a consensus on this need, and for parents to then be notified and consent before testing may commence.

Parents may also request testing. Although most parents do not know what is or is not normal in the learning process, they may feel something is not quite right and address it with the student’s teachers or the special education staff directly. If the child is in private therapy for speech, learning, or emotional problem, the therapist may also make the request on the parent’s behalf.

You may be wondering if a special education teacher ever has anything to do with diagnosing a learning disability, and the answer is, yes. Many schools now have a full inclusion policy. This means that all special education students are taught in mainstream classrooms instead of being pulled into a special classroom as they have been in past years. In an inclusion classroom, special education teachers will often co-teach on specific days. While they do focus on students that have been assigned to them, it is an opportunity for special education teachers to observe the general student population and look for students who may need to be tested. They can then consult with the classroom teacher and decide if testing is required. Another way special education teachers become involved is when the teachers or parents will consult them to gather information and to schedule testing. The special education teacher would also consult with the doctor or therapist who performed the testing to interpret the results and determine what, if any, services the child may be eligible for.

Have you ever recommended a child for special education testing and if so what was your role in the life of that child?

Who Recommends a Child for Special Education Testing? is a post from: Sunbelt Staffing

What is a 504 Plan?

Angela Stevens — Wed, 12 May 2010 12:00:52 +0000

Parents, students, and those who are new to the field of education are not always familiar with the various plans available to students with special needs. The most commonly recognized plan is an Individualized Education Plan (IEP); however, there are actually several different options that allow children to receive the help they need to be successful in school.

One type of plan that is gaining popularity is the 504 plan. This refers to a section in the Rehabilitation Act that states that a person can’t be excluded from any federally funded activity or program because of a disability. The disability can be physical, mental, emotional, or due to a variety of other factors such as a learning disability, communicable disease, injury, illness, or chronic condition. An individualized 504 plan allows the school, parents, and student to detail exactly what accommodations the student needs in order to perform at the same level as their peers.

This may sound quite familiar to an IEP plan, but there are some major differences. First, an IEP plan is primarily concerned with educational services, whereas a 504 plan usually offers a wider variety of accommodations such as wheelchair accessibility, allergen free areas, assistive devices for note taking, or home instruction. Also, the guidelines for who is eligible for an IEP are much more rigid than those that govern eligibility for a 504 plan.

One student I am familiar with had severe allergies and asthma that compromised her ability to do certain things. While she was not a candidate for an IEP, her parents and doctors did want to make sure the staff was aware of how to treat her and that exceptions would be made for her condition. Her 504 included the requirement that all staff be trained to respond with an EpiPen in case she should come into contact with certain bees or peanuts. In addition, her PE requirement was not the same as other students, because her allergies and asthma made it very difficult for her to participate in the standard PE activities. Instead, she was allowed to remain in the library and was given academic tasks that related to physical education; she only participated in activities that were held within the gymnasium.

As you can see, a 504 allows for a wide variety of accommodations for a child – much broader than those offered by an IEP. Not all special needs children have learning disabilities, although those children do receive the majority of attention in the discussion of special needs. The 504 allows parents to address virtually any medical condition that may be holding their child back from achieving their full academic potential. In the case above, prior to being able to submit an alternate form of work, the student had been failing PE because she had refused to do the activities. With the alternate evaluation methods she was able to accomplish the tasks assigned to her and pass her class.

What types of accommodations have you seen placed in a 504? Have you found it necessary to educate parents about this option or do many seek out a 504 plan?

What is a 504 Plan? is a post from: Sunbelt Staffing

Music Therapy for Autistic Children

Angela Stevens — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:00:49 +0000

Autism has received a great deal of press over the past few years in the media. Before that, although the condition existed, it was undiagnosed and under diagnosed. Additionally, because a medical cause had not been found, many people thought it was not a “real” condition. Recent breakthroughs and extensive media coverage have begun to change the minds of people everywhere, and new resources are becoming available for those children and adults who suffer from autism, in any of its many forms.

One of the newer forms of therapy that has been quiet effective is music therapy. This may seem counterintuitive, because music in and of itself does not necessarily teach communication skills, something many autistic children have difficulty with. But upon closer examination, it is easy to see how music does in fact help.

First, music does involve communication. It is a nonverbal form of communication, which makes it perfect for children or adults who have trouble communicating verbally. Because music is – or at least can be – nonverbal, it is less threatening to children who are overwhelmed with verbal communication. As they become more comfortable with the medium, they can use musical games to enable them to interact with others more freely. This interaction can eventually help the child become more comfortable in social interactions.

Another music therapy strategy that is used encourages eye contact. Sustained eye contact is something with which many autistic children have difficulty. By playing music that requires some participation, such as clapping hands or shaking an instrument, children must watch the person leading the exercise. This teaches them to look for nonverbal clues such as a nodding head and can help them be more comfortable with sustained eye contact.

All of this sounds great in theory, but how well does it work in practice? It depends on how it is administered. A trained music therapist is the most qualified person to begin implementing a musical therapy regime. Their training includes a wide variety of classes in music, psychology, special education, and anatomy. Without that specific training, it can be difficult to achieve positive results with music. While I am not trained as a musical therapist, I have had the pleasure of working with some.

One of the first cases that I observed was that of Brian. When I saw him and his parents, he was around four years old and almost completely nonverbal. After a few months with one of our music therapists, he would look at people when spoken to and was able to communicate on a limited basis with his family and people with whom he was familiar. This was an amazing turnaround and much more rapid than any I had seen with traditional therapy. After this, I was more than willing to recommend music therapy as a complementary therapy choice for autistic children.

What results have you witnessed in autistic children who have been exposed to music therapy?

Music Therapy for Autistic Children is a post from: Sunbelt Staffing