Accommodation of the Needs of Students with Intellectual Impairment.

There are many ways in which teachers can support students with an Intellectual Impairment in the classroom including the Education Adjustment Program (EAP) and the Individual Education Plan (IEP).   

"The Education Adjustment Program (EAP) is a process for identifying and responding to the educational needs of students with disabilities. Adjustments are made for students with disabilities to enable them to access the curriculum, achieve curriculum outcomes and participate in school life".  Education QLD 2011

An Individual Education Plan (IEP) can be implemented with goals for the student in a range of areas.  This could include include academic, social, communication and self-management goals, depending on the student's needs. 

Education QLD (2011)  explains that "An IEP is a tool that may be used to document planning for specific individual educational needs arising from a disability. Individual schools and the student's educational support team use professional judgements to determine whether the IEP process would provide an effective planning approach for students with disabilities."

To ensure all the learning needs of the student are accommodated, collaboration with a team will enable the teacher to plan the best way to support the students in their learning environment and to set goals for the student's IEP.  People who may be involved in this team include:

- Classroom teacher

Parents
- School principal
- Teacher's Aide
- Learning Support Teacher/Coordinator
- Special Education Teacher
- Medical professionals
- Allied Health professionals such as
    -Speech Pathologist
    - Occupational Therapist
    - Physiotherapist

For Queensland Teachers there is support and assistance available from Education Queensland and also from the Independent and Catholic Schools.  Please see the references page for further information on the IEP and EAP processes. 


Teaching Implications

Teacher Aides
There are several online resources on ways to support students with Intellectual Impairment in the classroom, in order to maximise their learning opportunities and create a positive environment.  Education QLD has produced a guide for Teacher Aides working with Students with Intellectual Impairment and this contains several useful strategies to support these students.  Teacher Aides and Learning Support Teachers play an important role in the team of professionals that support the learning of the students, often in small groups or one on one.  In this guide the key areas identified where students will have most difficulty are:

"• attention 
• thought processing
• memory
• perception
• generalisation"

This guide can be accessed via the References and Links page on this website.



Classroom Strategies

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The Queensland Studies Authority (2007) suggests Classroom strategies that will support students with Intellectual Impairment and include:
"- a set daily structure and classroom routine;
- a variety of auditory/visual/kinaesthetic ways of reacting to information;
- 'hands-on' activities;
- real-life or life-like materials and examples in activities;
- scaffolding to assist the student's learning;
- specific and precise instructions, incorporating;
   - clear step by step instructions;
   - a display of visual clues for each of the steps;
- leading students through the processes to be used during instruction;
- modelling desired processes or procedures to be used by students"



Teaching strategies

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As each student is a unique individual, the teacher will need to choose specific strategies to suit the needs of each student.  Getting to know the student and assessing how well they respond to different strategies will allow the teacher to modify the teaching approach and activities on an ongoing basis. 

There are several resources available for teachers with strategies to accommodate students with learning difficulties. 

Some examples of strategies are:

"Modifying the presentation of material - Provide an overview of the lesson before beginning
Modifying the environment - Help keep student's work area free of unnecessary materials
Modifying time demands - Increase time allowed for completion of tests or assignments
Modifying The Materials - Set realistic and mutually agreed upon expectations for neatness
Visual Processing Problems - Have student verbalize instructions before beginning task
Language Processing Problems - Alert student's attention before expressing key points
Organizational Problems - Provide clear rules and consistently enforce them
Use of Groups and Peers - Assign a peer helper to check understanding of directions
Helping Focus Attention - Make a positive, personal comment every time the student shows any evidence of interest
Assisting the Reluctant Starter- Provide immediate reinforcers and feedback
Dealing with Inappropriate Behaviour- Speak privately, without the audience of peers, to student about inappropriate behavior.

See the Link for 'Simon Midgely Teaching Strategies'on the References and Links page for more details
http://www.simonmidgley.co.uk/support/anonstrategies.htm

Social Inclusion

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All students want to feel that they are valued members of the class and school community.  The teachers should encourage social inclusion and promote opportunities for the student with an intellectual impairment to form friendships with other students.   Schools who promote inclusive education will foster a positive and welcoming environment to all students with any form of disability and the school community as a whole should be encouraged to support this and value each student as a unique member of the school. 

Shaddock, Giorcelli and Smith (2007) have produced a resource 'Students with Disabilities in Mainstream Classrooms' and in this discuss how teachers can assist students with forming friendships and networks.  In this resource teachers are encouraged to promote social inclusion and this includes students having class membership. 

"Class membership means:
- having a place in the class
- feeling welcomed, wanted and respected by classmates and teachers
- being familiar with the routines and expectations
- being familiar with their classmates
- being involved in class activities
".

(Williams & Downing,(1998) Schnorr and Tennant (2000), cited in Shaddock, Giorcelli and Smith (2007)
Link to this resource can be found on the References and Links page

'Practical Behaviour Solutions'

In April 2011 I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a workshop 'Intellectual Impairment - Practical Behaviour Solutions' run by Kerri Inglis of Skills4Success.  Kerri has kindly allowed me to share some excellent strategies and information from her workshop to assist teachers working with students who have an intellectual impairment.  I would highly recommend this workshop to any teacher, particularly beginning teachers or teachers who are facing challenges with current students.  The workshop is very useful in developing a better understanding of the issues faced by students with II in an educational setting.Please go to the Practical Strategies page for a list of useful strategies to help with behaviour management from the workshop.