Adkins-Rogers, Diana L. (2002). Language processing in children with emotional disorders.
Behavioral Disorders, 29(1), 43-47. Retrieved from
http://www.ccbd.net/behavioraldisorders/Journal/Journal.cfm?BDID=8184F5EC-3048-2906-
B4DCC568DC4927C8
This article explores the language processing ability of children with emotional disorders who have preexisting language delays (ED/LA) to determine whether language difficulties in this population are internal biological features rather than due to environmental variables such as lack of language stimulation in the home.(Adkinson-Rogers,2003) A comparison group consisting of children with ED but without language delays was used to determine whether language processing may be a critical factor in the occurrence of language delays in children with ED. (Adkinson-Rogers,2003)
The details of the participants was explained as having 19 students in the comparison group and in the group of students who had an emotional disorder. There were more boys in both groups than girls. The ethnicity was also included and the IQ of all students was within a normal range. All students attended a full-time special education program for children with emotional disorders.
All students were chosen based on their preexisting emotional disorders. The two groups consisted of emotional disorders without language disorders and one with language disorders. The author hypothesized a significant language processing ability between the two groups and the group having both an emotional disorder and a language delay, would have more difficulties.
Without even reading all of the information, I felt like this was obvious. To me it just makes sense that someone with an emotional disorder and a language delay, would have processing issues as well. The groups were given two different language assessments and the information to the assessments was listed in two different charts. The conclusion was that those with only the emotional disorder, language processing was a variable but those with an emotional disorder and language delay had mild processing limitations. It was then concluded that a larger test group should be conducted and further evaluation for the students with both an emotional disorder and language delay.
Again, I find this to be helpful for both regular education classes as many students who have an emotional disorder will be in the general education class. So, having this knowledge could help to identify language issues and plan accordingly.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Intellectual Disabilities
Malone-Cannella, Helen I., Konrad, Moira, and Pennington, Robert C. (2015). ACCESS! teaching
writing skills to students with intellectual disability. Teaching Exceptional Children, 47(5), 272-
280. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.trnty.edu:2553/10.1177/0040059915580032
This article discusses how teachers can help students with intellectual disabilities be better writers. In the abstract it explains how a teacher focused mainly on a life skills curriculum but realized that she needed to include some academic skills as well. Specifically, this article focuses on ACCESS: accommodations and assistive technologies, concrete topics, critical skills, explicit instruction, strategy instruction, systematic evaluation. Teaching these components of ACCESS, will help students become better writers when they need to write to communicate outside of the classroom such as a work place.
Often in this article certain supports are used in the components of ACCESS that could benefit students without intellectual disabilities. The use of graphic organizers was mentioned several times. As a regular education teacher, I have used graphic organizers in my classroom to help students during the writing process to organize their thoughts before they start writing. The article also talked about "breaking down writing assignments into manageable chunks". This is definitely true with students who do not have intellectual disabilities. As teachers we generally don't give a prompt and tell students to hand in a final draft in a couple of days. There are steps that should be taken. Organize thoughts, maybe by using an organizer, use the information from the graphic to make an outline, rough draft and then the final copy. In the lower grades, this can take several days, if not a couple of weeks. Many of the accommodations made a lot of sense. Rather than giving an abstract topic to write on which is a struggle for students with intellectual disabilities, make the topic more concrete. This was a great suggestion that I would not have thought about. The article even gave some great examples on how to take an abstract topic and make it a concrete one. I always love examples to help me "see" how to do something. Another important thing to remember when teaching writing to students with intellectual disabilities is to make sure the assignment can be applied outside the classroom.
I think this is a great article that mentions many supports that teachers are already using. There are many more components to ACCESS that seem easy to implement when teaching those with intellectual disabilities. There are also components that may be very time consuming to use but, effective none the less. I thought this was a great article with helpful information and again much can be used in a general education classroom.
writing skills to students with intellectual disability. Teaching Exceptional Children, 47(5), 272-
280. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.trnty.edu:2553/10.1177/0040059915580032
This article discusses how teachers can help students with intellectual disabilities be better writers. In the abstract it explains how a teacher focused mainly on a life skills curriculum but realized that she needed to include some academic skills as well. Specifically, this article focuses on ACCESS: accommodations and assistive technologies, concrete topics, critical skills, explicit instruction, strategy instruction, systematic evaluation. Teaching these components of ACCESS, will help students become better writers when they need to write to communicate outside of the classroom such as a work place.
Often in this article certain supports are used in the components of ACCESS that could benefit students without intellectual disabilities. The use of graphic organizers was mentioned several times. As a regular education teacher, I have used graphic organizers in my classroom to help students during the writing process to organize their thoughts before they start writing. The article also talked about "breaking down writing assignments into manageable chunks". This is definitely true with students who do not have intellectual disabilities. As teachers we generally don't give a prompt and tell students to hand in a final draft in a couple of days. There are steps that should be taken. Organize thoughts, maybe by using an organizer, use the information from the graphic to make an outline, rough draft and then the final copy. In the lower grades, this can take several days, if not a couple of weeks. Many of the accommodations made a lot of sense. Rather than giving an abstract topic to write on which is a struggle for students with intellectual disabilities, make the topic more concrete. This was a great suggestion that I would not have thought about. The article even gave some great examples on how to take an abstract topic and make it a concrete one. I always love examples to help me "see" how to do something. Another important thing to remember when teaching writing to students with intellectual disabilities is to make sure the assignment can be applied outside the classroom.
I think this is a great article that mentions many supports that teachers are already using. There are many more components to ACCESS that seem easy to implement when teaching those with intellectual disabilities. There are also components that may be very time consuming to use but, effective none the less. I thought this was a great article with helpful information and again much can be used in a general education classroom.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Learning Disabilites
Narkon, Drue E., Wells, Jenny C. (2014). Improving Reading Comprehension for Elementary
Students With Learning Disabilities: UDL Enhanced Story Mapping. Preventing School
Failure, 57(4), 231-239. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.trnty.edu:2553/10.1080/1045988x.2012.726286
This article explains how students without a learning disability understand written text. Then explains how students with a learning disability struggle with understanding the same text. The article explains that using the universal design for learning (UDL) in instruction and story-mapping as a strategy, can help students who have a reading disability understand narrative text. The article gives examples of story-mapping, UDL principles, associated guidelines, and instructional strategies for implementation, UDL resources, and even a lesson example complete with what questions to ask students.
I can see how this would be extremely helpful for students struggling with reading and also keep those who are not struggling, engaged. I have used story-mapping in my classroom in the past but the article gives other suggestions on how to let students fill in the map. Those struggling with writing, can cut pre-printed sentences rather than write them. This would also be useful for younger grades. This makes very clear all the elements of a story, breaking it down and seeing it on paper. I have noticed when using a story map that students who don't always participate, will participate and understand the story much easier when it is broken down in this way.
I very much agree with this article. It is useful to use for all students in the classroom and not just those with learning disabilities. I appreciated the explanation of the UDL and how it helps to reach all students in different ways. I also liked the example lesson and exactly what questions to be asking the class.
Students With Learning Disabilities: UDL Enhanced Story Mapping. Preventing School
Failure, 57(4), 231-239. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.trnty.edu:2553/10.1080/1045988x.2012.726286
This article explains how students without a learning disability understand written text. Then explains how students with a learning disability struggle with understanding the same text. The article explains that using the universal design for learning (UDL) in instruction and story-mapping as a strategy, can help students who have a reading disability understand narrative text. The article gives examples of story-mapping, UDL principles, associated guidelines, and instructional strategies for implementation, UDL resources, and even a lesson example complete with what questions to ask students.
I can see how this would be extremely helpful for students struggling with reading and also keep those who are not struggling, engaged. I have used story-mapping in my classroom in the past but the article gives other suggestions on how to let students fill in the map. Those struggling with writing, can cut pre-printed sentences rather than write them. This would also be useful for younger grades. This makes very clear all the elements of a story, breaking it down and seeing it on paper. I have noticed when using a story map that students who don't always participate, will participate and understand the story much easier when it is broken down in this way.
I very much agree with this article. It is useful to use for all students in the classroom and not just those with learning disabilities. I appreciated the explanation of the UDL and how it helps to reach all students in different ways. I also liked the example lesson and exactly what questions to be asking the class.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
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