Abbey

Marlette
SED 383
January 20, 2014
Top Ten List of Strategies

1. Small Group Instruction:
Because one-on-one instruction has been discovered to be less effective than
many believe, small group instruction provides other benefits for individuals with
disabilities in the general education classroom. One of the most important aspects of
small group instruction is that it allows students to observe and learn from each
other, as well as being more time efficient for the teachers.

2. Neurotypical Peer Support:
For reasons similar to small group instruction, peer support can be a great way
to individuals with severe disabilities to adapt, follow instructions, and learn
acceptable social behaviors both inside and outside of the classroom. I think that
peer support is different than peer tutoring, and I do not think that a neurotypical
student tutoring a student with a disability is a wise choice. However it is important
to have social supports and role models for these students.

3. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS):
This seems like a program that would be beneficial to any classroom, not just
one that had students with disabilities. Disruptive behavior can be contagious and
lead to a loss of instructional time. Students with disabilities may mimic the
disruptive behaviors of their peers and vice versa so having a tiered system
approach to prevent this from happening can be helpful.

4. Self-Monitoring:
I liked the idea of having a student be aware of their performance and
monitoring their own behavior. However, I dont quite understand how an
individual with severe impairments/disabilities could keep track of their progress.
But I think that letting them know they are accountable for following their schedule
and then letting them control their progress, like letting the boys move their car
along the line when they were finished with a task, is a good way to get them to
connect to what is expected of them.

5. Low Error Prompting Procedures:
The way that I understand the low error portion of this is that we are setting
up our students to be successful through a no fail system of prompts. Introducing a
new task or skill could cause great frustration or confusing for a student with severe
disabilities. By using the prompts, we are making sure that they are successful every
time they preform the task while they are learning it. This way, they see the correct
way it should be done, and they gain confidence in themselves when completing it
correctly, even if it was with prompts.

6. Prompt Fading:
Just as important as prompting is to get a student on the right track to learn,
fading the prompts at the right time is crucial. This way, the student becomes more
independent with less and less help, eventually performing the skill on his or her
own without prompting. Since every student is different, it is important to select the
prompt system that would be most effective for that individual (constant time delay,
simultaneous prompting, least to most, progressive time delay, most to least, and
graduated guidance.)

7. Visual Schedules:
I have seen how effective visual schedules can be in a classroom so I definitely
plan to include them in mine. I think that they are a great way to give a student a
sense of routine as well as control over what is happening in their day. I like the idea
of a full class picture schedule, so that every student can see the happenings for the
day. I also think that I think that personal schedules for students are a great way for
them to know when they have changes in their routine such as OT, PT or any other
reason they should get pulled out of their classroom.

8. Social Narratives:
I have also seen these be a huge contributing factor to a childs positive behavior
changes in the classroom. By outlining exactly what the student should be doing in a
certain situation, the narrative guides their behavior and reminds them of the
correct routine/process to follow. I like the idea of pairing this with a token board,
and rewarding a student for following the different steps in their narrative.

9. Allowing Opportunity to Self-Correct:
Students are going to make errors while they are learning. Prompting is done to
minimize student error, but allowing students to self-correct provides natural
opportunity for them to realize and fix it. Although it depends on why a student is
making errors (they dont know the answer, they dont want to answer), at least
giving them the chance to correct themselves could initiate a positive change in
their learning.

10. Embedding Instruction (activity-based instruction):
I think that its important to incorporate teaching trials into daily activities so
that students dont get used to monotony or get bored every time they get they are
presented with a skill. I actually think that this kind of thing can happen pretty
naturally during the course of the teaching day, and letting these opportunities
happen can be great for the students. Sometimes it is necessary to separate a
student and do one on one instruction with them. However, as with small group
instruction, its important to allow opportunities for students with disabilities to
observe and learn from their peers.