Most institutions have encouraged the inclusion of children having disability. The children are allowed to learn from a general classroom. The inclusion of the students is aimed at eliminating discrimination and stereotyping of such children. It is also aimed at ensuring the children get the right instructions like other children. It also helps improve the social life of the students. Though the benefits of social inclusion have been noticed, the impact of full inclusion on achievement of IEP goals has not been discovered. Most schools find it hard to include children having low incidence disability. Students having low incidence disability are students who have severe disability.
There are different types of low incidence disability. That is blindness, low vision and deadness. Other types include autism, multiple disability and deaf blindness. Teachers are required to develop instructions and strategies that are aimed at including students having low incidence disability into the regular classroom. Most teachers find it hard to develop such strategies and these impacts the performance of the students. This paper is aimed at designing a plan to accommodate a student having severe disability. This plan will enable the student to participate in the regular classroom.
Discussion
Description of the child
95% of the information from the outside world comes to us via the vision and hearing. Students who are deaf blind have difficulties in acquiring information from the outside world. This makes it hard for the students to perform well like other students. The students ho have hearing loss and vision loss cannot access enough information without an accommodation of the sensory looses. Students who are deaf learn using vision while students who are blind learn through hearing.
Children who are deaf blind do not have adequate vision and hearing to learn the same way as children who are visually blind or deaf (Gargiulo, 2010).The student is an eight grade child who has severe disability. The student suffers from deaf blindness. Like other children, the child has some characteristics that affect learning. First, the child is not able to learn through hearing or vision and this has made it hard for the child to perform well like other children. In addition, the student forgets easily the content taught in class via disuse.
The student also has difficulties in organizing skills from one activity to another. Moreover, the student has movement difficulties and communication difficulties. The factors above have impaired the student from excelling in his academics.Apart from having the weaknesses above, the student has some strength. First, the student is clever and his performance has been affected by his disability. Also, he has no behavioral problems like other students having multiple disabilities.
Students having low incidence disability need different kind of help to help them achieve like other students. Teachers are supposed to prepare a plan to accommodate students having low incidence disability (Gargiulo, 2010). The plan below will have various strategies that teachers can use to accommodate students having deaf blindness. The strategies that teachers can use to accommodate the students include enhancing communication, instructions and reading strategies.
Communication accommodation
First, teachers should improve communication strategies used to teach the children. Students who are deaf blind find it hard to communicate and this hinders them from performing well. The teachers should use residual hearing and vision so as to help the student understand communication. This will make it easy for the student to see and understand how things in the environment change. In addition teachers should give the student enough time to react and make decision.
The student is not able to process the content being taught in class and this leads to loose of the content taught in class and hence poor performance. Giving the student enough time to react and make decision makes it easy for the student to process the information and comprehend it. Thus, this helps improve performance (Gargiulo, 2010).The teacher should also help the student develop self esteem by allowing the student to make choices. A Student who is deaf blind fined it hard to learn due to lack of motivation.
The student always feels low and this impacts his performance. The teacher should be able to react to the actions of the students and communications instantly so as to motivate the student. They should always reinforce the student success and feedback so as to improve their actions. The teacher should always speak clearly to the student and ensure that he is facing the student when teaching. This will make it easy for the student to grasp the content being taught. Communication is important and teachers should ensure the communication between them and the student is clearly (Gargiulo, 2010).
Teaching strategy accommodations
Apart from improving communication when teaching, the teacher should improve the teaching strategies. The teacher should use strategies that enhance vocabulary development among the student also help the student build background and also understand the content being taught student having deaf blindness has difficulties in vocabulary and language problems. The teacher should identify various vocabularies that are linked to the content being taught.
Identifying the vocabulary will help the student understand the topic being taught. The teacher can also use vocabulary activities like writing words that are similar to the words identified (Gargiulo, 2010).The teaching strategies should be modified to accommodate students. Teacher should avoid using long sentences when teaching a child who is deaf blind. The sentences should be split into small structures so as to enable the student to understand. The teacher should also not use difficulty vocabulary when teaching the student.
The vocabulary should be simple so as to help him comprehend. In addition, the teacher should reduce the density of the concept being taught and pronounce words well. The pronunciation should be clear and slow to help the student master the content. The teacher should also use simple connection words when connecting sentences. He should also avoid using transition words as that make the content hard to understand. The conditional statements used should also be minimal and clear so as not to affect the content being taught.
They should use context to help the learner build background. Moreover, teachers should repeat the words used several times in different contexts so as to help the student understand. A student having deaf blindness is able to understand and master the content if it is repeated several times. Further, the teacher should avoid using passive voice verbs and negative kinds of verbs. They should also ensure the content being delivered is not wordy as this might influence the students ability to understand (Heward, 2009).
Technology accommodation
A student who is deaf blind needs different types of technologies to help him understand the content. There is wide range of technologies that teachers can use to accommodate a deaf blind student. First, teachers should use screen enlargement technologies to help the student. Screen enlargement technology help increase the size of the screen and this enables a student who is deaf blind to read the content. Teachers can use assistive technology to help the student. The assistive technology should help the student read various books and other sources. Assistive technology helps the student read in a regular classroom as the student is able to access books like other students. The technology has proved effective in most of the institutions (Heward, 2009).
Examination accommodation
Apart from the technology accommodation, the teachers should modify the examinations to meet the needs of the students. There are various recommendations for students having low incidence disabilities. The recommendations are based on the psychometric findings. For instance, the recommendations are based on the information processing, reading and writing. The teachers can use summative and formative testing.
When using summative testing, the teachers should use variety of techniques to evaluate the student. Teachers should not rely on paper and pencil as this might make it hard to test a student who is deaf blind. The teachers should provide enough time to test a student who is deaf blind. The student should be examined in a room that has minimal distraction and the right technology to avoid n distraction they should also ensure the students are not tested like other students as this might affect their performance negatively (Heward, 2009).
Group interaction and discussions accommodation
Group discussions and interactions are essential for children who a deaf blind. The teacher should ensure the student always participates in group activities so as to be able to understand the content. The teacher should adapt group procedures that encourage a student who is deaf blind to give his views. The teacher should encourage the student to answer questions both in the class and during group discussion. This will ensure the student is attentive. The students should sit in a circle during group discussion to ensure inclusion of the deaf blind child.
The teacher should devise ways of getting the student attention. For instance, the teacher can tap him on the shoulder. Additionally, the teacher should call a student who is deaf blind by his name so as to create awareness and start communication. The teacher should identify the person speaking during group discussion by pointing. The students should be aware of the topic of discussion to ensure the deaf blind student is able to participate fully in the discussion (Coots &Stout, 2006).
Activities for a deaf blind student
Teachers can use different types off activities to teach a deaf blind student. A deaf blind student has communication difficulties and language difficulties and this makes it dificuty for him to learn. The student needs different types of activities to help improve his communication skills and language skills. Play is an important activity for, any students. Play helps in language development and communication. Teachers should encourage students to play regularly so as to be able to enhance their language skills.
The child should play various games that enhance language development. The teacher should also give deaf blind students responsibilities in the classroom to motivate them and improve their skills. The teacher should also use activities that encourage communication and language development like stories. Stories help students improve their communication skills. Teachers can also use words and pictures to help the student comprehend the content.
Class activities like story telling and group discussions can help students who are deaf blind. A student who is deaf blind finds it hard to interact with other students. In this case, the teacher should pair the deaf blind student with other students who are not deaf. The students should do an activity together. This helps motivate the deaf blind student and improve his communication skills. telling stories when teaching helps build background and also enhance the level of understanding and remembrance among deaf blind students (Coots &Stout, 2006).
Conclusion
A deaf blind child requires a wide range of modifications to instructions, teaching content and strategies so as to be able to accommodate him. A deaf blind student is not able to learn through hearing or vision and this makes the child unique. Deaf blind children experience learning difficulties and find it hard to remember the content being taught. They also find it to get motivated and this affects their performance. Moreover, the students have communication difficulties. The teaching strategies and instructions are supposed to take into account the different needs of a deaf blind child. This will make it easy for the student to perform well.
There are certain accommodations that need to be done so as to be able to accommodate a deaf blind child in regular classroom. First, the teachers should modify their communication strategies so as to meet the needs of the student. The teachers should ensure the communication is clear. They should modify the teaching strategies. The teachers should not use complex words or long sentences when teaching. They should also improve activities used to teach students to include defined student. The examination should also be changed.
Reference
Coots,J.J.,&Stout,K.(2006).Critical reflections about students with special needs: stories from the classroom. Pearson/Allyn and Bacon
Heward,W.L.(2009).Exceptional children.An introduction to special education. Merrill/Pearson
Gargiulo,R.M.(2010).Special Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionality. SAGE
