Deaf Students with Additional Needs

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Deaf Students with Additional Needs

• Karen M. Ewing, Ph.D.
• Gallaudet University

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Introduction

• B.S.E. in Elementary Education and Special
  Education
• M.A. and Ph.D. in Deaf Education Multiple
  Disabilities
• Taught in a residential school for the deaf,
  private schools, public schools, and university
  setting
• Worked with children from preschool-high school
  age range
• Son diagnosed with autism at the age of 2, have
  the dual perspective of parent and educator

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Challenges in Multiple Disabilities

• Multiplicity
• Heterogeneity
• Low Incidence
• Diagnostic Delays
• History of Failure

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Multiplicity

• Deaf students with multiple disabilities have the
  educational needs of deaf students plus the
  educational needs associated with one or more
  additional disabilities. The interaction of the
  disabilities creates educational needs that are
  not characteristic of any single disability.

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Heterogeneity

• Most schools in the US today serve students with
  a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, learning
  styles, family support systems, and educational
  histories. Effective curricula for students with
  multiple disabilities must be individualized and
  unique.

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Low Incidence

• Compared with single disabilities, the incidence
  of multiple disabilities is low. The number of
  deaf students with additional disabilities is
  extremely small. Consequently, few curriculum
  guides, professional materials and training
  opportunities are available to teachers working
  with this population.

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Diagnostic Delays

• The diagnosis of second and third disabilities is
  often more difficult than diagnosing a single
  disability, and parents and professionals often
  delay recognizing or accepting diagnoses of
  additional disabilities, which can result in
  developmental delays that curriculum planning
  should address.

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History of Failure

• Many students with multiple disabilities
  experience failure for a significant period of
  time. As part of the curriculum development
  process, educators should consider the effects of
  the failure experiences on skills, behavior, and
  self-esteem.

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Assumptions

• Every child can learn.
• Students with multiple disabilities are unique.
• Educational outcomes should be functional.
• Intervention should be compensatory, rather than
  remedial.
• Peer acceptance and social relations are
  essential for all students.
• Families are critical for success.

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Every child can learn

• While this assumption may seem self-evident,
  educators may not believe it when facing a
  student whose disabilities are multiple and
  severe. Intervention and curriculum design
  should begin with the student rather than with
  the predetermined content. Consideration for
  nonacademic areas and task-analysis are helpful.

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Students are unique

• Curriculum designed for students with multiple
  disabilities should be individualized, with
  content, objectives, scope, and sequence tailored
  to each student.

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Educational outcomes should be functional

• Goals for students with multiple disabilities,
  like those for all students, should enable them
  to function as productively and independently as
  possible in the mainstream of society.
  Curriculum should be future-oriented, practical,
  and meaningful.

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Intervention should be compensatory, rather than
remedial

• Remedial curricula focus on correcting a childs
  disabilityauditory training and physical therapy
  are familiar examples. Compensatory curricula
  emphasize utilizing the childs strengths to
  acquire skills that the disability would seem to
  preventa child who does not have functional
  language, for example might be able to learn to
  use a picture menu to order at a restaurant.

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Peer acceptance and social relations are
essential for all students

• The skills that most learners with multiple
  disabilities need mostlinguistic skills and
  social skillsare best learned from peers. Peer
  tutors, mentors, and models provide very powerful
  learning opportunities for children with multiple
  disabilities. Social skills are an essential
  component of curriculum development.

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Families are critical for success

• Curriculum designed for students with multiple
  disabilities is incomplete without the childs
  family. Family input helps define valid
  long-range goals, and the home environment
  provides opportunities for functional curriculum
  goals and objectives.

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Overview of Specific Disabilities

• Learning Disabilities
• Emotional Disorders
• Visual Impairment
• Mental Retardation
• ADD/ADHD
• Autism

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What Are the Numbers?

• The number of Deaf students with additional
  disabilities is estimated to be between 42-55
  (Gallaudet Research Institute, 2005)
• Functional Assessments completed by deaf
  educators estimated that 69 of all deaf students
  were assessed to have functional limitations in
  the classroom (Gallaudet Research Institute, 2003)

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Learning Disabilities

• Most prevalent disability found in Deaf children
  (9.2, GRI, 2005)
• Deaf children are identified with a learning
  disability much later than hearing children,
  which translates to lost time and services
• Little research related to both deafness and
  learning disabilities

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Teaching Strategies LD

• Teachers MODEL desired behaviors.
• They BREAK TERMINAL GOALS into component parts.
• They teach each objective in a VARIETY OF
  CONTEXTS.
• They teach each each objective with a VARIETY OF
  MATERIALS.

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Teaching Strategies LD

• They provide VARYING amounts of practice.
• They ORGANIZE MATERIAL to facilitate recall.
• They ORGANIZE LEARNING to include rehearsal
  strategies, over-learning and distributive
  practice.

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Teaching Strategies LD

• They consistently use MOTIVATORS.
• They consistently use INTERESTING TASKS AND
  MATERIALS.
• (Jones, 1999)

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

• Reported in 6 of all deaf children, yet is the
  most common neurodevelopmental disorder in
  childhood (GRI, 2005).
• Core symptoms are developmentally inappropriate
  levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and
  impulsivity.
• Difficulties are found in one or more major life
  areas home, school, work, or social
  relationships

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Comprehensive Treatment of ADHD

• Multi-modal treatment approach consists of four
  core interventions
• Patient, parent, and teacher education about the
  disorder
• Medication
• Behavior Therapy
• Environmental supports community, school
  programming

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Teaching Strategies ADHD

• Provide more direct instruction and one-to-one
  instruction when possible
• Use guided instruction
• Teach and practice organization skills and study
  skills for each subject area
• Design lessons so that students have to actively
  respond

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Teaching Strategies ADHD

• Design highly motivating and enriching curriculum
  with ample opportunity for hands-on activities
  and movement.
• Eliminate repetition from task or use more novel
  ways to practice.
• Use computers in instruction.
• Challenge but dont overwhelm.

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Teaching Strategies ADHD

• Design tasks of low to moderate frustration
  levels.
• Change evaluation methods to suit the childs
  learning styles and strengths.
• (Hallowell Ratey, 2005)

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Visual Impairments

• Deaf students who are legally blind make up 1.3
  of the population
• Estimates place another 11 of deaf children as
  having moderate to severe vision loss that
  impacts their learning (Gallaudet Research
  Institute, 2003)
• 6 of children who are deafblind are totally deaf
  and totally blind

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Teaching Strategies Visual Impairments

• Make use of the residual hearing and the residual
  vision, but do not regard hearing or vision as
  all or nothing, know when students can and cannot
  see and how it changes in different environments.
• React to the learners actions and communication
  attempts as they happen.

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Teaching Strategies Visual Impairments

• Give plenty of time for reactions and
  decisionswith less access to context, it may
  take longer to put the pieces together.
• Plan experiences so that problem solving is
  required.
• Use functional activities that can be learned in
  the natural routines of the day.
• Collaborate with professionals in the vision
  field.

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Autism

• Deaf Students diagnosed with autism have just
  begun to be counted. The recent count states that
  1 of deaf students have autism (GRI, 2005).
• 1 out of 166 students in general population have
  autistic spectrum disorders (Centers for Disease
  Control and Prevention, 2007).

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Areas affected by Autism

• Communication
• Social Interaction
• Sensory Impairment
• Play
• Behaviors

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Teaching Strategies Autism

• Provide a highly structured environment
• Provide visual supports for everything
• Incorporate social skills goals into everyday
  lessons
• Provide a quite place to allow self-calming to
  occur
• Evaluate environment to lesson sensory issues

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Ecological Assessment Steps

• List the sub-environments in which the student is
  functioning. (e.g. classroom, hallway, bus,
  after school club, etc.)
• Inventory the activities that typically occur in
  each sub-environment
• For each inventoried activity, list the skills
  typically needed to perform the activity
• Prioritize all of the inventoried skills across
  activities and sub-environments for the learner.

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Steps for Adapting the General Curriculum

• Materials for study
• Method of study
• Pace of instruction
• Learning focus
• Instructional setting
• Evaluation of learning

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Functional Academics

• What does that mean?
• How does that relate to my subject area?
• How will it benefits students with multiple
  disabilities?

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Areas of Functional Academics

• Language Arts
• Science
• Social Studies
• Math
• Social and Behavior Skills
• Life Skills

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Social and Behavioral Skills

• Friendship
• Community Membership
• Turn taking
• Seeking and Gaining Attention
• Cooperation
• Conversation Skills
• Transitioning

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Social and Behavior Skills

• Children with disabilities must have access to
  their non-disabled peers in order to develop
  social skills. For deaf students with multiple
  disabilities their non-disabled peers are Deaf
  students in the general school population.
• (Jones, Jones, Ewing, 2006)

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Social Skills Assessments

• Many helpful products that can be used to develop
  individualized social skills goals for the IEP
• Student involvement as well as parental
  involvement can add great value to the process
• Social skills are important life skills

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Life Skills

• A life skills curriculum fosters independence as
  well as prepares students for life after the
  classroom.
• Vocational preparation
• Recreation and Leisure
• Community Living
• Health and Sex Education