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Adapting curriculum for students with special needs
Inclusion has forced a whole new group of people to make adaptations for students with special needs:
regular education teachers and parents. Neither of these groups generally have much training in how
to adapt curriculum and neither group has lots of extra time in their day to do so. Yet adaptations
must be made in order for students with special needs to be truly included in the learning community—
to truly learn with their peers.
Anyone can learn to adapt curriculum, just as anyone can learn to iron clothes! When my husband began
to enjoy all cotton dress shirts, it was necessary for him to learn to iron them-a daunting task at first.
In this article, we will talk about the "how" of adapting curriculum. But first, let's look a little bit
at the "why" of it all. The reason that curriculum needs to be adapted, is that a child who can't
access materials in the same way other children can, can't learn the materials. As an example, first
grade students are given a worksheet to help them learn to read the names of the colors. They are asked
to read the color words on each part of the coloring page, and color them in according to the word they
see within that shape. A student who is visually impaired and cannot read the small font or see the pale
outlines of the shapes will find this worksheet meaningless. While it may provide small motor practice, a
student with physical impairments who cannot control the crayon in the small spaces provided will also
find this worksheet doesn't allow him to learn anything about the color words or demonstrate his mastery
of the target skill.
The first "how" of adaptations is to figure out what the target skill is. What exactly are we
wanting the student to learn, practice, or demonstrate that she knows with a given assignment?
Once we have clarified our goal with an assignment, we can begin to see what adaptations, if any, are
needed to help the student reach that goal. This helps us to narrow our focus to the most important
thing for the student to know within this assignment. In the example above, if we decide that the
focus is on learning to recognize the color words, we must adapt the assignment so that the student
with motor impairments can work on this skill.
Secondly, we need to know the parts of the assignment that will be difficult or impossible
for the student to independently access. Even though at times total independence might be
impossible, it should remain the goal of adaptations at all times. Does the student have a visual
impairment, and the worksheet is in small print? Does the student have trouble focusing if there are
too many words to read on each page? Does the student have a reading delay, and the assignment
requires paragraphs of reading? Is there a physical disability that prevents independent access to
the materials? Does the student have trouble processing multi-step directions?
Thirdly, we need to think about what the student enjoys, can do well, or is motivated to
try to do on her own. Does the student enjoy cutting and pasting? Does the student respond
well to directions with visual clues added? Does the student enjoy working on the computer? Is the
student a hands-on learner?
Next, we want to look at skills that are being focused on in the IEP and in the state
standards. Is the student working on sequencing, matching, sorting or classifying? Do the
state standards require the student to be able to group objects, make graphs or use models to
describe a system? Then these are skills we can target with our adaptations.
Now, armed with lots of good information, we can take a look at the classroom work, and see if it
needs adaptations. As an example, we will look at a 3rd grade health packet, in which the students
study hygiene and healthy lifestyles. Within this packet, students are asked to fill in the blanks
from a word bank, do dot-to-dot worksheets, complete a maze and complete a sentence with several good
lifestyle choices. Worksheets have 2 activities per page. (see examples below) The goal of this unit
is that students understand what a healthy lifestyle is, how to prevent germs, and what occupations
are involved in keeping them healthy. State standards ask that students in this grade be able to
categorize items based on similarities and differences.
The students, that we are adapting this worksheet for, have Cerebral Palsy, with mild to moderate small
motor impairment as well as language and reading delays. One student struggles with anxiety and one
has visual impairment. The students enjoy doing things with their hands, in spite of the motor
impairments, and are working on sequencing and sentence comprehension as part of the IEP goals.
One student in particular is very motivated to do everything himself. These students are very visual
learners, and benefit from the use of pictures along with words, both as a teaching tool and to help
reduce anxiety.
The worksheets, as written, are not independently accessible to the students. Motor skills are not
good enough to do the dot-to-dot, do their own writing in the small spaces provided, or, in the case
of the student with visual impairment, to be plainly visible without adaptation. Some of the fill
in the blank work can be done using the computer and assistive technology, but that would increase
the amount of time it would take to complete the packet. If there is enough time after completing
the adaptations, the student can complete this written work, but the focus of the working time will
be categorizing the pictures into which of the 3 learning goals they belong.
Taking the goals of the unit—to identify healthy lifestyles, know how to prevent germs, and
know the health related occupations—we can create an activity that covers the same material in
an accessible way for these students. In this case, picture symbols were printed, to be cut out and
sorted into 3 groups by the students, and glued on the worksheet (on the left) that follows.
In this adapted worksheet, the font was enlarged to make it more readable for the student with visual
impairment, and symbols were added for the students with reading delays. Students will cut out the
pictures (with adapted scissors as necessary) and sort and glue them into place. The completed
activity is shown above (on the right).
As you look at the completed activity, you may be thinking, "But that would take a lot less time to do
than the original packet of worksheets." You are correct; a student without a physical impairment would
fly through this assignment. However, the required cutting and pasting will take longer for students
with motor impairments. One of the adaptations necessary for students with physical disabilities can
be reducing the time it takes to do an assignment, so that they can finish their work in the same amount
of time it takes other students, while still covering the same content.
Obviously, the adaptations that are made will depend on the needs of the student and on the goals of
the lesson. Different students would require a different adaptation for this lesson.
"Wow, I don't have that much time to do adaptations", you may be thinking. Making this particular
adaptation took about 5 minutes, including printing it. Using the steps I have outlined in this
article helps to reduce the time it takes to make an adapted activity by first narrowing your focus
and then identifying strengths and goals. You can also make templates for your adaptations, to make
doing an adaptation the next time a little easier. If you know your student needs a 24 point font to
make things readable, set up a template that uses a 24 point font. If you often make symbol cards,
set up a template for these, or invest in software that includes symbol sets and templates. Take
advantage of printable address labels and their templates to make stickers to use for adaptations.
Making adaptations, like ironing, doesn't take that much time, once you get yourself set up to do it
as efficiently as you can.
ABOUT THIS COLUMN
SERCH is excited to bring you a new monthly column that focuses on children with disabilities and the
math/science curriculum. Children are all different; children with disabilities may have learning
differences that require a re-thinking of the usual methods of teaching science and math. But children
with disabilities can grow up to get higher education and hold jobs in science in science and math fields.
This column is dedicated to the proposition that success in science and math is possible, and is dedicated to
making that success possible by helping parents and school staff learn about the many ways to achieve learning
for students with disabilities.
This column is written by Robin Hurd, who is a mother of 4 boys, ages 13, 11 and 8 year old twins. The
combination of disabilities at her house includes non-verbal physical impairments, sensory issues, Autistic
spectrum disorder, Tourettes syndrome, auditory processing disorder, anxiety disorder as well as talented and
gifted. In spite of this list, Robin, David and the boys enjoy life and learning to the fullest! Robin serves
as parent support liaison for the AAC Institute, a non-profit organization supporting people who communicate
using alternatives to speech. She writes a monthly column for parents at the AAC Institute, moderates a
parents' on-line group, and is available for support to individual parents. If you would like to contact
Robin about this column, you may e-mail her at
parents@aacinstitute.org.
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