CEC+Standard+5


 * CEC Standard 5: Learning Environments and Social Interactions **

Special educators actively create learning environments for individuals with ELN that foster ** cultural understanding **, safety and emotional well-being, positive social interactions, and active engagement of individuals with ELN. In addition, special educators foster environments in which ** diversity is valued and individuals are taught to live harmoniously and productively ** in a culturally diverse world. Special educators shape environments to encourage the independence, self-motivation, self-direction, personal empowerment, and self-advocacy of individuals with ELN. Special educators help their general education colleagues integrate individuals with ELN in regular environments and engage them in meaningful learning activities and interactions. Special educators use direct motivational and instructional interventions with individuals with ELN to teach them to respond effectively to current expectations. When necessary, special educators can safely intervene with individuals with ELN in crisis. Special educators coordinate all these efforts and provide guidance and direction to paraeducators and others, such as classroom volunteers and tutors.

Reflection:

As an educator of children with special needs it is important to treat all the students in the same way. Children with multiple and severe disabilities have the same needs as their typically developed peers. However, the difference between them is that the first group has a limited set of skills when it comes to achieving the same consequences as the first group. For a very long time in our field the belief was that these students have to be kept in self-contained classroom where they would first learn some social skills before being integrated with their typically developed peers. However more recent research shows that integration facilitates the learning of new skills by daily exposure to different opportunities. Exposure alone though is not sufficient to teach the student new behaviors. Systematic instruction and target of specific and measurable behaviors that are required in the targeted environment are also key elements for a successful integration. Accommodations or modifications of the environment or of the curriculum also play an important role in educating the students with severe and multiple disabilities while they take part in the same activities along with their typically developed peers. From personal experience I also learned that the intervention could have a longer lasting result when working together with other team members such as speech therapists, coaches, school nurses and classroom teachers. A concrete example of environmental accommodations is a visual schedule I used with a 5th grade self contained student who was attending social studies and science class in the regular education environment. The pictures included “snap shots” of different sequences that made the science class such as: sign in, get text book, group work, etc. This schedule made the class to be a more predictable environment for him and as a result he did not grab his teacher any longer for help.

Artifact:

For this standard I chose a project I used with three elementary students of different ages. The main purpose was to compare the results and determine if the changes were caused by the instructional strategies used throughout the intervention or due to other factors such as age, school environment, etc. Baseline probes were collected in 3 successive sessions and intervention was delivered individually to each student at 3 different elementary schools. The results indicated that after using a task analysis to teach play skills, all students made significant gains and were able to independently play games with their peers during recess. The main reason I chose this project is because it shows how differed behaviors can be taught by using environmental modifications and systematic instruction. Collaboration with school staff such as physical education and classroom teacher was important.

TEACHING PLAY SKILLS TO THREE ELEMENTARY STUDENTS WITH AUTISM BY USING TASK ANALYSIS