A CHALLENGE IN THE ADAPTED LEARNING CLASSROOM Landie Callanan

The Challenge Reading for Meaning  Providing Access to grade-level literature and informational text for all special education students  In order that the 6 th grade students in the Adapted Learning Language Arts class have same opportunities to engage in the rigor of the new Baltimore County curriculum.  This needs to include opportunities for multiple( repeated) and close reads of grade level literature.

The Classroom Profile  The Adapted Learning Classroom  LRE B students, 8 students with Lexile reading scores of BR Greater than 50% of students have comprehension scores for literary and/or information text below a the third grade instructional performance level.  100% of students are part of the PGMS reading target group that needs to demonstrate increased academic achievement on state testing.  Students have various barriers that make access to grade-level novels and text more difficult for them than their peers in the general education classroom.

Barriers  Home life-  Guardianship or multiple homes  Lack of adult support to monitor homework or provide educational reinforcement  Poor study environment  Reading not visually evident orvalued by family members  Inconsistent support for school attendance and/or providing transportation for student to benefit from before or after-school educational enrichment or intervention programs  Learning Disabilities or Other Health Impairments-  Reading deficits: decoding, processing speed  ADD/ADHD  Multiple or Physical disabilities-  Visual impairments  Limited mobility and physical use of upper extremities

Barriers continue…  Instruction-  Minimal time within curriculum lessons for providing classroom reading by the teacher, paired reading or independent access.  Curriculum emphasizes assigning literature reading as homework, often with activities that require students to identify explicit details and implicit concepts.  No Class!  Lost time during the unit to weather closings, testing, special school initiatives

Solutions to Novel Reading Access  Station opportunity to read short passages and respond to comprehension questions using Kurzweil in the classroom.  Open access at lunch for students to access audio read in the classroom via classroom computers set up with a YouTube reading of each chapter.  Apps provided to students and parents for Smartphone (or tablets) to quickly access Youtube, e-reader and Audible.com  Library/ Technology Instructor conferences with students to support borrowing audio versions from public library on student tablets and phones.  Kesi. Files(Kurzweil) formatted into Word documents in order to enlarge font for the student with visual impairments  Multiple copies of book sent home so students can enjoy paired reading with parent, sitter or tutor.  Study Island Link for ease of access to audio files.

Representation  UDL Guideline1, Provide Multiple Means for Perception:  Text to speech (TTS) is providing access support for students who are struggling with fluency and/or comprehension Synthetic voice can be selected by student Synchronized highlighting can be adjusted for color and length of text  Audiobook format Links are included via Student accessible websites to audio only format YouTube, Audible.com, teacher recordings  My Wishlist:  Future Representation- develop more Vocabulary hyperlinks that display and read the definition and possible visual image of tier 3 words (UDL Guidline 2, options for language and symbols)

Engagement  One student, who has a visual impairment, needs large font and reduced visual distractions on his papers. He enjoys reading, but is reluctant to use an enlarged font version of a novel on a kindle or tablet. He also does not need verbatim reading for all text. This student and others in the class have continued find success and support for comprehension of grade level materail access to text to speech software.  Currently I am using Kurzweil in my classroom.  The technology sustains their interest and reduces their frustrations, to accessing lengthy text; even when the server is behaving poorly!  Kurweil offers the student choices that can be individually saved to support comprehension:  highlighting, font enlargement, background colors) synthized voice choices,  Kurweil offers the student support for writing responses to grade-level text and county resource sheets  word recognition memory, text boxes, split screen, voice read of written work…..

Action and Expression  Given the limits to instructional time to a particular portion of a novel, it is very difficult to support the students’ executive functions. They need support implementing strategies and various plans to achieve comprehension.  One Solution: Scaffolded Digital Reading (SDR) using Kurzweil and BCPS Curriculum resources. I have modified portions of text and curriculum resource sheets to include text support such text boxes with directions, text boxes for written response and “stop and think” questions. Some students need the reading chunked and the “stop and think” questions, while others respond well to having the text-dependent question providing deeper understanding of the grade level reading material.  My Wishlist:  Future Actions- provide additional opportunities to include reciprocal teaching, extend written expression with more modified curriculum resources, and vocabulary enrichment word list in Kurzweil or by adding links to access background knowledge

I. Provide Multiple Means of Representation Provide options for perception 1.1 Offer options of customizing the display of information 1.2 Offer alternatives for auditory information 1.3 Offer alternatives for visual information

II. Provide Multiple Means for Action and Expression 6 Provide options for executive functions Facilitate managing information and resources