1. Classroom management for learners with disabilities

2. Teaching social Skills Social skills can be taught through demonstration, modeling, guided practice with feedback, role play, independent practice and video presentation of correct or incorrect examples. Some types of social skills that are taught through direct instruction are giving positive feedback like thanking or compliments. Giving negative feedback such as constructive criticism or correction.

3. Teaching social skills cont. Accepting negative feedback without hostility or inappropriate reactions. Resisting peer pressure to participate in inappropriate behavior. Solving a students personal problems and negotiating solutions to problems. Initiating or maintaining a conversation.

4. ABA – Applied Behavior Anaylsis ABA focuses on identifying observable behaviors and manipulating the antecedents and consequences of these behaviors to change behavior. Antecedents are environmental event or stimulus that precedes a behavior and influences the probability that the behavior will recur in the future. Antecedents are observing instructional content, classroom rules, schedule, arrangement and peer interactions. No single plan or program is ABA, it is simply application of behavior principles to every day situations that will over time increase or decrease targeted behaviors. ABA is used to help students acquire many different skills such as language, self help, play and to decrease maladaptive behaviors such as self stimulatory, self injury and aggression. In a young child with autism research supports 25 hours a week as a minimum of ABA therapy for a child that is 12 months to one year. On average 40 hours a week over two years children could achieve typical development.

5. Basic Steps to Developing an FBA 1. Identify the problem. You need to identify the behavior prior to conducting an FBA as well as defining the behavior. You need to consider cultural differences and observe in different areas. 2. Collect information to determine function. You need to identify where, when, with whom the conditions when behavior is most likely to occur. – You can use direct assessment which is observing the problem behavior and describe the environment/conditions where it took place. – Or Indirect assessment which is interviewing parents, teachers to get an insight on behavior perspective Categorize behavior and form a hypothesis. It needs to be determined why a behavior is forming. Forming the hypothesis provides the FBA team with a statement that defines the reasons for a displayed behavior. – There are three steps to forming a hypothesis. 1. Function – Why are they demonstrating the behavior. 2. Skill Deficit – Student may be lacking certain skills to succeed. 3. Performance – The student may not like the subject but does know the subject matter, may lack motivation. 4. Planning Interventions. After analyzed behavior has been hypothesized a plan is developed to change or eliminate behavior. 5. Evaluating the effectiveness of the plan. Date is used to collect and analyze the intervention plan.

6. General guidelines for developing a classroom schedule The classroom schedule needs to be posted for all students to see and understand. Pictographs should be used if needed. It needs to be well designed to predict the school day and have an allocation of time frames for each activity. Changes need to be noted and posted with a visual. Rules need to be limited in number. Stated positively. Help students understand what will and will not be accepted. Classroom arrangement should be made to reduce noise and crowding which will therefore decrease undesirable behaviors. When pairing students, pair those who have good social skills with those who struggle to utilize peer modeling on a daily basis.

7. Behaviors that may be encountered with special needs students Social skills deficits – one who simple fails to perform the appropriate behavior for a given circumstance or setting. Generally skill based deficits are due to lack of opportunity to learn or limited models of appropriate behavior. Performance deficits are when a student possesses a skill but doesn’t perform it under the desired circumstances. Motivational deficits are when a student possesses a skill but does not desire to perform it. Behavioral interventions are usually effective. Many times motivational strategies encourage pro social behavior using ABA. With motivational deficits students are in charge of their own behavior. Discrimination Deficit – the student has the desired skill, is motivated but does not know when to exhibit the desired behavior. The student performs the behavior but at the wrong time. When you teach discrimination, you help students learn to discriminate among the behavioral options in each school situation and match the situation with the proper behavior pattern. Many social skills problems occur simply because students do not know how to read environmental cues to realize if a behavior is acceptable. Teachers help students size up social situations and determine what to do. Many students with LD may not demonstrate appropriate social skills because they do not understand the hidden curriculum.

8. The Benefits of PBS for students with Disabilities The benefits of PBS for students with disabilities are that there are universal expectations in every classroom and area. Behavior is taught the same way that academics is taught, through careful systematic teaching. There is a direct correlation between behavior and achievement. With the school as a whole, getting their behavior under control then a correlation would be that the students behavior is going up. Students know all of the rules, they are posted throughout the building, at recess and in the classrooms. Other personnel that enter the building, substitutes etc all know the rules and what is to be expected.

9. Preparing instructional environment for students with disabilities The environment needs to be free from distractions. Rules need to be posted in different areas throughout the classroom. The daily schedule needs to be posted and reviewed as well as the weekly schedule. Some students will require an individual schedule posted in their planner. Procedures need to be reviewed and taught frequently, such as how to work in groups etc. Students need to be placed where they work best in the classroom such as independent seat, near the front, away from the window or door.