Re: Curriculum Adaptation Help Needed

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/6/2004 7:20:35 PM US Mountain Standard Time,

CMancari@... writes:

> Can anyone currently in 4th grade send me

> information regarding what they have done?

Well, Mav is not in 4th, he's in 7th, but we have done the 4th grade thing.

What WE did, and this IS in his IEP is that we have monthly inclusion

meetings. One of the things we do at these meetings is discuss what the class

is

working on next and what Maverick will do as a part of this class. You just

need

to start thinking in a different mode and it comes really easy.

Here are a couple of examples, which may or may not meet your needs, but WILL

give you the idea.

When they were studying Indians...the class had to learn about 3 Indian

Tribes and know a certain number of facts about each. Mav had to study one

tribe

and know 3 facts. When they tested him they did a mulitple choice test with

questions like:

To go to school an Tohono 'Odam boy would:

a. ride his bike

b. ride a canoe

c. ride a bus.

When they were studying the Solar System, this went on for a LONG time. He

had a booklet ....each page was the planet and a few facts about it. He had to

color them the correct colors and he and the aide read about them. His TEST

was to take cut outs of the planets and place them in the right circles on the

page around the earth.

When they were studying the digestive tract, this was really great. They

made a 4 ft tall poster board Mav. Then they put the body parts on it as they

studied it. He could take it off and put it on where it belonged. They kept

that and the next year they added the Respiratory system. He was able to

explain the respiratory system just fine.

One of the things they did this year for Social STudies...the kids all had to

memorize the presidents. Mav had to identify Bush and all the presidents on

bills. They had to do a president report and he did his on Washington. He

learned facts and we found pictures and he placed them on the board and was able

to stand in front of the class and point to each thing and explain why there

was a dollar bill, what Mt. Rushmore was, etc.

You get the idea. There are no hard and fast rules to how to adapt....you

just look at what you are studying, how your child learns and what you want him

to get out of it.

Hope this helps....probably bored most of you.

Oh, let me add..today Maverick brough home a pillow that he had HAND SEWED in

Home Ec!!! I asked if he was giving it to me for Mother's Day, but he won't.

It has soccer balls on it!

M.

 ¸...¸     ___/ /\ \___        ¸...¸     

,·´º o`·, /__/ _/\_ \__\     ,·´º o`·,

```)¨(´´´  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  ```)¨(´´´

¸,.-·²°´      ¸,.-·~·~·-.,¸      `°²·-.¸

 

......for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

3:33

[Guest guest]

Cari,

You need to mention LRE over and over again. Part of Nick's IEP should

include social skills - and it's critical that he is in an environment with

his neighbors/peers. 's VP recently told me that if were the

only child needed his type of placement, they would have to comply. I threw

in reverse mainstreaming and it's been working well for over a year. The

special ed teacher is probably the one who has to modify the

curriculum....but many parents are the ones who have the gift of creativity

and modify the curriculum for their child.

Check out this web site: http://www.reedmartin.com/sitesearch.htm

Curriculum Adaptation Help Needed

> Hi All!

>

> I'm Cari, mom to Nick (age 10, 3rd grade) who just happens to have Down

> Syndrome & Hyperlexion Developmental Delay Disorder. I just got back from

his

> Eligibility Meeting (he qualifies ). While there it was decided we

would

> reconvene his IEP, partly because based on his testing they determined he

was

> Moderately Impaired and they (the powers that be PTB) decided it would

probably be

> best if Nick was sent to another school (away from his home school) to

receive

> services.

>

> My husband, Jeff, and I both said " No! " Jeff was a little more elegant

than

> I was explaining that this is an Individualized Education Plan and that

they

> needed to try to adapt the curriculum in his current school placement

before

> just 'passing the buck to another school.' We also stressed that Nick has

> friends and knows the staff at his current school and his younger brothers

would

> attend this school.

>

> Now I believe I've heard of successful inclusive/mainstream cases and of

> cases where the curriculum was adapted. Can anyone currently in 4th grade

send me

> information regarding what they have done? I guess I want all my

ammunition

> in place before we return on the 26th. The liaison person from the board

> actually asked me to locate all the information for her. Nick's special

Ed

> teacher is willing to try, not so sure about the regular Ed teachers.

Nick loves

> school and loves attending with the kids he is with now. I hate the

thought of

> sending him to another town to go to school just because the board has

their

> program set up that way.

>

> Thanks for the help!

>

> Cari

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

HI, My son had adaptations done by the SPED teacher in elementary school as

he got into Middle school and up we had an Inclusion Specialist written into

the IEP. It was her job to talk to the teachers, attend class and see how each

could be adapted. Our Inclusion specialist came from the local ARC. BTW she is

awesome and the High School teachers and my self nominated her for an award.

She won!!!!!!!!

I am hoping that we do not lose her next year. My son is more into his

vocational stuff and his job coach works with him on that.

The inclusion specialist has also set up peer groups to work with the kids

and to eat lunch with them or just hang together. She is the support person for

them. Once a week they have a talk with the group meeting and my son and go

over any issues they need to work on.

Jean

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/7/2004 1:44:26 PM US Mountain Standard Time, ANGEL2COOK

writes:

> My son had adaptations done by the SPED teacher

That's how I thought it would be but the SPED teacher had no idea HOW to

adapt.

M.

 ¸...¸     ___/ /\ \___        ¸...¸     

,·´º o`·, /__/ _/\_ \__\     ,·´º o`·,

```)¨(´´´  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  ```)¨(´´´

¸,.-·²°´      ¸,.-·~·~·-.,¸      `°²·-.¸

 

......for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

3:33

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/7/2004 5:36:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

angel2cook@... writes:

Once a week they have a talk with the group meeting and my son and go

over any issues they need to work on.

This is a great example of the collaboration that is needed. Here, if

everyone does their job as expected, the case manager works with the regular ed

to

make sure necessary modifications are done. A good regular ed teacher should

be able to modify the curriculum she is familiar with and need assistance from

sped teacher on occasion if she has a problem. Many times there is a battle

over whose responsibility the modification becomes and in our area it is

usually expected to be the sped teacher (case manager's) ultimate

responsibility.

Cheryl in VA

[Guest guest]

A suggestion .... here our teachers are taught in " differentiated " (sp)

curriculum, which is basically how to modify the curriculum when presented in

your

classroom for the diverse (regular ed) learners you have. You could check to

see if your teachers are trained in that or if there are courses they can

take.(staff development type classes offered by school system, usually a number

of

them are mandatory throughout the year) Especially at middle school and high

school levels, while we no longer have what were called " remediation " classes

from the old days, teachers are trained in how to present material at several

levels. You can contact the secondary curriculum administrators and ask what

type of resources are available for the teachers (great way to get central

admin involved in checking with teachers and reminding them of what they should

be trying or doing)

Another thing I always did before school started, I would actually check the

curriculum for the upcoming year (available at the school and our parent

resource center) for all of Stef's classes, develop potential goals from the

curriculum where I thought there may be problems for her, and have that handy in

case we did run into a problem, with suggestions for modifications already on

hand. Only took a couple of hours to read thru, make copies if needed, and draw

up plan. Our VA Dept of Ed web site has all kinds of handy tips for teachers

that parents can use to, suggested strategies, the state assessment samples

and scope and sequences laid out, great great info and a great resource! I also

sat on panel for our local school system where we developed a resource guide

for teachers of MR students, showing how to take components of our state

standards and turn them into lessons on many different levels. Our school

system

published this, scheduled workshops to present with teachers to demonstrate,

and have obtained feedback on it's usefullness and ways to expand from the

teachers.

Cheryl in VA

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/8/2004 4:08:07 AM US Mountain Standard Time,

wildwards@... writes:

> Many times there is a battle

> over whose responsibility the modification becomes

We have found that once whomever it is who is working with Maverick is able

to " think outside the box " they come up with some wonderful ideas on how to

modify, adapt, and make the material academically interesting for him. Once

they get it, it CLICKS, but otherwise they are so busy fighting having to do

anything differently. Another thing I frequently recomend is that they go to a

1st or 2nd grade teacher and find out what materials they have and adapt THEM

for what they are working on.

There are some things, like the Civil War, that continues to be a challenge.

Maverick doesn't get the concept of Slavery. But, he learned that the North

and South were fighting and that Abraham Lincoln was involved and he was good.

Now, he didn't get graded on this subject, but he WAS expected to be

involved in studying it.

And he loves it!

M.

 ¸...¸     ___/ /\ \___        ¸...¸     

,·´º o`·, /__/ _/\_ \__\     ,·´º o`·,

```)¨(´´´  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  ```)¨(´´´

¸,.-·²°´      ¸,.-·~·~·-.,¸      `°²·-.¸

 

......for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

3:33

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/8/2004 4:17:36 AM US Mountain Standard Time, Wildwards

writes:

> I would actually check the curriculum for the upcoming year

This past year, the teachers in SS and Science gave me extra text books to

keep at home so I could follow along with what they were studying, or going to

study. And I could get books/videos from the public library ahead of time and

introduce them to Maverick and help work on goals that we wanted to work

on...(content goals, separate from the IEP goals.).

M.

 ¸...¸     ___/ /\ \___        ¸...¸     

,·´º o`·, /__/ _/\_ \__\     ,·´º o`·,

```)¨(´´´  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  ```)¨(´´´

¸,.-·²°´      ¸,.-·~·~·-.,¸      `°²·-.¸

 

......for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

3:33