This document provides information about Multidisciplinary Team 9 which serves an elementary school. The team includes members from various specialties to support students with disabilities. The school has approximately 12% of students with disabilities, 10% English learners, and 54% low-income students. The document then discusses special education principles and practices like inclusion, characteristics of various disabilities including cerebral palsy, autism, and learning disabilities. It provides recommendations for aids, services, accommodations and implementing an inclusive model to support students with disabilities in general education classrooms.
1. Multidisciplinary Team 9
Anna Mackinnon – Social Worker
Myishima English – Special Education Teacher
Paul Lebryk – Physical, Speech, and Language Therapist
Christine Kochou – General Education Teacher
2. School Information
•Elementary School (PK-8)
•Demographics
• 12% Students with Disabilities
• 10% English Learners
• Low-Income Students = 54%
• Total Enrollment = 342
• Average Class Size = 24
•Community
• Wicker Park
• Student Mobility = 9%
4. Special Education
•Six Principles of IDEA
1. Zero Reject
2. Nondiscriminatory Evaluation
3. Appropriate Education
4. Least Restrictive Environment
5. Procedural Due Process
6. Parent and Student Participation
5. Special Education
•Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
• Multiple means of representation
• Multiple means of action and expression
• Multiple means of engagement
6. What is Inclusion?
•Procedures that ensure that students with disabilities are
educated, to the maximum extent, with children who are not
disabled
•Characteristics
• Home-School Placement
• Principle of Natural Proportions
• Restructuring Teaching and Learning
• Age- and Grade-Appropriate Placements
7. Inclusion Research Shows…
•Academically
• Increased accessibility
• Grade-level standards
• Supplementary aids and services
•Socially & behaviorally
• Good models of social behaviors
• Peer collaboration
8. General Recommendations
•Culturally Responsive Practices
• Disproportional representation
• Include cultural aspects
•Response to Intervention (RTI)
• Determines whether a student
needs more intensive instruction
9. General Recommendations
•Positive Behavior Support
• Replace problem behaviors with appropriate ones
• Examples: high probability requests, rearrange student
spaces
•Accessibility
• All parts of the shool are accessible
• ACCS, technology aids, ramps, automatic doors…
10. What is a physical disability?
•Impairments caused by congenital
anomaly, diseases or other causes
•Usually includes mobility issues
•Impairments that negatively affect
student’s academic achievement
•Divided into three categories
• Neuromotor impairments
• Degenerative diseases
• Musculoskeletal disorders
•Also called orthopedic impairments
11. Looking at Cerebral Palsy
•Prenatal disorder
• Affects movement and posture
• Spastic, Dyskinetic, Athetoid, Ataxic and
Mixed
•Related Conditions
• Intellectual Disability
• Epilepsy
• Low visual acuity
• Bladder control
12. Special Aids and Services
•Physical Therapy
• Mobility support
• Increase muscle control
• Delivered through pull-out sessions
•Transitioning and emotional support
• Transitioning into independence
• Promote healthy self-awareness
13. Inclusion with a student with Cerebral
Palsy
•Inclusion for partial or full school days
• Dual enrollment in homebound and school-based instruction
• Paraprofessional support in general education classrooms
•Assessment Accommodations
• Computer or oral based assessments
• Frequent testing breaks
• Multiple sessions for testing
•Technology
• AAC device
• Digital formats of material
• Pencil grips and raised paper for note taking
14. What is autism?
• Developmental disorder
• affects verbal and nonverbal communications, educational
performance and social interactions
• apparent by the age of three
• Six distinct characteristics
• atypical language development
• atypical social development
• Repetitive behavior
• Problem behavior
• Sensory and movement disorders
• Differences in Intellectual Functioning
15. Special Aids and Services
• Speech-language therapy
• with a speech-language
interventionist
• Individual pull-out sessions
• Interpersonal skills class
• Individual or group sessions
• goal of understanding social
cues
• social stories
16. Inclusion of Students with Autism
• Positive Behavior Support
• vibrating tools
• restructuring of common areas
• classroom arrangement
• Assessment Accommodations
• Presence of a familiar person
• Limiting disruptions
• Assistive Technology
• Graphic organizers
• Planner
• Word predictor, language-devices
17. What is a Learning Disability?
• Specific Learning Disability
• Disorder in at least one psychological process
• Involves understanding/using language
• Most common type of disability
• About 43% of all students with disabilities
• Characteristics
• Challenge in learning new information
• Low academic achievement in at least one subject
18. Students with Learning Disabilities --
Special Aids and Services
• Advance organizers
• Can benefit all students
• More active in learning
• Anticipate new material
• Helps improve comprehension
• Can be prone to anxiety or
behavior issues
• Work with social worker
19. Students with Learning Disabilities --
Inclusion
• Differentiated Instruction
• Changes to traditional instruction
• More understandable for all students
• Focus on needs and strengths
• Examples
• Amount of math problems
• Breaking down word-math problem
• Assessment Accommodations
• Most common - extra time for test taking
• Controversial, but shown to not be an unfair advantage
20. Implementation of recommendations
• Professional development
• Meetings with administrators,
counselors, social workers
• Regular meetings between
professionals/teachers
• Monthly meetings to monitor progress &
address concerns
• Family involvement
• Workshop with families to involve them
in the IEP process
21. References
• (2013). Assistive Technology. The Iris Center. Vanderbilt Peabody College.
Retrieved from http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/at
• (2014). Burr Elementary. Illinois Report Card. Retrieved from
http://illinoisreportcard.com/School.aspx?source=StudentCharacteristics&s
ource2=LEP&Schoolid=150162990252108
• Lo, L. (2012). Demystifying the IEP Process for Diverse Parents of Children
With Disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children.
• Turnbull, A., Turnbull, R., Wehmeyer, M. L., Shogren, K. A. (2013).
Exceptional Lives (7th Ed). Boston: Pearson.
