HIGH INCIDENCE

OTHER HEALTH IMPAIRMENT - Sara Maderious

-The accommodations for an individual characterized as OHI must receive medical services (provided for diagnostic and evaluative purposes), and school health services and school nurse services (or any other qualified person).

SPEECH LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT - Sara Maderious

-These are considered “high incidence disabilities” (Low and High Incidence Disabilities, n.d.)

Some accommodations for students with IDDs include giving a quiet workspace, teaching functional activities, repeating concepts throughout the day, having a lower student-teacher ratio, using hands-on learning, teaching safety and taking safety measures to ensure the student does not harm themself, teaching a schedule and teaching independence through it. (TherapyTravelers) ✏

It is considered a high incidence disability, at least mild/moderate types. (Low and High Incidence Disabilities, n.d.)

Some assistive technologies that are useful for students with intellectual disabilities include: Audible, Co:writer Universal (software that allows people with IDDs communicate more easily), VisionBoard KeyBoard (oversized keyboard to make it easier to see and type), Talking Calculators (helps with reading the numbers out and aids the user in solving), spell-check and dictionary software, graphic organizers to help with organizing steps in tasks. (Community Mainstreaming)

An individual with an intellectual disability has below-average intellectual ability. They may also have poor communication, self-care, and social skills. Down syndrome is one example of an intellectual disability. (The 13 disability categories under IDEA.) 😃

Visual Conditions and Hearing Loss Associated with Deaf-Blindness © 2020 Helen Keller Services (HKS)
retrieved from https://www.helenkeller.org/

A helpful beginners sign language video for teachers to learn school terms!

At AISD, as discussed in my interviews with the Elementary School Counselor and Learning Support Specialist, AISD addresses moderate-mild learning needs with a PEP in place. However, until Grade 1, individualized and one-on-one support is provided for by the LS and EAL teams for children on the spectrum. Furthermore, when it comes to children on the spectrum, there is an Individual Assistant (IA) at AISD, whose role is similar to that of paraprofessionals in the United States. We had one child who had low functioning autism and was non-verbal. The IA and I would take turns kind of watching over and providing individualized instruction. However, the IA spent a lot of time building a relationship with the child, pulling him out of class often to work on his verbal skills and building on his communication skills. Additionally, the IA had a lot of flashcards, basically a graphic organizer which would show certain actions he would wish to express and/or communicate across to others. He became familiarized with it and would wear it around his neck, and would pull out a card to show what he wanted to do e.g. going to the bathroom, asking a question, saying hello, wanting to communicate with friends et cetera. However, our main goal with him was to create an inclusive learning environment for him, eventually decreasing the number of times he would be pulled out of the classroom and his friends became aware of the existence of different kids than themselves.

A developmental disability that affects verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction before a child turns 3 years of age, consequently affecting his/her academic performance. Other attributes consist of engaging in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements and/or repetitive actions like swaying back and forth, rocking, hitting oneself repeatedly on the head or other body parts et cetera, resistance to a change in routine and/or environment and unusual responses to sensory experiences i.e. will move away or react adversely if touched by an unknown caregiver. However, if a child’s academic performance is being affected by a form of emotional disturbance e.g. exhibit inappropriate behavior in regular scenarios, unable to build and maintain social and/or interpersonal relationships et cetera, the child will not be classified as being autistic. However, if the child shows attributes described in the attributes explicitly discussed towards the beginning of the paragraph, s/he will be identified as an autistic individual.

At AISD, when it comes to students with SLD, the Learning Support (LS) assigns a one-on-one LS TA with a child with the SLD. As the TA in Kindergarten, I also would sometimes provide scaffolding and/or individualized support for those students who struggled. Furthermore, during writing time, the LS team would split and come each alternate writing day to observe the children and just be there to provide scaffolding if needed. For children with English as an Additional Language, the EAL and LS teams would spend time doing reading assessments and other literacy activities that addressed their needs, improved their skills and built on their strengths. By using technology like RAZ Kids, these kids would be able to do “flight checks” in which they are given 15 minutes (which is a lot of time as most of them do not have a great attention span) in which they read a story that can also be read aloud back to them on their school iPads, retell the story by recording themselves, and answer comprehension questions that they read and can also press the sound option to hear the question read aloud and the answer options as well.

According to reports of the U.S. Department of Education, there are over 2.8 million students, approximately 47.4% of all children, being served for specific learning disabilities.
. It is classified as a high incidence disorder.

Surveillance reports in 2016 stated that about 1 in 54 children, approximately 18.5% of 1000 children, has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network.
It is classified as a high incidence disorder.

A disorder in one or more fundamental psychological processes involved in understanding or using spoken or written language, i.e. inability to listen, think, spell, write, speak, calculate, and read. Furthermore, specific learning disabilities (SLD) include brain injuries, dyslexia, developmental aphasia, and perceptual disabilities and/or limitations. imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. SLD does not include learning problems that result from visual, hearing, or motor disabilities due to cognitive disability, emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, and economic disadvantage.

The 13 disability categories under IDEA. (2019, August 5).
https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/special-services/special-education-basics/conditions-covered-under-idea

7 cool assistive technologies driving accessibility for intellectual disabilities. (2019, September
17). Community Mainstreaming. https://communitymainstreaming.org/assistive-technologies/

Wagner, M., Blackorby, J. (2002). Disability Profiles of Elementary and Middle School Students With Disabilities. SEELS. Retrieved from https://seels.sri.com/designdocs/SEELS_disability_profile.pdf.

Welcome. (n.d.). Teach Special Education. https://www.teachspeced.ca/hearing-impairmnt

Using hearing assistive technologies in the classroom: Why, when and how? (n.d.). https://www.boystownhospital.org/knowledge-center/using-hearing-assistive-technologies-classroom

Team, T. U. (2020, April 17). The 3 Areas of Executive Function. Retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues/types-of-executive-function-skills?_ul=1*nhubgp*domain_userid*YW1wLTRiOGI4NU5yWExfZUlEUGZiSTlNalE.

Understanding Speech Disorders. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/speech-disorders.html