Effective Instruction for All

(Para 1.) Potty training, Mayo Clinic overview. In November, 2007 the Mayo Clinic published an overview, Potty training: How to get the job done . This short overview provides an excellent, practical summary of the research. The initial question concerns readiness. Is it time? For students with no evidence of developmental delays, toilet training is usually initiated before age 3. Regardless of the age toilet training is initiated, the student or family should not be going through a major change such as a move or the arrival of a new sibling. For some students with disabilities, the readiness questions in the Mayo Clinic overview, become training objectives. Such questions include:

1. Can your child follow basic directions?

2. Can your child ask specific questions?

3. Can your child pull down his or her pants and pull them up again?

(Para 2.) Introduction to three instructional programs. For those serving students with developmental delays, this posting provides three research-based instructional programs. The first program Toilet Training – Short Term, was designed and tested as a tool for students with less severe needs. The child is ready for this program if there is:

1. a regular pattern of urination and bowel movement.

2. an ability to walk without help.

3. the skill to grasp small objects.

4. the ability to follow simple directions.

(Para 3.) Toilet Training Part I. This toilet training program was designed an tested for students with multiple and severe disabilities. Download Toilet Training Part I , examine the table of contents. Before beginning this program ask yourself: Is the child ready? Page 4 of the program leads you through this question.

(Para 4.) Toilet Training Part II. This toilet training program is a continuation of Toilet Training Part I. Download Toilet Training Part II and review the contents to determine the sections that match the needs of the student.

(Para 5.) Coordinating home and school. All three of the above listed programs were designed and tested to support home-school coordination. One major vehicle for facilitating coordination is the record keeping system included with each program. Toilet Training Parts I and II have served as a national staff development resource for teachers, aides, volunteers and families serving students with severe disabilities. Because some parts of the documents will not apply to all families, relevant parts may be copied and shared as needed with families. One common element from all the above listed programs is the avoidance of criticism and punishment. Home and school coordination on this issue is important. At school the responses of aides and volunteers must be coordinated. At home the behavior of siblings and baby sitters must also be coordinated. The role of medications requires coordination. Some seizure medications can cause diarrhea. With all these interacting variables, the importance of daily record keeping increases. Changes in toileting behavior may be closely linked to changes at home and school.

Al :: Feb.25.2008 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

(Para 1.) Eating and drinking, linking motor and social skills. Achieving independence in eating and drinking skills opens doors to improved social skills, motor skills, and health enhancing skills, as well as an improved self-concept. For students who look forward to meal time, the natural consequences reduce the instructional challenges. The one caution will be competency in the first-aid responses to choking. Such competency is required if the the student is eating dependently or independently. The student eating independently still requires competent, constant supervision. A copy of the training program on eating and drinking skills can be viewed and downloaded from the links. All persons involved in supervising or instructing students should be competent in the first aid responses on page 30 of the program.

(Para 2.) Program goals and objectives. Page 1 of the program lists the program goal or purpose and four objectives:

1. Eating with fingers.

2. Drinking from a cup.

3. Eating with a spoon.

4. Drinking with a straw.

(Para 3.) Task analysis and backward chaining, an instructional requirement. Pages 3 and 4 of the program describe the general stages for teaching the eating and drinking skills. Earlier postings reported on the importance of a task analysis. In task analysis we break the major task into steps or sub-tasks. In some cases we use forward chaining and teach the first step first. When it is mastered we teach the second step and continue until all steps have been mastered. In other cases, we use backward chaining and teach mastery of the last step first. In the matrix on page 4 of the program, you will note that the first stage in teaching requires prompting and supporting the student through all the steps, and teaching mastery of the last step in the task analysis. This is backward chaining. The choice of forward or backward chaining depends on the nature of the task and the skills of the student. In this situation the nature of the task and humane ethics of instruction suggest backward chaining. If we place a student in front of food and insist on mastering the first step of lifting up the spoon, when will the student receive food? The backward chaining requirement to master the last step first appears to be the logical and most humane alternative.

(Para 4.) Backward chaining, an effective intervention in a range of settings. A review of the research provides evidence that backward chaining teaching procedures have proved effective in a wide range of settings, from the computer programming of U.S. Air Force rockets to students with severe disabilities refusing fluids. In a research study involving a 12-year-old boy with autism, who refused to drink, backward chaining was used successfully. In a recent research study involving adults with developmental disabilities, investigators used backward chaining to teach internet skills.

(Para 5.) Backward chaining: A summary. In a journal article in 2003, Bill Brandon provided an excellent overview of backward chaining in a range of contexts. Bill identified four specific situations in which backward chaining is preferable. The four situations are:

1. When completion of the task provides natural reinforcement for the learner.

2. When “escaping” from instruction would motivate the learner.

3. When the learner has mastered less than of half the steps in the task chain OR when the learner is close to already having acquired the steps near the end of the chain.

4. When the learners are less patient or less inclined to be cooperative.

This listing of specific situations aligns with learners with a history of curriculum failure, and the needs of teachers and parents serving these students.

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Al :: Feb.17.2008 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

(Para 1.) It is a motor, communication, and social curriculum. The motor curriculum exemplifies the importance of an instructional team linking different disciplines and the home and school settings. The term “motor” clearly focuses on a physical behavior. In an instructional setting the motor, communication and social skills are indivisible and all benefit and support each other. In this posting we introduce two beginning motor development programs. These programs can be downloaded from the links. In Motor Development I, the emphasis is on the preskills for sitting and moving about. In Motor Development II, the emphasis is on sitting and moving about. When the student has mastered the skills in these two motor development programs, the student has the preskills for the Play Skills Program. See the Jan. 15. 2008 posting for a discussion of the Play Skills program.

(Para 2.) A Caution. Many students with severe and multiple disabilities will have increased needs in sensory and motor curriculum areas. Instructional planning will require caution. The teacher must plan with medical advice if the student is physically disabled by conditions such as cerebral palsy, paralysis, congenital hip problems and other, arm, back, or leg disabilities. This caution, while important, should not be viewed as a reason to reduce emphasis on these important student needs.

Effective teaching practices still apply. The multidisciplinary nature of the student needs does not decrease the importance of the teachers role. Indeed, many of the research-based effective teaching practices will increase in importance. In the instructions for the above-listed motor development programs, extensive reference is made to:

a. Specific verbal praise,

b. Immediate correction procedures,

c. Physical and verbal prompting and the fading of prompts,

d. Time management, and,

e. Curriculum-embedded assessment.

(Para 3.) Record keeping across settings. Instruction in motor, communication and social skills requires a 24/7 instructional investment. The above listed motor development programs were field tested to bridge the home and school settings. While many parts of the academic curriculum do not require multiple small instructional sessions each day, the motor curriculum will be physically demanding for many students with severe and multiple disabilities. Four 10-minute sessions spread across home and school settings may be typical for many of these students. The teacher’s instructional team management responsibilities will need a recordkeeping system that ensures that teachers, aides, therapists, parents and siblings are all cooperatively addressing student needs. The above listed motor development programs include recordkeeping tools and monitoring practices for instructional cooperation across home and school.

(Para 5.) Formal and informal instructional settings. The combination of home and school settings and the use of explicit, research-based programs to teach the motor, communication and social skills used in the above-listed programs provide an important additional outcome. All members of the instructional team are learning a range of effective teaching practices that will apply in other curricula areas and in formal and informal settings. The systematic use of these instructional programs increases both the range, quality and quantity of instruction.

(Para 6.) Selecting IEP motor skills goals. For students with a diverse needs, the selection and sequencing of motor skills goals provides a challenge to teachers, students and parents. The following three criteria are recommended in selecting motor skills as IEP goals.

First. Consider the benefit to student health. Health related issues would include growth, cardiac function and respiratory function.

Second. Consider skills that would increase immediate social participation. Such participation should address affective and communication outcomes.

Third. Consider skills that would increase future instructional, social and vocational integration.

Selecting priorities for motor skills using these three criteria will require a task analysis of projected goals. A proven source of task analysis information is the chapter on motor skills by Rainforth, Giangreco and Dennis. This chapter is also recommended for teachers searching for a “transdisciplinary” overview of teaching motor skills to students with multiple disabilities.

Comprehension Check – What was I thinking?

Answers to Author Comprehension check.

Al :: Feb.03.2008 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »