Disability Inclusive Strategies   

In this professional development course for teachers, you'll get the training you need to reach the diverse mix of students you face every day by learning proven strategies that turn diversity into opportunity.

Get the training you need to reach the diverse mix of students you face every day. You will learn proven strategies for inclusion that turn diversity into opportunity. With a mix of students who have learning disabilities, neuro-biological disorders, and physical challenges, the modern classroom requires an efficient and effective teacher who can prioritize under tight deadlines and be creative on demand.

In this course, you will discover how students with special needs can become a part of the mainstream. You will learn to see the inclusive classroom as a home for these students, exploring how all students can benefit from an adaptive learning environment. You will examine how each child learns and what you can do to help them develop new strengths. You'll gain a deeper understanding of the opportunities offered by inclusion and how to build collaborative partnerships with the special educator and classroom aides. Above all, you'll discover creative, low-budget strategies for turning your inclusive classroom into a nurturing, supportive learning environment that helps every student!

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

1. Why Inclusion?
2. The Inclusive Classroom
3. Who Are Your Students?
4. Managing Students in the Classroom
5. Finding Students' Cognitive Strengths
6. Using the Strength-Based Interview
7. Modifying Your Lessons
8. Helping Students Overcome Common Obstacles
9. Recognizing Your Teaching Style
10. Encouraging Collaboration
11. Working With Co-teachers
12. Evaluating Your Effectiveness

Explore common disabilities you will encounter in the classroom and master techniques for promoting academic, behavioral, and social skills in students with special needs.

Teaching students with disabilities is a rewarding challenge, and this course gives you the tools you will need to succeed. No matter what grade you teach—from preschool through high school—you will learn powerful strategies you can put to work immediately in your classroom. In addition, you will gain the knowledge you need to understand and cope with the most common disabilities you will encounter.

You will start by putting yourself in the shoes of students with special needs as you explore a wide variety of disabilities ranging from autism spectrum disorder to cerebral palsy. Simulations and real-life stories will give you a firsthand look at what it's like to be a learner with special needs, and you will see how common disabilities affect classroom behavior and learning.

Then comes the best part: solutions! In each lesson, you will find dozens of tips for fostering the reading, writing, and math skills of students with special needs. In addition, you will master techniques for helping these learners behave appropriately and make friends in your classroom. You will also get the inside story on Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and transition plans, and you will learn the most effective ways to collaborate with parents and professionals.

By the end of this course, you will feel confident in your ability to help any student who comes through your door. You will also discover that while the challenges can be big when you're teaching students with disabilities, the victories are big as well.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

What Are Special Needs?

Danny has a seeing-eye dog. Carmela needs extra help with math. Yoshi has autism. And they're all in your class this year! This first lesson will look at the growing numbers of children with special needs and talk about how you can welcome them to your classroom and set the stage for successful learning.

The Special Education Process and the IEP

How do children get placed in special education? As you will discover, it's not a snap decision. This lesson will trace a student's path through every stage of the placement process and look at the role a teacher plays from start to finish.

Meet Your Support Team

It takes a whole team to help a child with special needs succeed. This lesson will address the roles of the support team, with a focus on collaboration between special education teachers and support staff. You will explore the roles of paraprofessionals, guidance counselors, nurses, social workers, and the specialists who support you.

Learning Disabilities

This lesson addresses reading, writing, and math disabilities—the most common learning disabilities (LDs) you will see in the classroom. First, you will get a chance to see how it feels to have an LD. Then, you will learn about how memory problems affect students with LDs in the classroom.

Speech and Language Disorders

Imagine how frustrating it would be if you couldn't speak clearly, understand other people, or express your thoughts and feelings well. This is what life is like for children with speech or language disorders, the subject of this lesson.

ADHD and the Other Health Impaired Category

This lesson addresses conditions categorized as "Other Health Impaired" (OHI), with a special focus on ADHD. First, you will learn what daily life is like for children with ADHD. Then, you will explore ways to address the attention and organizational problems that these children struggle with.

Intellectual Disabilities

Students can shine in many ways, and this lesson will examine how students with intellectual disabilities can be stars in your classroom. You will learn what life is like for students with intellectual disabilities and discover ways to help these students focus on both academic and adaptive skills.

Behavior Disorders

Children with behavior disorders often present the biggest challenge to teachers. This lesson will examine the roots of behavioral problems. You will also learn three essential tools for handling behavior problems: behavior contracts, functional behavioral assessments, and behavior intervention plans.

Autism

Children with autism will give your teaching skills a workout with their unique combination of strengths and impairments. This lesson explores three areas in which these children need help: communication skills, social skills, and the ability to handle transitions.

Other Disabilities

This lesson will introduce you to children with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, hearing or vision impairments, developmental delays, and a host of other challenges. Then, you will take a closer look at the assistive technology—both high-tech and low-tech—that can help kids with these disabilities triumph academically.

Best Teaching Practices

This lesson addresses "best practices" for teaching children with special needs. And here's good news: Many of these ideas will work for your entire class! First, you will explore how to balance students' IEP requirements with your curriculum standards and investigate a great technique for helping students grasp difficult material: directed instruction.

Dealing with Transitions

While transitions can be scary for anybody, they're especially intimidating for students with disabilities. In this lesson you will look at ways to smooth three big transitions that students make: the moves from elementary to middle school, from middle school to high school, and from high school to real life.

Learn practical strategies for helping children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) succeed in school.

In this course, you will discover practical ways to help children with ADHD control their behavior and succeed in school. You'll do this by learning from the real experts: the children themselves. You will find out how Kristi controls her behavior and how Wanda handles boredom. You will see how Adam jump-starts his thought processes, how Harry satisfies his need to move without bothering his teacher, and how Darren aces his homework.

In addition, you will hear from parents and teachers about the amazing benefits of simple adaptations in space, structure, rules, and expectations. You will also explore myths and facts about ADHD and see how this condition affects motivation, activity level, attention, and memory. By the time you're done, you will have the skills and knowledge needed to help students with ADHD achieve their full potential.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Understanding Students With ADHD

Teaching students with ADHD presents challenges and opportunities. This lesson introduces ADHD and how it impacts children and their ability to learn in a classroom environment. You will learn the reasons for many behaviors associated with ADHD, some myths about ADHD, and how ADHD impacts skills.

The Diagnostic Process

This lesson explores the diagnostic process. A teacher takes many steps to document a student's behavior, consult with school personnel, and communicate with a student's parents or guardian. You will learn these steps, as well as how a pediatrician and a clinical psychologist evaluate a student.

Are They Putting in the Effort?

Students with ADHD are often accused of being lazy, or simply not trying. This lesson focuses on the issue of effort, and how students' perception of effort may be different from what others observe. You will learn how effort problems impact school performance, and how brain chemistry relates to effort.

ADHD and Brain Activation

Students with ADHD often have trouble activating their brain. This lesson introduces three activation problems: overarousal, underarousal, and impulsivity. You will learn about the relationships between activation, motivation, and brain chemistry, as well as strategies to help students with these problems.

ADHD and Activity Level

Sometimes, students with high activity levels can't seem to keep still in the classroom, and this can be extremely taxing on a teacher. This lesson explores why some students need to move and how movement is helpful to them. You will also learn how to help these students manage their movements.

Attention and ADHD

Students with ADHD struggle with attention. Often, their mind wanders and they can't control this the same way an average student does. This lesson explores attention, how it needs to be regulated, and strategies that can help your students successfully control internal and external attention.

The Emotional Impact of ADHD

This lesson focuses on ADHD's impact on emotions. You will learn why this occurs neurologically, three common emotional patterns in students with ADHD, and specific interventions. You will also meet three students who are dealing with some significant emotional challenges as a result of their ADHD.

Memory

Want to better understand the memory process? This lesson explores why memory is so important, how memory works, and what happens when memory breaks down. You will also learn about the three types of memory: working memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Problem-Solving for Academic Performance

Now that you understand how ADHD affects activation, attention, impulsivity, and memory, you can focus in on how ADHD impacts school performance. In this lesson, you will learn more about this issue, and explore a strength-based problem-solving model that you can use across the curriculum.

Classroom Beliefs and Rules

How do you incorporate learning strategies for students with ADHD while still addressing the other students' needs in the classroom? This is what this lesson focuses on. You will learn how to create an inclusive classroom that accommodates all student's needs, and how to treat all students fairly.

Preplanning and Facilitating an ADHD-Friendly Classroom

This lesson focuses on specific materials teachers can develop prior to the opening of school, to prepare for the effective inclusion of students with ADHD. Then there are the teaching tools to use during lessons, to help students with ADHD stay engaged and on task.

Student Self-Reliance

In your final lesson, you will learn how students can take all of the tools you teach them and use them to their advantage. You will also meet a high school junior, who will share how he improves his self-knowledge, how he compensates for his ADHD, and the strategies he uses to succeed in school.

Learn how to successfully meet the diverse needs of students with learning disabilities in your classroom.

This course will teach you how to meet the diverse needs of students with disabilities in your classroom. With lessons developed by an experienced special educator, you will explore the special education process, from working with individualized education programs (IEPs) to helping students struggling with reading comprehension, math skills, and writing. In this course, you will discover easy, practical, and creative strategies that will help your struggling students find their light bulb moments.

You will also discover fun games you can incorporate, tips for modifying your classroom, and many tested methods for bringing out the best behavior in your students. Whether you are in the classroom, studying for the Praxis Special Education exam, or preparing to work with students in a variety of settings, this course will help you to understand and empower your students with learning disabilities.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Understanding Learning Disabilities

One in seven Americans has a learning disability. That means that in your class of 28 students, four could have significant trouble keeping up with the basics. Your first lesson investigates what learning disabilities (LDs) are and defines some common types that you may often see in the classroom.

Identifying Students with LDs

Is Tamara having trouble with reading because it's not her favorite subject, or is something else going on? The process of identifying students with LDs is a long and sometimes tedious one, which is what you will learn about in this lesson.

Making Sense of the IEP

This lesson explores individualized education programs (IEPs), which are road maps that guide the learning curve of every child with LDs. Once you know how to decode the language and the sections, it's easy to start using IEPs as the helpful tools they are meant to be.

Understanding Service Locations

This lesson focuses on common service locations that help students with LDs meet educational goals. Students with LDs receive IEP-mandated services in a number of ways. Whether learn in their classroom or the special education room, they will learn a bit differently than other students.

Learning the Right Teaching Strategies

In this lesson, you will learn about teaching strategies that make learning memorable for students with LDs. The right teaching strategies spell out the difference between a creative, engaging classroom and one that stagnates without reaching most of its students.

Helping Students With Word Identification Problems

Word identification problems can make "cat" look like "can" or "pan." Imagine how hard it would be to read all the wrong words in all the right places. In this lesson, you will discover smart strategies to help student find their words.

Helping Students With Reading Comprehension Problems

For students who have trouble reading, it's hard enough to just get the words right. But to pair those words with their meaning is a seemingly insurmountable task. In this lesson, you will learn how to chunk information, so students can understand what they're reading and fall in love with texts.

Helping Students With Written Expression Problems

Writing poses quite a few challenges for students with LDs — some may have trouble holding their pencils, and others find it difficult to communicate. This lesson takes a tour of strategies that bring writing to life for students who often don't even realize all the neat things they have to say.

Helping Students With Math Reasoning and Calculation Problems

Many students with LDs dread math because math requires various skills to come together seamlessly: reasoning, logic, number sense, writing, and computation are all key. In this lesson, you will learn how to make all those numbers a little easier for students with LDs to manipulate.

Modifying Your Classroom

Even though the IEP gives you a general idea of how to help your students with LDs, you will still need to explore new, innovative ideas to modify your classroom, assignments, and tests. In this lesson, you will learn modifications that may spell success for students with LDs who need a push in the right direction.

Managing Student Behavior

We've all had days when going to school was a drag. Students with LDs are no different. Because school forces them to tackle big challenges head on, it's often their least favorite thing to do. This can lead to behavior problems that you will have to defuse creatively, which is what this lesson covers.

Linking Home and School

The connection between home and school is a powerful predictor of classroom success for students with LDs. Your final lesson focuses on the best ways to conduct meaningful parent-teacher conferences that help everyone unite behind a child with LDs in need.