Teaching Students with Mild Intellectual Disabilities

Some Common Characteristics Unable to understand the level of instruction in class, limitations in their understanding Has limited general knowledge Takes longer to complete academic tasks Slow to start and complete assignments Lack of generalization of skills Inattentive and off-task Poor auditory processing

difficulty with inferencing Unable to attend in noisy environments 0verwhelmed by classroom, need to be respectful for them, need support, Usually is able to attend for about 15 minute periods Often gets confused or upset during subject or routine changes

Socially… May intrude into other students’ personal space May bring things to share that are not socially appropriate for the age level of the group (ie: toys or immature music or books) may appear immature and more comfortable with younger students Easily influenced by peers and a target to be taken advantage of by those so inclined

Some Challenges Balancing access to regular curriculum vs. remedial and functional living skills Social skills; need to support, explicit teaching of skills, ( ie. Teach Me Language, Friendship Circles ) Dilemma of individual vs. classroom Amount of time required

Some Implications for Practice 1) Activate Anticipatory Set: - activate- ideally pre-teach - lack of vocabulary - make connections; known to unknown -set purpose so there is a focus

Activity to show focused processing /tools/main.cfm?t_id=10http:// /tools/main.cfm?t_id=10 ( Link on website)

2) Teach “Shapes of Information” ( graphic organizers) -sequence -story grammar -cyclical -brainstorm -venn diagram - ( for taking notes from text; for organizing ideas before writing )

3) Slow down and Explicitly Teach -plan for making connections -use mnemonics ( I.e. Songs, tricks, 9 times table with hands, rhymes- -teach concepts, organization skils, - use colour coding, lots of examples,

4. Use Peers -use of assigned buddies (complementary Clock buddies) -for generating ideas -as role models -assign roles in groups -show acceptance

5) NEED FOR REVIEW -research suggests 4 exposures for declarative knowledge; more than that for procedural knowledge to be learned - find interesting ways; ( i.e. people search, jeopardy, fortune teller) -practice with support and immediate feedback, whenever possible

6. Use E-Smart Settings Materials Assistance Re-think assessment Tie in

Example of Differentiated Instruction Tiering according to: -student readiness, learning style or interests - for these students, often differentiate according to readiness

Differentiation according to Student Readiness Bloom’s taxonomy Space unit sheet -Dandy Decimals

Link to Planning Pyramid Focus on essential understandings, See course website