1. Special Education Strategies A Quick Guide for Teachers

2. What is Special Education? A student who qualifies for special education receives specifically designed instruction in the regular education classroom and in the special education classroom that meets their individual needs. Services provided by the public school system are free of charge. Students identified as having learning disabilities can range from mild to severe and include mental, physical, behavioral, and emotional disabilities.

3. 13 Categories of Special Education Autism Blindness Deafness Emotional Disturbance Hearing Impairment Intellectual Disability Multiple Disabilities Orthopedic Impairment Other Health Impaired Specific Learning Disability Speech or Language Impairment Traumatic Brain Injury Visual Impairment

4. Strategies in the Classroom Reading Writing Math Behavior Speech/Language

5. Reading

6. Reading Strategies Make certain he/she is reading material on his/her level Have them verbally paraphrase material Highlight or underline important information the student reads Reduce the amount of material to be read at one time; gradually increase it Have the student use a highlighter to highlight the facts required by the teacher Create a list of weekly words to be reinforced at home Modify or adjust reading materials to the student’s ability level Have the student read aloud daily Assign a peer tutor or volunteer to read with him/her Give additional time to reread a selection

8. Writing

9. Writing Strategies Highlight or underline all the capitalized words or punctuation marks in a selection and have the student identify why each is used Engage in authentic, real life writing activities like letters to friends Use graphic organizers Help the student read aloud his works to identify errors in organization Have the student read a peer’s writing that is well organized

11. Math

12. Math Strategies Make sure an inability to read is not the source of the problem Highlight or underline key words in word problems Provide sufficient time to grasp new math concept Continuous practice of basic facts Post multiplication and division charts if not checking fluency Peer tutor Spiral Curriculum

14. Behavior

15. Behavior Strategies Given a number of items to do, allow the student to choose which problems to complete Communicate clearly the time limit for completion Communicate daily with parents in an agenda Maintain close proximity to the student Assign shorter tasks; gradually increase the length as the student is successful Avoid arguing with the student Be consistent in expectations and consequences of behavior Avoid frustrating or anxiety producing situations Talk to the student about what he/she did wrong and what they should do instead

17. Speech/Language

18. Teach new vocabulary within the context of known categories or associations Allow the student to speak without being interrupted or hurried Demonstrate acceptable and unacceptable speech Ask questions to stimulate language instead of yes/no questions Encourage verbal output.