Students with Special Needs Other Than Disabilities

Understanding Section 504

Any condition that substantially limits
a major life activity is defined as a disability

Section 504 does not provide funds to
school districts to carry out its requirements

It expects schools to take whatever steps
necessary, even if additional funds are
required, to eliminate discrimination

Students Eligible for Services under Section 504

Students with chronic health or medical problems

Students with learning problems

Anyone who qualifies for a disability may
receive services through Section 504

How Can You Accommodate Students with ADHD?

ADHD-predominantly inattentive type:
They appear to daydream but don't tend
to wiggle any more than their peers.

ADHD-predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type:
These students physically move far more than
their peers.

ADHD- combined type:
Students in this group display the characteristics
of both of the other types of ADHD. They experience extraordinary difficulty both in focusing their attention and in restricting their movement.

Characteristics and Needs of Students with ADHD

Working Memory- the ability to remember
what tasks are supposed to be done and how
much time there is to do them

Self-directed speech- the silent self-talk that most people use to manage complex tasks

Control of emotions and motivation-
the ability to talk oneself into calming
down when faced with a difficult or
frustrating task

Reconstitution- the ability to combine skills
learned across a variety of settings in order
to carry out a new task, such as a student's
knowledge that the rule for speaking in a low
voice applies not only in the classroom, but
everywhere else

Interventions for Students with ADHD

Environmental Supports

Academic Interventions

1. emphasize essential information

2. when reading for comprehension,
use shorter passages

3. in math, give students extended
periods of time because they struggle
with efficiency

Behavior Interventions

Parent Education

Medication

4. keep the pace lively during large-
group instruction

Families of Children with ADHD

Be careful not to blame parents for their children's ADHD

Parents and family members are faced with responding to these children's emotions and potentially harmful behaviors

What Are the Characteristics and Instructional Needs of
Students Who Are Gifted and Talented?

These are students with extraordinary abilities and skills

Gardner's 8 intelligences:

verbal/linguistic

visual/spacial

logical/mathematical

bodily/kinesthetic

musical

intrapersonal (self-understanding)

Assess your student and see where out of these
intelligences these students need a challenge

interpersonal

naturalist

existentialist

Characteristics and Needs of Students Who Are Gifted and Talented

Intellectual abilities and academic skills

Social and emotional needs

behavior patterns

Interventions for Students Who Are Gifted and Talented

Curriculum Compacting

Acceleration

Enrichment

Differentiation

Specialized Interventions

What are the Characteristics and Instructional Needs
of Students from Culturally Diverse Backgrounds?

Diversity and Special Education

Cultural Awareness

Cultural Factors and Student Behavior

Informed Instructional Decision Making

Cross-Cultural Communication

We need to be making sure that our assessments
are not discriminatory and that they are accurate

What are the Characteristics and Instructional Needs of Students Who Are at Risk?

The strategies for accommodating the needs of students with disabilities are usually effective for students at risk. By using the INCLUDE strategy, you can identify ways to help these students reach their potential

Effective early school experiences for students who are at risk, increasingly based on RtI processes, can establish a pattern of success in school learning that carries through high school. Without such experiences, students at risk are more likely to be identified as having learning or emotional disabilities

Many students with disabilities also are students at risk. Many students with disabilities have bee abused, some live in poverty, and others use illegal drugs

Characteristics and Needs of Students at Risk

Students who live in poverty

Students who are abused or neglected

Students who live with substance abuse or are substance abusers

Subtopic

Interventions for Students at Risk

Set high but realistic expectations

establish peers as teaching partners

collaborate with other professionals

support family and community involvement