I strongly agree and value integrating the necessary tools and strategies for students with learning or intellectual disabilities. More and more today, we see students who need differentiation whether they are on an IEP or not. The strategies that I have been using with students on IEPs could also benefit other students. During my field experiences, I have noticed how some students may not be on an IEP, but can still benefit tremendously from these strategies and tools. In order to better meet the needs of students who have academic difficulties, have difficulty paying attention or might be on an IEP, I made several adaptations. Here are a few examples.
- One example of an adaption I made for students on IEP was during my lesson on Terry Fox and acrostic poems. After the Terry Fox lesson, students had to write an acrostic poem about Terry Fox. Students were given an information sheet to guide them. Students on an IEP were given a copy of the PowerPoint instead since it included visuals and a breakdown of the information. Below are the links to the information sheet and PowerPoint:
To access the PowerPoint on Terry Fox that was given to the students on IEPs, click here.
To access the information sheet on Terry Fox that was given to the class, click here.
- Google Read and Write was also a strategy I used for students who struggled with reading, writing or are on an IEP.
- Alternative chairs is another tool that I used in my class for some students during my third field experience. I had two hokki stools and one specialized chair for a student with ASD. These alternative chairs helped certain students to stay on task during class without having to get up. Below are the images. The hokki stools were also found in my Grade One class during my fourth field experience. Many students enjoy using the hokki stools instead of a regular chair.
When completing my field placement in Grade One, I had one student on a modified IEP. This student’s IEP goals were to focus on fine motor skills such as writing, cutting and glueing. During a unit on bees, students were learning about why bees are important to our environment. This student followed along with the class and read with us. When students were asked to complete a reading comprehension, this student worked with the integration aide on a modified assignment.
For more about differentiation, please look at some of my lesson plans below, under the section “Universal Design for Learning/ Differentiation.”
To see my Grade One lesson plan on bees and why they are important to the environment, please click here
To see my Grade One lesson plan on sequencing, please click here.
To see my Grade One lesson plan on patterns, please click here.
To see my Grade One lesson plan on why bees are important to our environment, click here
Laura D'Altilia's E-Portfolio 