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How disabilities are viewed differently when you can't see them.

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We often think of fads when it comes to styles of clothing or hair that were only popular for a certain period of time - straight and feathered (I am an '80s girl) or up in a bun that starts right above your eyebrows (looking at you, kids of 2015). I sometimes think we view disabilities or learning styles the same way.

When I was in elementary school, I remember two girls came into our class occasionally, but spent most of their time in the room down the hall the rest of us didn't get to see. They were referred to as "mentally retarded" and definitely had significant intellectual and adaptive disabilities. I am not sure where those children went in middle school, but some of them showed back up in high school and working around town.

That is all I knew about disabilities growing up - there wasn't much in between or what we now refer to as "special needs." You were either "retarded" or you were not. By late middle school, about 5 percent (my guess) of the kids in general education were failing, and they started to dye their hair weird colors and wear mohawks (I said it was the '80s...) and by sophomore year of high school, most of them had dropped out.

Looking back, I now wonder if they had difficulty paying attention. Were they reading letters backwards without knowing it? Was it a challenge to put in writing what was going on in their brains? I will never know, and to be quite honest, back then no one probably cared anyway.

Fast forward a few decades down the road and my own child starts exhibiting some interesting and very atypical behaviors. I hear words like lazy, distracted and unmotivated, but I can't make that work with what I know of this child's personality. The school administration is rather unbelieving as they repeatedly tell me he can and should be producing better work; a new pencil grip and sticker chart and we should be all set! Luckily I have my BFF, Google, and a team of excellent physicians to help.

Now we know this child has quite a list of both significant learning and neurological issues. A decade later (I am really aging as I write this), I can say it seems the "newest" style of disability is invisible.

What does that even mean? An invisible disability? It means, at least to me, that a person can look totally "normal," converse in a typical fashion, but have severe disabilities. It means that when schools and other professionals meet my kid for a few minutes, they always exclaim, "He is so much better than what we were expecting!" I understand that on paper, he can look very different than in person. I did not know, however, how that would affect his (and my) life.

Invisible disabilities are not easily categorized. You can't diagnose them with standard tests that have definitive results. You can't see them easily with a glance, even though one might make an argument that if you spend the time doing your research and look closely enough, you actually can. It seems invisible disabilities are growing by leaps and bounds as more children are alive these days that were born prematurely or with severe birth defects that they would not have been able to survive even a decade prior.

Who is the boy pacing in the back of the sanctuary at the synagogue? Why does this girl talk normally but make a movement with her neck and a loud sound periodically? Why can my son read so fluently but comprehend nothing? Why does that girl use the elevator at school that is reserved for disabled people, even though she's not in a wheelchair? These people all have invisible disabilities - whether it's significant ADHD, Tourette syndrome, congenital heart disease, or something else.

Personally I do not know what it is like to have an invisible disability, but I do know what it is like to be that child's parent. Sometimes I feel invisible. Other times I feel judged. Or shamed. I remember one time when I was picking up my son at Hebrew school on a day where the windchill was well below zero. I chose to pull up to the circle closest to the door so my son did not have to walk in the wind. Immediately a man comes yelling at my window, "This circle is reserved for the elderly and disabled only. You need to move."

I tried to explain but only got so far as opening my mouth before he yelled, "No exceptions, lady. Move." No exceptions? How did he know I wasn't disabled as I was sitting in my car? How do I explain that to my son, who was now heading toward my vehicle, has complex congenital heart disease and is unable to walk the distance from the door to the parking lot in these conditions? I am not proud to admit I quickly drove away. Because sometimes when you have an invisible disability (or are the mom of said individual) you just get sick and tired of explaining it to everyone all the time.

But you always remember those places or individuals who were kind when they did not have to be. People often ask me what adaptations my son needs, and what I have come to realize that what he needs most is human kindness.

These are our new challenges. Not only for schools or other educational settings, but for communities, sports teams, religious organizations, families, and so on. When organizations want to be "fully inclusive," they need to do so in a way that goes beyond just "tolerating" those people being there, but by being welcoming and saying we want you here, so whatever we need to do to ensure you can join us, we will do.

Disability awareness and inclusion are not easy. Society is far better at being inclusive of things that do not make us uncomfortable and things we easily understand. So where do we go from here? Are we going to realize that often times there is so much more going on than we can tell or judge at a glance? It's time to realize that these invisible disabilities may be our biggest challenge yet.
Related Links From Kveller
I'm Tired of People Telling Me I Don't 'Look Sick' Because I Am

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My Son With Special Needs Just Went on His First Date
This article was reprinted with permission from Kveller.com, a robust and engaged community of parents raising Jewish kids. Follow Kveller on Facebook and sign up for their newsletters here for more stories about disabilities, mental health, and more.

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What I Wish People Knew About Invisible Disabilities

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We often think of fads when it comes to styles of clothing or hair that were only popular for a certain period of time - straight and feathered (I am an '80s girl) or up in a bun that starts right above your eyebrows (looking at you, kids of 2015).

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I was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when I was 15 years old. My family all had their suspicions, but I believe they were afraid of there being something "wrong" with me. But gaining a concrete knowledge of why I am the way I am doesn't change who I am.

Based on my experiences as a kid with ASD, here are the things I think everyone should know about what it can be like to live with ASD.

Saying "You don't seem autistic" isn't a compliment. Honestly, it's extremely annoying to me. It tends to make me think you think less of people with autism, or you think everyone with autism is exactly the same. Everyone is different, whether they're on the autism spectrum or not.

Don't criticize us for stimming. Have you ever chewed your nails? Twirled your hair, tapped your feet, chewed a pencil, hummed? That can all be stimming, too. Twirling your hair and tapping your feet doesn't hurt anyone, so why would rocking or drumming or any other stim be a problem? I'm beginning to believe stimming related to ASD is seen as "bad" or "annoying" by some people because of the stigma people with ASD are confronted with all the time.

Vaccines do not cause autism. I cannot stress this enough.

I am not Sheldon Cooper. While I may struggle with social cues and sarcasm as well, I am not a fictional character from "The Big Bang Theory." I am not a walking stereotype.

I'd say to everyone out there who experiences the same misconceptions - I know how frustrating it can be feeling like you have to go through every day of your life dealing with people who don't understand. But I firmly believe there are some people out there who are extremely good friends, particularly for those on the spectrum. Wait until you meet someone who will accept you for everything you are and not try to change the things that make you a part of the spectrum. There are those kinds of people out there.

And as for the loved ones of those on the spectrum, try to be accepting. Try not to have set expectations for behaviours. Your loved one is doing the best they can, and it is OK to try to give them a little push in the right direction. But if they don't want that push, just let them be. And while they may not show or say it, if they put in the effort to maintain a relationship with you - even if it's them just saying hi - it likely means they appreciate you.
Image via Thinkstock Images.

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The Misconceptions I Want to Clear Up About Being on the Autism Spectrum

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I was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when I was 15 years old. My family all had their suspicions, but I believe they were afraid of there being something "wrong" with me. But gaining a concrete knowledge of why I am the way I am doesn't change who I am.

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Best Buddies International is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

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Best Buddies is the world's largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Our programs empower the special abilities of people with IDD by helping them form meaningful friendships with their peers, secure successful jobs, live independently, improve public speaking, self-advocacy and communication skills, and feel valued by society.

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Close-up of hand on wheelchair

Unless they are raised with a disabled family member in the house, many children have a difficult time understanding what it means to be disabled. Disability awareness exercises increase children's understanding of disabilities and foster sensitivity toward others, especially those who are the most easily targeted by their peers. Be careful to keep the treatment of disabilities respectful during these activities.

Vision Disabilities

Blindfolds are often used to allow sighted children to experience what it means to live blindly in a sighted person's world. Blindfold the children for a while and have them try to do an everyday activity without sight. Have the children wear someone else's glasses for a few minutes while trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle or read a story aloud. Put an eye patch over one eye and have the students experience the loss of depth-perception that people with one eye must learn to live with.

Auditory Disabilities

There is not an accurate way to simulate hearing loss. Hearing loss is not simply a matter of having the volume turned down, it is also characterized by distortion. Have the students wear personal stereos with just static noise playing for the course of one short lesson. Discuss how difficult it was to understand the lesson with the background noise and distortion caused by the radio. Play a lip-reading game where students pair off and have to read certain phrases by mouthing the words silently. The partner should write down what she thinks she heard. Take turns reading lips and mouthing words. At the end of the exercise, partners should compare the answers.

Physical Disabilities

Simulating physical disabilities to increase awareness is the simplest for you to demonstrate as well as for the children to understand. While it might be difficult to imagine hearing loss and its impact on daily life, imagining what it would be like to go through life without an arm is something most children can understand. To simulate a physical disability like cerebral palsy or others where a loss of balance is primary, tape a line of masking tape on the floor as if it was a balance beam. Have each child close her eyes and spin her around in circles a few times, and then have her open her eyes and try to walk down the line and see how far she can get without stepping off.

Intellectual Disabilities

By simulating scenarios where a person with an intellectual disability might have difficulty communicating, you will allow the children in your class the chance to experience the accompanying frustration. Write a basic sentence on a piece of paper. Have one child read the sentence and then ask him to convey it to the rest of the group without writing, speaking or spelling. The game will be fun and similar to charades, but will also show the class how hard it is to communicate when your language skills are taken away.

Differentiating Disabilities

To encourage children to differentiate between mental and physical disabilities and not to assume that they are always experienced together, bring in a few pairs of thick socks, button-down shirts and some rulers. Tie a ruler between each students' ankles and have him or her walk up and down the hallway. Put socks over your students' hands and have them try to tie their shoes and button up a shirt. They will see how difficult it can be to live with a physical disability, but also that even though their minds are fully functioning, they had difficulty with day-to-day physical activities. This is the case for many physically disabled people who are not intellectually disabled.

AndreyPopov/iStock/Getty Images

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Disability Awareness Games for Children | Synonym

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Close-up of hand on wheelchair Unless they are raised with a disabled family member in the house, many children have a difficult time understanding what it means to be disabled. Disability awareness exercises increase children's understanding of disabilities and foster sensitivity toward others, especially those who are the most easily targeted by their peers.

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Using Literature to Explain Special Needs to Students

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Using Literature to Explain Special Needs to Students

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BY Mingy

Has your child ever asked you why Jeff can't talk, why Olivia can't walk, why does Jeremy wave his hands?
Are you at a loss about how to explain special needs to your child?

Here are 15 great books that you can read to your child or classroom that will help explain special needs to children. If you have any suggestions please share! Comment below.

Also: Check out these great posts from the special needs book and video series

1. 12 amazing special needs stories you need to read!

2. Does Hollywood get it right? 11 Special needs movies to watch

3. 12 special needs novels that will touch your heart

4. The top 15 Special Needs Documentaries

5. Explaining special needs to your child 15 great children's books

by Arlene Maguire
Delightful rhymes combined with rich watercolor illustrations take the reader on a journey of discovery. Each page portrays positive images of children with various disabilities. Winner of an iParenting Media Award, this book illustrates that beyond our physical limitations is a world of unique gifts for each of us to share. Teachers and parents love to read this book aloud to promote understanding and tolerance at school and at home.

by Pat Thomas
This delightful picture book explores questions and concerns about physical disabilities in a simple and reassuring way. Younger children can find out about individual disabilities, special equipment that is available to help the disabled, and how people of all ages can deal with disabilities and live happy and full lives.

by Kari Dunn Buron
The thought of losing control can cause major problems for children who live with anxiety. Now, parents, teachers and children have a helpful tool that gives young children an opportunity to explore their own feelings with parents or teachers as they react to events in their daily lives.

Engaging and easy to read, this illustrated children s book is filled with opportunities for children to participate in developing their own self-calming strategies. Children who use the simple strategies in this charming book, illustrated by the author, will find themselves relaxed and ready to focus on work or play!

David, the older siblings, wryly shares his experiences - the worry, impatience, feeling left out, being talked down to my grownups - and the positive ways in which he has built a unique relationship with his brother. Fully illustrated and sensitively written, this is a story that can help other siblings share their feelings and reassure them that their role in the family is very important.

In this touching story, Emma helps her father as much as he helps her to realise that Isaac is the baby they dreamed of. The book concludes with a set of commonly asked questions about Down syndrome with answers for children and how it might affect their sibling and family. For ages 3-7.

by Diane Burton Robb
Adam starts school, and although he loves stories, he can't seem to get the words to make sense. Over the next few years, he slowly despairs of ever learning to read. Instead, he imagines that he is being held captive by an evil king who torments him with vowels. His parents hire tutors to help, but it isn't until a specialist comes in at the beginning of third grade and diagnoses him as dyslexic that things start to look up.

For Adam, it has become a much bigger problem than just learning how to read-he must also find the self-confidence that years of failure have robbed from him. His new teacher helps him see that reading will always be hard for him, but that it is possible. The pastel illustrations adequately convey Adam's emotions. Although the text often tells rather than shows the boy's plight, the subject matter is handled with respect for his feelings at every stage of the process, and does not oversimplify or sugarcoat the difficulties of dyslexia.

by Eliza Woloson
Isabelle and Charlie are friends. They both like to draw, dance, read, and play at the park. They both like to eat Cheerios. They both cry if their feelings are hurt. And, like most friends, they are also different from each other. Isabelle has Down syndrome. Charlie doesn't. Written by Isabelle's mother, this charming tale encourages readers to think about what makes a friendship special. My Friend Isabelle also opens the door for young children to talk about differences and the world around them. It's a wonderful story to read at bedtime or to share at school. Lively full color illustrations dovetail beautifully with the text to bring the simple story to life.

by Maria Shriver
When 8-year-old Kate meets a boy who seems somehow different, she feels funny inside. After talking with her mom, though, Kate begins to understand that Timmy is just like her in many ways. Timmy has special needs; he takes longer to learn than Kate, and can't walk or run as well. But he also "loves his family, he wants friends, he goes to school, and he dreams about what he wants to be when he grows up." Kate and Timmy meet, and the seeds of a friendship are planted.

For all those children who ask their parents why someone looks or acts "different," author and journalist Maria Shriver's What's Wrong with Timmy? provides a base for discussion. Kate's mother models appropriate behavior, speaking to her daughter calmly and directly, and providing examples from her own life to help Kate understand about Timmy.

But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

by Jennifer Elder
Different Like Me introduces children aged 8 to 12 years to famous, inspirational figures from the world of science, art, math, literature, philosophy and comedy. Eight-year-old Quinn, a young boy with Asperger's Syndrome, tells young readers about the achievements and characteristics of his autism heroes, from Albert Einstein, Dian Fossey and Wassily Kandinsky to Lewis Carroll, Benjamin Banneker and Julia Bowman Robinson, among others. All excel in different fields, but are united by the fact that they often found it difficult to fit in-just like Quinn.

Fully illustrated in color and written in child-friendly language, this book will be a wonderful resource for children, particularly children with autism, their parents, teachers, carers and siblings.

Latest Special Needs Products

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Explaining special needs to your child: 15 great children's books - Friendship Circle - Special Needs Blog

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Has your child ever asked you why Jeff can't talk, why Olivia can't walk, why does Jeremy wave his hands? Are you at a loss about how to explain special needs to your child? Here are 15 great books that you can read to your child or classroom that will help explain special needs to children.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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MORE ALIKE THAN DIFFERENT | March 21 World Down Syndrome Day | #MoreAlikeThanDifferent

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Created and Produced by Lauren and Paul Costabile Gigi's Playhouse: http://gigisplayhouse.org/newyork/ The National Down Syndrome Society: http://www.ndss.org/ Global Down Syndrome Foundation: http://www.globaldownsyndrome.org/ Naitonal Down Syndrome Congress: http://www.ndsccenter.org/ 321 Foundation: http://www.321foundation.com/ National Down Syndrome Adoption Network: http://www.ndsan.org/ Noah's Dad: http://noahsdad.com/ Happy Soul Project: http://www.happysoulproject.com/ Tim's Big Heart Foundation: https://timsbigheartfoundation.org/ Dimes for Downs: http://dimesfordowns.com/ Gifts from the Heart for Downs: http://www.giftsfromtheheartfordowns.org/ Paper Clouds Apparel: http://papercloudsapparel.com/ Teach Me I Can Learn: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/6s58e Music by Nicky Costabile: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeZwSYb2KpGiG0Ax_lqwmBA

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The world needs all kinds of minds | Temple Grandin

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Dear Teacher: Heartfelt Advice for Teachers from Students

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Helping students to better understand their peers with disabilities.

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Helping students to better understand their peers with disabilities.

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Disability Awareness Curriculum

FRIENDS WHO CARE® is designed to help children better understand what it means and how it feels to be a young person with a disability. This educational program gives students the opportunity to learn what is involved when someone has a disability and how they adapt to live life, go to school, or work as independently as possible.

The goals of the program are simple: to encourage typically developing children to accept their peers with disabilities as people first and also to find ways to include everyone in school and after-school activities.

FRIENDS WHO CARE® is also fun! The curriculum explores a range of disabilities and includes specially crafted learning activities, hands-on exercises, guided discussions and guest speakers. It starts with an introduction to disability, and looks at vision, hearing, and physical disabilities and then at learning disabilities including AD-HD, autism and intellectual disabilities.

We hope that your child will be an active participant in this new, exciting program and that FRIENDS WHO CARE® will help to bridge the gap between children with and without disabilities.

What is FRIENDS WHO CARE?
FRIENDS WHO CARE® is a complete disability awareness program for elementary students, developed by Easterseals and sponsored by Friendly's Restaurants, LLC.

Who is the program for?
FRIENDS WHO CARE® is for classrooms, schools and community groups.

What is included with the program?
The FRIENDS WHO CARE® curriculum includes a teacher's guide, specially crafted learning activities and hands-on exercises.

What does the program teach?
FRIENDS WHO CARE® teaches children about a wide range of disabilities. Students will learn how to accept their peers with disabilities and include them in everyday activities.

Download the materials
Complete the fields at the right to download the FRIENDS WHO CARE® materials or view short videos of Easterseals Representatives.
Friendly's Restaurants, LLC

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FRIENDS WHO CARE® is designed to help children better understand what it means and how it feels to be a young person with a disability. This educational program gives students the opportunity to learn what is involved when someone has a disability and how they adapt to live life, go to school, or work as independently as possible.

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Tool used to help identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes

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When working with children with developmental disabilities, teachers can accomplish a great deal by managing the learning environment proactively to prevent behavior problems and promote learning. But identified students may also experience behavior or learning problems because they lack key skills (e.g., capacity to interact with other children in socially appropriate ways). Children with developmental disabilities should therefore have explicit skills-training in deficit areas as a central component in their curriculum.

Here are additional classroom ideas for accommodating students with significant special needs:

Use visual cues to orient student in the classroom (Volmer, 1995). Children with developmental disabilities can be much more independent when they have strong visual cues to guide them through the physical space of the classroom. You can, for example:

Use boundary markers such as barriers (e.g., bookcases or other furniture), rugs, and colored tape on the floor to represent boundaries between spaces that are used for different functions. Marked boundaries make it easier for children to know when they are in a space that is dedicated to play, one that is set aside for study, etc. The reality, of course, is that most classroom space is used for multiple purposes. In multi-use spaces, you can employ signs or other visual cues to mark that the space is being used for a particular purpose at a specific time. For example, you might create a sign with a picture of children eating snacks along with the words 'Snack time,' and post that sign on a table to signify that snacks are about to be served.

Store common classroom materials (e.g., school supplies, games) on accessible shelves or in see-through storage containers. When needed, provide labels for these materials (using pictures paired with words). Train students in the procedures that you want them to use in accessing the materials (e.g., first raise hand, then request teacher permission, then go to supplies shelf to get a pencil.)

Post a clear and predictable daily schedule (Volmer, 1995). Both typical students and those with developmental disabilities crave structure and predictability in their school day. Special needs children, though, can sometimes react more strongly than their non-disabled peers when faced with an unexpected change in their daily schedule. When creating daily schedules be sure to match the schedule format to the child's skill level:

For a child who cannot read and does not recognize pictures as depictions of actual objects and events, the 'schedule' would consist of objects that represent schedule entries. A wrapped snack bar, for instance, can represent snack time, while a book can represent circle time-when the teacher reads a story to the class.

For a non-reader who recognizes pictures, the schedule can include a picture to represent each scheduled event. A picture of the Occupational Therapist, for instance, might signify a weekly pullout OT session.

For the beginning reader, the schedule can pair pictures with the words describing the events to the day.

The fluent reader can use a written schedule, with words selected at the child's reading level.

A classroom schedule lays out the events of the day that affect all children in the room. Teachers can also create individualized schedules for children who receive additional (or alternative) services and supports. But remember-schedules have value only when they are used! Students should preview their schedule at the start of the school day. After each activity is completed, students check off that item on their schedule or otherwise indicate that the event is finished (e.g., by removing the event's picture from the schedule board). When an event in the student's schedule is unexpectedly cancelled, teachers may find that the student will adjust more quickly to the change if the instructor and the child sit down together review the schedule and revise it to reflect the altered plan for the day.

Build student motivation. Motivation is the 'engine' that drives student engagement and learning. Try these ideas to motivate identified students with whom you work:

Alternate preferred and less-preferred activities (Volmer, 1995). Students are likely to put more intense (and more sustained) effort into challenging assignments when they know that they can take part in a fun or interesting activity at the end of it. (This technique is known as the Premack Principle.)

Vary the pace and duration of academic activities (Koegel, Koegel & Carter, 1999).

Provide meaningful choices that give the child some autonomy and control in the classroom. For example, you may encourage the student to select a reading book for an assignment, decide what assignment she or he will work on first, choose a place in the room to study, or pick a peer to help as a study buddy. Make an effort to build choices into school activities whenever possible.

Use verbal prompts ('pre-correction') before the student engages in a task to promote success Koegel, Koegel & Carter, 1999). Phrase your prompt to reflect what you would like to see the child do (e.g., 'Ronald, please get your math journal and a sharpened pencil and join our math group at the back table.') rather than what you would like the student to stop doing. Choose vocabulary and syntax appropriate the child's developmental level. Try not to be wordy!

Use strategies to make directions and learning expectations clearly understood. Provide directions in language the student can understand. Use visual cues (hands-on demonstrations and modeling, objects, pictures) as needed to help the child to better grasp the directions. Prompt and guide the child through the performance-sequence.

Check to be sure that you have the student's attention before giving directions. (NOTE: Children with disabilities may not always make eye contact, even when they are paying attention to you. Be on the lookout for other signs of attending--e.g., alert posture, orientation toward you, stopping other activities, verbalizations). Also, include essential information in your directions that will answer these four questions for the child (Volmer, 1995):
(1) How much work is there to do in this task?
(2) What exactly am I supposed to do?
(3) When do I do the work? and
(4) What is my payoff for doing the work? .
Provide structured opportunities for student to participate in social interactions (Koegel, Kiegel, & Carter, 1999; Volmer, 1995). Children with disabilities are sometimes excluded from social interactions with their typical peers. While there are a number of reasons why identified students may not be fully included in social groups, you can take steps to foster relationships between special-needs and typical children:

Give the child 'helping roles' such as handing out snacks or distributing work materials to other students. Coach the child to use socially appropriate speech (e.g., "Would you like a snack?") with peers. The more frequently that other students experience neutral or positive interactions with the identified child, the more that they will feel comfortable with that student and the more positive their perceptions of the child will probably be.

Provide the child with simple strategies to engage others in social interactions. Demonstrate and model these strategies. Then have the child an opportunity to try them out and give him or her feedback and encouragement. For example, train the student to ask a peer "What's that?" whenever he or she sees something unfamiliar in the immediate environment. Or show the student how to approach a group and ask to join a game or other activity (e.g., "Can I join your game?"). A related idea would be to train typical peers as 'social interaction coaches' who can supportively model for the identified child how to initiate social interactions.

If the child is preoccupied with a particular topic that is relevant to classwork, the teacher may be able to use the student as a resource for peers. For example, a child with autism who has an encyclopedic knowledge of astronomy or geography may attend a review session and answer questions from other students who are studying for a quiz.

Whenever the teacher forms groups in the classroom, she or he can assign a 'group ambassador' role to one of the typical children. The 'group ambassador' takes responsibility for greeting anyone who joins the group, ensures that all members understand how they can participate in the group activities, and gives additional support and guidance to any student who needs it. 'Group ambassadors' should be trained to recognize when a student might need assistance and in how to provide that assistance in supportive, non-intrusive ways.

If the child is assigned a teaching assistant, have that assistant train peers in the room to provide academic support while the assistant observes from the background. 'Sign up' children on a rotating basis to serve as peer learning helpers for the identified child. This strategy will encourage the identified child to see many people in the room as possible supports.

Assign the child with disabilities a peer buddy when moving around the building, playing outside, or attending assemblies or other events out of the room (Saskatchewan Special Education Unit, 1998). Select different children to serve as peer buddies so the identified child has the chance to build friendships and does not depend too much on any one student for support.

Create a plan to help the student to generalize their learning across settings and situations. Children with significant disabilities are likely to need explicit programming to generalize skills that they have learned in a particular classroom setting to other settings or situations (Koegel, Koegel & Carter, 1999, Volmer, 1995).

Teach only a small number of 'key' skills at one time so that you will have enough time to work with the student on generalizing each mastered skill. After the student has mastered a skill in one setting, list other settings or situations in which you would like the student to show the skill. Then create a training plan to help the student to use the skill in these novel settings. If a child has mastered the task of delivering appropriate social greetings in your classroom, for instance, you might take the child to the school main office or out into the community, prompt them to greet others, and provide praise or rewards for their successful performance.

Keep other members of the child's teaching team (e.g., parent, speech pathologist, regular-education teacher) informed about what skills the identified student has mastered. Provide ideas to them about how they can encourage the student to use the skill in a new setting and/or with different people and how to reinforce the child for doing so.

References

Koegel, R.L., Koegel, L.K., & Carter, C.M. (1999). Pivotal teaching interactions for children with autism. School Psychology Review, 28, 576-594.

Saskatchewan Special Education Unit. (1998). Teaching students with autism: A guide for educators. Available: http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/k/pecs/se/docs/autism/

Volmer, L. (1995). Best practices in working with students with autism. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology (3rd ed., pp. 1031-1038). New York: Wiley & Sons.

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Teaching Children With Developmental Disabilities: Classroom Ideas

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When working with children with developmental disabilities, teachers can accomplish a great deal by managing the learning environment proactively to prevent behavior problems and promote learning. But identified students may also experience behavior or learning problems because they lack key skills (e.g., capacity to interact with other children in socially appropriate ways).

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How can teachers help their students with disabilities be successful in the classroom?

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How can teachers help their students with disabilities be successful in the classroom?

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Modifications and Accommodations

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What does a classroom look like through the eyes of a student with a disability?

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What does a classroom look like through the eyes of a student with a disability?

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What Are Classrooms Like for Students with Learning Disabilities?

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Common classroom conditions can and do affect many students adversely-to some degree, at one time or another, in one way or other-but, some students are especiallyvulnerable to classrooms' hazards (e.g., children of poverty, nonnative speakers, those with attention deficits).