ConVal School District: Special Education

Help With Homework

Learning is a full time job for a child. It is important that parents and teachers work together to help the child learn to study effectively. Good work habits can bring success and satisfaction during the school years and allow the child the opportunity to grow in skill, stature and spirit. The benefits of good study skills extend throughout the school years and, in fact, into the working world. What then, can parents do to help their child at home?

Studying needs to become a habit, and the parents can do many things to help their child develop this habit. Although your child seems so young, it's not too early to instill a sense of pride in accomplishment, and satisfaction in learning something new. Set aside the same time everyday as "brain" time. Encourage this time for younger children, too. Nearby play may provide too much distraction. If your child has no homework, use this time for quiet activities, such as reading or doing word games. Homework time is a good time for an adult activity that cam be interrupted to answer questions. Good study habits are the key to success in school, and they are worth the effort on the part of students and parents.

Make your home a good place for studying. Studying is thinking. Keep study areas free from noise and other distractions. Talk with your child about the best time to study - times when there seem to be the fewest distractions or interruptions. The time right after school is not usually the best time for a young child to do homework. Plan time for study breaks. A kitchen timer could be used to signal a break, or complete homework task by task with short breaks in between. Keep the television off during study times, and have another family member answer the phone and take messages. It is important to make your home a place where your child can think

A consistent place to study is very important. Be sure there is enough space for writing and good lighting. It will save your child time if study materials are kept together nearby. Have a "homework basket". You might want to include paper, pencils, a ruler, erasers, tape, glue stick, scissors. Use graph paper for math assignments if your child has trouble keeping columns aligned. Reference books, such as a dictionary or an atlas, could be included in your list of supplies.

Different methods of studying can be used for different assignments. When your child has a reading assignment, look through the material and read any questions given by the teacher. Show an interest in the reading and ask about the story. Help your child to make predictions, and together think of possible questions that can be answered through the reading. "What might happen next?" "If you were the author how would you have ended this?" Teach your child to paraphrase and summarize. "Tell me what happened in your own words." Teach your child to paraphrase and summarize. "Tell me what happened in your own words." "Tell me three key points from this chapter." Give your child a model to follow. For example, help your child discuss and sequence events of the story - "At the beginning of the story...In the middle ... at the end of the story." Flashcards can be very helpful when many facts need to be learned. They can be used for states and capitals, math facts, facts about famous people, and spelling words. Practice often over short periods of time. Shuffle the cards so they are not memorized in order.

Encouraging the right study habits and making your home a good place to study demonstrates to your child how much you care about his or her learning. Remember that learning is not always easy. Praise your child for a job well done and for putting forth a good effort. Help your child develop good study habits - they will bring a lifetime of benefits.

Ten Tips on How to Help Your Child With Homework

Most parents have attempted to work with their children on homework. This help ranges from a short occasional explanation to total completion of the task by the parent. Whatever the case, numerous problems exist. In an attempt to cope, you may use trial-and-error methods, bribery, threats, reasoning and anything else that may appear to work.

Following basic guidelines when helping with homework can result in a more rewarding situation for both parents and children. The following techniques are provided to facilitate the process of homework and prevent frustration, anger, and disappointment.

1. Try to set up a homework schedule.

There is no one "right time" to do homework. This is a personal choice and has to do with your child's learning style and your life style. The important thing is once the time is determined try to keep to that schedule as much as possible. After a while, this will become a natural part of your child's daily schedule.

2. Prioritize assignments.

Some children may need assistance in getting organized, deciding where to begin or which assignment to do first.

3. Avoid sitting next to your child while he/she does homework.
This situation often contributes to 'learned helplessness'. This 'dependency' is very unhealthy because it is not imitated in the classroom. Consequently, some children may procrastinate in doing classwork, bring the unfinished work home

4.Check correct problems first.

Next time your child brings you a paper to check, mention to him/her how well he/she did on the correct problems, spelling words, etc. For the ones that are incorrect try "I bet if you go back and check these over you may get a different answer." This provides encouragement to go back and redo the problems without any feelings of inadequacy.

5. Set reasonable homework periods.

If your child is working an unreasonable amount of time on an assignment, or is getting nowhere, you may choose to end the work period. You should write the teacher a note explaining the circumstances. There may be several reasons for such a behavior pattern. First your child may not have understood the concept in class and therefore will not be able to finish the assignment at home. Or, your child may already have feelings of helplessness, and may wait for you to complete the assignment. Finally, your child may have other serious learning difficulties and may be overwhelmed by a series of assignments.

6. Discuss homework question before your child reads the chapter.

Discuss and talk about the questions before your child begins reading the assignment. By using this strategy, he/she will know what important information to look for in the passage. These comprehension strategies will also help your child in some test taking situations.

7. Check small groups of problems at a time.

Many children benefit from immediate gratification. Have your child do five problems and then come back to you for checking. Remember to focus on the correct ones. In this way the child gets immediate feedback, and the necessary motivation for the next set of problems. Also, if your child is doing the assignment incorrectly, the error can be detected and explained, preventing the child from having to redo the entire assignment.

8. Check completed homework assignments.

This offers children a feeling of accomplishment, a source of positive attention, and a sense of security that the work is correct. If it is clear that your child does not understand a particular concept, the teacher should be made aware of it.

9. Be aware of your own negative nonverbal messages.

Many negative messages, such as grimaces, body stiffness, sighs, raised eyebrows, etc., could communicate a negative message. This could add to the tension of the homework relationship. This is extremely important with younger children who cannot distinguish between loss of parental approval and loss of love.

10. Avoid finishing assignments for your child.

While the motivation may be to help finish a difficult assignment, the end result may be very destructive. Children tend to feel inadequate when a parent finishes homework. If your child cannot complete an assignment, and have honestly tried, write the teacher a note explaining the circumstances.

Learning to Write

When we talk about teaching a child to write, we do not mean teaching him or her to form the letters (handwriting) or to make words from those letters (spelling). Although we certainly teach children handwriting and spelling, both while writing a story, poem, journal entry, etc., and in isolation, we now want to discuss the process of composition. We work with our students in order to help them discover how and what they think and then to be able to communicate those thoughts in a meaningful way. Learning takes place when teachers help students to link their background knowledge with the new ideas and skills that they are learning. This process takes place during the school day, but can also occur at home. Students need lots of practice in order to become proficient writers!

Home is where good writing begins. We have children walk through the doors of our school with many of the skills they will need to become good writers. By integrating what they already know with their experiences in school, they will gain the skill they need to write well. Writing is an area of the curriculum which greatly benefits from a close home-school connection. The following is a list of some of the skills and attributes needed to learn to be an effective writer:

Life experiences - Ability to share - Persistence - Organization - Vocabulary - Knowledge of the Structure of English - Pencil control - Phonological awareness - Memories - Knowledge of letters and sounds - Imagination

Parents can help their children in the area of writing by reading to their children from many different books, exposing them to many different types of written language. Children can keep journals about family trips and visits with friends and extended family members. These experiences can become a rich source of ideas for a child's piece of writing. Parents can also help children with their writing by asking thoughtful questions about their experiences and the feelings surrounding those activities and events. "Tell me more about"....(trying to illicit more detail), "I didn't quite understand the part about"....(asking for clarification), "How did you feel about that?" "Is this something you could write a story about?" These questions help the child to think a little more deeply and in more detail. The child can take the feedback she/he gets and make decisions about what she/he is trying to say and then about how to best express that in writing.

Writing is the highest form of language, more complex than our everyday spoken language, involving many skills and processes in the brain. Children need to learn to write in order to discover hidden thoughts, tell stories, share information, explain knowledge, and express feelings. Together, parents and teachers can help to coach, prod, stimulate and excite our children so that they will become good writers, able to think and communicate effectively.

Number Fun

Math skills are not only acquired at school, but can also be instilled in a variety of circumstances. While driving in the car with your children, sitting at the beach or looking for "boredom busters" on a rainy day, you can reinforce math concepts and help your children to apply this knowledge in their everyday lives.

Math can be so much more than practicing the math facts and doing mental math problems on long car trips. The following is a list of fun and interesting ideas your children will enjoy that can happen in your home without much preparation or expense.

Cooking with packaged mixes can be quick and easy. There are also children's cookbooks available in many libraries. Use individual measuring cups and spoons so children can get a sense of quality and volume. Help your child figure out how to double a recipe or cut one in half. Draw their attention to the numbers involved. In addition to providing opportunities for measurement, reading recipes also provides opportunities to work on reading comprehension and sequencing skills.

Guessing games and hypothesizing activities can be fun. Estimate how long the driveway is - get out the yardstick and measure it. How many feet? yards? inches? How many marshmallows are in the bag? How many will each person get if they are divided evenly? How much warmer is it during the day than at night? Guess, then verify with readings from the thermometer.

Time seems endless for a child on summer vacation. Look carefully at clocks, both analog and digital. Talk time. What do we mean when we say, "Give me five minutes"? Discuss how long a soccer game lasts. If it started at 2:00 and ended at 4:30, how many hours, minutes, seconds did it last? AM or PM? Use time related vocabulary - today, yesterday, tomorrow, before, after, annual, and so on.

Do you have a change jar? If not, just empty your pockets and count the change together. How much would you each get if you split it evenly? Have your child pay the cashier, and be sure he/she counts the change and checks the receipt against the purchase. Did he/she get everything that was paid for? Were sale prices correct? Look at grocery store fliers. Estimate - If we buy milk, bread, and apples, will this be enough money? Will we have enough left over for ice cream?

Children's books often include math problems embedded within the story. Here are just a few titles to look for:

The Doorbell Rang, by Pat Hutchins
A Chair for My Mother, by Vera B. Williams
Grandfather Tang's Story, by Ann Tompert
The King's Chessboard, adapted by David Birch
Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar, by Anno
Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday, by Judith Viorst
Share these math activities with your children. Everyone will benefit! Have fun!

Reading Corner

What is Phonological Awareness and Why Do We Teach It?

Reading for all children begins with phonological awareness. This is according to G. Reid Lyon, Director of the National Institutes of Child and Human Development. Phonological awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and manipulate individual sounds within the spoken word. Students need to have a strong understanding of spoken language before they can understand written language.

A sign of beginning development in phonological awareness is sensitivity to rhyme. In order to tell if two words rhyme, a child must notice how the words sound, then focus their attention to only part of the word. They must "hear" the /a/ sound in cat and bat. At another level, children discriminate beginning and ending sounds. With further development in phonological awareness, children can segment and identify the first, last or middle sounds of words and can identify how many sounds are in a given word. They will know that cat is one word, but has three sounds c - a - t. At the highest level, children will notice and be able to identify subtle differences in spoken words, such as lost and lots ( the order of the last two sounds are reversed).

As children develop understanding of individual sounds in words, they can use letter/sound correspondences to sound out new words. This linking of letters and sounds is the reading instruction method known as phonics - the teaching of how our alphabet system works. Phonemic awareness and phonics are not the same, but they are mutually dependent.

Another step for children learning to read is for a child to become automatic with sound/symbol association so they can focus on the meaning of their stories. The single best indicator of a child's reading comprehension is his or her fluency Children who labor over decoding (sounding out) each word, often lose the overall meaning. No reading program would be successful without exciting stories that are interesting and meaningful. Rereading of stories helps also to build fluency. Proficient reading depends on a child's automatic ability to recognize frequently used spelling patterns and translate them into sounds that form words. It needs to become effortless.

Studies show that connections between oral language and print must be thoroughly developed to achieve reading success. At the Hancock Elementary School we recognize the clear implication. We have instituted phonological awareness programs within the Kindergarten and First Grade classrooms. Each child works with Mrs. Richardson or myself in a small group setting two to four times per week. Phonological awareness - the ability to discriminate and manipulate letter sounds in the spoken word - is critical to beginning reading development.

Tips on Reading Books With Your Child

Research has repeatedly shown the more children read the better they read. You have probably seen the ads about reading with your children being the one most important thing you can do to help them in school. Often, parents are very willing to help their children, but just not sure how to, or where to begin. Even if your child is already a proficient reader there are many things you can do to help extend his/her reading skills.

Parents can encourage reading and develop a love of books in our children by providing time and many opportunities for reading. These opportunities can be in the form of 'Reading To', 'Reading With', or 'Reading By' your children.
Reading To, or reading aloud, to children provides opportunities for young children to hear stories they may not be able to read for themselves. It fosters a love and enthusiasm for reading as well as building language skills and story comprehension in all children. And don't let them fool you; even older children who are proficient readers enjoy a good 'Read To'. Try it. You might be surprised how much you all enjoy the reading sessions.

Reading With', or reading along, with children encourages children to participate and become involved in the reading. With younger children, some types of books lend themselves more easily to this type or reading. Perhaps you child chimes in at certain parts of a favorite bedtime story. Or you might encourage your child to become inventive and tell parts of the story with the help of the pictures, predictable language or rhyme. This is an important beginning step in reading. For older children just sharing the reading of a good book can make the activity more enjoyable for all.

Reading By', or reading alone, is the time when children take control of their own reading. For beginner readers the books should be closely matched to the child's abilities with supportive pictures and predictable language, as necessary. You can help your children select just the right books for their needs and interests. If the activity becomes too difficult, this 'read alone' can become a 'Read With' or a 'Read To'. Older children should also select books of high interest that are not too difficult for independent reading.

You can enrich these reading experience by just talking about the books you're reading with your children. Try to involve your child in conversations through the story by talking about what is happening (developing comprehension), why something might be happening (making inferences) and what you think is going to happen (making predictions). Maybe your child can relate a similar personal experience to one in the story, or find similarities to other stories he/she knows (making comparisons).

Whether you choose to Read To' 'Read With' or 'Read By' your children, it is important to keep it a pleasurable experience. Remember, the goal is to get children excited about reading to read all year long. Happy Reading!

Tips for Helping Beginning Readers

Have you ever felt at a loss, not knowing what to do when your child is reading and gets 'stuck' on a word? Have you wondered if you should tell him to 'sound it out' then looked at the word and realized, in this case, that might not work? Or, have you wondered if you should you just tell her the word? To be better prepared to help young readers it is helpful to know what skillful readers use when reading and especially what works when they come to difficulties.

Close observations have shown that skilled readers use several sources of information when reading. These readers don't use only the information from the print - they bring information to reading from their knowledge of language and background information. When reading they get the meaning of the message through combining what they already known about the story, how their language works and what they see on the page. These sources, often referred to as cues, fall into three categories. They are: using the meaning of the story, using the structure of the sentence, and using what the word looks like. To help young readers, it is helpful to know what the reader is doing, or not doing, when they encounter difficulties.

Using the meaning of the story can range from using clues from the picture to using knowledge of what the story may be about, for example, specialized vocabulary like the names of animals, foods, clothing, tools, or places. Basically, good readers read for meaning and strive for their attempts to be meaningful and make sense. So, sometimes it might be helpful to ask your child to check for clues about a story meaning such as "Think of the story. What would make sense there?"

Using what one knows about language, or the structure of the sentence, can also assist a reader to figure out an unknown word. At difficulty skilled readers will often reread part of the sentence, or read the rest of the sentence to get the content to help 'full-in' the missing word. You may need to encourage your child to go back and reread, or to go on to the end of the sentence to see what sounds right. If he inserts a word that is structurally incorrect ask "Would we say it that way?" to encourage using the cues in the structure of the sentence. Usually, even a young child can tell if something is wrong in the sentence structure.

Sometimes the reader needs to depend on what the word looks like, called visual cues. That's when the reader may check the first letters, the ending, or known parts, sometimes called 'word chunks', in the middle of the word. This is where the phonetics, decoding, or sounding it out may come in handy. When this cue might work you can ask your child "Do you know another word like that?" or "Do you know a part of that word?" to help them look more closely at the word for visual cues. Of course, attention to what the word looks like will help your child become a better reader, but, if you try to teach only the phonetics your child could think that reading means sounding out words, rather than enjoying and getting meaning from text.

Skilled readers tend to use the meaning and sentence structure before breaking down individual words, or decode. In fluent reading usually the visual piece is 'sampled' or glanced at, and used to confirm what the reader would expect to be there. Therefore, all three cueing systems are working together. However, at difficulty, closer attention to what the word looks, the phonetics, and making an attempt that goes with the story and sounds right often results in successful attempts.

If the word is not correct after two of your questioning prompts, or two tries, you can say something like "Could it be ____?" or "Would _____ make sense and look right?" This will still give your child the responsibility to check it and make the final decision.

So, when your child makes an error in reading or comes to an unknown word, wait to give him a chance to solve the problem himself. If the context looks helpful, ask him to reread or read to the end of the sentence and then see what would make sense there. Then, if necessary, help him to look for some known parts in the word. This will help your child develop important strategies for independent reading. Keep in mind that the most important part of reading is making sense of the story. Remember, when you're reading with your child keep attention focused on enjoying the text. Happy Reading!

The Benefits of Inclusive Education

The segregation of people with disabilities and the lack of opportunities for routine and natural interactions has allowed society to develop myths, fears and prejudices about those who are perceived as different. Despite changes in law and public policy many people continue to have little interaction with children or adults with disabilities. An increased public focus on the rights of people with disabilities has encouraged a growing commitment to educate all students in their neighborhood schools. This concept, referred to as Inclusion, provides all students to be educated in regular education classes in their neighborhood schools and incorporates the supports provided to students and teachers so that all can be successful.

There are numerous benefits to all students, teachers and the community incorporated through the inclusion process. A significant benefit of inclusive education is providing students with disabilities the same opportunities to expand their knowledge and interests as students without disabilities. An enriching education benefits students of all abilities by providing them with the information and experiences they need to make informed choices about their use of free time, their continuing education, and their career. When students with disabilities are educated in special education classes their curriculum is often less varied than that in the regular classroom. Typically, special education classes focus more on 'functional skills' and less on subjects such as science, fine arts, literature, and social studies. Students who attend these special education classes are less likely to receive the rich experiences that regular education has to offer.

Students participating in common classes share experiences and develop similar interests, both essential to forming relationships. It is through watching and interacting with others that often helps one to gain information and develop new skills.By separating a student from his peers he is denied the basic opportunities to learn what is expected of someone his age. By working together students observe the ways others are successful and copy these behaviors. As children learn and play together they are provided with opportunities to learn what is appropriate behavior.

When people with disabilities are kept apart from society there are fewer opportunities for friendships to develop. Students with and without disabilities are able to develop meaningful relationships when they are learning side by side with every student's contribution to the class being valued and when peers offer each other support and encouragement (Tashie, Shapiro-Barnard, Schuh, Jorgensen, Dillon, Dixon and Nixon, 1993). Social skills are crucial to make friends, to be accepted by other and certainly vital in successful adult living.

Ideally, when a student with disabilities is included in a regular classroom a team of special educators is available to join with the classroom teacher to modify curriculum and material, and to assist in developing strategies for a student or students in the classroom. These professionals may spend time in the classroom assisting the student to participate in classroom activities or they may consult with the classroom teacher regarding ways to increase a student's participation during class lessons. These additional professional personnel in the classroom benefit not only the student with disabilities, but the other students and teachers as well as the student with disabilities. Special educators can bring skills and resources into the classroom that will enhance the education of all students.

The special education teacher, sometimes referred to as the Inclusion Facilitator, has the responsibility of providing support to the classroom teacher so that she can best educate all students in the class. Support may include assisting with curriculum modification strategies, co-teaching, and accessing equipment and/or technology support. For example, changes in a classroom structure may lead to a more improvisational mood as some students may clarify ideas for others.

Paraprofessional personnel, such as teaching assistants, can be assigned to classrooms to offer support to teachers or students. The teacher and all students will benefit by this additional help in the classroom. A paraprofessional in the classroom should assist the classroom teacher in maximizing the educational experiences of all students. Many problems could be solved by giving other students individual attention when they need it. It is important that the assistant be assigned to the class and not to an individual student. Connecting an assistant with a student could be an obstacle to full inclusion. While the need for the assistant may be due to the student with disabilities in the class, the role of this individual is to provide support to the teacher and to all students in the classroom. The classroom assistant takes his lead from the classroom teacher so the she can best teach all students.

The classroom teacher therefore becomes the primary educator for all of the students in the classroom and relies on the inclusion facilitator and other related service personnel to provide the supports necessary for success. Related service personnel play a valuable role in supporting students and teachers in an inclusive school. In addition to direct support to students, related service personnel must provide consultation to teachers, classroom assistants and parents on how to support a student in all environments. Special education professionals serve as consultants to aide classroom teachers in meeting the needs of all students so that every child experiences optimal learning, is valued and respected, and has maximum interaction with peers.

To facilitate an inclusive classroom it is important to provide school personnel with training opportunities to increase their abilities to educate student with diverse abilities in their classrooms. There should be continuous pre-service and in-service education focusing on attitudes that enables all teachers to work effectively with all students.

Inclusive education benefits not only students with disabilities, but provides a variety of benefits for students without disabilities, teacher, schools, and communities. All students with and without disabilities will gain valuable skills and experiences together when regular education curriculum changes to include community learning and cooperative skills. Since the inclusion policy has been implemented in West Felician Parish, Louisiana, the identification of special education students and elementary-level discipline referrals have decreased, standardized test scores have increased and many students from private school settings have enrolled in the public schools. (Tompkins, Cooper 1993) In another study done in Dexter, Michigan the differences in academic achievement of regular education students in non-inclusive classrooms and of same-grade students in special education inclusion programs were compared in a particular elementary school in grades 2 through 4 during 1989-1991. The results showed that the non-inclusion regular education students did not exceed the academic growth of their counterparts who participated in inclusion programs on either reading or mathematics. Under the circumstances described for inclusion classrooms, regular education students academic achievement was not negatively affected. Results suggest that concern for regular education students academic progress should not deter educators from initiating special education full-inclusion programs (Liddiard 1991).

Finances are often a consideration when discussing inclusive education. Roahrig reports on a fiscal analysis of a special education inclusion program and compares costs for instruction, administration, transportation and staff development. The study related inclusive programs in four pilot elementary schools with cost for traditional special education services in nine other elementary schools in the Greater Clark (Indiana) School Districts. Findings were that the costs were slightly less in the

Including all students in regular education classes in neighborhood schools allows students and teachers opportunities to meet, interact with, and develop relationships with students of varying abilities and disabilities. Students and teachers get to know one another as individuals, not simply on the basis of labels or disabilities. "The regular inclusive classroom community becomes a place where all can freely offer support and all can freely receive it, a place where doing something a bit differently is valued and respected and a place where the diversity of our human community is celebrated" (Tashie, et al p. 23). Educating all students together insures that everyone will be better prepared to face the challenges of a diverse and changing society.

Articles