Teaching Students with Severe Disabilities
Teaching Students to Learn, Generalize, and Maintain Skills
Overview and Importance
Instructional Procedures for Students with Severe Disabilities: The chapter outlines effective methods to teach new skills to students with severe disabilities. Key areas covered include:
Writing goals and objectives
Developing task analyses
Systematic instruction methods
Reinforcement and error correction
Unique methods for teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
Strategies for generalizing and maintaining skills
Key Considerations for Educators:
What to Teach: Determines the curriculum content.
Students with disabilities should participate in the general curriculum and achieve learning targets.
Focus on academic knowledge and functional skills for community engagement (daily living, vocational skills, etc.).
Goals should include inclusion, self-determination, and necessary related services.
How to Teach: Emphasizes effective teaching methodologies.
Systematic instruction is the most effective approach for this population.
Where to Teach: Teaching in inclusive classrooms leads to better outcomes compared to separate settings.
When learning new skills, non-distracting settings may be utilized.
Developing Goals and Objectives
Types of Goals:
Annual Goals: Broad statements of desired outcomes (e.g., improving listening comprehension).
Short-term Objectives: Specific, detailed statements defining who will do what, under what conditions, and the expected performance level.
Areas of Focus: Goals should encompass academic instruction, functional skills, self-determination, inclusion, and related services.
Writing Short-term Objectives:
Short-term objectives focus on acquiring and demonstrating useful skills:
Simple, Discrete Behaviors: Examples include smiling or making eye contact.
Continuous, Ongoing Behaviors: Duration-based, e.g., working at a job for a set time.
Complex, Chained Skills: Tasks requiring a series of behaviors (e.g., solving a math problem).
Functional Routines: Daily activities (e.g., preparing a meal).
Examples of Objectives:
Cassandra will retrieve an item from a shelf using a picture cue with 80% accuracy.
Rasheeda will fold laundry upon request from her community support worker (complex, chained skill).
Alexis will complete all steps of using the toilet independently for two weeks (functional routine).
Task Analyses
Conducting a Task Analysis:
Break a complex skill into smaller, teachable units showing sequential steps.
Useful for both functional and academic skills.
Example of a Task Analysis:
Ordering a snack: Steps from opening a door to paying the cashier.
A math problem-solving task analysis includes identifying sets and demonstrating adding/subtracting.
Effective Instructional Methods
General Effective Teaching Approaches:
Plan instruction carefully and manage time efficiently.
Inform learners of lesson objectives and provide context for new material.
Present new material in manageable steps and provide feedback on performance.
Utilize scaffolding, gradually reducing support to promote independence.
Monitor performance and reassess as necessary; keep high expectations for student performance.
Systematic Instruction:
Based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Focus on behavior change as a measure of learning.
Reinforcement strategies enhance the likelihood of future behaviors.