teaching strategies

Your question is quite broad. To offer any answer to it, it would help to know what subject(s) we’re talking about. If you’re really asking is there any sure-fire way to teach that “casts a wide net” and insures that all learners will learn, sadly the answer is no.

Are there things, though, that can be done for children with learning differences that would prove to be helpful to the other children as well? Sometimes, yes. I work in kinesthetic moments in my teaching. It helps the ADD/ADHD kids to move around a bit and for some other children, it helps them to get the point better. We often stop and act out, in a way, what we’ve learned. Those two things harm no one and equally are well -received by my LD students and my non LD students yet they’re far more helpful to my LD kids.

But the best answer to your question would vary from subject to subject. The instruction of math is different from the instruction of social studies and different again from the instruction of language arts.

I have found that many of the same strategies suggested for the non-disabled students are also very helpful for students with learning disabilities. A review of literacy/language arts texts and texts for learning disabilities contain many of the same strategies. We just need to pick those that are best for our students. For example, the use of an advanced organizer for both non-disabled and disabled students is very effective. Students like to know what they are expected to do and how it connects to what they have already done. A concept map is also helpful those with learning disabilities and those without them. Providing the “big picture” before delivering a lecture will help with understanding. Using K-W-L as a pre-/post-reading activity assists with comprehension and connections. I am also a proponent of the University of Kansas Strategies Intervention Model and the Learning Strategies Curriculum. For example, LINCS (a strategy for learning vocabulary) has been very helpful for both students with learning disabilities and those without in my regular classes. This strategy can be used in a variety of content area, and I have used it successfully with students from the 5th grade through college. As for lectures, I have found that guided outlines for students to complete as the lecture is being given is also helpful. With the help of a wonderful science teacher, I have taught outlining and notetaking through this method. Students were given a completed outline with only a few words missing. They were then instructed in listening skills, and encouraged to listen for what was missing from the outline. Gradually, the amount of information that was missing was increased, and by the end of the second nine-weeks, all but one student had mastered not only the science content, but also the notetaking method. The one student who was still having difficulty found it more productive to just listen in class. I hope that some of these ideas were helpful.

Chris

I am looking for educational strategies for helping and adaptations in school for a child with duchenne muscular dystrophy

Your question is quite broad. To offer any answer to it, it would help to know what subject(s) we’re talking about. If you’re really asking is there any sure-fire way to teach that “casts a wide net” and insures that all learners will learn, sadly the answer is no.

Are there things, though, that can be done for children with learning differences that would prove to be helpful to the other children as well? Sometimes, yes. I work in kinesthetic moments in my teaching. It helps the ADD/ADHD kids to move around a bit and for some other children, it helps them to get the point better. We often stop and act out, in a way, what we’ve learned. Those two things harm no one and equally are well -received by my LD students and my non LD students yet they’re far more helpful to my LD kids.

But the best answer to your question would vary from subject to subject. The instruction of math is different from the instruction of social studies and different again from the instruction of language arts.

I have found that many of the same strategies suggested for the non-disabled students are also very helpful for students with learning disabilities. A review of literacy/language arts texts and texts for learning disabilities contain many of the same strategies. We just need to pick those that are best for our students. For example, the use of an advanced organizer for both non-disabled and disabled students is very effective. Students like to know what they are expected to do and how it connects to what they have already done. A concept map is also helpful those with learning disabilities and those without them. Providing the “big picture” before delivering a lecture will help with understanding. Using K-W-L as a pre-/post-reading activity assists with comprehension and connections. I am also a proponent of the University of Kansas Strategies Intervention Model and the Learning Strategies Curriculum. For example, LINCS (a strategy for learning vocabulary) has been very helpful for both students with learning disabilities and those without in my regular classes. This strategy can be used in a variety of content area, and I have used it successfully with students from the 5th grade through college. As for lectures, I have found that guided outlines for students to complete as the lecture is being given is also helpful. With the help of a wonderful science teacher, I have taught outlining and notetaking through this method. Students were given a completed outline with only a few words missing. They were then instructed in listening skills, and encouraged to listen for what was missing from the outline. Gradually, the amount of information that was missing was increased, and by the end of the second nine-weeks, all but one student had mastered not only the science content, but also the notetaking method. The one student who was still having difficulty found it more productive to just listen in class. I hope that some of these ideas were helpful.

Chris

I am looking for educational strategies for helping and adaptations in school for a child with duchenne muscular dystrophy