reading accomodations in inclusive classroom

Sandy: My school district recently revised the IEP forms, and so I took the opportunity to modify the accomodations sheet that I use… with high school resource room students…. the top accomodations I use are for kids such as yours… 1> having tests/quizzes read to them in the resource room…2> extended time on assignments or project deadlines….3> use of cues or prompts while reading tests or quizzes (basically, instead of reading 4 possible answers on a multiple choice test, I may only read 2 or 3… and finally…4> modifying the assignment and/or shortening the test or quiz…. even though I have never used this last one, if the situation warrented it, then I would not hesitate to use it as an accomodation….if the student(s) does not want to be singled out by receiving this special help in front of their peers, then we have had them begin the test or quiz on their own.. do as much as possible, then finish in what we call our seminar period…. then no one knows the difference. Hope this helps… Marsh

Sandy: My school district recently revised the IEP forms, and so I took the opportunity to modify the accomodations sheet that I use… with high school resource room students…. the top accomodations I use are for kids such as yours… 1> having tests/quizzes read to them in the resource room…2> extended time on assignments or project deadlines….3> use of cues or prompts while reading tests or quizzes (basically, instead of reading 4 possible answers on a multiple choice test, I may only read 2 or 3… and finally…4> modifying the assignment and/or shortening the test or quiz…. even though I have never used this last one, if the situation warrented it, then I would not hesitate to use it as an accomodation….if the student(s) does not want to be singled out by receiving this special help in front of their peers, then we have had them begin the test or quiz on their own.. do as much as possible, then finish in what we call our seminar period…. then no one knows the difference. Hope this helps… MarshSandy wrote:
>
> I am in need of possible accomodations for a slow or
> non-readers in high school regular education classes. Any or
> all suggestions will be appreciated.

Dear Sandy,

Do you mean that there are students in the regular ed classroom that can’t handle the reading requirements for the class using the textbook? If so there are a couple of things that could help.
1. Have the textbook read on tape. We have used a volunteer organization who reads textbooks and then we can rent the tapes at a reasonable price. The problem with this method is that it is very difficult to find your “place” even though the page number is called at the beginning of each page. If you have to back up or go forward in the text to reread or review, then it is just too cumbersome—even for me. We didn’t have much success using this method.
2. Many publishers now offer CD-Roms versions of the book. I’ve not seen this but I understand it is much easier to access a particular page. Of course, you need a decent computer and the CD-Rom. $
3. If money is an issue, another thing you might try is to make available several textbooks at varying reading levels for students to choose from to read. They wouldn’t be reading the exact same thing as others in class but they could still access similar content and continue practicing their reading while they are doing it. They could need to have slightly different assignments, i.e., different sets of questions to answer after the reading, but it would go a long way to allowing the less able readers access to the content of the curriculum.

The task of accomodating weak readers in a high school class is the most challenging task of all I think. They need textbooks on tape - if they exist. Otherwise, they need the information to be rewritten at a level they can read. Sometimes I have done this myself. Other times I get hold of a textbook in the same subject written for younger students.

Then they need help reading the tests as the tests usually aren’t written at their reading level.

In can be easier to treat slow readers - certainly non readers - as blind in a sense. What accomodations would you provide for a blind student in a reg. high school class? Some of those accomodations provided to the blind are also appropriate for non readers and slow readers.

This is one of thsoe situations where I realize I am *not* going to be able to work miracles. It’s easy to look for a path of least resistance — what will get the kiddos through the day and the year. But first I try to prioritize and figure out what the kids need most and whether there’s any way to get it to ‘em.
So, if they’re not reading a t a functional level for life in the world, I look *hard* to see if I can work that in, somehow, someway.
If I end up in a situation where school really is just a sentence for ‘em to serve, then I deal with that at its face value and don’t pretend they’re learning much useful. I’ve not had much luck with just reading things to kids at that level — it’s a lot of effort and generally it’s *not* enough to bridge the gap. (There are exceptions. If it is what is needed, then bring in volunteers, scan the stuff to be read into a text-to-speech program, whatever.)

Has anyone decided to teach them how to read instead of accommodating them? Novel approach, I know but you can, and it normally doesn’t take much time if you use the correct program.

Dear Shay,

This is, in fact, something that has been tearing at me for some time. With LRE considerations—access to the general curriculum and teachers who are untrained, unsure, and not convinced that students with special needs are their responsibility—I have found myself in an unenviable situation. Students come to me for language (reading, writing, spelling, etc.) and they are in a dither because they are failing core classes—science, social studies, and math as well as other classes. Many times, it is their inability to read that directly or indirectly affects their level of success in these classes. I am torn between helping them survive and working on remediating the skills that put them in harm’s way to begin with. I feel like they are damned if I do and damned if I don’t. Does that make any sense?

You speak of proven methods for teaching reading. I received only the most cursory training of treating reading problems during my college preparation and no study of proven programs. I would appreciation any direction you could give regarding specific programs and any advice about where, when, and how to support students in the regular curriculum.

Thanks, Deb

For students this old, I’d delighted to hear there’s a program that would fairly quickly turn them around. What is the correct program?

Or what programs do you find to most often be the correct ones?

Last year, I started working at a high school in Loudoun County, VA. I worked with students after school because teaching older students to read was a novel approach and lacked credibility. This year, I was told that I was going to teach reading to students in grades 9-12 who had ‘Read test” as one of their accommodations. I have 13 kids in a class, way to many, but in four weeks, I had most of the accommodations off their IEPs. You see, we have state tests called the SOLs and my students have to pass 6 of them as well in order to receive a standard diploma. The major test that they have to pass is the 11th grade English test, which includes three tests: a five paragraph essay; and editing test; and a reading test. The writing and editing test is in two weeks and the reading test is in May. The problem with reading the reading part of the test to students is that they won’t be able to answer the questions without re-reading parts of the tests. The questions asks the student to summarize different parts of the passages; compare the different parts of the passage and answer vocabulary questions using the content of the passages. They can’t be read to and be able to answer the questions asked of them. So, I teach them how to decode using Phono-Graphix, to write using Step Up to Writing and other programs to remediate other deficiencies. It really doesn’t take long and if you want to know how to do it. email me directly.

These are the programs that I use in my reading class to bring up my kids to grade level reading and writing. Spelling is a skill that I have never been able to remediate but with knowing PG they at least can come close to the spelling so that spell check will work. These programs are in the order in which I teach them.
Programs:
1. Phono-Graphix ( after the program, error correction is very important) Carmen and Geoffrey McGuinness- $14.00 or less.
2. Read Naturally (fluency)
3 Visualizing and Verbalizing by Lindamood-Bell (LMB)/ and Language Wise, developing verbal intelligence, Author same as PG
4. On Cloud Nine- visualizing numbers (LMB)
5. Kansas Learning Strategies- study skills for content
6. Various other study skills programs, Mosaic of Thought and Strategies that Work ( Amazon)
7. Earobics, computer program for auditory processing
8. Step Up to Writing- Sopris West- $100
9. Computer program Inspiration for pre-writing skills, outlining and webing- great for organizational skills.
10. Spelling Power ( after PG’s Super Speller)
11. Stevenson Grammar- teacher manual and student work book.
If you like, send me your phone number and we can talk. Let me know when would be a good time and I will call you. I am very hard to get in touch with, I do tutoring after school and I don’t get home some nights until 8:00. All of these programs work. Shay

Sandy,

Helping this student read better is certainly a strategy not to be ignored. Simultaneously, this student needs tools and techniques that will allow him/her to continue to work with grade level curriculum in all subject areas, regardless of reading level. There are several assistive technologies that can aid in this process. One I encourage you to evaluate is WYNN, a software tool to support reading, writing, and studying for students who are reading below grade level. WYNN provides the ability to scan in the text from a book, or any print document, then hear it being read as each word is simultaneously spotlighted. WYNN lets you easily change the way the text looks to make it more readable, has tools to help with comprehension and retention, and tools to support the writing process. WYNN even lets a student “read” directly from the Internet so that they can explore additional materials about a particular subject area. And it’s very easy to learn and use. You can learn more about WYNN and request a demo CD at www.freedomscientific.com/wynn.

Does anyone have a booklet of accommodations/modified instructional and assessment techniques that I caould give to mainstream high school teachers? I am moving to a schaool that has operated in a resource room mode and now wants me to help move to a more inclusive model. I can’t be everywhere at once and so thought if I could find a booklet that had already been developed it would be of great assistance to the mainstream teachers. I am in Australia. Shay I would also like more information about the resources you mentions as i don’t know them. I would really like info on the Kansas team teaching strategies as part of changing the model will require that they understand how this works etc. I’d appreciate any help you folks can offer.

Hi Dorothy,
The program is called The Kansas Learning Strategies. We have trainers who come to our district and teach them to us. They are different graphic organizers that help students and teachers organize information. I think that if you do a search for them you will get to their website. I will look for their web address when I go to school this morning.