# Presentation: 310031

## Tools for the Classroom and the Center

**Debbie Jones, Disability Specialist**
**Humanitas, Inc.**
**Del-Jen/Horizons Youth Services**
**Joint Academic and Career Technical Training Conference**
**April 19, 2007**

## Defining “Tools”	

- Tangible vs. Intangible

## Slide 3

## What is a Learning Disability?

- A learning disability is a neurological disorder that affects one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language.
- The disability may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations.

**Notes:**
How would you categorize your knowledge of learning disabilities?

Expert
Somewhat knowledgeable
Need more information

## Perceptions

**Perceptions**

## Nose

**Nose**

**Mouth**

**Eye**

## Earring

**Earring**

**Necklace**

## Slide 8

## Count the black dots only!

**Count the black dots only!**

## Experiencing a Learning Disability

- Which hand do you use to write?
- Using the opposite hand and while your eyes are closed, write the following:
**“****My name is [fill in name] and I am attending the conference session on LD Tools.”**

## Experiencing a Learning Disability

- Challenging neurological resources related to visual motor integration.
- How did you feel?
- Was it
- Laborious?
- Frustrating?
- Tiring?
- Writing is really that difficult for these students

## Myths & Misperceptions

- Lazy or dumb
- Need to “try” harder
- Accommodations are a “crutch”
- Have to learn to do things without them for the “real” world
- Can perform tasks sometimes so can’t have a disability
- Inconsistent
- Hyperfocus

## Slide 13

## Tangible Tools

- Web Resources
- Newsletters/Journals
- Books/Videos/Audio Tapes
- Computer Aided Instruction
- Assessment Data
- IEPs/504 Plans
- Individual with a Disability

## Tangible Tools (cont.)

- Resource Organizations
- Technology – Hi-tech and Low-tech
- Resource Specialists

## Web Resources

- Job Corps Disability Website
- Job Corps Learning Disabilities Website
- LD Online
- www.ldonline.org
- All Kinds of Minds
- www.allkindsofminds.org

## Job Corps Disability Website

- http://jcdisability.jobcorps.gov

## Job Corps LD Website

- http://jccdrc.jobcorps.gov/ld

## Newsletters/Journals

- Newsletters
- JC Instructional
- JC Disability
- Journals
- Intervention
- Journal of Learning Disabilities
- Remedial and Special Education
- Learning Disability Quarterly

## Books, Videos, and Audio Tapes

- Books:
- Overcoming Dyslexia, Sally Shaywitz
- A Mind at a Time, Dr. Mel Levine
- Teaching Learning Strategies and Study Skills to Student with Learning Disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorders or Special Needs, Stephen Strichart & Charles Mangrum II

## Books, Videos, and Audio Tapes

- Videos
- F.A.T. City, Richard Lavoie (not person-first)
- www.pbs.org
- Ennis’ Gift - A Film About Learning Differences, inspired by the legacy of William Ennis Cosby
- www.pbs.org
- Developing Minds, Mel Levine
- www.allkindsofminds.org
- Audio Tapes
- Reaching Minds, Mel Levine
- www.allkindsofminds.org

## Slide 22

**Notes:**
FAT City video
Go through Bookmarked Sections

Bookmark 1
Experiencing Frustration, Anxiety and Tension

Bookmark 2
Perseverance

Bookmark 3
Risk Taking

Bookmark 4
Genesis of F.A.T. City Workshop

Bookmark 5
How we view individuals with learning disabilities

Bookmark 6
The Pervasive nature of learning disabilities

Bookmark 7
Social Skills

Bookmark 8
The Search for a Quick Fix

Bookmark 9
Cookbook Solutions

## Slide 23

## Computer – Aided Instruction

- Inspiration - Students develop essential learning strategies as they create graphic organizers to visually represent concepts and relationships.
- http://www.inspiration.com/productinfo/inspiration/index.cfm
- PowerPoint
- FASTT Math – (2nd grade and up)
- www.tomsnyder.com

## Assessments

- Learning Preferences
- Learning Style Inventories
- Achievement Tests
- Intelligence Testing
- TABE/GED/State Standards Tests
- Classroom Testing (formative)

## 504 Plans/IEPs

- 504 Plans
- Accommodations
- IEPs
- Present Levels of Performance
- Accommodations
- Goals
- Assessment Participation
- http://jccdrc.jobcorps.org/ld/iep

## The Individual with a Disability

- Is often a valuable resource about their own disability, accommodation, and learning needs.

## Resource Organizations

- Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR)
- JC Program Instruction 99-03
- Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
- One-Stops – Disability Navigators
- Centers for Independent Living
- Other State Disability Service Agencies

## Technology

- Hi-Tech
- Screen Readers
- Alpha-Smarts, Computers
- Voice Dictation
- Talking calculators/thermometers/tape measures
- Digital/Variable Speed Tape Recorders
- Smart Boards/White Boards

## Technology

- Lo-Tech
- Specialty Paper (e.g., graph, colored, textured)
- Writing Utensils & Accessories (e.g., pencils, highlighters, grips, etc.)
- Organizers (e.g., planners, calendars, etc.)
- Positioning tools (e.g., clipboards, slant boards, velcro, etc.)

## Resource Specialists

- Regional Disability Coordinators
- Regions 1 and 4 – Shannon Bentley
- shannonbentley_rn@yahoo.com
- Regions 2 and 3 – Pat Jackson
- pbjackson@outdrs.net
- Region 5 – Kimberly Jones (& Michelle Day during the training period)
- kim.jones@humanitas.com
- Region 6 – Sylvia Domagalski
- sjdnurse@aol.com

## Resource Specialists

- National Disability Program Manager - Michelle Day, Humanitas
- michelle.day@humanitas.com
- Disability Specialist - Debbie Jones, Humanitas
- debbiemjones@comcast.net

## Slide 33

## Intangible Resources

- Universal Design
- Learning Strategies

## Universal Design

| DESIGN PRINCIPLE  | EXAMPLE |
| --- | --- |
| Flexibility in Use | Accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.  Classroom where the student may choose to hand write, word process, or voice dictate an essay in order to demonstrate mastery |
| Equitable Use | Website that is designed so that it is accessible to everyone, including people who are blind |
| Simple/Intuitive Use | Easy to understand, regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level. Shop equipment with control buttons that are clear and intuitive (e.g., red buttons for stop and green for go) |

## Universal Design

| DESIGN PRINCIPLE  | EXAMPLE |
| --- | --- |
| Perceptible Information | Television programming projected in classrooms or other meeting areas that includes captions |
| Tolerance for Error | Educational software program that provides guidance when the user makes an inappropriate selection |
| Low Physical Effort | Doors that are easy to open by people with a wide variety of physical characteristics demonstrate the application of this principle |
| Size & Space for Approach & Use | Adjustable table to accommodate any individuals height and size |

## The use of Universal Design improves overall accessibility for all students and creates a more inclusive atmosphere.  It does not, however, replace the obligation to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities.

## Teaching Learning Strategies

- Why do students with learning disabilities need to become strategic learners?

## Metacognitive Strategies

## Memory Exercise

- 5
- 8
- 0
- 2
- 9
- 7
- 6
- 1
- 8
- 3

- Who can remember all 10 numbers?
- What strategy or strategies could we have used to better help us remember that series of numbers?
- (580) 297-6183

## Memory Strategies

- Repetition
- Grouping
- Mental Picture
- Rhyming
- Acronym
- Abbreviation
- Acronymic Sentence
- Graphic Sentence

## Teaching Learning Strategies

- Assess the student’s awareness of the strategy to be used.
- Provide opportunities for students to discuss, reflect upon, and practice the strategies with classroom materials and authentic tasks.
- Provide feedback.
- Gradually have the student select the learning strategy to use for a particular activity or assignment.

## Teaching Learning Strategies

- Provide instruction, review, and provide feedback until the student is able to self-select and apply learning strategies effectively.

## Posters

**Posters**