Part IV: Study Skills, Applied Academics and Transitions

·        Different kinds of study skills and their significance as it applies to exceptional learners

·        The five functional academic subject areas and examples of how they would apply to exceptional learners in the real world

·        Key elements of the transition planning process

The use of effective study skills is essential to help all learners reach their full educational potential, particularly students who struggle and those with mild to moderate disabilities.  Study skills are tools employed when the learner wishes to apply useful hints, tips, or strategies to complete specific or assigned tasks more effectively.  Examples include taking notes, completing a multiple-choice test or making an oral presentation.  Various types of study skills exist including: reading at different rates, listening, note taking/outlining, report writing, making oral presentations, using graphic aids, test taking, using the library, locating and using reference materials, managing time, using organizational skills and managing behavior.  (Polloway, 2021).

·        The 5 functional academic subject areas are functional science, functional reading, functional social studies, functional math and functional writing.  Functional reading focuses on skills that leads to development of reading and increases comprehension of written materials.  Examples of functional reading include reading tax documents or understanding a menu in a restaurant.  Functional language arts focuses on comprehension and analytical thinking of literature.  Examples of functional language arts would be understanding the meaning of idioms, metaphors and analogies or summarizing movie themes, plots and characters. Functional writing focuses on the composition of written words in a coherent manner.  Examples of this would be creating a list of tasks or maintaining a personal journal or blog.  Functional math focuses on computation and manipulation of numbers, content in the areas of money management and other measurement applications.  Examples of functional math would be paying bills or budgeting for groceries.  Functional science focuses on content as it relates to life such as health and anatomy, physical such as gravity and energy and environmental science like plant care and weather.  Knowing first aid procedures and executing them in the event of an injury would be an example of functional science.  Functional social studies focuses on content that relates to social interactions, community involvement and citizenship.  This could be knowing your legal rights, or responding and participating in a summons for jury duty.

There are two general types of transitions.  Vertical transitions are predictable or normative and most people experience them. Examples would be beginning kindergarten, moving from elementary to middle school.  Horizontal transitons are non-normative or irregular and more individual specific and not as predictable.  The nature and number of these transisions are “a function of an individual’s specific circumstances” (Polloway, 2021).  This could be changes in living situations or recovery from a major illness or accident. There are certain important elements for increasing the chances of a successful transition.  Systematic and comprehensive planning involves needs assessment and individual planning.   “Coordination, cooperation, communication and collaboration refer to the various relationships and ongoing efforts between the sending environment and any number of receiving settings.” (Polloway, 2021).