Contributions of the Differently Abled

Without the contributions of these amazing people, where would our world be today?

Alexander Graham Bell
The inventor of the telephone was hard of hearing and had a learning disability.
Harriet Tubman
The woman who was called “the Moses of her people” led many slaves to freedom on the
Underground Railroad. At the age of twelve, she was seriously injured by a blow to the
head for refusing to assist in tying up a man who had attempted escape. The injury
caused her to have seizures throughout the rest of her life.
Helen Keller
She became the first deaf and blind person to earn a college degree. She went on to
become an author, political activist and public speaker.
Annie Sullivan
Helen Keller’s teacher and lifelong friend was herself nearly blind due to a childhood
illness.
Thomas Edison
Teachers told him he was too stupid to learn anything but in spite of his learning disability,
considered to be Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), he went on to patent
over 1000 inventions, including the light bulb and phonograph (record player).
Itzhak Perlman
The world’s greatest living violinist walks with the help of crutches and leg braces. He
contracted polio when he was four years old.
Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise is one of the world's most popular movie star, with films grossing nearly three
billion dollars. Cruise says he was diagnosed as dyslexic at seven but learned to get
directors and producers to discuss characters and films in order to make good impressions
at early auditions.28
Pythagoras
The Greek who is often called “the first pure mathematician” had epileptic seizures.
Vincent van Gogh
Various biographies describe this artist as having episodes of epilepsy, depression,
psychotic attacks, delusions, and bipolar disorder.
Sir Winston Churchill
The prime minister of Great Britain through World War II stuttered and worked hard all of
his life to overcome a speech impediment.
Stephen Hawking
He has come to be thought of as the greatest mind in physics since Albert Einstein. He
uses a wheelchair and speaks through a computer and voice synthesizer, due to Lou
Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease that affects muscle control).
Eleanor Roosevelt
The wife of America’s 32nd president was a tireless social reformer and activist with what
we now call attention deficit disorder (ADD).
Christopher Reeve
Best known as Superman, he was also a director and activist. He was paralyzed in an
equestrian competition in 1995 after sustaining a spinal cord injury.
James Earl Jones
This well-known actor, widely acclaimed for being the voice of such powerful characters as
Darth Vader in the Star Wars films and Mufasa in The Lion King had a stuttering problem
as a child and still struggles with the problem.
Chris Burke
He was the first person with Down Syndrome to star in a weekly television series,
portraying a character named ‘Corky’ for four years on the television series, Life Goes On.
Jim Abbott
Although born with only one hand, he became the first baseball player to win the AAU's
Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete of the year in 1987. In 1989, in his first season
as a professional, he won more games as a rookie than any other previous player.
Marlee Matlin
Deaf since she was eighteen months old, she is the youngest woman to win the Academy
Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won at the age of 21.

You can make a difference.  You can also make a difference by encouraging someone with a disability by looking for the things they CAN offer right now and celebrating them. 

Etiquette and Disabilities

OVERVIEW OF DISABILITY ETIQUETTE
(taken from a resource guide written for Disability History and Awareness Month by the Governor’s Advisory Council for Exceptional Citizens (GACEC) of Deleware)

When people know what is expected of them in certain situations, they can feel more comfortable and
help those around them be more careful. Etiquette, or good manners, helps people know what to do.
This overview is designed to let people know some of the etiquette to follow when meeting people
with disabilities.

*Remember introductions. When meeting a person with a visual impairment, always identify yourself
and others who may be with you. When conversing in a group, identify the person to whom you are
speaking. Indicate the end of a conversation when you leave someone who is blind or has severe
visual impairment.

*When introduced to a person, it is appropriate to offer to shake hands. People with limited hand use
or who wear an artificial limb can usually shake hands. Shaking hands with the left hand is an
acceptable greeting. If the person cannot shake hands, they will let you know.

*Treat adults as adults. Address people who have disabilities by their first names only when extending
that same familiarity to all other present. Never patronize people who use wheelchairs by patting
them on the head or shoulders.

*Speak directly to the person you are addressing rather than to a companion or sign language
interpreter who may be with the person with a disability. When talking with a person with a disability
use a natural conversational tone and speed.

*Listen attentively when you are talking with a person with a disability. If the person has difficulty
speaking, be patient and wait for the person to finish, rather than correcting or speaking for that
person. If necessary, ask short questions that require short answers, a nod, or a shake of the head.

*Never pretend to understand if you are not sure. It is okay to ask them to repeat what they said.
Also, you can repeat what you have understood and allow the person to respond.

*Respect people’s personal space. A wheelchair is considered to be part of the personal body space
of the person who uses it. Leaning or hanging on a person’s wheelchair is similar to leaning or
hanging on a person and is not appropriate.

*When having a conversation with a person who uses a wheelchair, consider pulling up a chair or
moving to an area where you can sit. This places both of you at eye level to facilitate the
conversation.

*To get the attention of a person who is deaf or hard-of-hearing, tap the person on the shoulder or
wave your hand. Look directly at the person when you speak. Be sensitive to those who “read lips”
by placing yourself facing a light source and keep your face visible by keeping hands, papers,
and food away from your mouth.

*If guiding a person with a visual impairment, let them take your arm. Never take their hand and lead
them or push them forward from behind. Describe your surroundings as you walk. Describe what is11
coming up, such as steps or obstacles. Do not leave the person in an open space, guide them to a
chair or the wall or to a group of people and make introductions.

*Guide dogs are working mobility tools. Do not pet them, feed them, or distract them while they are
working.

*If you offer assistance, wait until the offer is accepted. Then, listen to or ask for instructions.

*Do not make assumptions about what a person can or cannot do based on their disability. All people
are different, and have a wide variety of skills and personalities, including persons with disabilities or
special needs.

Tornado Safety

“While other states may record more tornadoes per year than Illinois, Illinois still ranks as 9th in number of tornadoes. But even more significant is the severity of tornadoes. According to The Tornado Project, on the chart of the ten worst tornadoes, Illinois is the only state listed more than once - and it is listed 4 times!”  
~from  http://www.comportone.com/cpo/weather/tornado2.htm

I grew up there. I spent many hours in our basement during watches and warnings behind a mattress playing cards by the light of a camping lantern listening to my mother yell at Daddy for spending too much time watching the ___sky. My parents and aunts and uncles were all school age at the time of the 1967 tornado.  Many of the 24 who died that day were small school children. One website stated that over 500 were injured that day as well. The video is long and disturbing.  I don't recommend it for children to view.

This, however, is designed for school children:  Tornado Safety for Kids (pdf)

 (and here many other links recommended by NOAA)

Today we spent about an hour in the hallway due to Tornado Warnings.  It's the first time in my teaching career that I've experienced an actual Tornado Warning. (Remember warnings are only issued after a Tornado has been sighted in the area.)

Tornados are serious business.  Fingers should cover the neck and base of the skull – not the head.  This keeps flying debris from slashing your main arteries and protects the top of your spinal cord and brain stem. Your skull does quite an effective job protecting the rest of your brain.

Leg bones bent up protect what your ribs don’t – again, from flying debris.  This also makes you as small as possible.

I've seen straw (hay) driven into a telephone pole like it was a nail. I've seen photographs of sheets of notebook paper driven through solid walls and still in tact.  Tornados are destructive.  Tornados are surprising and quite unpredictable.

Don’t think that sending students away from the safety of the hallway into a classroom full of windows is a good idea, just because you don’t hear the telltale train sound and it’s not raining, just because they are bored, or just because you want to continue teaching them a lesson.

When we have a drill…stand and monitor your children – absolutely.  But when it’s the real thing – think about who is going to take care of the children when you injured or worse.

Autism on the Rise

Today is World Autism Day 

Apparently there has been a 30% increase in the last 2 years.  The last number I knew was 1 in 88 just 2 years ago; and just recently the CDC reported 1 in 68.  The National Autism Society believes it could be higher based on the National Survey of Children’s Health data. (see the comparison below) 

Here’s the good news though:

Visit this site for more information about Autism, or leave your questions in the comment section of this blog. 

"But it's not fair!"

Sometimes someone else has already said it better than I could. What's better, she's a Regular Educator just like you are.    
Mrs. Fultz's Corner:  Fair doesn't have to be equal.
Be sure to check out her link to the poster she created.  It makes a great visual for teaching your whole class about the true meaning of fairness.  I love the wording she chose.
Lesson ideas you can use so that you are working on content *and* social skills at the same time: 

Band-Aid Lesson (adapted from another blog)

Materials: 
*several stuffed animals or 8x11 images of children or adults (between 5 and 10)
*enough band-aids for all but one of the stuffed animals.
(the other version uses each student reporting their pretend injury and leaving the last student out...just be careful who you choose to be the last kid who misses out.)

APK - "Think about one time you were hurt." (emphasis on one intended)

TIP/SAP - Let's imagine something is hurting the duck."  Choose a student to tell you about where the duck is hurting.  Place a band-aid on it's foot regardless of where the student said it was hurt.  "What could be hurting the teddy bear?"  Choose another student and place the band-aid on it's foot as well.  Continue placing band-aids on each animal's foot no matter where the injury is reported to be located.  When you get to the last animal, apologize saying "I'm so sorry, you don't get a band-aid because I'm all out."

Questions to ask:  "Will a band-aid help you if you had a sprain, or a headache?"   "How do you think the last animal felt when he didn't get a band-aid?"

Classroom Discussion points to hit: 
* My job as your teacher is to help you learn.
* Not everyone in our class needs the same kind of help.
* There are other teachers in our building who help me teach, so some students might go to a different teacher.  Other teachers have different kinds band-aids.
* What is worse than not getting the kind of band-aid you need is not getting one at all.
* Interrupting and "helping" is just like stealing a band-aid that belongs to someone else.

ISS - Have students summarize the lesson by a) telling their neighbor b)telling you (ticket out the door) or c) writing down some reasons why students might not be doing the same things in class or have the same teachers.

Here are some other resources: 
*Free Band Aid Lesson on Teacher's Pay Teachers - This free product contains 12 injury cards and instructions for a Band-Aid activity which teaches the difference between fair and equal.
*edhelper reader with vocabulary instruction - This would be great for a small or whole group literacy lesson.
*Another blogger has a great beginning of the year lesson similar to the band-aid lesson above.
*Here's more on Pinterest!

Did you use one of these lessons or create your own?  Comment below!

Alternate Grading - what does that mean?

Alternate grading as a modification is one very important way for students in special education to experience success.  The most important thing is that we expose our kids to as much learning as possible while we *inspire* them to want to learn more.

Here are a few ways to provide alternate grading:  
1.  Check Plus / Check / Check minus - if the student demonstrates a developmentally appropriate understanding of the concept, a check plus could equal a number grade of 95 in your grade book.  A check could be translated into an 85.  If there is a small grasp on the concept and improvement is needed,  a check minus could equal a grade of 75.  If they refuse the task or really don't get any of it at all, an (X) could be recorded as 65.

2.  On a test with 20 problems, instead of each being worth 5 points, make them worth 3 points each and give 1/2 credit where it is due.

3.  Create an alternate rubric for the special education student.  Talk with your Resource Teacher about what would be appropriate to expect.  One writing assignment I did as a classroom teacher had a rubric for one stufent where an A equalled 5 paragraphs on a topic, and a separate rubric for a different student had an A equalling 5 sentences on a topic.  That same student was not graded for spelling and because an IEP goal was working on beginning capitals and ending punctuation I noted how many (3/5, 4/5, etc.) sentences utilized capitals correctly and how many utilized punctuation correctly.

Do we want to hold the bar high for our students?  ABSOLUTELY!

The caution is to make sure the bar isn't unreachable and frustrating.  

How do you provide alternate grading?