Children+with+disabilities+articles

=Article #1: = = Helping to integrate visually impaired students into the public school system = __http://www.essortment.com/all/visuallyimpai_rfwj.htm__ Summary: This article focused mainly on how children with visual impairments are successfully merged into the mainstream classroom. There are a variety of different ways and methods that are employed in order to accommodate the needs of those children who face obstacles because of their visual impairments on a daily basis. The article begins by explaining the importance of why we need to integrate these children into the public school systems and highlights laws that require an equal opportunity for them to receive an equivalent education of their sighted peers. If students are properly assessed and assigned appropriate intervention then integration into a general education classroom can be successful and an even highly beneficial procedure. Prior to an intervention taking place, an assessment of the students vision needs to take place. This assessment is usually done using the Snellen test, or the eye chart exam. It is vital that visually impaired children are given the tools necessary to learn and practice the tasks that their sighted peers can complete on a daily basis, in order for them to reach their highest achievement. It is understood that students with visual impairments differ from their peers in varying areas of intelligence due to their inability to interpret the world around them in the same manner that others do. Visually impaired children are at a distinct disadvantage because sight is the primary means of learning new information. For this reason, many devices and instruments have been developed to satisfy the needs of these children. It is my responsibility as a pre-service educator to accommodate these students to the best of my ability when they are in my classroom. It is extremely essential that all educators become informed on the needs of all our students regardless of their disabilities and/or impairments. Being equipped with the knowledge needed to serve my students and prepare them to become the highest achieving individuals and citizens they can become is one of the many duties that my profession requires. I plan on taking the information I have gleaned from this article and put forth the effort needed to educatoe myself on the specific demands of these children in order to give them a safe, comfortable and functioning learning environment.

=Article #2:= =A Dyslexic Child in the Classroom; A guide for teachers and parents= __http://www.dyslexia.com/library/classroom.htm__ Summary: This article is extremely informative about the misconceptions that teachers and parents make with children who suffer from dyslexia and those with other reading disabilities. The article begins by explaining where the confusion and misunderstanding regarding these reading disabilities come from. Teachers are particularly confused when a constant performance of under achievement occurs among the student due to what may seem like little work or effort on their part. Unfortunately, these children often feel very contrasting from their peers simply because they are unable to follow simple instructions that may seem otherwise easy for their classmates to follow. The article then breaks down different components of the school environment and curriculum and how as educators we can specifically address these areas with our dyslexic children. For instance, it list different techniques and methods that we as educators can implement in our classroom to better accommodate the special needs of our learning disabled students in the means of copying form the blackboard, reading, spelling, handwriting, math, homework, integration etc. This website is a wonderful resource for pre-service educators to utilize when they are faced with struggling readers and students with reading disabilities. It helps to clear up the many misconceptions that people have about reading disabilities and how in can affect and interfere with students’ behavior. It is critical that teachers understand the types of difficulties that a dyslexic child might face in the classroom environment. Given this comprehension, hopefully, a great deal of misconstruction of a child’s behavior can be prevented. We as teachers should not only educate ourselves about these disabilities, but our other students in an age appropriate manner in order to give all of our students an equal opportunity as well as a positive and encouraging learning environment. With this type of effort on our parts, we can ensure that our students will experience the feeling of self worth and pride in their work.

=Article #3:= =Teaching Students with Autism= __http://www.ericdigests.org/2000-3/autism.htm__ Summary: This article is very educational and provides helpful information that all educators should be aware of. Throughout our time as teachers, we will all be faced with the obstacle of teaching students with varying degrees of disabilities, illnesses and impairments and it is of course up to us to make sure that these students receive an equal education to their peers. They should not be limited to the instruction they acquire in their education, and thus it is our responsibility to know exactly what techniques to implement when we have students with such disorders in our classroom. Of course nobody is to blame for these students defects and they never asked to be afflicted with them, but it is now our duty as their teachers to do what we can to provide them with the most comfortable and encouraging learning environment. The article begins by describing autism as a disability syndrome characterized principally by significant problems in the development of communication and social functioning. It goes onto to describe the different types of autism and how children affected by this disease are impacted on a day to day life. These children have many more similarities with other students’ than they do differences, and it is our role, as their teachers to make these students’ feel content and motivate them to do the best they can in the learning environment we provide. This article presents an overview of considerations for teaching children with autism. This article is written to inform educators that students’ with autism are in fact still students, and although they present genuine instructional challenges they are still able to learn well with the proper and appropriate teaching methods. The article then goes onto highlight some general considerations of the instructional contexts when working with autistic students and the certain circumstances to implement during these occasions. It also offers communication and motivational issues that you should utilize and frequently take into consideration when you have children with autism in your classroom. In addition to these beneficial references, it also pinpoints different instructional formats positive behavioral support and age span considerations to take into account when working with students who suffer from autism.