Chapter 9

1. Chapter 9 Understanding Students with Intellectual Disabilities

2. Chapter 9 Objectives At the end of this chapter you should be able to: • Identify and define the characteristics of students with intellectual disabilities. • Explain the causes of intellectual disabilities. • Describe successful instructional practices for students with intellectual disabilities • Explain vocational and transition needs of students with intellectual disabilities.

3. Defining Intellectual Disabilities • AAIDD definition • Intellectual disabilities is a disability characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. • This disability originates before age 18.

4. Five Assumptions Essential to the Application of the Definition (Figure 9–1) • Limitations in present functioning must be considered within the context of community environments typical of the individual's age peers and culture. • Valid assessment considers cultural and linguistic diversity as well as differences in communication, sensory, motor, and behavioral factors. • Within an individual, limitations often coexist with strengths. • An important purpose of describing limitations is to develop a profile of needed supports. • With appropriate personalized supports over a sustained period, the life functioning of the person with mental retardation generally will improve.

5. Definitions of Intensities of Support (Figure 9-2) • Intermittent: “As needed” • Limited: Consistency, but time limited • Extensive: Regular involvement (daily), not time limited • Pervasive: Constant, high intensity, potential life sustaining nature

6. Prevalence of Intellectual Disabilities • Inconsistent rates reported • U.S. Department of Education reported 0.08% in 2006 • 511,041 students with intellectual disabilities, ages 6 to 21, received special education services

7. Characteristics of Intellectual Disabilities • Limitations in Intellectual Functioning • Measured through use of IQ tests • Memory (short-term) • Generalization • Motivation (outer-directedness) • Limitations in Adaptive Behavior • Three domains: Conceptual Skills, Social Skills, Practical Skills • Self-determination

8. Causes by Timing Prenatal Perinatal Postnatal Causes by Type Biomedical Social Behavioral Educational Determining the Causes

9. Evaluating Students with Intellectual Disabilities • Determining the Presence • Evaluate intellectual functioning and adaptive skills • Intellectual functioning: IQ tests • Adaptive skills: Measures such as AAIDD Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale (DABS) • Determining the Nature and Extent of General and Special Education and Related Services • For older students, the Transition Planning Inventory is useful

10. Partnering for Special Education and Related Services • Transition Services key goals • To improve collaboration and links between systems to support student achievement of meaningful school and post-school outcomes • To promote the student’s self-determination and self-advocacy • To increase parent participation and involvement

11. Partnering for Special Education and Related Services • Four levels of transition teams • A statement transition team that includes secondary educators, adult service providers, adults with disabilities, and family members • A communitywide team representing all of the key agencies involved • A schoolwide team consisting of key professionals and family members • An IEP team for each student

12. Determining Supplementary Aids and Services • Paraprofessionals • Paraprofessionals can be important • More than 280,000 in U.S. • Paraprofessionals add appropriate levels of support, they may isolate students; velcroed effect • Roles and Responsibilities

13. Planning for Other Educational Needs • Functional Skills may include: • Applied money concepts • Applied time concepts • Community mobility and access • Grooming and self-care • Leisure activities • Health and safety • Career education • Instruction in Inclusive Classrooms • Instruction in Community Settings

14. Early Childhood Students • Prelinguistic milieu teaching • First, follow the child's lead • Then, set the stage for communication • Finally, be strategic when using games like Pat-a-Cake and Peak-a-Boo

15. Early Childhood Students • Steps to prelinguistic milieu teaching • Prompt the child to communicate • Prompt the child to initiate • Vocally imitate the child’s resultant vocalizations • Comply with the child’s requests • Recode the child’s communication act • Acknowledge the child’s communicative act • Talk to the child

16. Elementary and Middle School Students • Self-determined learning model of instruction (The University of Kansas) • 12 student questions • Teacher objectives • Educational supports • Three phases: • What is my goal? • What is my plan? • What have I learned?

17. Secondary and Transition Students • Community Based Instruction • Teaching in the natural environment • Community-based Instructional Approaches • “Learn it where you’ll need to do it.” • “Teach it where you want your students to practice it.” • Project TASSEL

18. Measuring Students’ Progress • Progress in the general curriculum • Data-based monitoring: Requires teachers regularly to collect different types of data such as: • Response-by-response data • Instructional and test data • Error data • Anecdotal data

19. Measuring Students’ Progress • Progress in addressing other educational needs • Ecological inventory process • Life Space Analysis • Gather information about the student’s daily environments • Conduct ecological inventories • Conduct a discrepancy analysis • Perform an Activity Task Analysis

20. Making Accommodations for Assessment • Accommodations may include: • Dictating responses to someone • Having extended time • Having test items orally read • Clarifying test items