Group items tagged

Structuring the Environment

Typical Classroom Accommodations

Plan ahead. You can arrange to speak with school officials or teachers before the school year even begins. If the year has started, plan to speak with a teacher or counselor on at least a monthly basis.Make meetings happen. Agree on a time that works for both you and your child’s teacher and stick to it. If it’s convenient, meet in your child’s classroom so you can get a sense of their physical learning environment.Create goals together. Discuss your hopes for your child’s school success. Together, write down specific and realistic goals and talk about how to help your child reach them.Listen carefully. Like you, your child’s teacher wants to see them succeed at school. Listen to what they have to say—even if it is sometimes hard to hear. Understanding your child’s challenges in school is the key to finding solutions that work.Share information. You know your child’s history, and your child’s teacher sees them every day: together you have a lot of information that can lead to better understanding of your child’s hardships. Share your observations freely, and encourage your child’s teachers to do the same.Ask the hard questions and give a complete picture. Be sure to list any medications your child takes and explain any other treatments. Share with the teacher which tactics work well—and which don’t—for your child at home. Ask if your child is having any problems in school, including on the playground. Find out if they are eligible for any special services to help with learning.

PACER Center enhances the quality of life and expands opportunities for children, youth, and young adults with all disabilities and their families so each person can reach his or her highest potential. PACER operates on the principles of parents helping parents, supporting families, promoting a safe environment for all children, and working in collaboration with others.

Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is a set of research-based strategies used to increase quality of life and decrease problem behavior by teaching new skills and making changes in a person's environment.

intervention strategies

Systems Change

Occupational therapy is the only profession that helps people across the lifespan to do the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of daily activities (occupations). Occupational therapy practitioners enable people of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them promote health, and prevent—or live better with—injury, illness, or disability. 

Occupational therapy services typically include: an individualized evaluation, during which the client/family and occupational therapist determine the person’s goals, customized intervention to improve the person’s ability to perform daily activities and reach the goals, and an outcomes evaluation to ensure that the goals are being met and/or make changes to the intervention plan. 

Occupational therapy practitioners have a holistic perspective, in which the focus is on adapting the environment and/or task to fit the person, and the person is an integral part of the therapy team.

Minnesota's child protection system responds to situations where children are alleged to be maltreated and helps support families to safely care for their children.

In Minnesota, approximately 25,000 children are reported for abuse and neglect to the child protection system each year, which counties and tribes assess

Small steps • Meet and greet your neighbors to generate a friendly environment. • Get to know other parents in your neighborhood. • Help families under stress by offering to babysit or run errands. • Provide food to families in need. • Volunteer at schools, libraries, community centers or other locations that offer children's activities. • Talk with children one-on-one to develop a sense of connection. • Report any concerns about a child being harmed to local county social services agency or the police. Big steps

The human brain is magnificent and complex. The brain is made up of many parts, each with a specific and important function. It controls our ability to balance, walk, talk, and eat. It coordinates and regulates our breathing, blood circulation, and heart rate. It is responsible for our ability to speak, to process and remember information, make decisions, and feel emotions. Every brain is unique, ever-changing, and extremely sensitive to its environment.

Accommodations do not reduce grade level standards but rather help provide access to the course content. They do not alter the amount or complexity of the information taught to the student. Accommodations are changes in the program from a way things are typically done so that a student with a disability can have equal opportunity to participate and allow the student to be successful. These changes do not substantially or fundamentally lower or alter the standards.

Be based on current individualized needs;Reduce the effect of the disability to access the current curriculum;Be specific about where, when, who and how the accommodations will be provided;Include current input from parents, teachers, student, and therapists;Be based on current specific needs in each content area.

Changes in the medium used:braillelarge printaudiotapeelectronic textoral testing/scribing Changes made in the way materials are presentedCopies of overhead projector/smartboard activities to be viewed at his/her desk as needed.The teacher or presenter should verbalize all information as it is written on the board or overhead. Information presented on the board should be in a high contrast color. Use a slant-board to position papers appropriately for reduced visual strain and to avoid glare.The computer screen should be eye level and tilted to avoid glare.Use recorded text as needed.Classroom recording of lectures/instruction by the student.Large Print textbooks/materials.Braille textbooks/materials.Clear, dark copies of worksheets.Use of a reading guide to assist in keeping place while reading and completing worksheets.Present materials against a plain backgroundUse a good contrast background and present on a contrasting tray or mat. Time requirements:Time and a half or double timeConsideration for the student's reading/writing speedConsideration for the time needed to use adaptive equipmentConsideration for eye fatigue and scanning ability Changes in the way students demonstrate learningModified assignments (when appropriate and needed) to accommodate visual fatigue (extended time and/or shortened amount of assignments).Avoid activities requiring extensive visual scanning.Avoid visually cluttered materials.Allow students to use (bold marker, 20/20 pen, mechanical pencil, or another unique writing tool) to complete assignments.Use of bold line paper.Use of raised line paper.Abbreviated homework assignment (includes all concepts, just fewer items).Shorter written assignment.Oral testing. Changes in Setting: preferential seating in the classroom for all films, assemblies and demonstration lessons.seated facing away from windows.permission to move about the room as needed to see information presented away from his/her desk. Changes in the Setting: EnvironmentAvoid glare in general from overhead lights. Consider placing light filters on fluorescent lights.Open and close doors fully (a half-open door can be a dangerous obstacle).Eliminate unnecessary background noise. Consider isolation headphones.Eliminate clutter from the room, particularly in aisles and movement paths.Place materials in consistent places so that students know where particular items are always located.Preferential locker position and locks with keys vs. combination locks.Use of task lighting as needed.

Mychal’s Learning Place provides the support, training and opportunities to youth and young adults with developmental disabilities to build their independence and pursue their goals and dreams.

Complex trauma in the classroom: Considerations for building relationships with students impacted by complex trauma

The Healthy Environments and Response to Trauma in Schools (HEARTS) program is a whole-school, multi-level prevention and intervention program for creating trauma-informed, safe and supportive schools. In this webinar, Laura McArthur, PhD, the co-director of HEARTS in Colorado, reviews the topic of complex trauma in the classroom including considerations for building relationships with students impacted by complex trauma.

Laura McArthur, PhD, LP studied and trained at the University of Colorado, University of Utah, and University of San Francisco (UCSF) on her path to becoming a clinical psychologist.