Identifying adaptations for children needing individual support can become an overwhelming and frequently disabling endeavour. As a result, children often end up with inadequate and/or largely inconsequential supports. So let’s try and organize our thoughts. Broadly speaking, there are two ‘categories’ of adaptations. One includes ongoing supports which can be introduced to allow children to participate in routines, events and activities. The second focuses more on individualized teacher behaviours which enable children to access instruction more effectively.
For ideas on what kinds of ongoing curricular modifications can be made within the classroom, have a look at the table below (adapted from Building blocks for teaching preschools with special needs).
As for the second category of adaptations which incorporates more specific teaching behaviours, these can take the shape of ‘prompts’ (or supports) and can emerge in a variety of forms and levels. These various types of prompts are:
- Gesture prompts
- Verbal prompts (indirect, direct, rules, options)
- Pictorial prompts (pictures, objects, words)
- Models (verbal or motor)
- Partial physical prompts
- Full physical prompts (hand-over-hand)
As is already evident, not all of these prompts lend themselves to all kinds of learning activities. Each type of prompt has its advantages and disadvantages. Through observation and other forms of assessment, teachers should determine what level of instructional support a child needs to accomplish the learning task at hand and how important is it that the task be accomplished in a certain way. Based on observations of the child, the teacher should offer only as intrusive a degree of support as is needed.
For instance, if a child can put on her shoes to go outside using a sequence of pictures to guide her, than the teacher does not need to physically support her in putting her shoes on. Gradually, if the pictures are coupled with verbal directions, the child may be able to move away from pictures to needing just verbal support to put her shoes on followed by just gestures and finally, complete independence from needing any kinds of prompts. A goal to make the child as independent as possible should lie at the heart of our instructional planning.
Therefore, simply introducing prompts to help the child is not sufficient. The teacher should keep observing the child to establish when supports can be scaled back from highly intrusive (for e.g. full physical prompt) to less intrusive (for e.g. gesture prompt) to perhaps, no prompts at all.
It is natural to feel intimidated by the challenge of accommodating diverse learning needs within the classroom, including those of children with disabilities. But it is only when we will acknowledge these diversities that we will be able to understand and motivate our children to take ownership of their learning. Children with disabilities and their learning needs should not be perceived or planned in isolation from the needs of the larger classroom. All children require individualized attention and teachers should be prepared to support their curiosities in ways that are both novel and unique to each child.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, there will be instances where individual students will require more specific modifications to the curriculum. Like all classroom planning, these should also be made in light of the child’s developmental level, functional need and preferences. Remember: The most effective modifications are those which facilitate both instructional participation and social interaction in classroom activities. Also, while children do require predictability in their classroom environment, predictability should not turn into the same thing over and over again i.e. instruction about a concept should not be repeated using the same examples day after day but rather, reinforced through multiple examples across multiple situations illustrating that same concept and how it connects to previous learning. 