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Low IQ/Mild Intellectual Disability


KaceeM
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I do not have kids who fit that profile, but I have friends who do, and I have worked with kids in this category a bit.

 

Pre-teaching is helpful--for instance, if you are studying a novel, doing a read-through to get the plot line, characters, vocabulary, and main facts solid before reading it again for literary information, more abstract concepts about characters, theme, etc. is a good idea. If you can make the abstract concrete, that helps too. For a novel, this might mean having the student select physical objects as symbols to represent important plot events, etc. 

 

Expect a little bit of getting hung up on something for a reason that isn't about "understanding" per se--for instance, the student takes something literally that wasn't meant to be, etc., even if the student doesn't do this all the time. Just realize that those things can happen even when everything seems like it's smooth sailing.

 

Check all work and offer immediate feedback if possible--it's less confusing and keeps them from having to unlearn mistakes.

 

Do samples of all types of work together a couple of times before expecting independence, and then be sure you are checking in frequently enough that they aren't "drifting" away from the established assignment.

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I have 3 kids like this this year, ages 5, 7, and 9 (but they all have their birthdays coming up in Nov/Dec). I have noticed the drifting quite a bit in the oldest, we will do the first few problems/questions on an assignment then I'll have him work in the next few by himself. I'll check back within 5-10 minutes depending on the assignment and he'll have done fine on the first few but he'll switch at some point to doing it however he wants to do it. Following instructions has also been a big problem. I've had the same problem with their parents though, recently I sent a math assignment home for the oldest to do and the mom helped him with it. Apparently she saw the lesson number 1.6 printed in the top corner and decided it meant he only needed to do problems 1-6. It seems like we are doing follow the instruction assignments 2-3 times a week right now.

 

The younger two are focusing on learning to read and beginning math. I'm trying to decide if it's even worth it right now to try and get to history and science for them.

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I have 3 kids like this this year, ages 5, 7, and 9 (but they all have their birthdays coming up in Nov/Dec). I have noticed the drifting quite a bit in the oldest, we will do the first few problems/questions on an assignment then I'll have him work in the next few by himself. I'll check back within 5-10 minutes depending on the assignment and he'll have done fine on the first few but he'll switch at some point to doing it however he wants to do it. Following instructions has also been a big problem. I've had the same problem with their parents though, recently I sent a math assignment home for the oldest to do and the mom helped him with it. Apparently she saw the lesson number 1.6 printed in the top corner and decided it meant he only needed to do problems 1-6. It seems like we are doing follow the instruction assignments 2-3 times a week right now.

 

The younger two are focusing on learning to read and beginning math. I'm trying to decide if it's even worth it right now to try and get to history and science for them.

 

If you are using consumable materials, you might want to physically mark which problems need to be finished.

 

Directions are a big deal with lots of things, not just mild ID. Checklists sometimes help. Staying consistent in the format of assignments and how many from each subject, etc. can help. (Lots of kids have trouble with directions, even without ID--my CAPD kiddo has a horrid time with directions, particularly oral ones.) 

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I'm a high school special ed teacher, and almost all of the kids I see have ID or borderline IQ's.  I know that teaching kids at school and at home are different, but there are many ways in which my instruction differs from what I've done with kids with average IQ's or above.

 

1) We spend more time working on communication skills, and on accessing information in functional contexts.  My class is definitely an academic program, not a life skills program, but we still spend time doing things like reading through the flyer about auditioning for the school play, drafting emails to the director with questions, reading those emails etc . . . Similarly, if we're playing a math game, we might spend time breaking down and analyzing the directions, because learning to do so is as important as the math.

 

2) We spiral their learning much more tightly, both because my kids tend to forget things, and because sometimes new information leads to confusion about old topics. Today, for example, I had a tutoring student for 90 minutes of math.  We spent a small portion of time on a new concept in probability, but also went back and spent time on 5 or 6 old concepts, reviewing them, keeping them fresh, connecting them to old concepts.  We also do a lot of activities that explicitly teach shifting, so moving from one task to another.  The other day, for example, I had a group of kids playing the old staple card game "War" where you turn up 2 numbers and add them together and then whoever has the highest total wins.  I shifted it around by including cards where they had to use touch points, and cards where they were allowed to use calculators.  I also had them write the numbers each player got in order, and talked about concepts of "under, over, between".  Whenever we had a war, we'd have one player turn up their last card, and the try and predict whether the other player was going to win, using the words "unlikely" and "probably". 

 

3) We represent ideas visually in consistent ways, so kids can draw connections.  So, for example, we might count words by putting our fingers up one at a time, and count sounds by touching our fingers to our thumb one at a time, so that there's no confusion about what we're counting.  Or we might always draw a part/total chart for math the same way, and I'll come back to that representation even if it's in another subject (e.g. when we study elections, I stop and draw a part/total chart so the kids can see that part of the country will vote for HRC, and part for Trump, and how if one gets more the other gets less.  

 

4) We use materials that are hands on, and that don't add a layer of abstraction to relatively concrete topics. For example, with the small number of 2e kids with dyslexia that I've worked with, I've done a lot of work with nonsense words.   I've also had success with programs like Wilson that emphasize rules for spelling and decoding.  With my kids with ID, I'll pick programs for decoding that include neither of these things, as I think they increase the cognitive load and make it more difficult for them to focus on the core principals of letters and sounds, and how they work.

 

I could go on, but those are 4 of the big things.  

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I'm not saying the younger two don't need history and science, just that giving them a strong foundation in math and language needs to be our main focus right now.

Depending on their reading level, I used the Alpha Omega Life packs or even more so, the ACE (school of tomorrow) lifepaks for science and social studies. They were very light on content but my kids enjoyed them and it gave them some extra reading practice.

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  • 2 months later...

I'm coming back to update this with what is finally working really well. The younger 2 are doing RLTL-1 with the workbook portion, Spunky Math Gr 1, CTGE 1 and the workbook portion of Rod and Staff Math 1. The older one is doing MCP Word Study D, CTGE 4, Study Time Math 4, Primarily Logic, Core Skill Science and Social Studies 4, and is keeping a Reading Responses notebook. I start out with the 4th grader and teach his math and English lessons (the math thankfully includes both Looking Ahead and Loooking Back sections in almost every lesson) and the he does the seat work on his own. While he does that I work with the younger 2 and we do RLTL and Spunky together and then they take a short break. While they take a break I check the 4th graders math and English and go over any of the other work he still has left and get him started on science/social studies or word study and logic (alternating days). While he finishes his work for the day the younger 2 do CTGE with me and then work on the workbook page for R&S while I check anything that needs to be checked. I have organized the math to where the R&S is review they can do fairly independently. I feel like this is working well for everyone. We do lots of review each week and I have made more flash cards than I ever thought I would.

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