Help me with ideas to work on IEP goals

[coastalfam]

One issue with have with teaching my son who has Down syndrome is that he needs an insane amount of repetition to commit some types of information to long term memory, which is essential for him given his degree of struggle with short term/working memory, and he gets WAY bored. Anyway, we have a few very simple, short, sweet academic IEP goals. The goals are doable, and I am in the process of making a list of ideas to address each goal that will mix it up a bit for my son so school time doesn't get tedious. I would appreciate if you would read over what we are working on, and let me know of activities that come to mind that I can add to my lists. Thank you!!

 

 

Working on writing his last name. Currently he needs to trace it, and we are working toward writing it independently with a model to reference.

 

Working on the sounds m, a, p, s, t (and will add more if we get these down) and blending to make words. Working on high frequency and/or high interest sight words.

 

Working on counting to 20, especially getting through the teens. And working on counting by 5's and 10's to 100. He is able to count to 100 by 1's once he gets past those tricky teens.

 

Working on learning his phone number, and being able to dial it on a keypad. This includes a numeral recognition component. He is still not 100% on that.

 

 

We have other goals and things we are working on as well, but these are the things that are really hard for him. He learns life skills much more easily and naturally. The 3R's is where I need to have a lot of tools in my repertoire in order to help him succeed, and also keep boredom and frustration at bay.

Thanks!

 

 

 

[Daria]

I'm a special educator.  About 1/2 of my caseload is students with Down syndrome, so I can tell you how I teach those skills in my classroom.  Not saying it's "the" right way, but it works well for me.  

 

I am afraid I'm not good at brevity.  I think the devil's in the details when it comes to special ed, so I'm going to write one post for each skill.  I hope that's OK.

 

I'll also say that I might give slightly different advice if I knew which of your sons we're talking about (e.g. I'd give different advice for a 5 year old vs. a 10 year old with the same skill level), or if I knew what his other skills were like.  

 

So to start with name writing.  

 

I don’t find tracing to be a helpful strategy for name writing.   The part of name writing that is hard for most kids with developmental challenges is the motor planning.  The issue isn’t the motor skill, it’s the cognitive challenge of breaking the name into letters, the letters into parts, and then connecting those parts back together into letters and sequencing them in the correct order.  When a child traces their name, they aren’t doing any of the work, so it’s unlikely that tracing will help them get better at it.

 

What is helpful, in my experience, is having kids imitate as you model. I usually teach that imitation in the following sequence.

 

First, I write the first letter of their name stroke by stroke with a wide highlighter, and have them trace inside each stroke with a golf pencil or a broken crayon (something small to encourage proper grip).  (e.g. If their last name is Bennett, I draw the long line down, and then the trace it.  Then I draw the top “humpâ€, and they trace it.  Then I draw the bottom hump, then they trace it).  Then, after they’ve written the first letter, I let them “write†(scribble if need be) the rest of their name.  When they’re done I say “Thank you for writing your name!  Let me show you how I write your name, and then I print their name correctly.†

 

Next, I write the first letter of their name stroke by stroke while they copy stroke by stroke below me.  Often, I use a post it note, so I can remove my model when they’re done.  So I write the long line, and then they write the long line below.  Then I add a hump, then they add a hump . . . Then they scribble the rest, and I model afterwards.

 

Then, I write the entire first letter slowly, with them imitating it after it’s done, and continue as above.

 

Then, I write the entire first letter quickly, so they have to copy rather than imitate, and continue as above.

 

Then I start on letter 2.  I say “Start us off!†and then after they write the B, I write the E stroke by stroke in highlighter . . . . 

 

Note: If he's approximating all the letters pretty well, and just not putting them in the right order, then I'd teach this differently.  

[Daria]

Phonics

 

If I was going to teach a structured phonics curriculum in isolation to a younger child with Down syndrome, I’d probably choose Carmen McGuinness’ Phono-Graphix method, as laid out in the book Reading Reflex, and use the iPad app Word Wizard instead of letter tiles.  If the kid in question is your 10 year old, and they know the names of most of the letters, I'd also consider Systematic Sequential Phonics They Use, again using Word Wizard instead of cards. I'd recommend those 2 approaches because neither has a lot of abstract, hard to apply rules, and because they rely a lot on physically manipulating letters, rather than on saying sounds, which can be challenging for kids with Ds. 

 

If I had a kid whose ability to form letter sounds was limited by oral muscle tone or apraxia, as is often the case with Down syndrome, I would add in the

from Jolly Phonics, as I think it’s important to be able to talk about phonemes without having to refer to letter names.  I think it's super helpful to be able to talk about phonemes without linking them to sounds, and a kid who can't make the sounds well enough to be distinguished can't ask a question like "How do I know whether this /k/ is a c or a k?"  or say something like "In the word bread, the /e/ sound is spelled with two letters."  Having hand symbols for the letters helps with that.

 

Reading 

 

Having said that given a student with Ds, I, personally, would not focus heavily on blending until I had a student with strong concepts of print (e.g. Knowing that writing carries a message, and that the message is consistent regardless of the reader.  Moving across a line of print from left to right with one to one correspondence), letter recognition for at least 1/2 the letters, and a few sight words, and the ability to integrate initial sound cues with context cues or picture cues to make educated guesses at words.  I know that that probably seems a little like heresy on a sight where phonics is emphasized, but my experience is that if you want kids with Ds to become skilled readers, you want them to be working on the skill of integrating different cues from the very beginning.  Here are some activities that I'd incorporate:

 

Predictable Chart Writing/Book Making   This is one of the most powerful activities in my arsenal as a teacher.  It covers so many things, and is a great way to offer kids lots and lots of practice with the same small number of sight words.  For example, for my most emergent readers,  two of our first word wall words were "I" and "can", so our first 2 predictable charts (which we turned into books) were "I Can . . . " (illustrated with pictures from t

 , and a book about favorite foods with the stem "Can I have . . . ?".  

 

Journaling/Writer's workshop with invented spelling and lots of modeling of how to stretch words and listen for sounds in them.  

 

Lots of conversations about initial consonant sounds in the context of figuring out real words.  

 

Reading predictable books with very repetitive stems, and clear picture cues (e.g. the Level A books in RAZ kids)

 

Guess the Covered Word:  Write a sentence and cover up the last word (or for more advanced kids, a word anywhere in the sentence.  Pick a word where the context gives you a sense of a category, but there are still lots of words to choose from (At the zoo, I saw a . . . . or My favorite food is . . . . ).  Have the child brainstorm words that could fit (using context), then reveal the first letter or blend of the word.  Go through your list, reread them all (see if your kid can use initial consonant cues to help them remember).  Cross out the words it can't be.  Maybe add some more.  Then reveal the word!  Congratulate yourselves if you guessed it!

 

I'll also note, that while I also use the activities above with students with dyslexia, I start highly structured synthetic phonics earlier with those kids.  In my experience, the "juggling" act of integrating phonological, contextual, and orthographic cues is one of the hardest pieces for kids with cognitive impairment, so it's important to me to build that skill from day one.  For kids with dyslexia, phonological piece is usually far and away the hardest, so spending a much larger proportion of time practicing it in isolation makes sense. 

Edited October 3, 2016 by Daria

[Daria]

Phone number (Yes, I know this is out of order, but I want to think a little more about counting before I answer)

 

Far and away the most motivating activity I've found for typing phone numbers is to make it the lock screen code on iPads and iPhones, and to tape the model to the back of the device, so that students have to look, see the number, hold it in their mind (holding and using something in working memory is what turns short term memory into long term memory), while they scan for it on the keypad, and then go back and remember what the digit they just typed looked like to find the next digit.  

 

Of course, if you don't use a lot of technology, you'll need a different solution, but this has been hugely motivating and helpful for so many kids.  Even my kids who don't have consistent number recognition can pick up the phone and dial mom.

[coastalfam]

Thank you for all the input. It is much appreciated! My child with Down syndrome is my 10 year old. It is our first full year homeschooling. :) We are enjoying ourselves very much. I really appreciate all your ideas and anecdotes. :) Great info.

[Daria]

Thank you for all the input. It is much appreciated! My child with Down syndrome is my 10 year old. It is our first full year homeschooling. :) We are enjoying ourselves very much. I really appreciate all your ideas and anecdotes. :) Great info.

 

I imagine you are having all sorts of fun!  

 

Let me know if you have other questions.