ECD 310 WEEK 5 FINAL ASSIGNMENT

  

You are building on the philosophy you began creating in Week Two-ATTACHED. Therefore, you will revise and add new pieces to your philosophy as is noted in the directions below.

In your 8-10 page Philosophy of Exceptional Learning and Inclusion paper,

· Revise your explanation of your intended career path using the feedback you received from your instructor, in addition to any new learning.

· Revise your description of the professional dispositions you possess that influence your beliefs about how children grow, learn, and develop using the feedback you received from your instructor, in addition to any new learning.

· Revise your discussion of your views on where we are as a nation with creating inclusive environments that meet the needs of exceptional learners using the feedback you received from your instructor, in addition to any new learning. 

· Revise your definition of inclusion using the feedback you received from your instructor, in addition to any new learning.

· Revise your summary of the role you feel collaboration with families and other educational professionals should play when supporting exceptional learners in inclusive environments using the feedback you received from your instructor, in addition to any new learning. .

· New ~ Synthesize how you will use evidence-based strategies, including Universal Design for Learning, to support the needs of exceptional learners in inclusive environments. Refer back to your Week Three discussions-ATTACHED, Evidence-Based Strategies and Universal Design for Learning, for support.

· New ~ Explain, using specific examples, how you will support children or adults with specific delays, disorders, or disabilities (SLD, SLD, ADHD, BD, ED, etc.) in your future line of work. Refer back to your Week Four discussions: Supporting Children with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) and Speech and Language Impairments and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Emotional Disturbance (ED), and Behavioral Disorders (BD)-ATTACHED.

· New ~ Describe how you will uphold professional and ethical standards when supporting children or adults with exceptionalities and their families. Refer back to your Week Five discussion, Ethical Dilemmas-ATTACHED, for support.

Include the following based on your Program of Study: Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education 

Explain an example of a lesson you would teach and how it aligns with your philosophy of exceptional learning and inclusion.

EXCEPTIONALLEARNING AND INCLUSION 1

Exceptional Learning and Inclusion

Caryn L. Hayes

Ashford University

November 26, 2020

EXCEPTIONAL LEARNING AND INCLUSION 2

Exceptional Learning and

Inclusion

Introduction

Exceptional learning and inclusion are a major concept in learning and the education

system because it seeks to make sure that there is equality and pulling together of resources in

a learning institution should be general. Teachers especially those dealing with the children in

the development stages need to find the proper measures to help with inclusion and

collaboration. The concepts help bring in different aspects of learning while also striving to

make sure that the students are functions towards a common platform. Education is a general

issue affecting the entire society thus getting on the bottom of inclusion, collaborating and

creating a common environment for the learners is a major advantage and push for the

company.

Intended Career Path

My career path revolves around the lower classes that do involve the students from

the ages of 6 years. The career is going to deal with the children at these stages because it is

the most significant learning stages of all. The children have a major advantage since they are

fresh and their minds are ready to gain knowledge which gives me the motivation to mold

them into the right direction (Gilham & Tompkins, 2016). The ECD learning section is vital

and most influential since it helps create a path for their entire education and having such an

influence and opportunity makes me have a positive drive at why I did become a teacher in

the first place.

EXCEPTIONAL LEARNING AND INCLUSION 3

Professional Dispositions

One of the core professional strengths that I have, it the level of patience and drive to

make sure that the children do understand and are comfortable within that environment. The

aspect is not common among numerous professional teachers thus gives me an advantage of

understanding how to interact and relate with the young learners. The aspect of making

children comfortable in their learning environment is a major strength since most of them do

fail to become their true selves in classes (Felder, 2018). I believe I have a challenge in taking

in other people’s directives and learning from others which is a problem, but I am working on

through some educational models and practices to help me understand how to deal and

engage with other teachers.

Inclusion

Inclusion refers to the situation that provides the students with an equal environment

whereby they can easily express and get to be themselves without judgement. Inclusion is an

important element especially when going to deal with young children with a mixture of those

that require special needs. The environment created in a given classroom should make sure

that the child is feeling fulfilled and interactive which is a major advantage to how they grow

and learn to interact on a similar platform as the other students in the classroom.

Creating an Inclusive Environment

At the ECD level, creation of an inclusive environment does not imply making the

children with special needs to stay with a special need’s teacher. However, it implies that

there is the potential of creating an inclusive environment whereby all the children get under

one roof and start building a learning foundation together. The move will help make sure that

EXCEPTIONAL LEARNING AND INCLUSION 4

the children with needs also feel like they are part of the team and work harder to make sure

that they compete in a social and inclusive manner in their classroom. According to

Blatchford & Russell (2020), separation of the students should never be an option because it

further leads into development of problems such as seclusion and them feeling inferior of the

others which will be a failed mission.

Role of Collaboration

Collaboration is essential in bringing in different views and parties onto a similar

front to help ease the work and pressure. The collaboration in the learning institution will take

advantage of collaborative teaming in the learning institutions and the parents. The teachers

trained for special needs will also be part of the program to help make sure that they do stand

in the classes to help create a collective environment. The collaboration with the parents is

vital especially for the children in such younger ages because they need to have some help

and guidance even when they get to their homes which is vital to help make sure that they are

learning or the teachers do have the conclusive information that will help improve the

teaching (Simpson, 2014).

Personal Experiences Influence on the Philosophy

As a teacher, I have interacted with numerous students who need help and guidance

and it is difficult for some of them to come forward because of shyness, fear, ego among

others. My philosophy to help introduce and improve exceptional learning and inclusion

helps manage such issues through making sure that the students will get a variety help among

students. The fact that I had a personal challenge of approaching teachers I feel the same way

about the current students, and I do believe that there is a solution to the problem in

exceptional learning and inclusion.

EXCEPTIONAL LEARNING AND INCLUSION 5

Conclusion

Exceptional learning and inclusion are a positive philosophy in education because it

helps improve the way that teachers and learning institutions do plan for their children. The

philosophy focuses on creating a uniform environment for the students without the needs of

separating some students which resort to a major problem. It is important to have a positive

learning environment because the learners do have different ways of understanding, but they

also have varied strengths that if they do work together can transform and help make sure that

they lead and develop towards a successful business.

EXCEPTIONAL LEARNING AND INCLUSION 6

References

Blatchford, P., & Russell, A. (2020). Bringing it all together: Toward a social pedagogy of

classroom learning. In Rethinking Class Size: The complex story of impact on teaching

and learning (pp. 261-290). London: UCL Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv15d7zqz.16

Felder, F. (2018). Capabilities and the challenge to inclusive schooling. In Otto H., Walker

M., & Ziegler H. (Eds.), Capability-promoting policies: Enhancing individual and social

development (pp. 219-236). Bristol: Bristol University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt1zrvhn8.17

Gilham, C., & Tompkins, J. (2016). Inclusion Reconceptualized: Pre-Service Teacher

Education and Disability Studies in Education. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue

Canadienne De L’éducation, 39(4), 1-25.

Simpson, R. (2014). Inclusion of Students with Behavior Disorders in General Education

Settings: Research and Measurement Issues. Behavioral Disorders, 30(1), 19-31.

Week3 Discussion 1

Assistive Technology for Children with Disabilities: Creating Opportunities for
Education, Inclusion, and Participation

Scaffolding for Student Success

Group Name: Group 1

Scaffolding for Student Success and Assistive Technology for Children with
Disabilities are two different evidence-based strategies, both created for the success of
children’s education and growth. Scaffolding is provided by the teacher for child
success in a lesson. They provide as much support as possible in the beginning of a
lesson and lessen the amount of support once the child has become more confident in
their ability to complete the tasks on their own, (Powell & Driver). Teachers must
understand their students and provide support for them to build upon their knowledge
and skills. Scaffolding for children is understanding what children already know and
building upon those skills to build confident and knowledge while challenging their
minds appropriately, (Education, 2015).

While scaffolding creates success for children through classroom support, so does
Assistive Technology for children with disabilities. Though both strategies work to
create support for the child and their education, they still have their differences.
Assistive technology goes beyond the classroom and provides children with disabilities
opportunities they may not otherwise have. For most children with disabilities,
providing them with assistive technology is the difference from them enjoying their
rights or depriving them of them, (World Health Organization, 2015). Assistive
technology are tools that provide the child with the ability in mobility, vision, hearing,
communication, and cognition, (World Health Organization, 2015). Providing children
with assistive technology may provide them with the ability to communicate, socialize,
maneuver on their own as well as give them the opportunity to compete tasks
independently.

Evidence-Based Strategies

Evidence-based strategies are important for children with disabilities especially for
providing inclusion in the classroom. Evidence-based practices have been previously
tested by highly qualified teachers, testing in a school setting to ensure the strategies
success before releasing it. Strategies are important for children in the classroom to
have the opportunity to gain their greatest education and have the opportunity to
succeed throughout their lives.

Reflection on Synthesis

As an educator I would work with children, families, and co-workers to implement
evidence-based strategies that are appropriate for each child and will provide them
with the opportunity to be their best. I will use both strategies in the classroom to

provide children with inclusion first by understanding that abilities and their struggles. I
would learn about them and where they need support in one area over the other. After
learning how and what kind of support a child requires, I would implement assistive
technology so that they may gain independence and gain skills for their future success
throughout life.

References

Alberta Education. (2018, April 10). Scaffolding for student success [Video file].
Retrieved from

Powell, S. R., & Driver, M. K. (2013). Working with exceptional students: An introduction
to special education (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/ (Links to an
external site.) (Links to an external site.)

World Health Organization. (2015). Assistive Technology for Children with Disabilities:
Creating Opportunities for Education, Inclusion and Participation. World Health
Organization. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/disabilities/files/Assistive-Tech-
Web

Week 3 Discussion 2

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is when the learning environment is created with
the individual children in mind and is incorporated upon the thoughts on how the needs
of the children will be met. The three principles of UDL are representation, action and
expression and engagement. Representation is presenting the information in more than
one way so children can be able to learn. Action and expression is allowing the
children to learn in different ways and demonstrate that they know the information that
was presented. Engagement is how the children feel about what they are learning and
how engaged they are in their learning opportunities.

Based on the age of children you plan to work with, the three main considerations you
will need to be mindful of when implementing the principles of UDL in your work. Since
Head Start has ages 3-5 years and a regular childcare ages range from 6 weeks to 12
years old, I would take their ages into consideration and make sure that I am
representing the separate classes that I have to oversee and that I am putting forward
every effort meet the concerns and goals of the age group. I would also have to
consider the possibility of not having the disability staff available to assist with the
children that has disabilities. I would have to make sure that my co-teacher assist me
in providing opportunities for the children to be able to demonstrate the skills that we
are working such as social emotional making friends. Another thing to consider is the
child’s attendance, is the child ability to be a school is going to hinder the process that
could possibly take place if they were coming to school regularly.

One challenge that you see when implementing UDL in your future educational setting
would be if staff has been trained adequately to meet the needs of the children in the

program. Without adequate staff training, the children will not fully benefit from what
the UDL environment has to offer. One possible solution to that challenge would be for
staff to be trained properly in order to meet the needs of the children. Collaboration
with others will make children with disabilities goals a little easier obtain. The children
will have a team that is working together to help them be successful in school. The
skills that they will obtained can be carried on into their adulthood.

References

Alberta Education. (2015, January 30). Scaffolding for student success (Links to an

external site.) . Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTR_snb-0nQ (Links to an external site.)

The Iris Center. (2016). Universal design for learning: Creating a learning environment
that challenges and engages all students (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from

Universal Design for Learning: Designing Learning Experiences That Engage and Challenge All Students

Reply Reply to Comment

Caryn,

Essentially, with UDL we want to create strong learners who can become independent
learners and be able to problem solve and be able to figure out how they learn and to
be able to grab the information however works best for them. Independent learners are
able to figure out how to learn, understand how they are making progress and become
strong lifelong learners…meaning they figure out what interests them, how they best
learn and how they can best demonstrate their knowledge of what they have just
learned. It’s not really about learning a specific skillset, but learning how to learn in and
of itself.

We want to look at the individual student and our classroom set up. We want to be
clear with the difference between modification and accommodation. A modification is
typically used for a student who is in the moderate-severe program of Special
Education…so of course we would consider modifications for them. For general
education students or students with a 504 Plan, accommodations/supports can be
given and we hope that this leads the student to eventually becoming independent to
be able to complete the task at hand independently. The difference is that
modifications actually lower the curriculum standards that are expected of a student in
a particular grade level. An accommodation is put into place to help support a child to
obtain mastery on grade level standards. So an accommodation would be something
like extended time, breaks, breaking down a larger assignment into smaller parts
(chunking), text to speech (when it’s not for reading comprehension), speech to text,
less problems on an assignment, using color overlays.

UDL is just an approach to teaching. The focal point is to meet the needs of all
students. It can be helpful for all kids, including kids.

Caryn, if you had a child who had a hard time focusing in your classroom/school, what
are a couple accommodations you might suggest to the 504 Team or IEP Team that
could be added to the IEP to help this student in the classroom? Watch this video and
see if this gives you some ideas you hadn’t even thought about using/suggesting.

Edited by Susan Agbulos on Nov 27 at 9:21pm

Week 4 DQ 1

Johnny Age: 6

Michael Age: 5

Johnny is six and has been diagnosed with a specific learning disability in reading. A
specific learning disability (SLD) is a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological
processes used in receiving, understanding, storing, and responding to information. It
affects the academic skills of a student, so students with an SLD may struggle with
reading, writing, spelling, math, listening, or speaking—or with more than one of these
skills (Powell & Driver, 2013).

The evidence-based strategy for Johnny would be to help him by first building his
vocabulary by using flash cards and having him read books that contain the words he
practiced in order to identify them in a story to gain a better understanding of the word
in context. I would also have him read out loud and as questions to see if he is
understanding the content or what the story is about using who what where when how
and why.

Michael is five and has a stutter. He may be experiencing a speech impairment or
speech sound disorder which is the faulty production of sounds and sound patterns
(Powell & Driver, 2013). Childhood-onset fluency disorder is another word for stuttering
getting stuck on a syllable or word and repeating it several times. He may have
difficulty in the production of sounds that is necessary to make words. For Michael, the
developmental milestone he would be struggling to meet is the ability to produce
sounds in order to construct words.

The evidence-based strategy for Michael would be to refer the child to a speech-
language pathologist, create a relaxed communication environment, give the student
the same responsibilities as the other students, make classroom accommodations for
the student, collaborate with the parents and pathologist about the stuttering and
educate the class on teasing. Refrain from interrupting the student and telling them to
slow down or spit it out (William, 1999). It may also help if I repeat or paraphrase to
show the student you understand what he is saying and that I am listening.

Collaborating with stakeholders is the best way to ensure the strategies you are using
will be beneficial for the student. Feed back from everyone can turnout to be very
useful. Parents can also help at home by keeping up with the strategies I am using in
school by implementing them at home as well. This will help to have a constant flow of
support. The parents can communicate and record the child’s progress with the
teacher and any professionals that may be a part of the collaborative team supporting
the student.

Powell, S. R., & Driver, M. K. (2013). Working with exceptional students: An
introduction to special education. 2nd ed. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Williams, D. F. (1999). The Child Who Stutters. Young Exceptional Children, 2(3), 9.
Retrieved from https://journals-sagepub-com.proxy-
library.ashford.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/109625069900200302 (Links to an external site.)

Week 4 DQ 2

Describe the unique educational needs that you will need to anticipate in order to
create an inclusive environment for children with ADHD, ED, and BD.

ADHD is a disorder in which children exhibit some type of inattention (having trouble
focusing on a task for an extended period of time), hyperactivity (tends to fidget or
have a hard time staying in their seat), and impulsivity (speaking at the wrong time and
very impatient). ED is an emotional disturbance which is behavior that is inappropriate
unusual or excessive. BD is a behavioral disorder which is described as having
emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBD).

Children that exhibit excessive behaviors and emotions may need to the use of either
medication or therapy and in some cases depending on the symptoms may need both.
To create an inclusive environment for children with ADHD, ED, and BD I would need
to collaborate with SPED and the parents of those children.

Explain at least three strategies that you will use to support children with ADHD,
ED, and BD. You can pull a strategy from the Week Three discussions, your
course text, or another scholarly source.

1. I would first have an organized classroom and utilize good classroom management
techniques and develop a consistent schedule and be sure to include a Universal
Design for Learning.

2. Utilize PBIS giving praise or rewards for good behavior or following the rules.
3. I would also utilize Co-Teaching to have constant monitoring and interaction to help

with keeping students on task.

Summarize how the strategies you have shared align with your philosophy of
inclusion.

My philosophy is every child has the right to equal opportunity in education whether or
not if they have a disability. The strategies I have chosen align and are strategies for an
inclusive environment. Part of the UDL requires collaboration which is essential to the
success of students who have disabilities so being organized and having good
classroom management is very important for children with ADHD. Utilization of
resources such as technology can also be used as a tool for capturing a child’s
attention to redirect their focus.

WK5DQ1

Cameron

Cameron is a 7-year-old boy with delayed motor skills and sensory processing
problems, which are clumsiness with poor motor coordination, distractible, sensitivity
to certain touch experiences, and noise. Difficulty playing with friends.

Explain at least one ethical dilemma that you may encounter as you work to
create an inclusive environment for the individual in your chosen case study.

One dilemma I may encounter trying to create an inclusive environment for Cameron is
preventing triggers that may cause him to run away suddenly, which may cause him to
injure himself due to clumsiness. Control the volume of the other children so that he
does not experience hearing discomfort.

Propose a solution to the potential ethical dilemma you explained in the previous
bullet. Support your proposal with Special Education Professional Ethical
Principles.

I committed to upholding the principles of the code of ethics. In the situation, I am
responsible for protecting and supporting the physical and psychological safety of
individuals with exceptionalities. Cameron has those exceptionalities and to uphold the
principles I propose these solutions:

1. Ensure I have developed proper classroom management in terms of classroom
voices.

2. Educate the class on how to help Cameron while he is in class with us.
3. Give him one on one time utilizing the Co-teacher.
4. Creating a collaboration team to support the development of Cameron’s motor

skills and what other resources may benefit him.

The treatments recommended in the case study would be to have weekly sensory
integration-based therapy in a clinic, a home program of sensory-motor activities, and
strategies to manage sensory problems.

Discuss how you would share your solution with others in order to become a
leader in developing inclusive settings.

Initially, I would have recorded data from class observations and reports from his
parents, of Cameron’s progress based on his treatments listing the pro’s and con’s of
his developments. Using the data collected evidence, I can share the case study as a
learning tool to help other teachers learn what can be used to assist students with the
same or similar exceptions as Cameron to help ensure the student’s academic growth.

Powell, S. R., & Driver, M. K. (2013). Working with exceptional students: An
introduction to special education. 2nd ed. Retrieved from
https://content.ashford.edu/

Griffiths, C. (n.d.). 7 year old boy with delayed motor skills and sensory
processing problems. Retrieved from http://www.kidsmatters.com.au/wp-
content/uploads/2014/08/Case-Study-Cameron-4