I Can Solve a Quadratic Equation, but I Can't Count to Ten

Format

Poster Presentation

Location

Harborside Center

Strand #1

Academic Achievement & School Leadership

Relevance

Presenters will introduce information on present state expectations for students with significant cognitive intellectual disabilities and those student's current level of academic performance as it pertains to those standards set forth by the state.

Brief Program Description

  1. Students with significant cognitive intellectual disabilities require many specialized instructional strategies to aid them in achieving academic goals similar to their same aged peers. While students with significant cognitive disabilities are held to the same standards, many times these students are unable to perform basic pre-primer skills required for skill mastery. But there is hope!!

Summary

  1. Teachers of students with significant cognitive intellectual disabilities face a difficult task of exposing and teaching grade level content to their students who, in most cases, function significantly lower than their same aged peers academically, socially, and cognitively. Laws, such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), require that all students, even those with significant cognitive disabilities, participate in assessments to ensure accountability for teachers’ efforts to provide grade level content standards to their students. Many times, students who are significantly lower functioning do not possess effective forms of communication and require the support of others to ensure their daily needs are being met. So what’s the problem? We posit that there is a huge gap in current level of individual academic performance and the state’s academic expectations. The two goals do not directly correlate to the overall success of the student with a significant cognitive intellectual disability. Often times, teachers struggle to merge the demands from the state with the functional needs of the student. This presentation will provide practical strategies for assessing and implementing grade level content for students with significant intellectual and cognitive disabilities. Attendees will learn how to evaluate and choose standards based on the student’s current level of performance. Once standards are selected, attendees will learn how to modify and differentiate (if needed) the standards so that it is individualized specifically to guarantee individual student success. Attendees will also learn ways to use the general education teacher as a resource for proper implementation or grade level content standards into their classrooms

Evidence

  1. All presenters have worked with students with special needs for a number of years and will provide insight into best practices utilized in their classroom settings to ensure student progress and growth of students with significant cognitive intellectual disabilities, who are now held to the same standards as their regular education peers. With the vast experience ranging from preschool through high school, each presenter has helped individual students and families succeed

r functioning do not possess effective forms of communication and require the support of others to ensure their daily needs are being met. So what’s the problem? We posit that there is a huge gap in current level of individual academic performance and the state’s academic expectations. The two goals do not directly correlate to the overall success of the student with a significant cognitive intellectual disability. Often times, teachers struggle to merge the demands from the state with the functional needs of the student. This presentation will provide practical strategies for assessing and implementing grade level content for students with significant intellectual and cognitive disabilities. Attendees will learn how to evaluate and choose standards based on the student’s current level of performance. Once standards are selected, attendees will learn how to modify and differentiate (if needed) the standards so that it is individualized specifically to guarantee individual student success. Attendees will also learn ways to use the general education teacher as a resource for proper implementation or grade level content standards into their classrooms.

Biographical Sketch

Sybil Keesbury, Ed. D.

Dr. Keesbury is an assistant professor at Mercer University. She teaches in the Tift College of Education focusing on Special Education, Foundations of Education and Educational Psychology. She has her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction (Gardner-Webb University), Master of Science in Special Education (Mankato State University) and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (Gustavus Adolphus College). She publishes and presents frequently on her research agenda which includes special education student rights, family involvement for students with disabilities, inclusion, and early childhood special education.

Misty Salter, Ed. S.

Misty S. Salter has taught Special Education for 11 years. She began her career as a self-contained elementary school teacher, teaching students with significant cognitive disabilities for 3 years. Misty then moved to the high school level where she taught in the co-teaching, interrelated setting for one year. She then piloted the first self-contained program at her High school for students with Moderate Intellectual Disabilities. Misty worked with both students with Moderate Intellectual Disabilities and Mild Intellectual Disabilities for 6 years, in the self-contained setting. She was named the Department Chair of Special Education for her school . She has served as Department Chair for the last 2 years and is currently working in the co-teaching environment again. Misty S. Salter has a BS. Ed in Special Education from Georgia Southern University, a M.Ed. in Special Education, also from Georgia Southern University, a Specialist Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Nova Southeastern University, and is currently a Ph.D. student in Curriculum and Instruction at Mercer University.

Emma S Thomas, Ed. S.

Emma S. Thomas has been an educator for 6 years. She initiated her career as a high school chemistry teacher and then as a middle grades reading intervention teacher. For the past four years, she has taught self-contained special education to students with an array of severe intellectual disabilities and medical fragilities. She has worked in an extensive Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program within her county which provided extensive and intensive interventions to students with autism. Emma has a B.S. in Biology (Albany State University), a M.A.T. in Special Education and Middle Grades Reading and Science(Augusta State University) , and Ed.S in Curriculum and Instruction (Georgia Regents University) and is currently enrolled as a Ph. D. student in the Curriculum and Instruction program Mercer University).

Keyword Descriptors

Significant Cognitive Disabilities, Significant Intellectual Disabilities, Common Core Standards, Differentiation, Accommodations, Supports, Disabilities

Presentation Year

2016

Start Date

3-8-2016 4:00 PM

End Date

3-8-2016 5:30 PM

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Mar 8th, 4:00 PM Mar 8th, 5:30 PM

I Can Solve a Quadratic Equation, but I Can't Count to Ten

Harborside Center

  1. Students with significant cognitive intellectual disabilities require many specialized instructional strategies to aid them in achieving academic goals similar to their same aged peers. While students with significant cognitive disabilities are held to the same standards, many times these students are unable to perform basic pre-primer skills required for skill mastery. But there is hope!!