Students with Intellectual Disabilities - Coursework Example

Transition Services for Students with Intellectual Disabilities Areas upon Which the IEP Team Should Focus The IEP team should focus on academic preparation, cognitive performance, and social skills performance when the transition begins. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 04) recommends age sixteen, but it often varies across states. Firstly, they should consider academic preparation and performance. Students with intellectual disabilities often lag behind in class activities and development of academic skills. Delays are evident in language skills, math, and reading comprehension (Friend, 2014, Pg. 240). Such challenges in math and reading often transfer to other courses such as science, which require these skills. Cognitive performance is also a necessary area upon which the IEP team should focus. Students with intellectual disabilities experience challenges because of discrepancies in specific cognitive skills. Attention, generalization, and memory are some of the cognitive discrepancies that require utmost consideration (Friend, 2004, 240). Thirdly, it is necessary to examine social skills performance. Students with intellectual disabilities have trouble in social interactions in terms of verbal interactions and understanding the communication process (Friend, 2014, Pg. 243). Late language development and a low level of cognitive growth make it difficult to manage social relations and hold lengthy conversations. Specific Challenges for This Population One main challenge is the choice of an appropriate curriculum for students with intellectual disabilities. Teachers and parents expect them to adapt to the general education or special education setting for students without intellectual disabilities. Students with intellectual disabilities require a different curriculum because they need to learn some survival skills before their transition into adulthood. Many lessons offered in the general curriculum are not important for such students with intellectual disabilities, especially because there are other important skills that they need to acquire such as life skills and behavior development (Friend, 2014, Pg. 259). Students with intellectual disabilities face the dilemma of high-stakes testing. Some students with intellectual disabilities are expected to complete such tests although the tests are beyond their capabilities (Friend, 2014, Pg. 259). The expectations set by professionals are too high as students with intellectual disabilities are expected to learn from the same curriculum as those without disabilities. In some institutions, they are seen as the cause of school failure to attain federally mandated goals of sufficient yearly progress. Even though learning the core curriculum is essential for students with intellectual disabilities, there are several disadvantages of setting the standards too high. Students with intellectual disabilities face the challenge of self-determination during their transition from childhood to adulthood. There is a difficulty of understanding the concept of self-determination in the transition process (Friend, 2014, pg. 259). They receive little assistance from parents and teachers in using their self-determination skills. In the end, they are not sufficiently prepared to face the IEP team and participate in meetings. In addition, teachers face some barriers in teaching self-determination. Firstly, based on traditional special education instruction models, teachers assume that students with intellectual disabilities cannot comprehend the decisions made during transition and IEP meetings. Secondly, the program design for the individual needs of students is not compatible with the expectations set by IDEA and NCLB (Friend, 2014, pg. 260). National Organizations that Address Transition Needs Two national organizations that address transition needs include the MOSAIC and the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities MOSAIC is a national faith-based organization that serves people with intellectual disabilities. It offers a life of possibilities for people with intellectual disabilities by supporting and empowering one to achieve their utmost potential. MOSAIC brings out the worth in everybody, irrespective of his or her intellectual disability. Through partnership of staff members and volunteers, MOSAIC gives people with intellectual disabilities a voice in the society through enhancing self-awareness. MOSAIC. Website. Retrieved from http://www.mosaicinfo.org/ The American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) is a national organization that provides instructional materials for teachers and professionals dealing with students with intellectual disabilities and has several accredited courses. It releases several publications on intellectual disabilities, which offer an insight on cases ranging from student needs to prisoners with intellectual disabilities facing death penalties. The organization provides helpful practices and resource materials, encourages progressive policies, and worldwide human rights for citizens with intellectual disabilities. American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Website. Retrieved from http://aaidd.org/about-aaidd#.VTg4jlJXdEs 2 Transition Services for Students with Autism Areas upon Which the IEP Team Should Focus The three areas upon which the IEP team should focus for students with autism include cognitive and academic characteristics, social and emotional characteristics, and behavior characteristics. Students with ASD have irregular patterns of academic and cognitive development, which are often different from other intellectual disabilities (Friend, 2014, pg. 305). In consequence, the IEP team should focus on improving the cognitive ability of students with autism. For instance, they should improve their problem-solving challenges, theory of mind, and reduce their overreliance on rote memory. Most students with ASD have only one strategy to solve their problems, and they often rely on this even if they encounter a different scenario. Rote memory makes one assume they have understood something, even if they have not grasped the overall concept. The team should help them to understand other people’s point of view. The IEP team should focus on the social and emotional challenges that directly affect the special needs of students with ASD. The team should consider unconventional language use and language disorders, which may affect their interactions with other people in the society. Delayed language development hinders their ability to communicate appropriately. In addition, they should explore verbal language skills because it affects their communicative intent. Normally, they are perceived as immature people because of their poor emotional and social skills in terms of interactions, which may not be the case (Friend, 2014, pg. 306). Finally, the IEP team should focus on behavioral traits in their characterization of students with autism. In terms of behavior, the team should improve sensory responses, self-stimulatory behaviors, and difficulty with over-generalizations because it determines lifespan development (Friend, 2014, pg. 309). Self-stimulatory behavior includes any action they engage in that does not have a specific meaning, for example, hand flapping. Students with ASD are not flexible in the use of their skills, and consequently generalize their behavior irrespective of the lesson offered. Specific Challenges for This Population A major specific challenge for students with autism includes difficulty of early identification, assessment and diagnosis (Friend, 2014, pg. 325). In most cases, the first diagnosis indicates that nothing is amiss. Assessment measures are often inaccurate in the earlier periods and this makes it difficult to initiate intervention measures. Secondly, it is difficult to find effective and research-based approaches for teaching students with autism. The evidence base for interventions is not reliable because it varies across students with ASD. Most preferences for intervention measure are based on personal experiences that have worked for other people with autism, rather than through research. Emotions override data in relation to the effectiveness of interventions (Friend, 2014, pg. 326). Thirdly, transition into adulthood is often a challenge for students with ASD. Students without ASD are able to acquire skills faster than students with ASD are (Friend, 2004, 314). They lack the required skills to communicate effectively and maintain social relationships. Such students require careful planning to transit into adulthood successfully. Leisure, sexuality, and home management are part of adulthood, and most students with ASD often experience challenges during the transition. National Organizations that Address Transition Needs Two national organizations that address transition needs include the Autism Society of America and the US Autism & Asperger Association (USAAA). The Autism Society of America serves to create awareness about autism and support families. It also supplies professionals dealing with autism patients and parents with the latest information on dealing with autism and advice for parents. It has an autism journal and holds national conferences on autism. It encourages people with autism to apply for some vacant positions in the organization. Autism Society of America. Website. Retrieved from http://www.autism-society.org/ Similarly, the US Autism & Asperger Association (USAAA) is an American nonprofit organization that offers support and solutions for autism education. Started in 1995, the company has addressed the physical and emotional needs of people with autism and other people with other related disorders. Through enriching the society with accessible resources, education, partnerships and training, the organization enables everybody living with autism to attain their fullest potential. US Autism & Asperger Association. Website. Retrieved from http://www.usautism.org/ 3 Transition Services for Students with Severe Disabilities Areas upon Which the IEP Team Should Focus The three areas upon which the IEP team should focus for students with severe disabilities include cognitive characteristics, academic characteristics, and social and economic characteristics. The IEP teams should focus on the environment of students with severe disabilities. Students with severe disabilities require a familiar environment as they transit into adulthood. Severe disabilities may include both physical and intellectual disabilities, and for that reason, their IQ may differ from those without severe disabilities. The IEP team should focus on continuous assessment during transition to tap into their potential because there are cases in which a student may fail to understand a simple concept, but recognize a different concept (Friend, 2014, pg. 411). The team should explore the cognitive characteristics of students with severe disabilities. The depth of academic skills that students with severe disabilities gain determines their adaptation to life outside the school setting. Interactive learning is a necessary consideration for the student’s future since it improves learning capability. In addition, it is essential to improve their oral language and mathematics so that they can learn necessary things such as counting change and doing currency transactions (Friend, 2014, pg. 442). The IEP team must focus on the social and emotional characteristics of students with severe disabilities. Their social and emotional skills determine how people interact and socialize in the society. The team should advance the level of skill of such students before initiating transition to ensure a student does not feel any form of isolation in their lifespan. They require skills in friendship and maintaining social relationships in comparison to the other disorders and disabilities (Friend, 2014, pg. 443). It is necessary to focus on developing their social relationships with both students with severe disabilities and those without disabilities during transition. Specific Challenges for This Population Students with severe disabilities undergo three specific challenges, which include limitations in communication skills, shortage of teachers to address the needs of students with severe disabilities, and complete depend on others. Limitations in communication skills and language development because of limited learning are a major challenge for students with severe disabilities. In most cases, instructional context and the curriculum do not focus on students with severe disabilities and hence the teacher may skip some important components that could lead to proper language and communication skills development (Friend, 2014, pg. 463). There are often debarred from the education process with the assumption that they cannot learn. There is a shortage of teachers to address the needs of students with severe disabilities. The small population of such students means that less teachers train to learn their needs (Friend, 2014, pg. 463). Considering that the teachers are few, there is little sharing of information across this population about current and effective intervention measures. Lack of help from special education professionals results in a feeling of isolation for students with severe disabilities. Most students with severe disabilities are entirely dependent on others for completion of basic human tasks such as bathing or eating. As a result, they may take longer to achieve developmental milestones, and in dire cases, may be entirely dependent on others for helping all of their life. Challenges in mobility, for example, are a severe disability that means confinement to a wheelchair, which eventually means somebody must always be on standby to assist in movement and ensure they enjoy their basic human rights (Marumoagae, 2012, pg. 2). National Organizations that Address Transition Needs Two national organizations that address transition needs include TASH and the International Disability and Development Consortium. TASH is an international leader in disability advocacy that ensures students with severe disabilities have an opportunity to learn and work with people without severe disabilities. It advocates for full inclusivity in schools, workplaces and the larger society. TASH collaborates with students, parents, families, and relevant stakeholders to promote equity, inclusion, and opportunity. TASH. Website. Retrieved from https://tash.org/ The International Disability and Development Consortium fosters an inclusive environment in school and work settings. It demands that students with disabilities receive full human rights and actively participate in all activities irrespective of any of their characteristics. The consortium consists of non-governmental organizations and people with severe disabilities people’s organizations that support people with severe disabilities globally. The International Disability and Development Consortium. Website. Retrieved from http://www.iddcconsortium.net/ 4 Transition Services for Students with Visual Impairments Areas upon Which the IEP Team Should Focus The three areas upon which the IEP team should focus for students with visual impairments include peer relations and social interactions, environment, and academic characteristics. In terms of environment, the IEP team should consider the cognitive characteristics of students with visual impairments (Friend, 2014, pg. 375). It is essential that the IEP team consider a suitable environment that students with visual impairments can adapt to and navigate easily. Room arrangement is critical, because they often keep their materials in specific areas where they expect to find them at any time. Preferential sitting arrangement is also a major consideration outside their school life, because such students lack visual observation and incidental experiences. The IEP team should look at the social and emotional relations that student with visual impairments have adapted. Although they may be visually impaired, they have to be prepared to understand other people’s reactions towards them and learn how to ask for assistance from society members. In terms of social relations, most students with visual impairments learn in small groups. The IEP team should ensure that the normal, daily life of a student should continue during the transition process (Friend, 2014, pg. 380). The IEP team must analyze the academic characteristics of students with visual impairments. Specifically, it is essential to explore their potential of reading and writing, because this determines their successful interaction with other adults (Friend, 2014, pg. 375). They must look at the individual needs of students in terms of acuity, and their ability to differentiate words. The team should consider whether they only have a visual impairment, or if they have multiple disabilities. Through this, they can determine whether the traditional curriculum or focus on functional skills is necessary in the transition process towards adulthood. Specific Challenges for This Population Firstly, there is a shortage of fully prepared personnel. There are very few programs nationally to prepare vision specialists, and most do not have a fulltime faculty member. The ratio of students to teachers is at a paltry one to eight. Considering that there are few students enrolled in institutions with vision impairments, universities employ few teachers (Friend, 2014, pg. 394). Secondly, there is a problem, because of a limited consortium, of placement options for students with visual impairments (Friend, 2014, pg. 395). Placements only exist in metropolitan areas, despite federal regulations demanding multiple options for placements based on the needs of students. Students in rural and suburban areas fail to acquire the required daily service that those in cosmopolitan areas enjoy. In addition, personnel in such areas are often not qualified enough to handle students with visual impairments. Thirdly, discrimination is prevalent for visually impaired students. They are often passed over for jobs or other educational opportunities in preference of students without visual impairments (Marumoagae, 2012, 1). Discrimination often results in self-esteem issues, which may hamper the normal growth and transition of students into adulthood. Discrimination denies them the opportunity to gain employment, even though they may be able-bodied and productive. National Organizations that Address Transition Needs Two national organizations that address transition needs include the National Association of Parents of Children with Visual Impairments and the National Federation of the Blind. The National Association of Parents of Children with Visual Impairments is a national membership organization that provides resources for guardians and parents of visually impaired people. Through its leadership and training programs, it enables parents uncover the utmost potential of their children and ensure they realize a successful life. It advocates for the educational requirements of students with visual impairments and provides them and their parents with networking opportunities with other people with visual impairments and organizations that address their issues. The National Association of Parents of Children with Visual Impairments. Website. Retrieved from http://www.afb.org/directory/profile/national-association-of-parents-of-children-with-visual-impairments-national-headquarters/12 The National Federation of the Blind emphasizes that blindness does not define a person’s future, and it should not be a basis to lower the expectations of a person with visual impairment. Founded in 1940, the NFB is the leading organization of blind and visually impaired people in America. The organization promotes confidence and self-reliance among its members, who are in every state. National Federation of the Blind. Website. Retrieved from https://nfb.org// References Friend, M. (2014). Special education: contemporary perspectives for school professionals. (Fourth edition). Boston: Pearson. Marumoagae, M. (2012). Disability Discrimination and the Right of Disabled Persons to Access the Labor Market. PER / PELJ Volume 15 No 1. Read More