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Yes, You Can Teach Academic Content to Students with Cognitive Disabilities

	See how teachers adapted one 7th-grade student’s instruction to align with their science lesson from the general curriculum. Download this free adapted lesson plan

“We have no way of knowing how much students will learn, but we expect we will be amazed by the abilities of students with significant disabilities as our opportunities and methods for teaching academic content evolve”

—Diane Browder & Fred Spooner, Teaching Language Arts, Math, and Science to Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities

Teachers of students with severe disabilities have long focused on building children’s developmental and functional skills. Certainly an important part of special educators’ work—even in the current climate—is teaching students the skills they need to function as independently and productively as possible across a range of settings.

Until recent years, however, little thought was given to how or even if the curriculum traditionally provided for students with significant disabilities relates to the general curriculum.

In fact, educators have viewed a functional curriculum (e.g., activities of daily living and social, communication, and motor skills) as an “alternate” curriculum, wholly separate from what is taught to other students.

And little attention has been paid to increasing the complexity of challenge or progression of skills. Students often work on the same skills within the context of the same activities year after year, even though classroom data indicate that the skills have often been mastered.

Changing regulations mean changing practices

IDEA ’97, IDEA 2004, and NCLB have changed educators’ thinking about what students with disabilities should be learning in three very important ways:

1. IDEA requires the IEP team to determine how a student’s disability affects his participation and progress in the general curriculum. Educators must identify measurable goals and short-term objectives, along with appropriate supports and modifications that will enable each student to progress in the general curriculum to the extent appropriate for that student.
2. IDEA requires that all students, including those with severe disabilities, be included in state and district educational assessments, as a direct indicator of what they have learned through their instruction.
3. NCLB requires that although alternate assessments may be based on alternate achievement standards, these assessments must align with grade-level content standards.

This means that, whereas overall expectations may describe student skills that are significantly below grade level or clearly differentiated in achievement, the assessment should include math and reading content that aligns with the standards, curriculum activities, and materials that are used by same-age/grade peers.

What access does (and does not) mean

Promoting access to the general curriculum does require some changes for how students with significant disabilities receive instruction, but teachers can retain much of what they have already been doing:

• Access does not mean abandoning functional skills instruction, but it may mean finding ways to include academic content in real-life activities so that academic learning is meaningful.
• Access is not interchangeable with inclusion, but educators may find it more efficient for students to receive academic instruction from general educators with support than to try to re-create this instruction in separate settings.
• Access to the general curriculum does not mean abandoning a student’s need for individualization, but it does mean following a sequence of skills that progress across grade levels.

Furthermore, self-determination strategies can continue to be taught, but concurrently with academic learning, and social inclusion will continue to be an important goal for quality of life and as a context for learning.

How do you align instruction with the general curriculum? Follow how the planning team for one student adapted a lesson plan for a 7th-grade science class. See the role that each person played: The student: Bart a 13-year-old student in 7th grade at Crystal Creek Middle School loves nature, computers, and exploring how things work has cerebral palsy and significant cognitive disabilities uses a wheelchair and communicates with simple sentences and by pointing The general education teacher: Mr. Bell plans a science lesson on “leaf classification” prepares the lesson plan to be accessible to all students identifies the state standards that are addressed in the lesson The special education teacher: Mrs. Huyett works with the person-centered planning team to identify the IEP goals for the student works with the team to identify any accommodations and modifications the student may need to be successful in the general education class designs a systematic instruction plan to ensure the student will receive the specific prompting and motivators to acquire the information during the general education lesson creates a method of data collection to show that the student is making progress on the IEP goals, even in the general education lesson The general and special education teachers together: Mr. Bell and Mrs. Huyett review the lesson plan with the state standards and the IEP goals identify which IEP goals can effectively be addressed in the general education lesson modify the science lesson plan to include activities in which Bart could work on his IEP goals specify how Bart would demonstrate classification decide that the whole class could benefit from a daily review of the lab safety rules using the safety signs around the room review use of peer tutoring, cooperative learning, co-teaching, or curriculum modifications as options to effectively include Bart The peer tutor: Drew earns Future Teacher of America (FTA) credits working as Bart’s lab partner during class using peer-tutoring strategy, prompts Bart on safety signs during the whole-class review For complete details of the planning to include Bart's instruction, see the adapted lesson plan in the free download above.

 

Ensure greater access to the general curriculum... Teaching Language Arts, Math, and Science to Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities MORE INFO >> Teaching Students with Mental Retardation: Providing Access to the General Curriculum MORE INFO >>