Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs

Monday, January 5, 2009

News

First off yesterday's post was number 700!

Secondly voting has begun for the 2008 Weblog Awards. Last year TLWMSN tied for seventh. This year let's put a special education blog in the top five.

You can vote once a day, every day! (Until January 13th.)

Please pass this on to everyone who might want to vote!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Seizures in the Special Needs Classroom

News of Jett Travolta, John Travolta's son, dying following a seizure leads to thoughts about seizures in our classrooms. Seizures are part of day to day life for many students with multiple or significant disabililites. Students with hydrocepheleus, cerebral palsy, brian injury, Lennox-Gestaut, microcephely and other conditions may have seizures.

All staff working with students who have a history of seizures should have a basic understanding of what a seizure is, the types of seizures and how to respond to a seizure
Our students may have some sensations (an aura) before a seizure that tells them a seizure is coming; if the student is non-speaking he or she may have certain behaviors that occur or increase before a seizure. It is important to learn about these behaviors in order to enable you to help keep the student safe and provide emotional support.
Seizures will look different from student to student. Some may have staring spells or drop seizures, others with having twitching or other movements with a seizure. All staff need to be familiar with the type(s) of seizures a student may have and what to do about them.
Staff need to be trained in first aid for seizures. The primary reaction to any seizure will be to keep the student safe. Most people know, in this day and age, not to put anything in the mouth of the person who is having a seizure but we need to be aware that people in the community may try to be "helpful" in this way and stop them. If the student is likely to fall to the ground or has fallen to the ground the area will need to be cleared to prevent injury. Clothing should be loosened and movements should not be restrained.
All staff need to know the protocal for reacting to different types of seizures in different students. Every school or program has a different policy for who is to give primary first aid. If educational staff are responsible for administration of medication, like Ativan or Valium/Diastat, they need to be be trained and comfortable before a seizure occurs. Likewise if a student has a VNS (vagus nerve stimulator) the staff needs to know how to use the magnet.
All staff must know how to call for emergency response (usually 911) if a student who has no history of seizures has a seizure or if a student who is known to have seizures does not respond the the seizure protocal for that seizure.
Staff should stay calm during the seizure, remembering that the student may be able to hear you, speak calmly and say reassuring things, for example, "Hold on, buddy, just keep breathing, you are going to be ok."
Following a seizure staff must be respectful that seizures are a part of this student's life, there is no need to describe them using subjective adjectives like, "That was a nasty seizure." Our job is to normalize the lives of our students, not to further stigma.
Finally, although schools and programs vary, some record of seizure activitity is usually kept (our program uses a seizure log) and the parent or guardian must be notified.

For more information about seizures:

Children's Book about Seizures:

Books for Teachers and Other Adults:

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Screen Shots

I have noticed in my photo folder that I have lots of screen shots of websites and software I have taken for this blog. I realized these may be useful for others to use to import into Boardmaker or PhotoSYMS and make choice boards for the computer or use Boardmaker Plus or other software to make a software launcher.

Therefore I have uploaded all of the images into Picasa, where other people can download them to use.

feel free to e-mail any screen shots you have at

Online Switch Activities (for Special Needs)

For most current list please click here.

This is an update of the post listing online switch activities for learners with multiple or significant special needs. The activities listed are chosen because they can be used with switches, they are simple and they are enjoyable. The activities listed are free. Some activities may require set up by an assistant before switch use. Although care has been taken not to include switch activities with any violence or graphic images teachers and others still need to check activities for age and general appropriateness before use.

Cause and Effect (and Press to Play):

Single Switch Scanning or Timing Required (sites may include some cause and effect games as well):

Two Switches (unless otherwise noted you music click in the area of the game and then use tab and enter to play):

Friday, January 2, 2009

Free Kido'z Web Broswer

Kido'z is a new web broswer for children, along the lines of the Zac Browser or Kid Zui. It is free

to download and ad free. (It is in beta so the coast may change.)

Kido'z runs on Adobe Air and has a smooth clean interface that would make it great for touch screens or interactive whiteboards. There are three main areas: games, videos and websites.

Unfortunately it is not switch accesible, tab/enter does not work nor do the arrow keys. Supposedly it is for children ages 3-11, but I would stick with the 3-7 year old set in order to account for age appropriateness.

January is National Hobby Month

January is Hobby Month and to that end I am creating a unit for my students on hobbies and leisure skills. If you belong to Adapted Learning you can download my boards (and other peoples) by searching "hobby" or "leisure" in the search engine.

Several Websites have ideas for hobby month:

There are also a couple of free leisure assessments online:

Teaching Money Identification by Touch

It has been a few years since I have needed to teach money identification by touch to a student. This method of identifying bills and coins is usually taught to student who are blind or have low vision, but I have also successfully taught this method to learners with brain injury that affects visual and short term memory.

The method is like this:

Coins are identified by three characteristics:

Size. The dime is the smallest coin, and the half-dollar is the largest.
Edge. The penny and the nickel have a smooth edge. The dime, quarter, and half-dollar have a milled, ridged edge.
Thickness. The nickel is thicker than the other coins.

Bills are identified by how they are folded: