Students+with+Special+Needs+and+Gifted

= = ** ﻿Students with Special Needs and Gifted Students﻿ **

**No matter what you teach, you will have students with different learning needs. Your students could have diabetes, au ** **tism, learning disabilities and/or ADHD. Every student is different, yet with No Child Left Behind you are accountable for designing standards-based lessons that will help all your students reach their full potential and your school make Adequate Yearly Progress ** **(Woolfolk, 2010). **

The Pennsylvania SAS (Standards Aligned System) website has helpful information, classroom strategies, resources and interventions for teaching students with special needs and gifted and talented students. [|Click here] to learn more.

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Woolfolk (2010) offers these important guidelines when working with students with disabilities:

 * Beware of Labels - It is important to always remember that the student is not defined by his or her "Label". Sometimes having a label can protect a student (eligibility in some programs, access to adaptive equipment) but it should not define the student.
 * Use "People First" language. You have a student with autism, not an autistic student.
 * Try to avoid language of "pity" such as "victim of" or "suffering with."
 * Try to think of your student in terms of his or her abilities, rather than his or her disability.
 * Speak to the student with the disability, not to his or her aide. Try to physically place yourself on his or her level.

**﻿Placing Students in the Classroom: **
 * LRE - Least Restrictive Environment -
 * Mainstreaming - student with disability is taught in the regular classroom for part or all of his or her school day
 * Integration - fitting student with special needs into existing class structure
 * Inclusion - All students, those with severe disabilities into regular class


 * **Know the Law **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">IDEA - Since 1975 laws have been in place to protect the educational choices available to students with disabilities
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Section 504 - prevents discrimination against people with disabilities - fewer rules than IDEA
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">IEP - Individualized Education Plan - agreement between student's parent(s) or (guardian) and the school about the services that will be provided for the student. The IEP is written by a team including various school representatives and the parents or guardians and includes:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">student's present level of achievement and performance
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">measurable performance goals for the year
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">specific services that will be provided
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">percentage of time student will spend in and out of the regular education setting
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">statement about the student's participation in state and district-wide assessments

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 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">To find out more about laws dealing with students with disabilities, [|click here]

**"Step by Step: Heather's Story" by Jackie Comforty, A 1997 Gold Hugo Winning Video**
media type="youtube" key="5EA45ko7iwU" height="349" width="425" align="center"

Other helpful websites:  [|Kidsource]   [|Education.com]   [|ASCD]

**Teaching Gifted and Talented Students:** The [|Jacob Javits] Gifted and Talented Students Education Act was passed in 1988 as part of the [|Elementary and Secondary Education Act]. The Act recognizes that gifted students need special services, but does not require states to provide them. Truly gifted students produce work that is extremely creative and original and are very advanced for their age. They are not the students who simply learn easily and quickly (Woolfolk, 2010).

**<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Woolfolk (2010) offers these guidelines when working with gifted and talented students: ** > > media type="youtube" key="IFsPwyErB2w" height="349" width="425" align="center"
 * **<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Teaching gifted students should included strategies that encourage abstract thinking, creativity, reading high-level, original texts, and independence **
 * **<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Think of ways to challenge him or her without just giving extra work **
 * **<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Students may be gifted in one or two areas, not necessarily across all subjects **
 * **<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Gifted and Talented students may seem more mature than other students their age and be more comfortable with older students or adults. **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;"> "Practical Differentiation Strategies to Meet the Needs of Gifted Students, Grades 2 - 6" BERStaffDevelopment

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; text-align: center;">**The National Association for Gifted Children has resources to help you meet the needs of your gifted and talented students. [|Click here] to learn more.** Other websites with information on teaching Gifted Students:

[|Brain Connection] [|KidSource] [|Hoagies' Gifted Education Page]


 * References**

Woolfolk, A. (2010). //Educational psychology// (11 ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Pearson Education, Inc.