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Shepherd
Middle School
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| "Technology
is a part of all students' lives; therefore, all students can learn basic
technology skills when placed in an inclusive setting."
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INTRODUCTION
Problem Focus
A brief summary of each of the articles listed below is provided along with the ways in which each of the articles influenced the progress of the project described here. National Education Association. (1998). Handywoman's special, NEA Today, 17(3), 3-4. Peck, K. L., & Dorricott, D. (1994). Why use technology? Educational Leadership, 51(7), 11-14. Ryba, K. , Selby, L., & Nolan, P. (1995). Computers empower students with special needs. Educational Leadership, 53(2), 82-84. Salisbury, C.L., Evans, I.M., & Palombaro, M.M. (1997). Collaborative problem-solving to promote the inclusion of young children with significant disabilities in primary grades, Exceptional Children, 63(2), 195-209. Time Line for The Project Maryís Comments APPENDICES
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| "Because
we were looking for ways to include the students with disabilities in team
activities and were trying to learn the new technology, we decided to design
a program that would meet both of these needs."
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INTRODUCTION
Technology in an inclusive setting began as an idea to address some current changes facing us as instructors. This year we were placed on the same seventh grade team. We quickly realized a common goal of ours was including students with mental impairments in more team activities. Many of our team activities centered around technology based projects. However, until this point, students with mental impairments had only been included in field trips. Another challenge we faced was the fact that there was little training given to teachers of special education on the inclusion of the new technology. Because we were looking for ways to include the students with disabilities in team activities and were trying to learn the new technology, we decided to design a program that would meet both of these needs. As we looked at our schedules we found that the regular education homeroom
class which was an extension of a regular language arts class period, would
provide us with some students who could work as mentors to the students
with mental impairments. Once we identified a group of mentors based upon
volunteers, we identified some time in which the regular education students
could mentor the students with mental impairments on the computers. The
main idea behind these mentoring sessions was that the regular education
students would take the knowledge and basic technology skills they had
acquired and teach it to the students with mental impairments. We both
felt strongly that all students can benefit from the use of technology.
Technology is a part of all students' lives; therefore, all students can
learn basic technology skills when placed in an inclusive setting.
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"Because special education students may require more time and repetition to learn these skills, computer usage should be frequent and consistent." |
Problem
Focus
1) Few opportunities exist for interaction between general education students and special education students.Shepherd Middle School has 600 students who are assigned to two 8th grade teams and two 7th grade teams. Students with mental impairments are placed in a self-contained classroom. However, the teacher of these students is a member of one of the seventh grade teams, Team 2. Up to this point, these special education students' interactions with general education students had been limited to lunch, one daily forty-minute enrichment period (art, industrial arts, music, home economics), an annual field trip, and extra-curricular activities, such as school dances. 2) Special education students have been given limited access to current technology.Major technology upgrades were made during the 1996-1997 school year. Part of the plan included a new approach to using the computer labs. Prior to the upgrade, two computer labs had been used primarily for math and English classes, but with the arrival of new computers, the labs were changed to an eighth grade lab and a seventh grade lab. Computer time was then divided equally between team teachers. For example, Team 1 and 2, which are seventh grade teams, alternated weeks in the computer lab. It was up to the team to decide how individual teachers on that team would use the lab for their team week. Every fifth week was allotted for enrichment classes. Although special education teachers were assigned to teams, no specific time was being allotted for their classes. Special education students should have at least as much computer access as regular education students. They will benefit from the basic computer and Internet skills, keyboarding skills and skills taught through software. Because special education students may require more time and repetition to learn these skills, computer usage should be frequent and consistent. It should also be in an inclusive setting to allow students the learning strategy of modeling. 3) Teachers are unable to provide the individual assistance and training that are needed for the special education students to use technology successfully.The students in the special education classroom have a wide range of impairments that range from mild to severe and include both mental and physical impairments. These impairments limit their abilities when using computers. Therefore, it is necessary to have individualized training and assistance. However, the teacher and support staff were unable to adequately and consistently provide this assistance. 4) Existing technology software needed to be adapted in order to meet the needs of special education students.Although the special education students had prior experience with computers, the new technology included multimedia and Internet capabilities. Training with this technology had not been addressed formally with these students. Also, materials made available had not been age appropriate. Existing software needed to be adapted in order to meet the needs of all students. Technology that addresses the needs of students with a variety of disabilities is available. This software incorporates skills necessary for learning for this population. Not only does it focus on common goals such as daily living, vocational, motor, educational and social skills, it also encourages the use of computers. Computer skills are extremely important in today's world.
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Meridian: A Middle
School Computer Technologies Journal
a service of
NC State University, Raleigh, NC
Volume 3, Issue
1, Winter 2000
ISSN 1097-9778
URL: http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/2000wint/inclusive/index.html
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Meridian
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