03-27-00
All Students Can Participate - Including Students With Disabilities in the Classroom
Kristine Lachina
Anna, a 12-year-old student with cerebral palsy, was enrolled in a health and fitness class. Three days a week the general education teacher led the class on outdoor walks and left Anna behind with a paraeducator. As Anna's peers strolled along country trails, Anna circled the school in her power wheelchair. Was Anna truly included in the regular education class?
Students with disabilities are spending an increasing proportion of their day included in regular education classrooms.1 Despite the trend toward including students with disabilities in natural settings, the curriculum and environment in many classrooms remains inaccessible to students with physical and sensory impairments. The inability of students with disabilities to interact with the classroom environment places them at risk for being passive observers of their peers.2 Without active involvement in classroom activities, students with physical and sensory disabilities do not fully benefit from their placement in inclusive settings.3 Meaningful inclusion can only occur when students are not merely present, but actively participate in their school programs.
Learning requires active participation.4 All too often, members of the school-based team do not differentiate between passive and active involvement. Active participation is manipulating learning materials, making choices, and interacting with teachers or peers.5 Active students complete assignments, ask and answer questions, and are permitted to make mistakes. Conversely, students are passively involved in class activities when they simply watch others complete tasks, have choices made for them, and are sheltered from the full spectrum of the classroom experience. Passive involvement occurs when students spend the majority of class time inactive or isolated from their peers. Before school personnel can enhance the learning environment for students with disabilities, they must first learn to recognize low participation and differentiate between passive involvement and active participation.
BEING THERE IS NOT ENOUGH
In Anna's case, being there was not enough. Although enrolled in a regular education class, she was not included in the class. The inclusion specialist and the occupational therapist recognized Anna's low participation and scheduled a meeting with the classroom staff members. The occupational therapist explained the difference between active and passive student involvement. The team then discussed their perceptions of Anna and their personal opinions about her placement in a regular education setting. The general education teacher revealed that he was uncomfortable around Anna and never considered her to be capable of participating in the class lesson because she used a wheelchair. The inclusion specialist recommended that the general educator make an effort to greet Anna each day and spend one or two minutes simply talking with her. The occupational therapist informed the teaching staff members that the walking trails surrounding the school were wheelchair accessible and explained that the outdoor walks created opportunities for Anna to become more comfortable with the operation of her new power wheelchair. Within a week, the regular education teacher was interacting with Anna daily, and she joined her classmates on their nature walks.
Members of the school-based team are more likely to misconstrue passive involvement as active participation when they have low expectations of students with disabilities or assume that these students will not thrive in the regular education setting. Attitudes of the school-based team can prevent students from participating in class, even when no physical modifications or extra supports are required. Many students with disabilities can participate in class lessons in the same way as their peers, yet they remain passive because school personnel do not believe that the students will "get anything" out of the regular education curriculum.
Sometimes teachers assume that active participation will automatically occur when paraeducators accompany students with disabilities in the classroom. Teachers and families of students with disabilities frequently request classroom aides and entrust them with the responsibility to promote the participation of students with disabilities.6 Unfortunately, without proper training and support, classroom aides often thwart, rather than promote, active participation.7 Some paraeducators perpetuate passive involvement by completing class assignments, taking tests, and making decisions for students with disabilities. Occupational therapists can provide classroom aides with strategies that will enable the student to actively participate in school activities.
Eric, a 16-year-old student with cerebral palsy, did not complete daily assignments in social studies because he could not see the questions or write with standard implements. Thus, his paraeducator completed the assignments for him. While the paraeducator worked diligently, Eric sat quietly with his head lowered. The paraeducator's work was then submitted to the teacher on Eric's behalf. To increase Eric's participation, the occupational therapist guided the paraeducator to convert the questions at the end of each lesson to a multiple-choice format. The occupational therapist then enlisted the assistance of the speech-language pathologist to program Eric's communication device with a set-up to answer the questions. Instead of completing work for Eric, the paraeducator read the questions aloud, recorded Eric's answers on paper, and submitted the work to the regular education teacher to be graded.
Many teachers, therapists, and other professionals recognize low student participation but do not know what to do about it. School personnel often lack the skills to adapt activities or to modify the environment to include diverse students in the classroom lessons. When students do not comprehend materials at grade level, academic tasks need to be simplified and shortened in order for the student with a disability to actively participate. Occupational therapists in the school setting can increase the compatibility between the student and the learning environment by helping classroom staff to modify and adapt academic lessons.
In Latoya's seventh grade science class, all students were expected to complete work sheets during lab time. Although Latoya received the same work sheet as her peers, she could not complete it independently. Latoya scribbled on her paper as the other students filled in the blanks to complete a diagram of a plant. An occupational therapist enabled Latoya to actively participate by providing her with labels preprinted with the parts of the plant in simplified terms (stem, roots, seeds, etc.) and displaying a picture symbol of each term. A duplicate set of the labels was affixed to the work sheet. Latoya matched the picture cues on the labels to pictures on the work sheet and submitted it to the regular education teacher to be graded.
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
One of the most effective ways occupational therapists can increase the participation of students with disabilities in the classroom is through the use of assistive technology.8 Because occupational therapy is one of the few professions that use assistive technology to increase performance in natural settings, occupational therapists should assume the responsibility for identifying and implementing assistive technology solutions in the school setting. Assistive technology maximizes student participation and independence in school-based activities, especially tasks that depend on computer access.
Students with physical disabilities are often excluded from computer-based activities because they cannot operate a standard mouse, type with a typical keyboard, or see a computer screen. Sometimes occupational therapists can increase a student's participation in computer-based activities by simply altering the positioning of the monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Numerous simple, affordable assistive technology solutions can be found in school storage facilities or at office supply stores. By substituting a trackball, touch window, touch pad, or joystick for the standard mouse, occupational therapists can improve a student's access to many software programs. Likewise, alternative keyboards or keyguards can increase the student's ability to use software programs that require typing or input from the keyboard.
Nathan, a 13-year-old with cerebral palsy, was not actively participating in his eighth grade computer class because he was not able to control a standard mouse. The classroom aide provided Nathan with hand-over-hand assistance to move a mouse and type. While Nathan used a software program designed for preschoolers, his peers designed pages for the school Web site. The classroom aide acknowledged that Nathan was not involved in the class lesson, but she did not know how to make the assignment accessible. The inclusion specialist on the team had very little experience with computer technology and requested assistance from an occupational therapist. The occupational therapist replaced Nathan's mouse with a trackball, attached a keyguard to the keyboard, and placed the monitor on a stand to raise it to Nathan's eye level. After these minor adaptations, Nathan independently selected a color scheme, typed a brief story, and published his first web page.
In another case, Rob, a 16-year old with physical and leaning disabilities, demonstrated low participation in writing tasks. His school-based team recognized the need for assistive technology and issued Rob a laptop computer to increase his ability to complete written assignments. However, Rob continued to struggle with written assignments because he could not read on-screen text or proofread his work. The occupational therapist installed an inexpensive talking word processor onto Rob's laptop. The software settings were adjusted to display the text in a large yellow font over a black background. These adaptations enabled Rob to see what he typed. The auditory feedback from the talking word processor enabled Rob to proofread his work independently.
Often, occupational therapists promote adaptations to improve performance in writing tasks. However, occupational therapists can also use assistive technology to increase student participation in reading activities. Books on tape or other class material recorded onto audiotape enables many students to complete reading lesson materials in class or at home. Audiocassettes can be slipped into a portable tape player during silent sustained reading to enable students with significant text disabilities to access the reading selection. Students with physical disabilities benefit from switch-adapted tape recorders that enable them to start and stop reading with the click of a switch. Text from work sheets, short stories, or other assignments can be typed or scanned into a talking word processor document.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY FOR ALL STUDENTS
Best practices in education require methods and materials that are effective for a diverse group of learners.9 Occupational therapists must realize that there are many learners in the classroom environment who may require adaptations, modifications, and extra support to learn and participate in class lessons. Thus, many of the interventions designed by occupational therapists for students with disabilities often enhance the learning of the whole class.
Devon entered middle school with an augmentative communication device and a history of behavioral outbursts. Although familiar with her communication device, Devon refused to use it in academic or social situations. Motivated to fit in, Devon eschewed anything that differentiated her from her peers. In biology class, Devon's teacher reviewed the classroom content each day by asking the students questions in the form of riddles. Devon would often raise her hand, yet she could never answer the riddle successfully because she was nonverbal. The speech-language pathologist consulted with the regular education teacher and obtained the answers to the riddles in advance. The occupational therapist then created overlays with age-appropriate pictures and photographs that represented the answers to the riddles. The biology class was divided into groups, and each group was given a communication device to share. Devon's group used her device, and the other groups were given a physically similar yet more simplistic and less expensive version. The teacher then presented questions to each group, and they collaborated on an answer. When a consensus was reached, the students took turns pressing the respective key on the device to communicate the answer to the class. The teacher reported that students who had not previously attended to the riddles participated in class when the communications devices were used. Although the occupational therapist had originally focused solely on Devon, the intervention ultimately increased the participation of all students in the class.
PROJECT PARTICIPATE
The concept of active versus passive participation has become the subject of widespread discussion. Project Participate at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, supported by a U.S. Department of Education grant, facilitates the collaborative work of school-based teams to establish and support a service system that will promote the active involvement of students with disabilities in the classroom. In brief, the program recommends the following course of action to increase student participation.
Step 1: Establish a Rapport With the Classroom Staff Members
Schedule a meeting with the teacher and classroom aide. Express a desire to spend time in the classroom. Explain that your goal is to collaborate on ways to increase the participation of the student with a disability. Take the time to have a meaningful discussion to explore the classroom staff members' expectations for all of the students. Are the expectations different for the student with a disability? If so, ask why the expectations are different. Establish the best way to approach the class. Is an appointment necessary, or are drop-in visits permitted? Request a copy of the lesson plan or a summary of the basic learning objectives. Ask the staff members how they genuinely feel about the student being included in a regular education classroom. Do they have any fears or concerns about the situation? Remember that some people have little or no experience interacting with persons with disabilities and may have preconceived ideas that need to be addressed.
Step 2: Observe the Classroom Environment
After developing a rapport with the teacher, spend time in the classroom observing the students and the general educator's teaching style. Observe how the student with a disability is positioned in the classroom. Is he or she sitting among peers or isolated and alone? Does a classroom aide sit between the student and the teacher or peers? Do the students complete class activities independently, in collaborative groups, or both? Do the teacher and other students interact with the student with a disability? Is the method of instruction teacher-oriented or student-oriented? Are students required to attend lengthy lectures or participate in hands-on tasks? Identify any specialized equipment such as manipulatives, microscopes, or scissors that may impede the participation of students with disabilities. Take an inventory of existing technology such as computers, printers, and tape recorders.
Step 3: Evaluate Participation Levels
Look for contrasts in participation between the student with a disability and the rest of the class. Are there tasks in which the student is not participating but the other students are? Is there any part of the class where the student is inactive? Does the student pay attention? Does the student participate in class discussions? Is the student completing in-class assignments? Is the student taking notes in class? Does the student ask and answer questions? Ask the general educator whether the student completes homework assignments, class projects, tests, and quizzes. (See Figure 1 under Related Content in the right column.)
Step 4: Measure the Amount of Assistance
Assistance refers to human intervention, which includes hand-over-hand positioning or someone other than the student completing a task. Assistance does not refer to the use of computers, communication devices, or other adaptive equipment. How much of the task is the student doing? How much of the task is the classroom aide or another person doing? (See Figure 2 under Related Content in the right column.)
Step 5: Devise Participation Goals
After rating participation and assistance, ask other team members to do the same. Schedule a team meeting to discuss participation of the student with a disability. Enlist all the other professionals on the team, including the general education teacher, to write participation goals for the student. Discuss the adaptations and modifications required to increase the student's participation. Assign roles and designate assignments to team members to create accountability.
Step 6: Return to the Classroom
Implement the interventions devised by the team. Continue to evaluate the student's participation and revise participation goals regularly.
FINDING THE TIME
With full caseloads and multiple schools to visit, occupational therapists employed in school systems often feel pressed for time. However, investing time at the beginning of a school year to establish a rapport with teachers and observe the school environment can save time in the long run. By knowing the distinct teaching styles and curriculum at each school, occupational therapists can devise better interventions that complement the natural environment and will be more likely to be implemented by the school-based team. In addition, a rapport with the teaching staff members can elicit valuable information and help occupational therapists revise and evolve interventions. Ongoing feedback from the teaching staff members can help occupational therapists devise better interventions for the students and reduce the need to "pull out" students for therapy.
CONCLUSION
Occupational therapists can help school-based teams to recognize the need for active student participation and to maximize the participation of students with disabilities by increasing the compatibility between the student and the learning environment. Moreover, occupational therapists bring skills and perspectives to the school-based team that can ultimately enhance the learning experiences of all students in the classroom.
References
1. U.S. Department of Education. (1996). To assure the free and appropriate public education of all children with disabilities: The eighteenth annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
2. Rosenberg, S., Clark, M., Filer, J., Hupp, S., & Finkler, D. (1992). Facilitating active learner participation. Journal of Early Intervention, 16, 362-274.
3. Baumgart, D., Brown, L., Pumpian, I., Nisbet, J., Ford, A., Sweet, M., Messina, R., & Schroder, J. (1982). Principle of partial participation and individualized adaptations in educational programs for severely handicapped students. Journal of the Association for the Severely Handicapped, 7, 17-28.
4. Kamii, C. (1984). Autonomy: The aim of education envisioned by Piaget. Phi Delta Kappan, 65, 410-415.
5. Beukelman, D., & Mirenda, P. (1992). Augmentative and alternative communication: Management of severe communication disorders in children and adults. Baltimore: Brookes.
6. Wolery, M., Erts, M. G., Caldwell, N. K., Snyder, E. D., & Lisowski, L. (1995). Experienced teachers' perceptions of resources and supports for inclusion. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 30(1), 15-26.
7. Marks, S. U., Schrader, C., & Levine, M. (1999). Paraeducator experiences in inclusive settings: Helping, hovering or holding their own? Exceptional Children, 65, 315-328.
8. Shuster, N. E. (1993). Addressing assistive technology needs in special education. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 47, 993-997.
9. Jorgensen, C. M., & Fried, R. L. (1994). Merging school restructuring and inclusive education: An essential partnership to achieve equity and excellence. Equity and Excellence, 10-13.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Educating College Students With Disabilities: What Academic and Fieldwork Educators Need To Know By S. Scott, S. Wells, & S. Hanebrink, 1997. Bethesda, MD: AOTA. ($13 for members; $17 for nonmembers. To order, call toll free, 877-404-AOTA.)
Kristine Lachina, MA, OTR, is the project coordinator of Project Participate in Denver, Colorado.
