Do you want to have your child included in general education classes? Have you been told that your child cannot be taught in the general education classroom because your child’s skill level is too low? Did the school say that your child is so far below what they are doing in the classroom that it would be impossible to modify the curriculum to teach the skills the child needs?

Not so! Good teaching works for all students. I would recommend you read all you can about Adapting Curriculum  and that you invest  $12.00 and get a book from the University of Indiana Autism Center “Adapting Curriculum” http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/index.php?pageId=9&mode=mod_order&action=shop&todo=display_prod&prod_id=48&r=1452090285.

Here is the nitty gritty to adapting curriculum.

You need to know:

• What activity is the general education class doing?
• What can your child do?

Let’s walk through the process and adapt a lesson for a child who attends a 7^th grade English and has academic skills in the 1-2^nd grade level.

Did you know that the General Education teacher is told what to teach? She (we will use the pronoun “she” even though it could be a male teacher) does not decide that herself. She uses a textbook or follows a set of state standards that tell her what to teach in her 7^th grade English Class. In most cases, she does get to decides how to teach the standard or concept. To do that she designs Learning Units that each have a series of lesson plans and activities.

AND that’s what you need to focus on – the lesson plan and the activities. The modifications that are done for a child are done to the lesson plan or the activity. The child is learning the same material or skill as all the children but in a different way. In order to make the modification or adaptation, the Special Education teacher should get the lesson plans from the General Education teacher classroom each week. Parents should also get a copy of the lesson plan so they know what is going on in the classroom.

Steps to modification:

• State decides what a teacher teaches and has standards for each area (or the school uses a textbook).
• General Education teacher decides how she will teach by designing Learning Units.
• The General Education Ed teacher designs daily activities (lesson plan) for each Learning Unit. There may be ten days of lesson plans for each unit.
• Special Ed Teacher modifies the lesson plans or daily activities to meet the needs and abilities of the student receiving Special Education and maps the IEP goals or other learning goals on to the general education activity.

Example:

STANDARD:  Speaking and listening standard 2. Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, and orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.

LEARNING UNIT:  In this case, the teacher is using a unit on wildlife to meet this standard. The children will meet the standard by getting information on wildlife from a variety of sources and analyzing how it all ties together.

LESSON PLAN:  The class is reading a book on wolves in the western United States (probably White Fang) and reading supporting articles on how the wolf population has dropped as the land was settled for farms and ranching. Each student will pick one aspect of the demise of the wolf (or another animal) and find supporting articles and videos that explain their demise and write a 5 page paper or make a power point presentation.

Now ask the following two questions.

First, what is the General Education class doing?   

1. They are reading “White Fang” and articles on the wildlife population.
2. They are getting information on a topic relating to wildlife population and they will learn how to find supporting information to about that topic.
3. They are writing a paper or presenting a power point that demonstrated how the information they found explains or supports the topic or issue.

Second, what can your child do?

1. Your child can read at a 2^nd grade level
   1. Your child can read a book on the wolf that is at a second grade. If the class is reading their book aloud in class, your child can sit and listen while he is looking at pictures. The teacher will get the book on audio format so your child can take a turn at reading aloud.
2. Your child can express one thing he likes about wolf.
   1. Your child can find you tube videos about the thing he likes about the wolf.
3. Your child can find pictures and print them.
   1. Your child can learn to use the printer and print pictures that support what he likes about the wolf.

Mapping the activity onto an IEP goal. This activity will be used to meet his reading goal for the IEP, which is to read, and answer questions about the book at a 2^nd grade level to improve comprehension.

Grading his work in English. Your child will be required to collect 10 videos and print 10 pictures. He will be graded by the number of You Tube videos that relate to the topic and the number of pictures that support the topic.