Emma's Blog #2: How do you embed learning opportunities for children with disabilities in the typical activities of your K-3 classrooms?

I believe that it is very important to embed as many learning opportunities as you can for children with disabilities in the typical activities in K-3 classrooms. In my classroom, I do not have any children with severe disabilities. I do have a couple of students who are on IEPs and have a diagnosis of ADHD. For these students, I try very hard to give them learning opportunities in typical activities during the day. I work one-on-one with a student who has ADHD. We use a behavior checklist throughout individual activities to help him focus and stay on task. This has seemed to improve his motivation quite a bit. 

After giving him a few assessments to find out what he really struggles with, I thought of strategies to embed those learning opportunities throughout the day. His three biggest struggles are focus, writing conventions, and memorizing multiplication facts. In the morning when he comes in, I ask him about his night before we begin to start his day positively. I continue to talk to him throughout the day asking him questions to engage him.

 During transitions during the full day, I embed several multiplication facts as we walk to and from specials and lunch. During reading time, instead of telling him to turn to a specific page number, I will tell him to turn to the page that is the product of 9x3. This helps him stay focused and gives him the opportunity to practice those facts. To give him the opportunity to work on writing conventions, I incorporate several writing practices into the day. On some days, his morning work will involve writing and editing. Usually it is writing about something that interests him, so that he is more motivated to write. All of these strategies gives this student learning opportunities that will benefit him and help him grow.