LEARNER PROFILE AND LEARNING PLAN FOR JUNIOR HIGH

EDUC 450 Student Name: Matthew McDonald Fictitious Student Name: Yoshi Kanomato Diversity: ASD Grade: 8

Code 44: Severe Physical or Medical Disability

Learner Profile:
Learning Style Visual learner Abstract sequential thinker Prefers to work individually with support Visual aids help with both the language issues and attention issues Anxious when it comes to group work Learner Strengths Very concrete thinker Ability to use visual information in a meaningful fashion Ability to focus and stay motivated when interested in project or subject matter Good memorization skills Speaks 2 languages Excels when using numbers and mathematics Interests/Sparks Has a strong interest in cars Enjoys moving, needs some outlet to release energy Likes mathematics and numbers Finds music relaxing and enjoyable

Learner Needs Has a hard time staying focused Consistently disrupts the class Difficulty in interacting with other students Needs a space to move around in and calm down Requires some English support, struggles with complex sentences and new concepts. Allowed to listen to music while working Difficulty straying from schedule

Learning Plan:
Environmental Implications: Ensure student has an area to move around in and calm down that is separate from the other students Student should have access to music to listen to Make sure the student has access to a computer to help with written work in English Desired activities or materials should be covered or hidden when unavailable to the student Create a start and finished bins for the students independent work, it will help them visualize their required work Instructional Implications: Allow for pair work to encourage social interaction and also ease writing assignments Very clear rubrics with examples and structure. Allow the student to visualize what is required Use a lot of visuals when teaching, use diagrams and graphs when presenting new material Allow the student to incorporate personal interests (i.e. cars) when working in the classroom Break large tasks into smaller detailed tasks, allow the student to focus on particular jobs Vary tasks in your schedule to prevent boredom and anxiety issues, maybe do a large group activity and then a calming individual activity etc. Provide a choice menu for the student when choosing activities, allows the student to make some structured decisions on their own Social/Emotional Implications: Provide instruction on self-regulation strategies Encourage student to work in groups and help student interact with other students Encourage independent work without support, prevent the student from becoming overly reliant on teaching staff Give very specific and precise praise, make sure the student knows what you are praising them for Try and increase self-monitoring skills through positive reinforcement by defining target behaviours that the student can self-monitor

References
Alberta Education (2003). Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Retrieved From http://education.alberta.ca/media/511995/autism.pdf Alberta Education (2010). Chapter 3: Developing learner profiles. In Alberta Education (Ed.), Making a difference: Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated instruction (pp. 23-44). Edmonton, AB: Author. Retrieved from http://education.alberta.ca/media/1233960/6_ch3%20learner.pdf Alberta Education. (2011). What school administrators need to know about English language learners and ESL programming. Retrieved from http://education.alberta.ca/media/6550092/eslstudents.pdf Alberta Education (2012). Special education coding criteria. Edmonton, AB: Author. Retrieved from http://education.alberta.ca/media/825847/spedcodingcriteria.pdf

Websites Consulted
http://www.autismcanada.org/treatments/othertherapy/musictherapy.html https://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/autism_spectrum_disorder_learning_strengt hs.html/context/1037