EDSP 606

Jennifer Krysiak
Advanced Study in Inclusive Practices in The School

Assignment 2b How Do We Support Learners with More Complex Needs?

Keywords & Questions Notes

1. One thing I already Something I already knew about how learners with complex needs in the general education
knew about why learners
setting have is that both students with and without disabilities are benefitting. General
with complex needs
benefit from general education teachers benefit as well. This is one of my favorite parts of being the general
education?
educator in a co-taught classroom. After listening to Amanda Raymond’s story about her
sons education in the TIES Center video, “Standards-Based Instruction for Students with
Significant Cognitive Disabilities”, I realized how much the proper setting can have an
impact. Having the same high expectations for her son as his general education peers had
great benefits and there was noticeable academic growth. This idea students with
disabilities and without disabilities both benefit from inclusive classrooms is mentioned as
Myth 4 in “Debunking Myths about Inclusive Education of the Most Significant Cognitive
Disabilities”’. The article goes on to explain that research shows there is evidence that
inclusive classrooms benefit both types of learners. But it also mentions that this success is
dependent on proper supports/services, peer modeling, and properly trained staff. The
teacher benefits from learning how to adapt for a wider range of learning abilities while still
maintaining high expectations.

2. One thing I learned My biggest take away about how to plan for the participation of learners with complex
about how to plan for the
support needs in general education is that collaboration with all service providers/support
participation of learners
with complex support staff is key. This is necessary for content instruction can be paired with instruction that
needs in general
meets a student’s IEP goals. Collaboration is very important for embedded instruction to be
education?
effective because it requires advanced planning. The TIES Center “Tip #20: Embedded
Instruction in the Inclusive Classroom” outlines 4 steps for implementing embedded
instruction: 1) identify a goal, 2) identifying natural opportunities to provide instruction, 3)
using a prompt hierarchy and fading during instruction, and 4) collecting data. Step 2 is
where being an effective communicator is essential to collaborating. As the general
educator, you know the content well and can brainstorm with the service providers who
may be less familiar with the content. The general educator identifies opportunities where
goals could be embedded, the special educator thinks of strategies that could be
implemented, they are then trialed, and then again discussed to evaluate effectiveness.
 MCIE’s resource “MAPS 2: Participation and Action Plans” seems like it would be a
beneficial resource for the general and special educator to use when determining the
opportunities to embed goals with IEP objectives. This planning matrix looks at a students
IEP goals and outlines the setting where the goal could be addressed. Working together the
general educator and service providers discuss whether the goal could be taught in the
setting listed, peer supported in the setting, monitored in the setting, or if no assistance
would be needed in the setting.

3. One thing I can tell my One thing I think my colleagues should know that could change their mindset about
colleagues that could help
learners with complex support needs is that students don’t have too many support needs to
change their mindset
about learners with more be properly included in the general education classroom. I would share with them that when
complex support needs
a student’s IEP is well thought out and designed with them in mind with the proper
being in general
education classes? supports, that they would barely notice they are a variety of additional supports needed.
“Debunking Myths about Inclusive Education of the Most Significant Cognitive
Disabilities” makes some great points about this. The article mentions that for students with
communication support the general education classroom has many potential opportunities
to help facilitate communication and can be done using a variety of communication modes,
whether an AAC device, sign language, or braille. This would make me think to tell them
they should think of their general education classroom in terms of what it does currently
have that can support all types of needs instead of what it does not have. Jennifer Kurth’s
article “Preparing for and Implementing Effective Inclusive Education With Participation
Plans”, is a great resource for helping teachers think about how their classroom is already
ready to support learners needing all types of supports. The “Ecological assessment
template” provides 3 simple questions for a teacher to answer to aide with this: 1) What are
the typical routines of this activity and what are the successful students doing?, 2) Was the
student with disabilities successful in this part of the routine, and 3) What is needed for the
student with disabilities to be successful?. Looking at the completed example of the
ecological assessment could help a teacher realize how some supports can be implemented
with ease, such as assigning a peer buddy to assist a SWD or providing fill in the blank
notes.