The Down Syndrome Toolkit includes classroom practices that will help support your student(s) with Down syndrome in the various subject areas. These classroom practices are useful, practical and can be easily implemented into your own classroom.
Communication Classroom Practice:
Teaching Reading to Teach Talking
Teaching Reading to Teach Talking is an effective therapy for developing speech production and language skills
- Model reading lots of books to the child
- First, teach sight word vocabulary that the child can use in everyday speech
- Build phrases and sentences together and write as soon as possible
- Learn letter sounds for initial sounds in words the child can read
- Create daily conversation diaries with a sentence about an activity the child has engaged in during the day so that they can read it at home and at school
- Remember to make reading meaningful and fun!
Teaching Reading to Children with Down syndrome. Retrieved July 10, 2015. from https://teachme2read.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/obod67.jpg?w=584&h=387
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Literacy Classroom Practices:
- Expose students to music and a beat at an early age to help with memory retention
- Create sentence strips or Velcro cards and have students progress from copying a sentence structure to creating their own sentences in response to a photo or picture
- Use repetitive sentence patterns to help students match words to pictures, as well as sequence, predict and expand on their sight words ("I like...", "May I have...")
- Create books with students based on the sight words and sentences they are learning, and give them frequent opportunities to read the books
- Take frequent breaks to asses the student's comprehension level. Ask questons (the 5 W's), request a summary of the story, predict what will happen next, clarify text the student doesn't understand
Behaviour Management Classroom Practices:
- Determine if there are any medical problems related to the behaviour (i.e. vision or hearing deficits, sleep apnea, constipation, thyroid function etc.)
- Remember to evaluate the behaviour in the context of the student’s developmental age, not just chronological age.
- Many times, behaviour problems are a result of communication difficulties, which lead to frustration. Try to find ways to help the student communicate effectively
- If you suspect that the behaviour is because the student is trying to avoid or escape something, allow for more choices. Teachers can allow the student to decide the order of completing tasks
- Challenging behaviour may be the result of unexpected events. In response to this, teachers can attempt to create a predictable routine or forewarn the student if changes are to occur
- A visual chart could be placed on the students desk with a marker that shows what activity the class is currently working on.
- Teachers can implement a reward box system. The student can receive reward tokens from the teacher or other students for appropriate behaviour. The teacher and the student can decide how many tokens equal a reward. They can also decide together what the reward will be
Math Classroom Practices:
- Use concrete materials (including commercial materials such as Cuisenaire™ and Numicon™) and hands-on activities
- Maximize use of visuals and support learning with visual materials, cues and supports wherever possible
- Break tasks down into small component steps with lots of practice and reinforcement
- Find extra activities to practice and consolidate skills in a range of contexts
- Relate mathematics to real life and daily living skills wherever possible, as seeing the purpose will support motivation
- Use simple language – explicitly teach the language of mathematics alongside the concepts
- Use ICT for skills practice – it increases motivation and allows intensive repetition of skills
Accessing the Math Curriculum
Strategies for differentiation for students with Down syndrome.
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References
Dalton, A. J., Rubino, C. A., & Hislop, M. W. (1973). Some effects of token rewards on school achievement of children with down's syndrome. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 6(2), 251
Dealing with challenging behaviour using positive behaviour support (2008). In Dealing with challenging behaviour (PBS). Retrieved July 22, 2015.
Buckley SJ, Bird G. (1993). Teaching children with Down syndrome to read. Down Syndrome Research and Practice. 1(1); 34-39. doi:10.3104/perspectives.9
Supporting the Student with Down Syndrome in Your Classroom (2010, July). In Down Syndrome Association of West Michigan.
Wood A, Bird G. Magic and sparkles: a creative approach to modifying children’s behaviour. Down Syndrome News and Update. 2004;3(4);128-131
Dealing with challenging behaviour using positive behaviour support (2008). In Dealing with challenging behaviour (PBS). Retrieved July 22, 2015.
Buckley SJ, Bird G. (1993). Teaching children with Down syndrome to read. Down Syndrome Research and Practice. 1(1); 34-39. doi:10.3104/perspectives.9
Supporting the Student with Down Syndrome in Your Classroom (2010, July). In Down Syndrome Association of West Michigan.
Wood A, Bird G. Magic and sparkles: a creative approach to modifying children’s behaviour. Down Syndrome News and Update. 2004;3(4);128-131