Overview of Positive Partnerships

How to make adjustments and accommodations to increase

engagement and participation of students with ASD in the classroom.

The Positive Partnerships initiative is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education through the Helping Children with Autism Package. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Government or the Australian Government Department of Education.

Overview of Positive Partnerships

• The overall objective of Positive Partnerships is to improve the educational outcomes of school age students with ASD.

• This initiative is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, as part of the Helping Children with Autism package.

• Positive Partnerships comprises a professional development component for educators and a complementary component for parents/carers of school age students with ASD.

• www.positivepartnerships.com.au

What do we believe about student learning?

- Brainstorm

What do we believe?

1. All students can succeed

2. Effective schools enable a culture of learning

3. Effective teachers are critical to students’ learning success

4. Teaching and learning are inclusive

5. Inclusive schools actively engage and work in partnership with the wider community

6. Fairness is not sameness

7. Effective teaching practices are evidence-based

8. High expectations are essential for all students

9. Learning occurs as a continuum

Differentiation

At its most basic level, differentiating means ‘shaking up’ what goes on in the classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing

what they learn…providing different avenues to acquiring content, processing or making sense of ideas and to develop

products so that each student can learn effectively.

Tomlinson, 2001

Adjustments

Environmental

Adapt the setting

CurriculumAdapt what is taught

Student preference

Student interest

Task difficulty

Is it meaningful?

Is it functional?

Student response

Oral, written, drawn, typed, videoed, high tech

How is it presented

Visuals, displays

Broken down into manageable chunks

Extra time

More concentration on certain topics

Who

Sitting next to? Group? Support?

Where

Learning? Sitting?

When

Ideal times? Support?

InstructionalAdjust how it is taught

and how learning is demonstrated

Three types of adjustments

Curriculum adjustments

Student response

Oral, written, drawn, typed, videoed, high tech

How is it presented

Visuals, displays

Broken down into manageable chunks

Extra time

More concentration on certain topics

Who

Sitting next to? Group? Support?

Where

Learning? Sitting?

When

Ideal times? Support?

Environmental

Adapt the setting

Instructional

Adjust how it is taught and how

learning is demonstrated

CurriculumAdapt what is taught

Student preference

Student interest

Task difficulty

Is it meaningful?

Is it functional?

Adjustments

• Curriculum adjustments refer to measures or actions taken in order to provide a student with a disability the same educational opportunities as everyone else.

• For adjustments to be reasonable they need to be appropriate for the particular student with a disability in a particular situation.

What are curriculum adjustments?

The Australian Curriculum

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/StudentDiversity/Pdf/StudentDiversity

Curriculum adjustments - considerations

Input:Can the student learn from the same kinds of instruction and materials as his or her classmates?

Output:Can the student participate in the lessons, produce what is necessary, and be assessed in the same way as other classmates?

Rate:Can the student work as fast as the rest of the class?Does the student need the same amount of feedback and practice?

Support:Can the student manage independent and group work as well as his or her classmates?

Sample questions - unadjusted

Question 1

a) Name two examples of a cultural group having a differing view on the uses of science than the majority of the population

b) Describe some reasons for this group holding differing views

c) Assess the possible impacts of these differing opinions on the cultural group

Year 9 Assessment Task ResearchQuestion 1

a) Name two examples of a cultural group having different views on the uses of science than most of the population

b) Describe some reasons for this group having different views

c) Assess the possible impacts of these different views on the cultural groups

a)

Cultural Group______________________

Cultural Group______________________

b) Reasons Reasons

Impacts Impactsc)

Instructional adjustments

Environmental

Adapt the setting

CurriculumAdapt what is taught

Student preference

Student interest

Task Difficulty

Is it meaningful?

Is it functional?

Who

Sitting next to? Group? Support?

Where

Learning? Sitting?

When

Ideal times? Support?

Student response

Oral, written, drawn, typed, videoed, high

tech

How is it presented

Visuals, displays

Broken down into manageable chunks

Extra time

More concentration on certain topics

InstructionalAdjust how it is taught and how learning is demonstrated

Adjustments

• Teaching practices that engage students in the curriculum.

• Instructional adjustments support students to:

• Participate

• Demonstrate learning

• Produce something that becomes evidence of learning

What are instructional adjustments?

Students will be successful in learning if the following information is provided:

• What am I expected to do?

• How much am I expected to do?

• How will I know when I am finished?

• What will I do next?

Having a clear understanding of what is happening and what he/she is meant to do will decrease any anxiety a student may be feeling because they are unsure and unable to ask for clarification.

Activity: Instructional adjustments

Match the instructional adjustment to its definition

Environmental adjustments

Adjustments

CurriculumAdapt what is taught

Student preference

Student interest

Task Difficulty

Is it meaningful?

Is it functional?

InstructionalAdjust how it is taught

and how learning is demonstrated

Student response

Oral, written, drawn, typed, videoed, high tech

How is it presented

Visuals, displays

Broken down into manageable chunks

Extra time

More concentration on certain topics

Environmental Adapt the setting

Who

Sitting next to? Group? Support?

Where

Learning? Sitting?

When

Ideal times? Support?

The adaptation of the setting:

• The where, when and with whom learning will take place

• Environmental organisation of classrooms and other learning environments is just as important as curriculum and instructional adjustments

What are environmental adjustments?

Environmental adjustments

• Physical environmente.g. organised areas, physical boundaries, stimuli

• Learning environment e.g. seating plans, time management, grouping

• Visual organisatione.g. colour coding, labelling

General accommodations/adjustments checklist

• What adjustments are you currently making?

• What adjustments could now be included as a result of this session?

Thank you for your participation

FAIRNESS AND EQUITY

Responding to every student in the same way is equal.

Responding to each student based on needs is the meaning of fairness.

Take golf…

All golfers have different abilitiesEveryone tees off together

So that everyone has the same opportunity to wina handicap is given

No one seems to think that this is unfair.

‘Fairness is not everyone getting the samebut everyone getting what he or she needs’

Socrates

The Positive Partnerships Website www.positivepartnerships.com.au