This document discusses differentiating instruction to support students with intellectual impairments. It describes the nature and assessment of intellectual impairments and their impact on learning. A team approach is needed to develop individualized education plans that provide explicit instruction on functional academic skills, communication, social skills, self-regulation, and behavior management. Teachers must consider students' needs for attention, memory, motivation, peer relationships, and generalizing skills when designing lessons and supports.

1. DIFFERENTIATING
INSTRUCTION:
SUPPORTING STUDENTS
WITH AN INTELLECTUAL
IMPAIRMENT
4030 EDN
Week 5 2012

2. Intellectual Impairment
 Impact of an Intellectual Impairment on
learning and development – significant impact
on the child’s health and well-being is reduced
through the provision of effective education,
health and welfare support.
 Aim to develop meaningful skills and
behaviours in the lives of children and young
people with an Intellectual Impairment.
 Functional and academic programs across all
learning areas.

3. Nature of II
 WISC IV (2003) – Wechsler Intelligence Scale
for Children.
 Measure of intellectual potential across 4
domains – Verbal Comprehension Index
(VCI), Perceptual Reasoning Index
(PRI), Processing Speed Index (PSI), Working
Memory Index (WMI).
 Scores are given in each domain and then a Full
Scale IQ is given (FSIQ).
 See L@GU in Course Content for a summary of
the subtests and the classroom impact of
difficulties in each area.

4. Nature of II
 Average intelligence (IQ) score around 100. A
student with an II would score considerably
below average intellectual functioning – IQ
score 70-75 or below.
 II may be associated with other developmental
disabilities – Autism, Down
Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy.
 Experience difficulties learning, with social
skills and communication, not all students with
an II have difficulties in all of these areas.

5. Adaptive Functioning
 Ability to cope with the demands of every day life.
 For a diagnosis of II, in addition to the IQ score,
requires deficits in at least 2 of the adaptive
functioning areas:
 Communication
 Self-care
 Home living
 Social/interpersonal skills
 Use of community resources
 Self-direction
 Functional academic skill
 Work and leisure
 Health and safety

6. Measures of II
 Debate on how levels of II should be defined –
 Mild 55-70
 Moderate 40-55
 Severe 35- 40
 Profound below 35
 Recent perspectives – consider the level of
support needed by a person to participate in
everyday life – focus on student’s functioning in a
specific environment and the changes needed to
that environment to allow as much independence
as possible.

7. Team approach
 Teacher’s responsibility to design, implement and
monitor an educational program for a child with a
diagnosis of II.
 However, supports available to assist teachers –
Learning support team, parents/care
givers, psychologist, health professionals – work
collaboratively to develop an IEP (Individual
Education Plan) for the student with an II and to
provide classroom support/planning and
resourcing support.
 It is essential to plan for support (teacher aide).

8. Causes of II
 1/3 of people with an II is associated with genetic
factors – Down Syndrome (chromosomal
condition), Rett Syndrome (neuro-developmental
disorder -females) or Fragile X Syndrome (most
common cause of inherited II and autism – global
developmental delay and speech and
communication problems – X chromosome).
 1/3 external trauma or toxins – foetal alcohol
syndrome, brain injury or an infection.
 1/3 the biological cause is unknown – may be
associated with child abuse/neglect, lack of
appropriate stimulation during early childhood.
 Around 3% of the population.

9. Considerations for teaching
 Supporting communication:
 Difficulties with verbal communication (written or
spoken) means that teachers should plan for
multiple means of presenting curriculum content
to all students (visual, computer, hands on,
modelling/demonstrations, AAC).
 Difficulties with understanding means that teacher
need to consider the degree of difficulty of verbal
information presented (simplified text, shorter
sentences, re-phrasing, simplify layout, more
visuals, pre-teaching, computer technology).

10. Considerations for teaching
 Supporting motivation to learn:
 Learned helplessness – result of many failures –
means that teachers need an accurate
assessment of the student's skill levels – do they
have the pre-requisite skills to be successful with
the activity.
 Small steps – build success – build motivation.
 These students need to also be independent -
focus on teaching skills – then independent
practice.

11. Considerations for teaching
 Supporting peer relationships:
 Students with an II often need additional support
for successful social interactions, to learn to be
sensitive to the needs of others and how to deal
with frustration, anger and change.
 This means that teachers will need to explicitly
teach social skills – turn
taking, sharing, communication, empathy and
social awareness.
 Small group activities, cooperative learning
groups, peer support.

12. Considerations for teaching
 Supporting attention to task:
 Need attention to learn – children with an II often
attend to the wrong things and experience difficulty
allocating attention appropriately – this means that
teachers to present information visually, check
understanding, model and explain, systematic explicit
instruction.
 Supporting memory:
 Failure to attend means failure to remember –
strategies include: small steps, many opportunities for
repetition/over-learning, scaffolds, teach
transfer, explicit teaching.

13. Considerations for teaching
 Supporting generalising and maintenance:
 Students with an II often experience difficulty
generalising or transferring a new skills to
different context – strategies include: a wide
range of practice in different contexts must be
programmed for.
 Self-regulation:
 Ability to regulate own behaviour – may be
difficult for students with an II – strategies include:
prompts as reminders, picture
sequences, teaching students to self-
instruct, self-monitor and self-reinforce.

14. Considerations for teaching
 Curriculum:
 Accommodations and adaptations of the regular
curriculum required for students with an II –
depends on level of need.
 IEP – life skills incorporated – identify priorities
for the child – evaluated each semester to
determine ongoing goals.
 Task analysis – method of breaking down a task
into component skills, small achievable steps
which build towards completion of the whole task.

15. Behavioural interventions
 Difficulty with standardised tests for students with
an II.
 FBA – Functional Behaviour Assessment –
resource for assessing the factors that might
initiate, maintain or end a challenging behaviour.
 2 types of FBA:
1. Indirect assessment: structured interviews and
review of existing information.
2. Direct assessment: standardised assessment or
checklists to observe and record factors surrounding
the behaviour.

16. Behavioural interventions 2
 6 questions to consider when analysing data:
1. When engage in problem behaviour?
2. What is contributing to the behaviour?
3. What function does the problem behaviour
serve?
4. What is the student communicating through the
behaviour?
5. When is the student successful and less likely to
engage in the behaviour?
6. What other factors may be contributing?
 Develop the intervention plan.

17. Instructional strategies
 Direct, explicit teacher-centred instruction to teach
basic academic skills and cognitive and meta-
cognitive strategies.
 Teaching basic skills (standard structure):
 Review, revise, motivate – what learning and why –
how relates to prior learning.
 Presentation – explaining and modelling. Direct
instruction.
 Guided practice – with teacher support.
 Correct and feedback.
 Independent practice.
 Frequent reviews.

18. Instructional strategies 2
 Teaching cognitive strategies:
 Explicit teaching of cognitive and meta-cognitive
strategies – steps:
1. Assist students to develop and use background
knowledge (there is a problem)
2. Discuss the strategy (good choices result in good
outcomes – possible solutions)
3. Model the strategy (think aloud)
4. Memorising (remember and understand – picture cues)
5. Support strategy use (reduce scaffolding when gaining
independence)
6. Independent performance (monitor and explicit
reinforcement)

19. Summary
 Impact of an II varies between each individual.
 Students with an II need additional support:
 Sustain attention
 Use short term memory effectively
 Transfer or generalise new learning to new contexts
 To use cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies
 Make friends and sustain friendships
 Learn skills for self-determination
 Develop social and communicative skills
 Main instructional objectives – explicit teaching –
teach functional skills and reduce problem
behaviours.