This document provides information and recommendations for addressing the needs of students with disabilities at MISE High School. It begins with background on the school and statistics on students with disabilities. It then discusses special education law and the principles of inclusion. General recommendations are provided, such as using Universal Design for Learning and establishing a Circle of Friends program. Specific recommendations are given for students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism, and Hearing Impairments. The document concludes by emphasizing the importance of communication between all stakeholders to allow all students to succeed academically and socially.

1. Addressing the Needs of
Students with Disabilities
MISE High School

2. Multidisciplinary Team 10
ROLE NAME
Special Education Teacher Eman Zayed
General Education Teacher Izdhar Deeb
Social Worker Sara Gierhahn
Physical/Speech/Language
Therapist
Marissa Charleston

3. Outline
● School Information
● Special Education
● Inclusion
● General Recommendations
● Specific Recommendations
o Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
o Autism
o Hearing Impairments
● Conclusion

4. MISE High School
• Student Population: 636
• Grades 9-12
• School Demographics:
-African American 45%
-Hispanic 51%
-White 2%
-Other 2%
• Statistics:
-93% Low Income
-23% Students with Disabilities
-4% Homeless
-9% English Learners

5. MISE High School
• PSAE Composite Score: 15%
• Student Mobility is 31%
• 4 Year Graduation Rate is 65%
• Readiness for College Coursework is 4%

6. Special Education Information
• Approximately 6 million students ages six through twenty-one
receive some form of special education. (Turnbull 2011)
• Laws such as IDEA were put into effect because of constant
discrimination.
-ESEA which was amended by NCLB
-Rehabilitation Act
-Tech Act

7. Special Education Information
The Individual with Disabilities Education Act is a federal law that
requires schools to serve the educational needs of eligible students
with disabilities.
6 Principles of IDEA
• Zero Reject
• Nondiscriminatory Evaluation
• Appropriate Education
• Least Restrictive Environment
• Procedural Due Process
• Parent and Student Participation

8. Overview of Inclusion
Definition:
● Based on IDEA’s principal of
the least restrictive
environment
● Students with disabilities
participate in academic,
extracurricular, and other
school activities with their
nondisabled peers
(Turnbull, Turnbull, & Wehmeyer, 2013)
Characteristics:
● Home-School Placement
● Principal of Natural Proportions
● Restructuring Teaching and
Learning
o Family-Professional
Partnerships
o Co-teaching
● Age- and Grade-Appropriate
Placements

9. Inclusion continued
Critical components of successful inclusion:
● Administrative support
● Support from special education personnel
● Accepting, positive classroom atmosphere
● Appropriate curriculum
● Effective general teaching skills
● Peer assistance/tutoring
● Disability-specific teaching skills
(Mastropieri and Scruggs, 2001)
Benefits of inclusion:
● Academic
● Social
● Emotional
● Behavioral
● Promotes UDL

10. General Recommendations
Circle of Friends
educators and/or parents inviting peers to form a
support network for a student with a disability so that
the student will have friends (Turnbull et al., 2013).

11. General Recommendations
Circle of Friends tips for
implementation
● Recruit students
● identify a facilitator
● determine the size of the group
● decide where and when to meet
● identify group activities
● adjust activities as the students
grow older
● give students ownership of the
circle
Establish three ground rules:
1. everyone has access to all of the
materials used during the
meetings
2. all activities must be age
appropriate
3. everyone participates in all
activities
(Turnbull et al., 2013)

12. General Recommendations
UDL: Universal Design for Learning
Provide multiple means of representation
● visual
● oral
Provide multiple means of student expression
● Writing
● speaking
● illustrating
Provide flexible means of engagement
● videos
● software
● role playing, etc.

13. ADHD- What is it?
“Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common
childhood disorders and can continue through adolescence and adulthood.
Symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty
controlling behavior, and hyperactivity (over-activity) ("Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)")
Three types:
● predominantly inattentive
● predominantly hyperactive-impulsive
● combined type
Causes:
● heredity
● structural differences in the brain
● environmental

14. Accommodations for ADHD
Inattention:
● seat them in quiet areas
● give them more time to
complete assignments
Impulsive:
● ignore inappropriate behaviors
● reward appropriate behaviors
Excessive motor activity:
● let them stand in class, run
errands, break between
assignments
Mood characteristics:
● reassure and encourage them,
speak gently
● involve parents in student
communication
Organizational problems:
● incorporate notebooks, folders,
dividers, smart phones to help
students remember, provide daily
weekly reports for parents
(Turnbull et al., 2013)

15. ADHD
Goal-setting and organizational skills
“Goal setting and organizational skills go hand in hand to promote
better outcomes. If a students sets a goal, he is more likely to
perform behaviors related to that goal. Goal-setting is one of the
critical predictors of success in adulthood for students with
AD/HD”(Turnbull et al., 2013).
1. Identify a goal clearly and concretely
2. Develop a series of objectives or tasks to achieve the goal
3. Specify the actions necessary to achieve the desired outcome

16. Autism-What is it?
Difficulties in:
• “Social and emotional reciprocity, nonverbal
communication, and developing, maintaining, and
understanding relationships.”
• Engagement in “restricted, repetitive patterns of
behavior, interests, or activities” with symptoms
typically occurring prior to the age of three (DSM-5,
2013).
• 75% of children with autism also have an intellectual
disability (Turnbull et al, 2013).

17. Autism-Best practices: Academics
• Inclusion classroom:General education teacher
-Differentiation of learning
-Discrete trial teaching to aid in language development
• Co-taught classroom: Collaboration of general and special educators.
• Self contained classroom: Special education teacher
-Managing emotions and adapting the classroom to manage
overstimulation
-Frequent breaks from instruction
-Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (Turnbull et al, 2013)

18. Autism-Best practices: Social/Behavioral
• Social Workers:
-Social skills and social stories
-Functional Behavior Assessment-collaboration with the family
-Social Thinking Group to practice perspective taking (Winner, 2007)
• Family Involvement:
-Education, resources, support groups
-Strengths based approach
-Generalization of skills
• Related Services:
-Occupational Therapy to adapt to the environment (American Occupational
Therapy
Association, 2010)
-Speech pathology: Picture Exchange Communication System (Real Look
Autism, 2011)

19. Hearing Impairment- What is it?
Two terms to describe hearing loss- deaf and hard of hearing.
• IDEA defines deafness as “a hearing impairment so severe that the student
is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing (with or
without amplification) and the student’s educational performance is
adversely affected. (Turnball et al. 2011)
• Two types of hearing loss:
-Unilateral
-Bilateral
• Causes of hearing loss include:
-Genetic
-Prenatal
-Postnatal
-Postlingual

20. Hearing Impairments- Academic Needs
• Most children with hearing impairments have educational
challenges in the areas of reading and writing (Turnbull et al 2011).
• Because educational curriculum is very language-based, there is a
heavy emphasis on communication.
• Three types of communication techniques:
-oral/aural
-manual
-total communication

21. Hearing Impairments
Social/Behavioral needs- Communication
The student’s psychosocial development may be effected
When an average hearing student has difficulty communicating with
the student who has a hearing impairment.
“When communication is easy, students learn social norms, rules of
conversation, appropriate ways of responding in various situations,
and how to develop relationships” (Turnbull 2011).

22. Conclusion
One common goal: To allow all students to succeed both academically
and socially.
Staff Development:
• Psychoeducation on disabilities
• Collaboration
• Progress monitoring
• Consultation

23. Conclusion
Implementation:
• Planning periods
• Assistive technology
• Plant operations
Most importantly, COMMUNICATION with:
• Students
• Parents
• Teachers, Social Worker, Therapists
• Other School professionals

24. References
American Occupational Therapy Association (2010). The scope of occupational therapy services for individuals with an autism spectrum disorder across the
life course. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 64(Suppl.), S125–S136.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2014, fromhttp://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-
disorder-adhd/index.shtml
Cole, C. M., Waldron, N., & Majd, M. (2004). Academic progress of students across inclusive and traditional settings. Mental Retardation, 42(2), 136–144.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1352/0047-6765(2004)42<136:APOSAI>2.0.CO;2
Dore, R., Dion, E., Wagner, S., & Brunet, J. (2002). High school inclusion of adolescents with mental retardation: A multiple case study. Education and
Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 37(3), 253-261.
Jackson, L., Ryndak, D., & Wehmeyer, M. (2009). The dynamic relationship between context, curriculum, and student learning: A case for inclusive
education as a research-based practice. Research and Practice in Severe Disabilities, 34(1), 175–195.

25. References continued
Land, S. (2004, November 25). Effective Teaching Practices for Students in Inclusive Classrooms. Retrieved December 7, 2014, from
http://education.wm.edu/centers/ttac/resources/articles/inclusion/effectiveteach/
Lewis, A. C. (1994). Inclusion. Education Digest, 60(1), 71.
Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E. (2001). Promoting Inclusion in Secondary Classrooms. Learning Disability Quarterly, 24(4), 265-74. doi:
10.2307/1511115
Obiakor, F. E., Harris, M., Mutua, K., Rotatori, A., & Algozzine, B. (2012). Making Inclusion Work in General Education Classrooms. Education and
Treatment
of Children 35(3), 477-490. doi: 10.1353/etc.2012.0020
Real Look Autism, LLC. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.reallookautism.com/.
Turnbull, A., Turnbull, H. R., Wehmeyer, M. L. & Shogren, K. A. (2013). Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today’s Schools (7th Edition).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, In.:
Winner, M. (2007).Thinking About YOU Thinking About ME (2nd Edition). San Jose, CA: Think Social Publishing, Inc.