ED 243 Magazine Project

Kathleen L. Bulloch a speech language
pathologist for the Riverside County Office of
Education in Riverside, California
provided these different strategies to use in the
classroom:
As you implement these strategies write a note
and keep track of what works and what doesn’t
work with your students. It is all about trial and
error. We learn by practicing it out. Eventually
you will find the best strategies that fit in your
classroom.
If your student has a difficulty learning by
listening, then you could try to:
Pre-teach difficult vocabulary and
concepts
Teach the mental activities involved in
listening (mental note-taking,
questioning, reviewing)
Provide visual via the board or
overhead
Provide written as well as oral
directions
Have the student repeat the directions
Shorten the listening time required
If your student has difficulty expressing
verbally.
Accept an alternate form of information
sharing, such as the following:
Written report
Chart, graph, or table
Demonstration
Recording or video of report
Teach the student to ask questions in class
If your student has difficulty reading written
material
Provide highlighted material
Look for the same content in another
medium (movie clip or pictures)
Provide questions before student
reads a selection (include page and
paragraph numbers)
A website called Teacher Vision also provided
different techniques in how adapt your teaching
for students with learning disabilities. These are
some of the strategies:
Give immediate feedback to
learning disabled students. They
should see quickly the relationship
between what was taught and
what was learned.
Provide concrete object and
events—items they can touch,
hear, smell, etc. Avoid abstract
learning terms.
Provide oral instruction for
students with reading disabilities.
Present test and reading materials
in an oral format so the
assessment is not only influenced
by the lack of reading ability.
Encourage cooperative learning
activities. Invite students of
varying abilities to work together
on a specific project to achieve a
common goal.
Fortunately, there are abundant resources and
activities that teachers can access via internet.
Teachers must remember they are never alone
in this path. One of the most popular websites
that provides a activities that are specifically
geared toward teaching basic skills to special
students, is Teachers Helping Teachers. Their
special education section will become your best
friend. As I was researching this site, I found an
activity that caught my interest. The activity is
called “Weird Letters” and it helps students
with disabilities identify and remember letters
that don’t always look the way they’re