SEA

SPECIAL EDUCATION ACADEMY

The Special Education Academy (SEA) was founded by Ms. Yodha Xavier and Ms. Shelly Carrington in twin republic island of Trinidad and Tobago in 2016.

The goal of the school is to meet the individual needs of students and prepare them for secondary post-graduation employment through customized teaching with the assistance of technology tools.

SEA is a pre-secondary school that caters for students with learning disabilities; speech/ language impairments, visual and hearing impairments and any other condition that hinders the child’s academic development.

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Presented by Shelly Carrington and Yoda Xavier

Laboratories

Advantages for Students with Disabilities

Laboratory Adjustments to Accommodate Students with Disabilities

Organisational Chart

The SEA acknowledges that students with disabilities face access challenges to typical science labs.

Communicating with Teachers

Communicating with the General Public

Educational Problem

Assessment and Evaluation

Sukhai et al. (2014) noted that “there are two established approaches to making science labs and research environments accessible to students with disabilities: individualized accommodation and universal design” (p.15)

At SEA we are faced with a number of teaching and learning issues. The following details some of the problems and the recommendations to remedy the problems. We decided to highlight some of the issues that can be solved using Assistive Technology.

Problem Statement: Written Expression

Bouck et. al (2015) stated that “written expression is a neglected but critical component of education; yet, the writing process—from prewriting, to writing, and post writing—is often an area of struggle for students with disabilities” (p.90). In writing process, the use of planning, organizing, composing, spelling, and editing was identified as common problems for students with high-incidence disabilities.

They recommended that computer-based technology can be used to assist students with disabilities struggling with the writing process. Bouck et al. (2015) reported that “students with disabilities who experience challenges with written expression may lack appropriate prewriting strategies, wrestle with composition and the mechanics of writing (e.g., spelling, punctuation, handwriting), and struggle with revision” (p.91).

In his article he mentioned that computer-based technology, encompasses any form of software (i.e., programs or apps downloaded or installed onto a computer’s operating system1) to be used with a personal computer” (p.91). The table below outlines some of the Assistive technologies we used by our English Teachers to assist students with learning disabilities who encounter problems with writing.

• Website: The school’s website is used to provide basic information to currents and prospective students, parents, staff and the wider public. The website will include information regarding the school's contact information, locations, organizational chart, student profile, facilities, activities, test schedules etc.

• Brochures: will be designed to target individuals seeking information about the school who has little or no access to internet.

• Radio Announcements: are used to provide specific information about school activities or to publicly announce the achievements of the schools.

• Social Media: is a very effective tool for communicating. At present SEA has a Facebook, and Twitter platform to communicate with the wider public.

The individual accommodation approach is specific to the student’s disabilities and course/program requirements.

Habaci et al. stated that “the relationship and communication process between teachers in a school should be in parallel to the targeted objectives of the organization” (p.697)

• Emails: Teachers will be given an email address so that they can communicate via the school’s intranet.e.g jane.doe@sea.edu.tt

• Staff Meetings: Staff meetings will be conducted on a monthly basis. Staff members will be encouraged to openly share information.

• Bulletin Boards: The staff room will include a bulletin board where all staff members are encouraged to post important information.

the Universal Instructional Design (UID) is a pedagogical approach to teaching that considers the needs of a variety of learners.

Assessment & Evaluation

Assistive Technology

Communications with Major Stakeholders

Student Profile at SEA

According to Cobb (2011) “Assistive Technology (AT) is any piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities” (p.47

The End

Sze (2009) defines Assistive technology “as any device or items that can be used to increase, maintain or improve the capabilities of individuals with disabilities” (p’419)

There will be ongoing assessment to identify student specific barriers to learning. These barriers to learning will be examined on an individual basis so that the educational technologists can provide instruction that is accessible, engaging, and meaningful.

Once the specialist educational technologists identify barriers, they can begin to investigate how to leverage technology to address them. Consideration will also be given to ASES, Assessing Special Education Students.

The Council of Chief State School Officers’ Accommodations Manual: How to Select, Administer, and Evaluate the Use of Accommodations for Instruction and Assessment of Students with Disabilities was first developed to establish guidelines for states to use for the selection, administration, and evaluation of accommodations for instruction and assessment of students with disabilities.

Research by Habaci et al. (2013) highlighted that effective communication in a school setting allows change and the proper shaping of the world, as well as providing a great advantage for the school in reaching its objective.

Their findings also support that effective communication in a school setting influences the motivation of managers, teachers and students “(p. 690).

They (2013) continue by stating that managing an effective communication process in education is depends on the managers responsible for the educational setting, teachers who play the most fundamental role in the shaping of education, students, who have the potential to shape the world m and families which are important in shaping children as social beings” (p.690).

Communicating with Parents

Communicating with Students

Differentiated Instruction

Teaching

Assistive Technology Advantages

The quality of communication between students and their school influences their success and behaviour (Habaci et al, 2013, p.698). The SEA communicates with their students using the following mediums:

Considerations for Using Assistive Technology

Graham-Clay “strong communication is fundamental to this partnership and to building a sense of community between home and school. In these changing times, teachers must continue to develop and expand their skills in order to maximize effective communication with parents” (p.117)

The following are various mediums we use to communicate with the parents of students enrolled at SEA.

• Newsletters: SEA produces monthly newsletters to share information with the parent community. We encourage our students enrolled in the English courses to write a few of the articles for newsletter.

• School-to-home Notebooks: Our teachers use these daily communications books to share information with parents. Information may include student issues etc.

• Report Cards: Graham-Clay stated that “report cards are the traditional mode of conveying permanent, written, evaluative information regarding student progress” (p. 119). At SEA report cards are distributed to our students’ parents after every school term.

• Parent-Teacher Conference: Once a month, parents are asked to attend a PTA meeting to discuss surrounding student events, field trips etc.

• Phone Calls: Time constraints may prevent parents from meeting with teachers on face-to-face basis. Therefore the teachers will use alternative mediums such as a telephone call to relay important information to parents.

• Notice boards: Each class will include a notice board where both students and teachers are encouraged to post important information.

• Class Meetings: Students will meet with their teachers on a weekly basis to discuss important matters, inform of concerns and issues and make decisions.

Sze (2009) stated that “Assistive technology can play an important role in special education because many students with disabilities need special instructional treatment” (p.419).

The research reviewed stated that there are four considerations when matching students with disabilities to assistive technology.

• The first consideration is to assess the student and know his/her capabilities and limitations.

• The second consideration is to know what is available in assistive technology. The challenge is to match the two for a successful learning experience.

• The third consideration is the ease of use of a device, the learning curve for the user or bystanders, and the noise level of the device.

• The fourth consideration is to match the assistive technology tool to age, gender, preferences of the user to promote acceptance, and use.

The literature states that students who engage with the Assistive Technology display positive effects for psychological health as compared to the student who do not use the Assistive Technology (Cobbs, 2011,p. 48)

Here at SEA our teachers are constantly tasked to provide solutions for the educational dilemmas they face in the teaching and learning environment.

Ford (2013) suggested that there are “several strategies to support students with disabilities including: co-teaching, differentiated instruction, peer-mediated instruction and direct instruction” (p.2).

SEA adopts some these teaching strategies and includes the use of Assistive Technology to support their instruction.

• This type of instruction helps students with diverse academic needs and learning styles master the same challenging academic content.

• It results in a more personal, proactive learning environment, inclusive of a wide variety of learners.

• When teachers differentiate instruction, they provide students with the structures to maximize strengths, work around weaknesses, and experience timely remediation.

• students to take advantage of effective learning strategies as they begin to understand their own personal learning styles, interests, needs, and engage with their learning

• Our teachers subscribe to Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences to understand how your students differ from each other and identify what each brings to the classroom

Using technology can help students with disabilities to enhance and improve their independence in academic and employment tasks, their participation in classroom discussions, along with helping them to accomplish some difficult academic tasks

Co-Teaching

Co-Teaching Methods at SEA

Co-Teaching is defined as two or more teachers delivering instruction at the same time in the same physical space to a heterogeneous group of students (Ferry, 2013).

“research studies have shown that co-teaching can be very effective for students with special needs, especially those with milder disabilities such as learning disabilities”.

SEA can attest that this teaching method has improved self-esteem, self-confidence, social skills and peer relationships of our students.

Additionally, our students received more interactions with the teachers, therefore they received more individual attention.

SEA's Emblem and Motto

Direct Instruction

Flipped Classrooms

Kalwinsky & Binford (2016) stated that “s” (p. 199). By flipping our classrooms our students spend more time in class on engaging activities.

This in turn makes students active learners and increases classroom participation . This approach allows our students to be self-regulated learners since they access knowledge at home, since the lectures/lessons are delivered online.

The future of flipped classrooms offers a new model for case study teaching by combining student-learning with multiple skills that can be applied to solving real-world problems” (p.63)

Direct instruction is an approach to teaching where the particular skill or content to be learned is presented explicitly.

Research has shown that direct instruction can be an effective strategy for teaching mathematical procedures and computations, reading (decoding), explicit reading comprehension strategies, science facts, concepts and rules, foreign language vocabulary and grammar.

For some students with a learning disability, exploration or discovery methods of teaching might be ineffective for acquiring core content and developing foundational academic skills. In these circumstances Direct Instruction would be the preferred method of teaching.

The school's emblem is:

• used to identify and represent the Special Education Academy.
• proudly displays the diverse and inclusive student population.This is also evident in the school’s motto “Education for All”.
• included in the design of the school’s uniform, internal and external communications and the school’s building and flag.

Smart Classrooms

Hardware and Software in the Smart Classrooms at SEA

The Special Education Academy (SEA) will be outfitted with four Smart classrooms.

Each classroom will be equipped with assistive technology or digital devices and software designed specifically for children and adolescents with learning or special disabilities.

These classrooms will create multiple opportunities for students to learn material in a variety of ways. Smart Classrooms has an impact on the learning and access to material for students with disabilities.

Bakken et al (2016) “(p.16).

Given the difficulties that students with disabilities encounter during their lives and in school, Smart Classrooms benefit them and helps them learn more efficiently and effectively.

The Smart Classrooms at SEA are designed to meet the learning needs and alleviate the difficulties students with disabilities encounter.

Mission Statement

SEA’s mission is to groom students who will transition into outstanding citizens by subscribing to the following:

• Determination
• Inspire
• Value
• Equality
• Respect
• Success
• Enrichment/excellence