Tips for Working With Students With Severe Handicaps

Tips for Working With Students With Severe Handicaps Typically, children with severe handicaps have behavior concerns and minimal ability or cannot perform or havent yet learned many of the basic self-help skills. Some sources of research estimate that somewhere between 0.2-0.5% of school-aged children are identified as having a severe handicap. Although this population is low, times have changed and these children are rarely excluded from public education. They are, in fact, a part of special education. After all, with the incredible growing technologies and trained professionals, we can hold higher expectations than previously possible before. Handicaps Usually, children with severe handicaps are born with it, some of the etiologies and causes include: Chromosomal abnormalitiesPostnatal difficultiesGestational (prematurity)Maldevelopment of the brain and or spinal cordInfectionsGenetic disordersInjuries from accidents Problems With Inclusion There are still major issues related to inclusion of students with severe handicaps. Many teachers dont feel they have the professional training required to meet their needs, schools are often not adequately equipped to meet their needs, and more research needs to be done to determine how best their educational needs can be met. However, the reality is that these children have a right to be included in all aspects of society. Teacher Tips for Working with Children with Severe Handicaps Prior to supporting the specific goal, it is important to make sure you have their attention. Typically, youll be using a very direct teaching method.As much as possible, use grade appropriate materials.Identify some clear goals/expectations and stick with it. It takes a great deal of time to see success in most cases.Be consistent and have predictable routines for everything you do.Make sure that everything is relevant to the child you are working with.Be sure to track progress carefully, which will help you define when the child is ready for the next milestone.Remember that these children dont often generalize, so be sure to teach the skill in a variety of settings.When the child has reached the goal, be sure to use the skill regularly to ensure mastery of the skill continues. In summary, you are a very important person in this childs life. Be patient, willing and warm at all times.

Medium and Its Large and Small Relatives

Medium and Its Large and Small Relatives Medium and Its Large and Small Relatives Medium and Its Large and Small Relatives By Mark Nichol Medium is taken directly from Latin, where, stemming from the adjective medius, it meant â€Å"middle,† â€Å"center,† or â€Å"interval.† It preserves that meaning but also acquired the sense of â€Å"intermediate agent† or â€Å"communication channel.† The primary connotation is now of a substance through which something else moves, whether in a scientific context or in terms of the form in which art is conveyed or content is delivered. (Medium is also used in the sense of conveyance for a person who supposedly channels messages from the spirit world.) As an adjective, medium refers to something between large and small. The plural form of medium is media, and art made of multiple materials or content available in several forms is called multimedia. The journalism industry is referred to collectively as mass media, and conventional, corporate journalism is labeled, often pejoratively, mainstream media. The phrase â€Å"in media res,† taken directly from Latin, literally means â€Å"in the midst of things.† Other words based on medius include mediate (meaning â€Å"arbitrate† or â€Å"negotiate†) and its noun forms mediator (meaning â€Å"negotiator†) and mediation (meaning â€Å"the act of negotiation†), as well as intermediate, meaning â€Å"someone in the middle,† whether in the context of communication or in terms of skills; it serves also as a verb (meaning â€Å"come between†) and an adjective (meaning â€Å"in the middle†). (Moderate has a meaning similar to mediate and looks related but is akin to the Latin word modus, meaning â€Å"measure.†) Other forms are intermediation and disintermediation. Mediocre, meaning â€Å"ordinary† or inferior,† is related to medium; the original, neutral meaning was â€Å"halfway up a mountain,† and it only later acquired a disparaging connotation. (The second half of the word, meaning â€Å"jagged peak,† is cognate with acrid, which refers to a sharp smell or taste.) Medieval, referring to the middle of history, between ancient and modern times, is also cognate with medium. Medial, an adjective meaning â€Å"in the middle,† and median, which serves as both an adjective and a noun, are also descended from medius. (Remedial, from remedy, is unrelated; the medial syllable in that word has the same etymology as the first part of medical and medicine.) Median originally had an anatomical connotation, referring to arteries, veins, and nerves; now, it refers mainly to an area between lanes of traffic, though it also has the mathematical sense of the middle number in a series. Mean, the same word distilled in French, has the distinct meaning of â€Å"average†; the mean is derived by adding a series of numbers and dividing the sum by how many numbers there are. (In lay usage, it more informally refers to something intermediate or midway.) The senses of mean pertaining to definition or intention and to being cruel or stingy are unrelated, but means- as in â€Å"by any other means† (meaning â€Å"any other way†), â€Å"by means of† (meaning â€Å"through the use of†), or â€Å"by no means† (meaning â€Å"not at all†), as well as â€Å"a person of some means† (meaning â€Å"someone with material resources†) is ultimately derived from medius. (So are meantime and meanwhile.) Another French word that pertains to the middle is milieu, meaning â€Å"environment† or â€Å"setting†; the second syllable, meaning â€Å"place,† is the same element seen in lieutenant and â€Å"in lieu of.† Moiety, though it means â€Å"half† or â€Å"part† rather than â€Å"middle,† is related as well. Medium’s Germanic cognate, middle, also serves as both a noun and an adjective; another adjective, middling, refers to something of average or mediocre quality. Middle is used in various compounds such as middlebrow (referring to someone or something of merely moderate sophistication) and middleman (a go-between in a transaction). Mid, originally a stand-along adjective meaning â€Å"among† or â€Å"with,† is loosely related to middle; it survives only as a prefix (as in mid-air) or as shortening of the preposition amid (amidst, in British English). Midst is also used sometimes in the latter sense, though it usually serves as a noun meaning â€Å"the middle part† or â€Å"the time while something is happening.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Possessive of Proper Names Ending in SFlier vs. FlyerThe "Pied" in The Pied Piper