Special Education

• Choose simple material with illustrations.
• Use a plain piece of paper to put under each line of reading material.
• Tape record stories so the student can listen and read along.
• Use a picture dictionary to aid in vocabulary development.
• Use cues and aids to assist the student in following verbal instructions.
• Use verbal cues, such as songs or mnemonics to remind the student what to do next.
• Do not use figures of speech, euphemisms, sarcasm. Be concrete in communicating with the student.
• Avoid “why” questions and essay type questions with these students.
• Help the student to learn a skill by teaching it in the environment in which the student is expected to perform the skill.
• Give instructions one step at a time, repeat information as needed. Check for understanding by asking the student to repeat directions in own words, or by checking understanding with a partner.
• Develop a peer tutor to work with the student for reading practice, reviewing lessons, studying for tests, editing procedures, proofreading.
• Create key word and sight word cards for vocabulary building, phonetic strategies, etc. Encourage the student to develop a vocabulary card index.
• Provide a photocopy or audio tape of important information.
• Use cut-up sentence strips to assist with word identification and story understanding.
• Use rhythm techniques such as slow rhythmic clapping to focus attention, and to reinforce learning.
• Match your communication level to the student, then introduce speech expanding techniques very gradually by adding one or two words at a time to what the student is saying.
• Use multi-modal strategies (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic). For example, expose students to letters in a variety of situations.
• Use art projects to make abstract concepts more concrete.
• Consider alternative demonstrations of knowledge, such as videotaping, audio recording, computer graphics applications.
• Teach and encourage the use of electronic spell-checkers, tape recorders, word processing
• Allow the student to write about own experiences to facilitate organization of thoughts.

Appendix 6: Language
Development Checklist