3.+Instructional+Strategies+in+the+Classroom

Instructional Strategies for the Inclusive Classroom (Differentiation)

** Strategy: ** The use of visual schedules and visual presentations of rules to prompt appropriate behaviour

The use of visuals in the classroom is beneficial in teaching and reminding students with FASD to use appropriate behaviour. According to Green (2007), teachers must use visual schedules and visual presentations of rules to help children with FASD regulate their emotions and behaviours. Children with FASD need opportunities to learn skills they need to regulate their behaviours, which they learn best through visual cues. These visual cues also provide structure throughout the school day, which children with FASD need in order to regulate their behaviours. Displaying visual schedules and rules along with visual prompts, such as the child exhibiting appropriate classroom behaviour, will help students with FASD understand and remember the rules of the classroom and the expectations of the teacher (Green, 2007).

According to Rasmussen, Pei, Manji, Loomes, and Andrew (2009), young children with FASD learn more efficiently through visual information than through auditory information. Rasmussen et al. (2009) conducted a study to discover if young children with FASD are more successful using verbal or visual strategies during a visual memory task. This study concluded that most children with FASD (between the ages of 5 and 6) used a visual strategy during the memorization task, while children without FASD (between the ages of 5 and 6) most often used a verbal strategy (Rasmussen et al., 2009). This indicates that children between the ages of 5 and 6 who have FASD tend to be visual learners, which means they are more likely to remember if the subject matter is presented in a visual fashion.

This research supports Green’s (2007) teaching strategy of using visual cues in order to teach children with FASD to regulate their emotions and behaviours. Because young children with FASD memorize information most efficiently through the use of visual strategies, they will be more likely to remember the rules and routines of the classroom if they are presented in a visual manner. Teachers can post a visual schedule of the school day on a whiteboard or on the child’s desk, using pictures (as well as words) to indicate different subject areas. Teachers can create visual rule books (or social stories) using photographs of the student and the subject matter to help him or her remember the rules of the classroom. Teachers can also create visuals to help a child with FASD identify his or her feelings and/or energy levels (i.e.: five point self-regulation scale, pictures of facial expressions that relate to particular feelings such as happy, sad, angry, and lonely, etc.).

 Sources Green, J.H. (2007). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: Understanding the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and supporting students. //Journal of School Health//, 77, 3, 103-108.

Rasmussen, C., Pei, J., Manji, S., Loomes, C., & Andrew, G. (2009). Memory strategy development in children with foetal alcohol spectrum disorders. //Developmental Neurorehabilitation//, 12, 4, 207-214.

** Strategy: ** Eliminating behavior problems through decision-making and problem solving strategies.

Students with FASD may struggle with regulating their emotions and/or behaviors during classroom time. Jan Osborne provides many helpful instructional strategies to help reduce the inappropriate behavior and problems that may occur throughout the day. According to Osborne (1994), teachers must consider the environmental structure of the classroom. The structure of the routine, space, and time is very important for the stability of a student with FASD. They need to be seated in space that is quiet and non-distracting in order to fully engage in the learning opportunities. All daily routines and schedules need to be visual and laid out directly where the student has access to it. If any changes occur throughout the day, students with FASD will need to be told and shown prior to the change in order to prepare their mind and body for the change.

Sandra Bernstein (2004) addresses her concerns for structuring the environment in order to accommodate the active behaviors for students with FASD. It is helpful for teachers to note the student’s emotional and physical levels throughout the day in a variety of activities and learning situations. This helps the teachers to assist the student during times where they would usually show discomfort and higher levels of anger or anxiety. To eliminate inappropriate behaviors, students with FASD absolutely need the opportunity for movement continuously throughout the day. It is also a helpful tip for teachers to ignore the students fidgeting or movement that may occur during teaching or work time. These are strategies that students with FASD will use to help them focus for longer periods of time, and interfering with this may disrupt the student and result in negative behavior.

Osborne (1994) stresses her concern for teaching students with FASD problem solving skills to help regulate their emotions and behavior. The following strategies will help aid students in constructively linking their actions to consequences and visa versa; coping mechanisms, anger management, emotion identification, and decision-making. Using these skills will allow the students with FASD to focus on visuals representing their behavior and linking that to a cause-effect relationship of all behavioral scenarios.

During academic work time, students with FASD may feel anxious and overwhelmed. Teachers can eliminate these feelings by focusing more on their individual successes and personal growth by providing them with reasonable amounts of work that is targeted for their level to complete. According to Edmonds & Crichton, students with FASD require structured choices that are constructed for positive outcomes. Allowing the student to have a special job each day will give them the chance to make responsible decisions and direct their attention towards completing a task.

Edmonds & Crichton (2008) express the impact of demonstrating and modeling appropriate behaviors by teachers and peers. Having the student help with classroom activities and providing immediate feedback to their behavior and working attitude. It is important that students with FASD learn how to positively communicate with others during school and social time. Peers can be helpful by pairing up with a student with FASD, and providing them with the opportunities to socially communicate and model appropriate behavior. Edmonds & Crichton also recommend that teachers incorporate role-playing exercises addressing different social behavioral situations such as name- calling, teasing, and physical aggression.

Sources:

Bernstein Clarren, Sandra. (2004). Programming of Students with Special Needs Series- //Teaching Students with FASD//. Alberta Special Learning Branch.

Edmonds, K. & Crichton S. (2008). Finding ways to teach to students with FASD- //International Journal of Special Education//. Vol. 23, NO 1.

Osborne, Jan (1994). A source book of successful school-based strategies for fetal alcohol and drug- affected students. Retrieved from [|www.fldoe.org/ese/pdf/fetalco.pdf]

= Strategy: =

**Classroom Routines as a Teaching Strategy** ==== “Stable routines that don’t change from day to day will make it easier for individuals with FASD to know what to expect next and decrease their anxiety, enabling them to learn” (FASD Support Network of Saskatchewan Inc.). “In the classroom, the learner may have difficulty with predicting outcomes, understanding cause and effect, processing, comprehending, learning math, remembering, staying still, making good decisions, controlling impulses, responding to over or under sensitivity, generalizing, keeping up to the classroom pace, understanding social rules, regulating behaviour, using eye-hand coordination, applying fine motor skills etc.” (FASD Provincial Outreach Program). Establishing daily routines is a very important teaching strategy that must be incorporated in school for students with FASD. “A routine is a well-taught, well rehearsed set of behaviours that allow students to independently deal with those common classroom situations” (FASD Provincial Outreach Program). The FASD Support Network of Saskatchewan Inc. states that routines are a great way to help a child deal with change because it helps to reduce stress. A few routine examples that the FASD Outreach Program has provided are starting the day, lining up, hallway, bathroom, transitions, dismissal, asking for help, homework, arriving late, supplies/materials and corrections. Establishing routines at the start of the year after determining which routines are needed for that student are important in the success of this teaching strategy. Breaking routines into tasks and directly modelling these tasks while providing many opportunities for practice is another way to ensure the success of routines in the classroom. Visual supports are also helpful. Because students will become very accustomed to routines, it is very important that they are given much notice prior to changing routines and routines are changed slowly. These routines are not just important in the classroom, but in the child’s life. It is crucial that the school and family work together to make sure that routines are carried out in every aspect of a child’s daily life. ====

**__Sources__** FASD Support Network of Saskatchewan Inc. (2009). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: a guide to awareness and understanding.

(2006). Provincial Outreach Program for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Retrieved from []

**IN SUMMARY... **

“If a child has been hit by a car and suffers traumatic brain injury, we immediately modify our expectations regarding her abilities and performance; this should equally be true for FASD teens” (Harper, 2001, pp. 107). Invention plans need to take place in the classroom for students with FASD to function effectively (Green, 2007). Students need language and communication interventions to reinforce cause and effect consequences using role-play, simulations and stories (Darcy, 2006). “In designing interventions, children with FASD need opportunities to learn and build skills that will help them regulate their emotions and behaviors as well as environmental modifications that increase the likelihood of adaptive behaviors” (Green, 2007, pp. 106). The following “**8 Magic Keys**” created by Deb Evensen and Jan Lutke summarize the strategies teachers should implicate into the classroom for effective teaching and learning of students with FASD.

“8 Magic Keys: Developing Successful Interventions for Students with FAS”

1. Concrete

 * Students with FAS do well when parents and educators talk in concrete terms, don’t use words with double meanings, idioms, etc. Because their social-emotional understanding is far below their chronological age, it helps to "think younger" when providing assistance, giving instructions, etc

2. Consistency

 * Because of the difficulty students with FAS experience trying to generalize learning from one situation to another, they do best in an environment with few changes. This includes language. Teachers and parents can coordinate with each other to use the same words for key phases and oral directions

3. Repetition

 * Students with FAS have chronic short term memory problems; they forget things they want to remember as well as information that has been learned and retained for a period of time. In order for something to make it to long term memory, it may simply need to be re-taught and re-taught

4. Routine

 * <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tabstops: list 72.0pt;">Stable routines that don’t change from day to day will make it easier for students with FAS to know what to expect next and decrease their anxiety, enabling them to learn

<span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; margin: 12pt 0cm 3pt;">5. Simplicity

 * <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tabstops: list 72.0pt;">Remember to **Keep it Short and Sweet** (KISS method). Students with FAS are easily over-stimulated, leading to "shutdown" at which point no more information can be assimilated. Therefore, a simple environment is the foundation for an effective school program

<span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; margin: 12pt 0cm 3pt;">6. Specific

 * <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tabstops: list 72.0pt;">Say **exactly** what you mean. Remember that students with FAS have difficulty with abstractions, generalization, and not being able to "fill in the blanks" when given a direction. Tell them step by step what to do, developing appropriate habit patterns

<span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; margin: 12pt 0cm 3pt;">7. Structure

 * <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tabstops: list 72.0pt;">Structure is the "glue" that makes the world make sense for a student with FAS. If this glue is taken away, the walls fall down! A student with FAS achieves and is successful because their world provides the appropriate structure as a permanent foundation

<span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; margin: 12pt 0cm 3pt;">8. Supervision
===<span style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 12pt 0cm 3pt 108pt; page-break-after: auto; tabstops: list 108.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> § <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">When a situation with a student with FAS is confusing and the intervention is not working, then: ===
 * <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tabstops: list 108.0pt;">Stop Action!
 * <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tabstops: list 108.0pt;">Observe.
 * <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tabstops: list 108.0pt;">Listen carefully to find out where he/she is stuck.
 * <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tabstops: list 108.0pt;">Ask: What is hard? What would help?

**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sources: ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 467.8pt; tabstops: 467.8pt;">Evensen, D. & Lutke, J. (1997). 8 Magic Keys. Adapted Version, (2005) Minnesota <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 467.8pt; tabstops: 467.8pt;">Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 467.8pt; tabstops: 467.8pt;">Green, Jennifer (2007). Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Understanding the Effects of Prenatal <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 467.8pt; tabstops: 467.8pt;">Alcohol Exposure and Supporting Students. //The Journal of School Health, 77//, 3, 103-108.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 467.8pt; tabstops: 467.8pt;">Harper, Lisa (2001). FASD Teens in the Classroom: Basic Strategies. //Guidance & Counseling,// <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 467.8pt; tabstops: 467.8pt;">//17//, 1, 24-28.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 467.8pt; tabstops: 467.8pt;">Miller, Darcy (2006). Students With Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Updating Our Knowledge, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 467.8pt; tabstops: 467.8pt;">Improving Their Programs. //Teaching Exceptional Children, 38//, 4, 12-18.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 467.8pt; tabstops: 467.8pt;">Tanner-Halverson, Patricia. //Strategies for Educating Children with FAS.// Retrieved on March 25, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 467.8pt; tabstops: 467.8pt;">2011 from http://www.notasingledrop.org.